First Impressions – Uta no Prince-sama Maji LOVE 2000%
Because 1000% just wasn’t fabulous enough
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I am 2000% excited about this series. No seriously. I mean, guys can have their magical girls, sun-filled butt-shots a la Vividred and lots of docking in AKB and Busou Shinki type anime but there should be similar stuff for girls too! And so the A-1 guys thought one day to adapt the UtaPri game and with the first season a lot of ovaries were spent 1000% because well, ALL THOSE DISTRACTING BISHIES… Here we are for another round. Uh, so Kara, are you ready? (｀・ω・´)” |
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I’M LADY! …Though I watched this, and it was a huge mistake. DAMN THOSE DISTRACTING DANCE MOVES. Seriously, a couple days later and I’m still thinking about it. …I …can’t …even. Anyways, I didn’t actually get that far into the game, so don’t expect any major insight to the storyline from me. …If season one is anything to go by, this season won’t have anything to do with the game events anyways. |
The Main Cast Returns!
Kyokai || Okay, if you weren’t with Kara during the first season review of UtaPri, you can either check out her episodics or game reviews for a longer version of story but if you want a quick glance at the cast, here it is:
- Haruka, the center of attention to all, a la Mayoi of this epic tale of fabulousness. She’s the shoujo-type airhead that would annoy the hell out of you, while blushing and being flustered nonstop. But she sure grew on me and I blame it all on Miyuki Sawashiro. She is that good and if anyone’s watching Photo Kano and Karneval this season, you’ll know her variation. Everyone is clearly gaga over her, even when falling in love is not allowed! Like that stopped anyone before.
- Otoya – the honest fanboy of Haruka, who’s the guy next door, helpful classmate and friend. Of course he wants to be more than friends!
- Tokiya – the Idol that made Haruka all dokidoki with his music but as he has a complicated past, he has the ticket to be a foul-mouthed mean dude to her instead. He’s a nice guy inside though!
- Shou – the only Shouta bait in this series because a) he’s short and b) he’s voiced by Hiro Shimono. He’s fierce and a hard worker, plus too friendly with another blondy bait.
- Natsuki – the two-faced man, who has two extreme characteristics of being too friendly or yandere. His trigger is a megane. Yeah, make your own sense of this.
- Masato – the serious and reserved dude, complete with tea-ceremony and kendo. He’s a pianist with a mellow personality. Also, DAT smexy mole.jpg
- Ren – the not so reliable and flirty dude, who will pour honey in your ears with his smexy murmur and pro moves. He has an impossible hairstyle but hey, his sax playing fingers are not for just playing!
- Cecil – the mysterious Aladin-type (not the shouta magi version, mind you!), bishie who dis/appears whenever he wishes, making him a type-A stalker. Be warned of his magical hijinx.
- Shining – the most fabulous principal of all time! The old man puts circus acrobats to shame with this shenanigans. Voiced by Wakamoto, nuff said.
- Let’s not forget the fabulous Trap Ringo-chan (voiced by Hnnng Yuuichi Nakamua), serious Ryuuga Sensei and Tomochika the much needed BFF.
More Fabulousness
Karakuri || So what’s new for UtaPri? …Not much really. Other than the revelation that the bishies actually like something other than Haruka’s music (GASP), the Master Class is almost exactly like what the team was up to before. Haruka is a bit more self confident and everyone kind of sort of gets along (they’re even in the same dorm pairings minus Haruka), but there’s still the pesky no romance rule. On the other hand though, there ARE new characters in the senpai. We have Ai, the… er, scientific one (stick around and you’ll see what I mean), Ranmaru, the one with heterochromia and an attitude problem, Reiji, the marginally friendlier one and then Camus, the guy who randomly disappeared after that insert song. Actually, there”s a reason for that (kind of) in that he was Cecil’s senpai of sorts in the game, and Cecil isn’t even enrolled in the school in the anime, so Camus really has no reason to be there right now. Anyways, you can see why I’m not so fond of the senpai at the moment, but I suppose that they do get better as we get to know them better.
A good thing about Ranmaru’s tsun-ness though is that the guys are getting more serious about show business. Not that they weren’t before, but I think he’s a good choice for Masato and Ren since they’re the type to try harder if someone says that something is impossible for them. Ai is kind of the same as Ranmaru, in that his character isn’t afraid to ditch his kouhai if they can’t keep up (not that they said this in the anime). Shou is likely to react to that kind of statement. I’m sure Natsuki will try harder as well if Shou does. …I’m not entirely sure what kind of guidance Reiji will give, but maybe this will help the oh so serious Tokiya relax.
And of course, the fanservice!
