Reviews for Kabukibu!

Kabuki-bu! I enjoyed this anime a lot more than i thought i would. This is my first review on MAL btw... i thought i had to write something given how badly this show has been perceived by some viewers (maybe because kabuki is not this generation's thing?) Aaaanyway! When i first started this show, i thought the story was gonna go the cheer danshi route where we hardly got any content on the actual club activity. But to my surprise, this show brought the Kabuki and it brought it really hard! i.e. absolutely well executed, enjoyable and still realistic enough. My love for the art called"Kabuki" literally cannot be measured now thanks to Kabuki-bu!. One more reason to love Japan!

Okay lets lazily follow the usual rating system..

Story: 10. Beautiful well written story. I've seen countless of anime and this has to be one of the most well paced story I've seen. The author knows what he wants to achieve with this story and no episode is wasted in pointing that out.

Art & Sound: 10. This part really shines whenever the kids do the kabuki play. You could feel the passion they have for the art from their body movement, facial expressions, plus the costumes are hot! (Genroku era type of hot). Sounds also on point, really sets the atmosphere

Character: 10. What is more important here than character development? well you got tons of it. But what i liked the most was how dynamic the characters are, you can never get bored with them. Totally squad goals.

Enjoyment: 10. I look forward to Fridays not cos of tgif, but cos of Kabuki-bu! The show just has a way of relaxing you. What better way to unwind after a stress-filled week?

Overall: 10. I would like to use this moment to say a big thank you to the author for this beautiful story and to the production team for a well executed job. Thank you for introducing us to the world of kabuki, and for breaking it down so well so we can understand and relate. Here's hoping we get a second season!

And not to forget, if you like relaxing well-paced shows, i recommend kabuki-bu! You should totally see it! And come back to thank me XD

At first it looks fine and slightly interesting, but after episode 1 it starts to get boring. Since the series revolves around Kabuki, we all or at least some of us know it's a classic style of Japanese dance-drama crap that is shi... can be boring. The mc tries to make a Kabuki Club at school but this character is annoying AF sometimes. He basically shouts out these Kabuki lines in public... the anime is based on this weird shouts with make-up... sorry this is just my emotions. Anyway it's not the studio fault, it's just the plot. There might be people out therewho love it but for most of us it's just another anime about weird club activities, it's probably predictable too.

I give the green light to watch but don't go in this expecting a calm kabuki club in a school, shit will happen and Cringe will happen too. I'm personally not gonna enjoy watching the rest.

After I make preogress I will update.

This was one of those series which caught my eye when I was checking out the PVs for Spring a couple of months back. Right now, I can safely say that it has hardly disappointed me and even exceeded my expectations. Kabukibu is a story focusing on a youngster, Kurogo, who is incredibly passionate about kabuki (classical Japanese dance-drama), as he aims to gather people to form a kabuki club, hence the title of the show. The plot is not in any way unique; it's probably not the first time you will have heard of an anime where some guy decides to form a cluband tries to persuade everyone around him to join. However, in place of the plot's simplicity, there were other areas which made the show appealing. First of those which comes to mind would be the comedy. While humor can be pretty subjective from person to person, I found myself really enjoying the comical aspect of the show. The jokes they made didn't really feel forced, most of them felt casual and really things which everyday high school students would do and say. Apart from that, it was also really interesting seeing how Kurogo goes about trying to persuade the others to join him in doing kabuki. Imagine if you were asked to participate in a club which focuses on performing a 400-year-old traditional art form which supposedly has no part to play in modern society. You'll probably decline the offer, wouldn't you? That's exactly how everyone reacted to his proposal at first. And that was just the first of his troubles. Honestly, the ending is predictable and there's nothing to hide, Kurogo was always going to be successful, but this story is about HOW he will accomplish it. That is precisely what's intriguing about the show and makes you want to watch on every week.

Another element of the show I would like to touch on is the characters. What I really love and what I feel really makes the show is the interactions between the characters. It wasn't a one-man show where one know-it-all character goes "Leave this to me, I'll carry everyone". Stuff happened. There were conflicts, some of them even somewhat unexpected, and the characters had to talk to one another in order to solve them. The characters themselves were not unique individuals per se, but together they formed one unique group of people striving towards a common goal. Although the show did not address every single character, I felt they generally did a good job for those they focused more on. The backstories were not too complex to understand, and simple enough for viewers to sympathize with the character involved. Overall, I liked the characters a lot and couldn't really bring myself to dislike any one. With regards to the seiyuus, at one glance you can see that while the cast isn't exactly star-studded, they are all adequately experienced. While it was certainly a challenge for them to try and voice lines in the kabuki style, I feel they did a great job. It actually helps that they aren't adept at kabuki lines, because after all, the characters themselves are mere amateurs, just like the cast.

Checking the synopsis of this anime out, I'm sure you'll start to wonder things like "But I'm not interested in kabuki, will I be able to get into this show?" I can safely assure you that you do not need to have any background knowledge of kabuki in order to watch this. In fact, it's quite the opposite; watching this show could be what gives you the background knowledge of kabuki instead. Of course, if you're already interested in kabuki, you're definitely going to enjoy this anime. Nevertheless, that is not a necessity. I went into this show not knowing much about kabuki (heck, I don't even know much about Japanese traditional arts), but still wound up enjoying myself watching it. Dare I say, it has even got me interested in kabuki to the extent that I would give it a try if I had the chance to.

I'd personally give this anime a 7, or at most 8... but that's just me. I hope reading this can help convince you to ignore the bad ratings and give this anime a chance, because I feel that it truly deserves more attention and love!

I decided to watch this after rewatching Chihayafuru (both seasons). So, unfortunately, I can't help but compare the two? Why? Both MCs are obsessed with a Japanese art form that is difficult for most to understand and dedicate themselves to. It is about them trying to start a club and recruit members for people to partake in the art form. Kind of. Competitive karuta, which is what Chihayafuru is about, isn't an art per se, but it's based on Japanese poetry. I preferred Chihayafuru much more. Here are the reasons: STORY (7/10): Well, the synopsis and my comparison covered that. ART (7/10): Clamp isn't known for pretty.Which is fine because xxxHolic is one of my favorite anime. Chihayafuru is josei so...

SOUND (7/10): There's only three tracks in Kabukibu: the opening, the ending, and this one instrumental piece. All of them are great, but only three?! Okay, there was this one scene where a different piano piece was playing, but it wasn't outstanding. It's only getting a seven because and op and ed were so catchy and the one instrumental piece that was being repeated was quite moving.

CHARACTER (5/10): To continue with anime comparisons, the MC's best friend is like a mix between Kyouya and Mori-senpai from Ouran HSHC. He's taciturn, intelligent, diplomatic, and tech-savvy. I think my word count is higher than his in the anime. Two members are basically Mikorin and Kashima from Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun. The one like Mikorin is a feminine male. The one like Kashima is also a female mistaken for a beautiful male and is also in Drama Club, has a fan club, and is the lead for most of the Drama Club's productions. The reluctant and arrogant character kind of reminds me of the Queen in Chihayafuru, like how she sticks her nose up at team tournaments, he believes that a kabuki club run by amateurs is insulting since he comes from a kabuki family. Overall, the supporting characters weren't too memorable. Also, it lacked a balanced focus on the characters.

THE BIGGEST PROBLEM IS THE MC. He's so dull! Yes, Chihaya was obsessed with karuta, and Daddy Bear, but she had character. She was an airhead in addition to being a karuta nut. Throughout the seasons, she encounters opponents who are basically her teachers. They help her grow. This MC though, I don't remember his name tbh, just cares about kabuki. He's not even good at kabuki. What the hell?

ENJOYMENT (6/10): Despite my biggest complaint, it was still interesting to learn about kabuki. The music was decent. The anime wasn't comedic so that was a let down because my favorite genre is comedy and this could have easily weaved it in.

OVERALL (6/10): To be fair, Chihayafuru had 25 eps per season so it had the chance to be fleshed out. This only had 12 episodes. Give this one a try if you're interested in kabuki. But afterward, totally watch Chihayafuru for some actual conflict and character development and a variety of good music.

