B-Project: Kodou＊Ambitious Episode 1 [First Impression]

Eva’s First Impression

As someone who has liked Utapri *glares at the train-wreck of Season 3*, B-Project was something I was eagerly looking forward to in hopes to fill the void that Utapri S3 has left behind. B-Project certainly has its differences and similarities to Utapri when it comes down to the format and its premiere. In fact I was incredibly relieved they didn’t waste the episode’s time with long pointless introductions and more or less cut straight to the chase. However very early one I realized their dialogue and characters were not clicking with me. The dialogue at times felt as it was coated in too much sugar and other times they were just losing me because like Tsubasa, I had no idea what they were talking about until they explained it.

B-Project is divided into three units. They are Kitakore (Tomohisa and Ryuji as a duo), THRIVE (Yuta (peppy/pink), Kento (player/blue), Goshi (hot-headed/black), trio unit) and MooNs (Hikaru (green), Tatsuhiro (purple), Mikado (glasses), Momotaro (red- he also has two eye colors), Kazuna (orange, identified as their leader but really isn’t), make up the five man unit. Of all the characters, the ones who stood out to me the most were Tomohisa, Ryuji, Goshi.

Our heroine Tsubasa was scouted and assigned to serve as B-Project’s A&R by President of Gandara Music. It was perplexing to me how she was chosen for the job despite the fact she has virtually no experience or musical knowledge (she formerly worked at a CD Store). Her first assignment was to work with the Kitakore Unit where they were struggled with identifying a problem with the song they kept running into. It wasn’t until the middle/end of the episode, based on how she identified the problem was a dissonance. It leads me to assume she was hired because the president recognized she has an ear for music. With this she is able to hear and identify sounds in ways others cannot. This would further explain why she felt something was off with their demo version of their song they were playing in the car.

However while my first impression of Tsubasa’s character was how she was adorable and charming (especially with how she was so overwhelmed by how dazzling the boys were and how she pictures the problem), over the course of the episode she started to feel a bit bland to me. But it wouldn’t be fair to say she was the only thing that started to feel bland- as the minutes passed, the episode started to feel dull well. It certainly didn’t help (though the circumstances were more or less justified to do so) to have to hear the song over, and over and over again. While the final edition of the song was good, at that point unfortunately I was already kind of sick of it and was ready to move on. Oh and not to mention the weird sparkles, they really didn’t need to use it.

It definitely feels as though this show will be referencing to many musical terms which some of us may not know what they mean. Just in this premiere alone made me feel just as lost as Tsubasa was, but thankfully they plugged in some quick explanations behind them. I would expect of them to continue to do that over the course of the show, especially since it will be a major part of Tsubasa’s growth as their A&R/Manager.

Although I have found the premiere of B-Project to be a bit lackluster to my taste, I liked it. I am not sure how the show will play out, but as of right now it appears Tsubasa will be assigned to different units from time to time and every now and then we might see them group up again to perform. Currently the conflict they are facing are gaining momentum and experience to protect themselves from being cut from opportunities in favor for another more famous artist from the same agency. My best guess is this story will heavily revolve around getting B-Project group established. As for the animation quality, I was thrilled to see the dancing was not done in CGI, but I think most of us can agree is did look bit awkward and slow. Other than that the characters designs are nice.

Also in the post-credits, Tomohisa gave Tsubasa a peck on the check while she dozed off in the car (Ryuji’s reaction was priceless). That being said, I know romance was not included in the show’s genre, but I am curious if they might tease us a bit with it (please don’t unless you’re going to do it, my heart can’t handle it).

Possibility of Blogging: Moderate – I will give this show three to five episodes (I assume the first three will feature each unit) to see if they can draw me in more.
Possibility of Watching: High