…And you thought they couldn’t make this series any more fabulous.
Kyokai || If you are unaware of the Kpop rave, let me tell you, it’s all about fabulous ensemble, dance moves and peppy beats. The major music genres are all there but even more than Jpop, seeing Starish perform, I’m reminded of nothing but SHINee or Super Junior videos. The big message seems to be, the more you know how to ~move it~, the more successful you will be. Readers who are in the know, all the distracting movements, not to mention DAT ASS and ALMOST-KISS over-friendliness between the dudes had me starry-eyed and thoroughly entertained. From the looks of it, this is not the last time we will be seeing such ~moves~.
Karakuri || Yes, they definitely upped the fan service here. From the OP and insert song, there are just a ton of places where the male characters get, er, overly friendly with one another. Of course, there have been hints of it before, but it seems like they upped the level a bit here. …Probably due to the game. The 6 main bishies have been divided up by the fans pretty much already, so let’s see what the senpai bring to all of this.
I don’t think either of us have used fabulous so profusely before but what to do, we are just ridiculously entranced by all the fabulousness. It must have been a chore for a first time watcher to register all the randomly popping characters but for oldies like us, it was alright. Though, what I couldn’t miss is the disappearing act of Camus, the blondie senpai, who just vanished after the sparkly song. I mean, surely it wasn’t my imagination? What up with that? Also, Suzuki Tatsuhisa as a rocking bad boy Ranmaru? HNNG. With Kpop dancing moves and the ridiculous glittering shots, I’m not expecting any serious plot but simple yet fabulous run of this mindless series. I am going to enjoy this. (¬‿¬)
Oh man, this was fun. Also, SOME OF THEM ADMITTED TO LIKING SOMETHING OTHER THAN HARUKA’S MUSIC. It’s a miracle! Combined with the hilarious antics and the fact that they’re keeping the insert songs in here, this should be fun. …I’m not entirely sure how I feel about the upped levels of BL (since that kind of ruined the game for me and part of why I ragequit ), but the fact that they’re also paying attention to Haruka makes things better. So if they keep that balance, I’ll be happy. They even gave all of the characters equal screen time, pretty well (minus Haruka, who was there for the female x male fanservice). I really do hope that Haruka actually does things though. …Not that she did in the first season really, but pretty much any type of action will make her more useful than she was in the game. But yeah, not a bad first episode all things considered and here’s hoping that this turns out as good as the first episode was.
About Tag Team
We live, laugh, enjoy and strictly believe on "more the merrier". When together, we usually come up with very chatty, conversation-based episodics and interesting posts.
POWUH: 500-599 with 519 comments
Oh the fabulousness. It is back. *_* So much dancing and gahh. My poor friends next door probably thought I was crazy. But that dancing!
I was happy that they brought Cecil back and he’s going to join up with Starish. Poor guy only got one episode for him. I want to know more about him!
This whole mentor thing looks really cool(although where is Camus? 0_o) but why do I have the feeling this is going to make a lot of BL vibes come in. >_> I like it normally but otome game adaptation…yeah.
I also have the feeling that less attention will be placed on Haruka not like it is a bad thing but please don’t make her disappear for episodes on end.
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
THE DANCING. ALL OF THE DANCING.
….Luckily episode 2 seemed pretty BL free, but yeah. There are just some things you don’t mix without upsetting a fan base. It’s like taking a yaoi and inserting some female character who steals the spotlight and breaks up the pairings. Nobody wants that. >.>
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
I’ve never actually watched the show, but I love it for the music that comes from it. Confession: I think Morikubo Showtaro is my new favourite seiyuu because his singing voice makes me melt. For that reason alone I’m attempted to watch this anyways…hnnggggg….
If I watch this how much screentime will be devoted to hip-thrusting dance moves like in the ED and Reiji screentime?
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
Uhhh. Not a clue about screen time xD WATCH THIS OC. WATCH THIS. xD
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
::knows he’s throwing it down::
Don’t you think this show is a bit too fabulous?
POWUH: Meta Resident with 1557 comments
No no, that’ll be 3000%
POWUH: 500-599 with 519 comments
It can never be too fabulous. XD
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
…IMPOSSIBLE. I’m sure they could go even further.
POWUH: Lovely-pyon~ with 318 comments
I think the OP just knocked me out, lol.
I’ve been going through some episodes of the 1st season after hearing about the 2nd, and, is it just me, or little Ren and Masato really look like Alois and Ciel? Anyone?
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
I… don’t think so? Kuroshitsuji and UtaPri are both animated by A1 though, so maybe the animation style is similar. Ren does kind of have the same eyes as Alois, but that’s the only resemblance I see.