It's the most trite, overused, cliche plot: a high school student is passionate about ___. They want to start a club. They need members for the club and eventually persuade four people to join. They all become close friends and have fun. The end. Kabukibu does nothing particularly special or unique to pull the viewer in; the plot follows the exact same formula that all of its similar predecessors have used. You'd expect the kabuki theater setting to make it a bit different, but it’s not. They learn about kabuki, practice plays, and perform. There’s nothing particularly driving about the plot. It’s just… there.Like some ordinary cliche school club anime from 10+ years ago.

One thing I will admit that I’m rather grateful for is that it doesn’t litter unnecessary technical jargon in every line of dialogue. Considering how complex the world of theater is, I was expecting to be slapped in the face with all sorts of terms and definitions, and was pleasantly surprised to see that that wasn’t the case.

While there are a few small moments and flashbacks that set the characters a bit apart from their generic roles, there isn't a lot that make them particularly memorable in any way. For example, the main character directs and writes the scripts for plays rather than acting as one would expect a protagonist to do. But what else? There's not a lot of depth to him or the other characters.

**Edit: as of today (June 23), the anime has ended, and some development/backstory for characters-- namely Ebihara-- is only around half done. You can certainly piece together for yourself that he's on the path to change, but the anime doesn't exactly go all the way with his development. Just thought I'd add that.

This show overall wasn’t...bad, per se. But it was boring, and it was really cliche. I don't think it's worth spending time on.

***edited again for length

The way I would describe this anime is…half decent. There’s nothing really new here and nothing really terrible either. I liked the idea of it. A boy named Kurogu really wants to start kabuki club as he sees it as dying art and wants to bring it to a younger audience. The thought of learning about a new bit of culture and seeing all the cool costumes for used for Kabuki was a nice thought. And the kabuki is interesting. From what I’ve gleamed it uses pretty simple stories like a band of thieves or too people in love and uses fantastic costumes,specific, almost dance like movements and sound effects to bring it to life. And all that was fun. It’s just the rest of it that fell flat.

None of the characters are that interesting. I can’t even really remember their names. Kurogu is the basic overeager boy who is always happy and lives with his mother whom he for some reason calls by her first name which is kind of confusing; I did like that he never let anything stop him from achieving his dream and he apparently sucks at the thing he loves so much and Tonbo is the quiet, nerdy, tech guy who just does whatever Kurogu asks of him. For the rest of the characters after the initial conflict of getting them to be in the club are just kind of there afterwords. Kaoru for example, is a great actor but she’s in the drama club and also a girl so they have to find a way to borrow her from the drama club and have a girl in kabuki which doesn’t really happen apparently unless they’re a love interest. And she’s shown to be an amicable girl who just wants everyone to get along. And you’d think after finally wrestling her away from the stubborn manager of the drama club and even going through a competition to get her in the kabuki club she’d be a bit more of a focus. But she almost never talks after that and other than one episode there's no more conflict between the two clubs. The same for Hanamichi. They work really hard to get him into the club even though at first he scares them and it goes through this whole thing of him being a tough guy who’s secretly a softy, but then he’s just a side character after that and they do nothing with him afterwords. He also changes from tough guy to gay stereotype so quickly, there was no really point to it in the first place. Maruko is my favorite character be far. She makes the costumes as well as cosplay outfits. She’s so sarcastic and just basically hates being there it’s really funny. But once again she stuck in side character land. It could have done so much more with them instead of just more focusing on trying to get the one guy to join the damn club he doesn’t want to join.

Jin and Shin were the most interesting; Jin mostly because the show seems to be focused on his joining the kabuki club and he gets the most development due to it. Jin is really amazing at kabuki but thinks people in the club are just doing it for fun and looks down on them for not taking it seriously. He’s overly polite and a perfectionist which sometimes gets him in trouble such as when Kurogu and Tonbo show up at his house he can;t just kick them out and instead offers them tea which is kind of funny. He’s trying to work hard to be as good as his famous kabuki actor grandpa and gets into conflict with his father for the former not being around a lot and Jin’s not being a regular boy. As for Shin, he’s a good kabuki actor with a apparently famous kabuki actor as his dad who tragically died. But instead of wanting to be like his father, he wants to be a rock star. Shin is loud and obnoxious, basically you're typical anime rocker dude. Something that's stands out a bit is that he has to live with grandma because his mom married a man that lives in the U.S. and moved there.

