Uta no Prince Sama – Serious Love 1000% Anime Review

Uta no Prince Sama – Serious Love 1000% Score: 7.0

INTRODUCTION & SYNOPSIS

Uta no Prince Sama was announced to have a 4^th season recently, so I figured it must be a pretty good reverse harem to get so many seasons! So, I watched the first season over the weekend and will give you my thoughts. I think it is a good reverse harem/ shoujo; it’s poppy and fun. The animation is bright and great for both romance and comedy elements of the story. However, the story line wasn’t at all what I was expecting from the title! I was expecting to see some Princes and a Princess, but wasn’t too disappointed to find out it was about students in a school for Pop Idols & Composers. The concept is interesting enough, though the story line be somewhat typical and unimaginative.

A young girl with striking yellow eyes has played the piano since a young age with her Grandmother. One day, she visits the busy streets of Tokyo; distressed and disheveled from all of the noise, a single voice seemingly calls out to her from the mega-tron above - Hayato. The famous Idol sings so beautifully, that she is touched and determined to compose music for him one day. Now college age, she decides to take a chance, and apply to a prestigious Idol & Composer school to fulfill this dream. Although she is late to her admissions test, several handsome young Idol-to-be’s plead her case to the guards, as they saw her helping a young girl on her way. With such a noble reason for her tardiness, she gains access, passes the test, and her new life begins!

PROS

The first thing I noticed, in a positive light, about this anime was the animation. It’s very bright and poppy, which fits the theme and premise perfectly. Then, it throws in comic relief animation changes for good measure. Additionally, the setting sucks you in; they were very smart about this. Since this is a shoujo, they clearly play on the fact that most girls dream about being near idols and going to fancy schools. Once they’ve established the brilliant dreamland, they suck you in further with quirky and fun characters. Typically, in a reverse harem or even a standard harem, the main character has a very typical personality, while in contrast, all of the counterparts she meets are very lively and unique – Uta no Price Sama is no exception. The guys all have dynamic personalities that draw you to them. For example, one of them loves cute things and drinking tea, but when you remove his glasses he turns in to a hardcore rage monster! In addition, side characters, such as the President of the school, also have fun and unique characteristics. The President has a very boisterous and slapstick personality, and they also had a teacher who is a cross-dressing popular idol. All of this made for an entertaining environment.

The show had a light-hearted feel about it that made for easy viewing and a good casual watch. They built bonds with each of the characters well, and I truly did feel like they were all good friends. By the end, you do care about the well-being of the characters, which says good things for the character development. Lastly, the opening and ending themes were well-done and catchy.

CONS

One of the major cons that I have for this show is the music. I know, I just said I liked the opening and ending themes! They were good, but as you would imagine from a show about Idols and composers, there was a lot more to the musical score than that. Sometimes the music was boring or unlikable, which is not good for a show revolving around musical performances. There were times that I felt “wowed” by the animated performances, but more often than not, it was lack luster.

Another con for me kind of starts to spill over to the second season (which I have only seen 3 episodes of) so I can't count it too much towards the total score. However, towards the end of season 1, a magical god of music “Cecil” appears to Haruka in a dream-like state. It was weird, and didn’t fit with the show in my opinion. I could forgive it, except he ends up becoming a main character in season 2… and I really just don't like him. I’ll leave it at that.

Lastly, I was disappointed in the fact that Haruka doesn’t pick a guy. I have no idea if she does in later seasons (I hope so!), but there was this point where you really thought she would have to make a choice (I was rooting for Hayato or the red haired guy whose name I forget) and she just doesn’t. Instead it’s a happy dream-land, I pick all of you, kind of end. What’s worse, this is a game based anime. In the game, you would pick someone, so I feel like she should have to in the anime. This happened in brothers conflict as well, which irritated me so much!

FINAL THOUGHTS

All in all, I did enjoy myself when watching Uta no Prince Sama. Additionally, I have to think about the fact that this may be intended for a younger audience, which explains most of its downfalls. Therefore I have awarded Uta no Prince Sama – Serious Love 1000% a score of 7 out 10! Not bad at all really, but you would get the most enjoyment, I think, if you are a younger girl who fangirls over idols. (: