UniteUp!

Title:UniteUp!
Overall:Unevaluated
Keywords: , , ,
Notables: Animation - CloverWorks
HIRAI Amon
TOYA Kikunosuke
YAMAGUCHI Ryoutarou
Akira Kiyose had once hoped to be a baseball star, but that collapsed. He has also entertained dreams of being an Idol singer, but currently feels that dreams and heroes only exist in the world of anime. One day his friend 'Kacchan' drags him to a talent agency called 'sMiLea production'. He recognizes the owners as the two singers of 'Anela', a popular Idol group. Much to his surprise, the person they are most interested in is him, not Kacchan. Without his knowledge Kacchan has been uploading recordings of karaoke singing by Akira to the internet, and they have become fairly popular. "Your singing voice has the power to enchant the people" one of the owners tells him. Would he like to be an Idol?

12 episodes
OverallArtAnimationCharacter Design MusicSeries StoryEpisode StoryReviewer
Unevaluated Stretch [series:4622#628]
(Five episodes watched):

When I first started watching episode one the typical scene of an Idol concert, with the countless lightsticks in the audience, turned me off and I switched to something else (though the animation was noticeably good). Anime with an Idol theme tend to be generic, with sheer determination triumphing over all obstacles. Later I gave this show a second try and found that after the opening scene it was a good deal more original than I had expected. I guess what I liked best was that the protagonist is initially cynical and pessimisstic rather than ganbare and the trouble is taken to create a semi-plausible situation in which a person might really get a chance at becoming an Idol. sMiLea, an up and coming talent agency, has taken notice of Akira and is willing to gamble on him as part of a third group it plans to form. It looks like two other as-yet unintroduced guys will fill out the group, which will apparently be known as 'Protostar'. I hope they are as three-dimensional as Akira. I got a genuine laugh out of the scene where Akira tells his widowed mother about this opportunity. So, this is a much better show than what I had been expecting. I almost didn't watch it at all, but I'm glad I did.

In episode two we meet Banri and Chihiro, the other two guys who have been chosen to team up with Akira in Protostar. Both also gained limited popularity on the internet. At the end of the episode we still don't know much about them, though there was a hint that one might have some sort of family problem. This episode wasn't quite as fun as the first but was OK. What sort of unusual obstacle (if any) will these guys have to deal with in order to be successful (and this series to be a success as well)? As of yet, none has arisen, and I started feeling impatient. I was skeptical that episode three would be much fun, but enjoyed it more than I had expected. I guess the characters displayed satisfying depth as they learn more about what it will take to be an Idol and in particular about getting all the members of a group to cooperate. In episode four the three guys get a chance to play a supporting role in a commercial, but only if they can learn a complex dance act quickly. Akira lags behind and fears the consequences. As usual, the problem is solved by just trying harder, but again I felt the characters had some depth and therefore what happened was plausible. Still, this show isn't exactly exciting and not one of those that I most look forward to watching the next episode of. We learn the story behind Lin and (what was his name?) of Anela in episode five and the guys of Protostar prepare for their debut performance. I wish this show would concentrate on one group (Protostar) rather than be about three or four. This show lagged several weeks behind the rest during the Winter 2023 season, and didn't seem entirely worth the effort to get caught up. In the end I saved the remaining episodes but haven't watched them.

Last updated Sunday, May 07 2023. Created Sunday, January 22 2023.

Community Anime Reviews

anime mikomi org