Show By Rock!!

Episodes 1-2

In many respects, Show By Rock!! is "Sanrio does moe," and yet Sanrio has somehow created something more inclusive than ever. The series is purported to be born from Sanrio's attempt to capture the adult male demographic, in ironically the opposite way from how that feat would be tackled stateside. (Cutesy animal-eared girls in adorable dresses might be more appealing to Sanrio's typical little girl and young adult female crowd in the West.)

That said, while the original character designs (made for a 2013 Japanese iOS game) may have been created with adult men in mind, this anime adaptation has something for everyone. (That's not to say that the rhythm game on which the series is based is in any way risqué.) Cute high school girls sporting animal ears and short skirts? Check. Sexy visual kei-inspired bare-breasted men who are also sporting animal ears? Double check. Adorable Sanrio-style anthropomorphic chibi animals? Check times infinity. You have to embrace the animal theme to find the characters appealing, but if you can do that, you're left with foot-tapping music, a heavy dose of madcap humor, a colorful electric nightscape and CG that meshes seamlessly with the 2D animation for once in anime.

You're also left with a lot of questions. Why does Cyan, our protagonist, have to come from the ordinary world? So far, her real-world origins have added to her sense of being a "fish out of water," but she seems to take it all in stride to the point where you have to wonder if simply being born a Myumon denizen of Midi City with musical dreams would have been enough. Then again, it provides her talking guitar with a prime opportunity for info-dumping in the second episode to try and bring Cyan (and the audience) up to speed.

"Try" is the key word here. The basics boil down to an anthropomorphic animal city whose inhabitants feed on magic musical crystal energy and have to fight demons who strive to taint said energy. Why the band members walk around like humans in animal cosplay most of the time in a city that's home to countless animal people is presently unclear, along with the reason they turn into adorable CG animals whenever they're onstage. ("When Myumons perform, they can transform into bodies for that purpose," explains the guitar, but I'm still confused. Most of the Myumons we've seen are perpetually chibi-fied.)

Although Cyan and her all-girl band, Plasmagica, are undoubtedly the stars of the show, we also see an awful lot of two all-boy bands. Trichronika, led by a male animal Rainbow Brite so cool that he has a star in his name, are Cyan's agency's rivals, although she meets them first and manages to save them from demonic taint using her natural awesome musical powers. ShinganCrimsonz is her agency's only other band, and they steal the show (no pun intended) during their appearance in the second episode with their comically over-the-top members. However, as Cyan's band is still evolving, it makes sense for them to observe groups that are further down the path to rock stardom than they are.

The show is surprisingly light on fanservice moments. The strange egg agency president, Maple Arisugawa, has the "lecherous old man" anime trope down pat without existing solely to lift skirts or leer. Retoree, the tsundere dog girl bassist, tries to snap a covert pic of Cyan and Chuchu the bubbly rabbit girl guitarist in their pajamas. Men frequently pose with their chests exposed as if modeling. However, true to Sanrio's child-friendly roots, the show never lingers on fanservice to the point where it dominates the content.

Show By Rock!! is hard to pin down. It's like a pinch of Di Gi Charat, a dash of The IDOLM@STER and a quart of Sanrio-style magical girls mixed together and thrown into a frenetic cyberpunk setting. It attempts to do too much at once, yet it manages to juggle plot points fairly well so far. While the story isn't the strongest or most straightforward out there, and too many characters are introduced too quickly, the striking color scheme, attractive CG, and catchy music will likely keep viewers coming back for more.

Rating: B+

Show By Rock!! is currently streaming on Funimation.

Amy is a YA fantasy author who has loved anime for two decades.