That brings me to the second problem with this anime besides underdeveloped characters. Seriously issues are never taken seriously. Jin doesn’t get along with his dad and constantly fights with him? Never bring it up again. Kurogu’s mom is never home? Oh he’s fine! He has Tonbo! Shin’s mom abandoned for a man and moved to America which upset him so much that when she does come back to see him perform he wants nothing to do with her and gets depressed enough to not want to leave his bed? Get over! We have a show to do! And it works! These issues are brought up and then brushed aside almost immediately like they don’t’ matter but they do! It’s like the story writers wanted character development but didn’t understand how to deal with the fall out and it’s infuriating to see characters who are suppose to be friends say that the other characters problems are basically stupid and don’t matter.

My last point is about the voice acting. It’s atrocious. Well two parts are really and that's enough to make me hate it.. Hanamichi’s voice starts out fine. It fits the design they gave his character. But then once he joins the club, he’s given this high-pitched girly voice that doesn’t match at all and starts acting like the gayest stereotype imaginable and it’s grating. I don’t know why he couldn’t keep his old voice. The second part is when they actually do kabuki. Every time the club started putting on a performance I dreaded it. Not because it wasn’t well done. The costumes were great, the sets were cool, the interactions backstage were fun to watch, but the voice they use for it made me want to jab a screwdriver into my ear drums. It made me miss the moments of them just talking about the plays or just hanging out eating lunch. Which those parts were fun, don’t get me wrong. I liked all of the characters practicing and figuring out what plays to do and who does which part, or having them just hanging out and being friends. Hell, the most interesting episode was watching them update a play so that younger audiences would get it. But kabuki is the main focus so it was just constantly me pulling my headphones halfway off so I would have to listening to it that much. And I get that it’s apparently the actual voice used for actual kabuki performances but my God, it felt like someone was yelling directly into my ear and doing it in such a slow, agonizing manner like people who think that the deaf will hear them if the talk slower and more exaggerated. It drove me insane.

Overall I’d give Kabukibu a D. The setting is whatever, it’s just Japan, the animation is smooth, the characters are underdeveloped, I don’t really remember much about the music, the only conflict is getting Jin to join the club and every other one is brushed under the rug, the art-style isn’t anything new and the voice acting is annoying as all hell. I wouldn’t re watch it, or hope for a season two and kind of wish I hadn’t watched it in the first place; even if I did learn a bit about kabuki. It’s just one of those anime that you watch and soon enough, forget about.

It's such a run of the mill "school club" sort of anime. Of course, the story progression of the show makes it quite terrible. I think the anime has no idea whether or not it wants to be treated seriously or not. They make some "tragic" backstories for every character in the show. But then, it takes like around 3 minutes of interaction for the character to tell the main character about his tragic backstory, and another three to get chummy with the rest of cast. One character in particular completely opens up to the main character within a few seconds. I really don't get it.Then, you'd think the story is serious, but it apparently tries too hard to incorporate comedy / slice of life stuff, which are also really mediocre.

Honestly, the story arcs by themselves are considered average, but when considering the whole story, it's a joke. The kabuki club magically gains many members within a few episodes, everyone is best friends with everybody else in another 2. Character development doesn't exist in this show, nor do their character motivations make any sense at all. People just join the club without any prior interest because the author wants to keep the plot moving. And of course, we have the classic enthusiastic MC, childhood friend character, flamboyant character, etc. While not the worst characters I have seen, they aren't too original and I would have liked to see some better characters overall.

Plus, the slice of life is terrible, the way the actual kabuki plays turn out are also bad, so there really isn't any sort of incentive to watch this show other than the initial premise: creating a kabuki club. Granted, as a non-Japanese person, I have surface knowledge of kabuki. So I picked this show up for 9 episodes. I did learn a bit about it, not going to lie, but there's nothing original about this show other than the kabuki premise. It's a dead show that doesn't try to do anything interesting. Instead, it follows a formula that's been done to death, and horribly at that. Plus the art is actually quite bad. When the characters do their "kabuki voices" the lip sync is so bad I wanted to close the show immediately.

There's no incentive for me to keep on watching as the story is terrible and characters are boring.

