Key Takeaways
- “Girls Band Cry” is a top anime of 2024 with emotional 3D animation and attractive characters.
- The series takes a more realistic and satirical approach to original music-focused content than its peers.
- Although primarily using 3D animation, “Girls Band Cry” combines elements of 2D and 3D animation.
While 3D animation and its use in animation production is something that many fans do not like, the approach has had various moments of success, one of which is the musical drama of Toei Animation is about a girl who leaves her family. to pursue a musical career in Tokyo.
Girls Band Cryingwith its 3D and engaging way of expressing funny ideas, it was one of the best anime of 2024, and for a while, it couldn't even travel outside of Japan. Here's why Girls Band Crying must be seen, and why it is different from its counterparts K-On! or Bocchi The Rock!
What is the Girls Band Crying About?
You guessed it, it's Music
17-year-old Nina Iseri is determined to find her life's purpose. He left his hometown to travel to Tokyo, where he got lost and locked in his house on the first day. His fortunes take a turn for the worse as as he wanders the city, he runs into Momoka Kawaragi, one of his favorite musicians and the force that inspired him to come to Tokyo in the first place.
Nina joins Momoka in a street concert, and then Momoka asks Nina to form a band with him, she is reluctant at first, but as they gather more members, they start the dream came true. Hiding in plain sight, Nina talks about a toxic relationship with her family that affects how she appears in the band they named. “Togenashi Togeari” (thorns without thorns). Each member of the group leaves some place, and each has a reason, which makes the journey Girls Band Crying not only about the formation of Thornless Thorn but also about the mental health and history of its members. There were 13 episodes from April to June this year.
In terms of production, Girls Band Crying is directed by Kazuo Sakai, with a script by Jukki Hanada, who has a lot of experience in such series as a script writer for many times rewriting the Love-Live! School idol project anime and even worked with Sakai on one of them. The series also has music by Yūsuke Tanaka, designs by nari Teshima and veteran actress Chika Yamazaki as animation director. Toei Animation is credited as the original creator of Girls Band Cryingwhich features Rina as Nina Iseri, Yuri as Momoka Kawaragi, Mirei as Subaru Awa, Natsu as Tomo Ebizuka and Syuri as Rupa.
A very realistic view
Girls Band Cry is more ironic than its peers
When series producer Tadashi Hirayama joined Toei in August 2019, he was approached to produce his first music-focused series, prompting him to sign up Sakai and Hanada as they worked with Love-Live! Sunshine!!. As he had already made dramas about idols, Hirayama directed his focus to the Japanese rock scene, and the economic impact of the epidemic was cited as a reason for the series to be more realistic. exists and will focus more on showing the difficulties faced by musicians. for some of his previous work. For example, players still have to deal with the concepts of everyday life such as finding and keeping a job, and competing for a good place to play in street shows with other artists.
Apart from the hope of the family that she left her home to escape, Nina realizes that life alone is not really a good time when she goes a whole week without talking to anyone, but when she is given the opportunity to meet new people is cold and disinterested. In the moment when Nina feels the lack of memory of things from the past, there is a visual effect where the red thorn starts to emerge from her, with different levels depending on the trigger. , which is a nice touch. A great moment is when Tomo and Rupa try to record in their apartment and they see the cardboard boxes that Tomo put on his head and over the microphone to try to block out the sound and make the best of it. the record of a place. not suitable for this purpose. Studio time is very expensive.
CGI Done Well: Crying Girls Band is good
What makes 3D a good choice for this series?
It's easy to dismiss the anime series entirely because it lacks the kind of visuals that are often associated with anime, but if the anime production shows skill and respect for the story and characters, isn't that enough? What makes 3D so unpopular in the first place is that it gives a completely different feel to the cel-shaded, 2D animation style that we understand as “anime”. While many modern animations use 3D or CGI to augment 2D, the use of 3D primarily in animation production can seem like a fundamental divorce.
There is a lot of problem solving involved in producing 2D animation – from shapes to colors to realistic motion; the idea that images move and can do so in ways that either magically exaggerate reality, or find “believable” ways of simulating what might not be reality is one of the most impressive things about animation in general. In general, 3D can feel strange, but in the case of titles like the various works produced by Studio Orange, there are many moments that show the value of such production.
When Toei adopted the use of 3D animation for one of these Dragon Ball The film of the franchise, it is different, but in the end it is a visual success, especially when it comes to fighting and graphics. Girls Band Crying is a great visual experience, not because of the many details in the series, but because of the way it is presented in the way we usually associate with 2D anime, so it seems to combine elements from both senses , to the point where the moments in the opening sequence that are more like the animation style we are used to, are all the more impressive because they have a “gift” that makes them even more impressive. than it would have been if the part had been more detailed. in a completely traditional photographic style. 3D is at its best during performances, creating a “music video” or live performance that elevates these scenes and uses three dimensions effectively to enhance the music.
Very funny
Because It's Not Just Fun
Although it can be very stressful because the members of the group have different situations, and there can be a lot of conflict between the members of the group, Girls Band Cryingget a lot of jokes. From Nina who was told that holding up her two fingers means “thank you you” and then pulls this gesture from the staff at a restaurant after a hearty meal (perhaps the most famous image of the series), to the unquote Momoka -not a terrible aspect of being a member of a group of speeches that should inspire Nina. formed with him, or doves bubbling the head of Nina's beat instead learned (and later had him write “the pigeon is on the beat” in his paper while in the library), the series is very funny.
It creates a great balance of hope inherent in a show like this; his more personal approach; humor and situations of the characters. There are also quite a few funny parts, almost like rock rhythms and various riffs that fill most of the silence in each scene. Although it has not been available outside of Japan for some time, it can be streamed on Fandango at Home, Microsoft, Hoopla, and Amazon Prime Video.
