First Impression – Mikagura Gakuen Kumikyoku

Ready for an interesting school experience?

We’re on the downslope for the FI’s now, but there are still a few more to go. So let’s talk about Mikagura Gakuen Kumikyoku, or Mikagura School Suite (as in a suite of music), another DogaKobo offering for this spring season.

Meet The Protagonist

Eruna loses it a bit (a bit?) when she sees a cute girl

In a way that feels at least a little reminiscent of Mekakucity Actors, Mikagura School Suite is a light novel series inspired by Vocaloid songs written by the author(s) Last Note, or at least the characters are inspired by the songs. But I’ll say that unlike Mekakucity Actors, which was at best barely struggling above the weight of its fairly downer source songs (and usually drowned under that same depressive weight), Mikagura School Suite has a much lighter, much more ‘rock’ feeling, mostly down to the irrepressible bubbliness of the lead character, Eruna Ichinomiya (whose song is Houkago Stride).

Give it up already, Shigure

A third year middle-schooler who doesn’t know what she wants to do with herself, starting with what high school she wants to go to, Eruna just can’t figure out something fun to do. Instead she ends up wasting a lot of time with galges, indulging her proclivity towards cute girls. She doesn’t have any real direction until her cousin Shigure shows up to try to interest her in the school he goes to, Mikagura Academy. Shigure’s got a big interest in Eruna, but seems destined to be the turned down cousin. I don’t know if that’s because Eruna’s only interested in cute girls, or just not interested in Shigure, but no chance.

The Fix Is In

It’s a flying talking cat!

It’s obvious (to everyone bar Eruna) from the ridiculously easy admittance process that Eruna is subjected to that the fix is in and she’s going to get admitted no matter what. In fact, on rewatching the show to write this post, even Shigure’s first introducing Eruna to the school is part of that, since he ‘got special permission to leave the dorm’ to come let her know about the school. So it’s obvious that someone at the school thinks there’s something special about her, and that would be Bimii, some sort of cat spirit with wings. That’s actually not his real name, but that’s all that Eruna’s going to call him.

Enjoy your ‘room’, Eruna

Bimii’s main job in the episode is exposition (which is also the episode’s main job), explaining to Eruna (and us) what the school is about. And what it’s about is clubs: be in a good one, and you get good perks. Not so good ones, not as many perks. No club, and you’re out in the hall in a sleeping bag, like Eruna. But she can’t decide (we’ve seen this before) on a club, even when goaded to just pick one to try. What she wants is to be around Seisa, the granddaughter of the principal, and also the cute model in the catalog that enticed her to go there. Lucky for Eruna that Seisa is interested in Bimii’s pick for who to admit, and offers her a rare spot on the Kitaku-bu (Going Home Club, usually describing people who aren’t in a club and just “go home” after school). Oh, and Eruna’s instantly the ‘club’ representative, expected to fight for the club’s positioning. Yoroshiku!

Does Seisa have Grade-Half Zettai Ryouiki?

I liked this first episode, even though there sure wasn’t much in the way of plot. The whole episode was pretty much just setup for the series, from Eruna’s character to the school setting. It was also a chance for Eruna’s character to vamp a lot, which ended up mostly funny, especially when she was taking the ‘entrance examination’. We’ll see how the show goes. There seems to be a chance that it could turn into a “battle the next strongest, because they’re the next strongest!” setting, which loses me pretty darn quickly if that’s the whole point of the show. That’s what got me disinterested in the second season of Medaka Box. But if they keep it mostly about Eruna and her adventures in school, with some battles thrown in, I think it might be a fun show to keep watching.

About Highway

Proving that you don't have to be young to love anime, I enjoy all genres and styles of shows. If it's not hurting anyone else, you should never be ashamed of what you like!