Anime Review: I★Chu: Halfway Through the Idol Episode 1

I★Chu: Halfway Through the Idol

Studio: Lay-Duce

Genre: Music, Slice of Life, Comedy

Streaming: Crunchyroll

There are about four idol anime airing this season (five if you count Show by Rock!! Stars!!) and I★Chu: Halfway Through the Idol (abbreviated to Ichu henceforth) is the only one of the bunch focusing on male idols. Carrying on from many other idol animes in recent years such as Ensemble Stars and Idolish7, this series originally came to life as a mobile rhythm game aimed mainly at a female audience. I used to play a great many of these myself a few years back (I adore rhythm games of all variety), and Ichu was one of the ones I played for a brief time – it wasn’t one that really stuck with me generally because I didn’t find the music itself to be all that great. The bands themselves were very gimmicky, and whilst it had a gorgeous art style it was ultimately one I dropped pretty fast. It’s also a game that I didn’t think ever received much in the way of popularity, so I was surprised to find out it was getting an anime series.

The anime itself focuses on a bunch of new idol groups, recently after starting at a prestigious school with the aim of working towards becoming full-fledged idols. The Headmaster, a former idol, dressed in a ridiculous bear costume which gave me big Dangan Ronpa vibes, quickly informs them that they must sell a large number of CDs within a time limit or risk expulsion.

First, it’s worth mentioning that the show itself features some gorgeous animation – in-game the character designs were depicted by many different artists making it very inconsistent throughout but here, the characters designs are very attractive, more so in the game from my memory. The visuals are clean and sharp, with lots of colour. As with a lot of idol series, the one performance we see does switch from 2d animation to CGI, which unfortunately looks rather clunky – the choreography itself so basic it really doesn’t benefit much from being showcased. Ichu does suffer from a similar problem seen in many of these ensemble cast idol shows – an overinflated cast making it rather messy and difficult to tell many of the characters apart. Of the huge amount of groups in the original game, the show introduces about four in the first episode, though does choose to centre on the underdog trio of Fire Fenyx. Unfortunately, this group is probably the least interesting of the ones showcased, and whilst there’s a realistic focus on the awkwardness that comes with a new group learning how to work together, it’s ultimately not riveting.

Starting with the trio attempting their first street performance together, it’s very obvious how out of sync they are with the leader Seiya, becoming just a bumbling comedy act eventually. It comes across more as cringey than heart-warming, unfortunately, as does their eventual connection through Seiya’s motivational speech towards the end of the episode. There are a few hints about the character’s deeper developments and personalities made by the Producer and Director, but mostly the characters come across as rather shallow. The rest of the idol groups shown are mostly boiled down to tropes and odd gimmicks – we have the twin pranksters, the group of artists, the group of all international members. Whilst the initial diversity between all the groups is interesting ultimately it doesn’t really add much to the show itself, beyond just being able to tag the groups into their categories. The music seen so far didn’t really blow me away either – personally, I really disliked the opening but the ending was much better and more fun, in keeping with the show’s more comedic and slice of life nature.

Ultimately, there isn’t really a lot to mark out Ichu as being anything special at this point in time – it’s a light watch but feels lacking in terms of any real depth. Still, if you want a comedy series about a group of boys trying their best in the music industry then this is probably up your alley – just don’t go in expecting to think too deeply about it.