Kurogu had a love of kabuki theater instilled in him from a very young age thanks to his grandfather. Now, as a high school student, he desires to create his own kabuki club in order to bring an appreciation of kabuki to a wider audience. He'll find, though, that with the weight of hundreds of years of strict tradition, it's not so easy to get high schoolers interested. A rough start is not enough to deter Kurogu, and he’ll work hard to inspire in others the same burning passion he feels, until the day he can put on his own performance! The character development isn't nice,it's not entertaining. However its attempt to portray a unique japanese culture is definitely interesting.

With Clamp designing the characters, the artwork is incredible.

There is not much story behind it and character sidestories have been rushed. It takes less than 3 minutes to show the complex background of the character which is frustrating.

However, watching a unique culture will not be boring.

Not really a master piece, but this is what I would call a hidden gem. So yes, 6-point-something MAL score is definitely less than what this show deserves. So, the premise of the story is an optimistic boy loving something and want to spread that love by gathering member to make a team, or a school club in this case. Sounds cliche, right? Yes, even the most of the characters are the usual mix-ups: The Optimistic Guy, The Super Smart Guy, and even The 'Refuse Doing Something Because of Some Dark Issues But Ended Up Doing It' Guy. Some people might think this is just another boring,cliche slice-of-life. I also thought that at first. I even almost dropped it. But after watching about third of the show, after about 3-4 episodes, I started to like the characters more, started to appreciate this thing called kabuki that they're trying to explore more, started getting curious about what they'll do next. The plot doesn't really develop much more even until the very end. But I think, the interesting point of this show lies in its characters.

For the MC, we have the ever optimistic little guy, Kuro. Barely has any personality in the early episodes, I found out that he is much more a realist than I thought he was. He's so stubborn, but he knows when he needs to give up and is quick to make decisions if something doesn't go according to the plan. He also has his moments where his confidence deflates, and I realized much later that many of the characters has something 'hidden' beneath their first impression personalities.

Another thing that I like about this show is that it touched some topics that many people actually struggle in real life (such as confidence issues, femininity/masculinity issues, body image issues, abandonment from parents, people's expectations) without making it overly dramatic, and even showed that the characters themselves can overcome the problems.

All in all, yes, it's not a master piece or something. But definitely a worth watching in my opinion.

Story: 8 Kurogo is really cheerful and sincere about Kabuki, giving his own opinion on things and advice for his friends. It definitely shows a bit of what Kabuki is about and you will be able to learn some of it. However, it started off with an overused plot of some typical school animes that shows the main character wanting to start a club being all positive about it and starts to recruit more people to join in. Also, I actually find myself not really focusing or remembering some of the lines in the script for some of the Kabuki plays, be it big or smallas I got a bit confused with what it was talking about and don't find myself remembering it.

Characters: 9

The characters are really interesting with different personalities. The anime progresses and slowly leaks some family background in each episode about some of the characters which are not too difficult to understand and sometimes can be quite shocking.

Art: 7

Not the greatest but still pretty good enough for me, knowing CLAMP's art style. The way they animate Kabuki is beautiful and makes you appreciate this sort of culture that Japan has.

Enjoyment: 8

This kind of anime is for people who want to enjoy something laid-back and not about serious Kabuki. The first two episodes were kind of boring for me to watch but, I still continued to watch hoping it will get better which it did, thankfully. As I reach the last episode, it feels a bit incomplete for me as I feel there are some things which can be explained further. For example, for Ebihara.

Actually hoping that there will be a Season 2 for this. Giving this anime 8/10

I'm salty about some of the reviews on here. This anime deserves more credit than people give it. Story: The story is basic. It's a typical high school anime with a club involved. But it's about kabuki. There aren't a lot of kabuki animes in general.Because of that, it might be difficult for people to get into. Art: It's alright. I like the design of the characters. Sound: Not anything to scream about but it's not bad.Character:

In my opinion one of the most redeeming factors of this anime. Everyone has a motivations that makes them go a little bit beyond their trope. They are all likable and no one makes me want to rip my scalp. Even the support characters are very endearing.

Enjoyment:

With the aspect of Kabuki it's unique. I enjoy the interactions between characters. The conflict is solved by alternate means instead of yelling at each other for several episodes and the conflict doesn't revolve around stupid misunderstands and the lack of communication. There's a lot of communication.

Compared to other highschool animes, this one lacks the same intensity and 'over the top'-ness that modern animes tend to have. However that doesn't make it bad. It makes it feel like a very natural anime.

Overall:

There are some animes that don't deserve the high ratings that they get. Then there are the hidden gem animes that don't deserve the low ratings that they get. Kabukibu is one of the animes that doesn't deserve such low ratings.

This is a relaxing anime and people should give it a shot :)

This is my first review on MAL and I was mostly driven by the low-ish ratings on here when, personally, the 12 episodes were indeed quite the delight! Kabukibu! was rather an unexpected find and quite the unexpected gem! As a non-Japanese person who enjoys anime as well as the art and culture that Japan has to offer, Kabukibu! was indeed an eye-opener as I had been of the thought that Kabuki was primarily a dance form but apparently it is a type of dance-drama performance and I wouldn't have known that had it not been for this anime! Kabukibu! gives a thoroughly slice-of-life-esque look intothe art form set within the context of a high school and its various clubs; to summarize: it shows the extreme perseverance of a single student and his attempts to have his high school provide a platform wherein people can casually learn and practice Kabuki, which in this universe, is an unusual feat (Aspects of this can appear somewhat corny, to be blunt). It allows the viewer to know the basic nuances of what goes into Kabuki within the span of 12 episodes through the perspective of characters that either love or at the very least understand Kabuki, characters who indulge in the performance of the same, and audiences of various age groups who either know or do not know about the art form. It enables the viewer to see the value of such an art form from a cultural point in addition to depicting ways in which the art form could be distant from the modern viewer and even makes attempts at bridging that gap...

By no means, is this anime some masterpiece but it sure does offer a good time, a thorough ground for base-level knowledge about Kabuki as far as an anime in a high school setting can go with predominantly high school characters; it's soft, simple, cheesy, wholesome to some extent but absolutely enjoyable if one was to give it a chance...It's a fairly lesser-known anime and I for one, believe that it deserves more than the 6-point-something rating that it currently has on MAL! Again, it's no solid banger but it is fairly decent for a single-season anime! :) (And it had me looking up actual Kabuki videos on YouTube, so I suppose that's a plus as well!)

A simple and yet complex work of storytelling medium about the art of Kabuki from the Japanese culture. A story about following your dream and doing everything without any regrets later. The story at first glance it may seem generic , a high school student trying to make a kabuki club and recruiting members, but after a few episodes the anime starts to shine and reveal its main attraction which are the characters . The characters are what makes Kabuki-bu worth watching it. They are not simple or plain either not sophisticated or pretentious , their true nature is revealed on stage duringthe Kabukibu play. Don’t be fooled by the new concept this anime delivers for its viewers ,everything about the art of kabukibu is explained during those 12 episodes. To make it more attractive and interesting the anime tries new methods for its story deviating from the original Kabuki-bu and adding modern elements so that the viewers can understand what the characters actions and dialogue scenes are all about.

The anime presents his characters to its audience not through the generic and overused plot aspects (eating the bento on top of the roof school, forced romance , fanservice, changing locker accidents ) but with the help of the Kabuki-bu art. On stage during the play our characters reveal to us their inner struggles and ambitions , their dreams and how hard they work for what they enjoy doing.

A slice of life story told through the art of Kabuki-bu about spending your youth and doing what you truly want from the bottom of the heart without the usual melodrama, forced romance, fanservice just following the plot and story which is to reveal more about the art of Kabuki-bu in Japan.

Okay, I dropped this only five episodes in because it was so predictable in storywriting, and its character trope. For those that don't know Kabuki is a dramatic Japanese theater play meant to be outlandish and downright erratic. It's one of Japan's most popular forms of playwright and has been around for hundreds of years. If you want to learn a bit about kabuki, then this anime would give you some pointers about it. But if you're looking for a decent story involving it, you may have to wait longer on that. The story is cliche, following a generic looking boy who loves kabuki maybea little too much, and he ends up making a club for it. Here's come the part where it starts to become cringy. When it comes to kabuki, you're supposed to be doing exaggerated acting and display it loudly for your audience.

The guy does this...out in public, with no context or warning. Maybe its due to my Western culture, but anyone doing stuff like that in public gives me second-hand embarassment. I'm not sure how the Japanese handles things like this, but I wouldn't think clapping and cheering would be one of them.

As for the characters, well, there's nothing to say. They're just typical tropes that aren't really explored or expanded on. There's your "I'm a professional kabuki, why should I join an amateur club?" character, there's your "i'm a girl, but I wanna play kabuki even though its male only" character, the "i'm a popular lover boy" character, etc. There's nothing really interesting about them.

I dropped this show five episodes in after seeing the main character (boring, brown hair guy whose only personality is liking kabuki) faint and then everyone has to pitch in to save the play because that is just what he wanted.

If you like kabuki a lot like that guy, then be my guest. Otherwise, maybe check around for other things. (As I written this review, the anime is oddly only viewable on Prime, and some random streaming site.)

Kabukibu is a story I went into with high expectations. One of my favorite anime stories of all time is Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu, and while I didn't expect this to rival that work, the concept of another anime whose main focus is an archaic form of Japanese theatrical storytelling was something that greatly interested me. This may have been a bit of a mistake, because at the beginning of this story I felt that my expectations were far too high. However, as the story progresses, we do manage to get some things that I find very interesting that gives the work its own reasonto exist. Let me explain.

STORY -------------- 7/10

The story itself is rather generic. It is about a group of classmates interested in an activity, and their struggles and attempts to do said activity. This can be easily compared to other works of this genre, or even idol shows, or as I tended to think of it, a sports series. Sports stories have lots of training before bigger events, giving the characters a chance to grow and evolve as they attempt to improve. Kabukibu does something similar in that characters have their progression and conflicts in between these moments of Kabuki, but herein lies one of the problems with the story.

The Kabuki sections themselves are rather short when they appear. The longest performance happens near the end of the series itself, and this may cause a problem when it comes to getting viewers interested in the art of kabuki. We have a performance that may get people interested about halfway through the show, but that is also rather short for the buildup the show gives it. Personally, I think the show could have used more long-form kabuki performances, like the one that happens in the last episode.

Outside of the Kabuki performances, later on in the series the story brings up some interesting questions about the act of kabuki theater itself, and this was honestly one of the most interesting parts of the series. I don't really want to bring up spoilers, but there are some interesting questions that are brought up by the kinds of people who are interested in a 400-year old art form.

ART ------------- 5/10

Kabukibu is pretty generic in its art style, and there's not a huge amount of good animation moments. In fact, I can more frequently remember moments of poor or reused animation than good moments of animation. I would forgive this if we had more kabuki moments, but sadly the fact that there aren't a great amount of kabuki performances means that it feels like a show on a budget. I will say the final episode has to have some of the best animation in the show with its final kabuki performance, but I wish that this happened more in the series itself rather than only giving us this good animation in the end.

SOUND ------ 6/10

I don't have much to say in this department. Voices were decent, and the OST frequently used a leitmotif that gave the story a nice sort of theme to it. The sounds of the tsuke and the shamisen during the kabuki sections were great, and it also has a good opening, but nothing related to the sound in this series will really stick with me.

CHARACTER --------- 7/10

Characters start out pretty boring and generic, but later on they are given interesting and enjoyable interactions. Tonbo in particular is a character I really enjoy. The characters really follow the main sorts of archetypes you would expect from a show about a club, but again their interactions and development are given unique and fun touches.

ENJOYMENT ------------- 7/10

While I didn't really like it coming into the series and it felt boring to sit through, once I hit around Episode 5 I was finally more interested, and the last episode was exactly what I wanted from this show. It asked questions I didn't really expect it to and gave realistic answers that also continue to raise questions about the art form itself. It's pretty interesting by the end. I was hoping it would be better animated, especially during the kabuki sections, but I did like one or two of the cast by the end.

OVERALL ---------- 6/10

There were some problems, especially going into it. I don't think this series is going to convince people that aren't already at least mildly interested in Kabuki to look into Kabuki. I don't think I will be doing so, and I wouldn't blame others for feeling the same. It's slow-paced and feels oddly focused at times, but by the end manages to deliver something I was really looking forward to, and on the way brought up some concepts and ideas that were really fun.