Kageki Shojo!! (2021) - Review
"I was given the gift of being born a girl - so l'm going to give it everything l've got."
Kageki Shojo!! is a 13 episode anime series that adapts the manga of the same name, written by Kumiko Saiki. The adaption was animated by Pine Jam, and directed by Kazuhiro Yoneda, who has also directed works like Gleipnir and Do It Yourself!!.
This anime has phenomenal direction across the board, from the sound design and score, background art, character expression and animation, to the script itself where every ounce of dialogue and character interaction is integral to the overall theme, as well as each character's unique arc.
Kageki Shojo!!'s focus is on the all girl musical theater school that's based on Japan's actual musical theater school, Takarazuka. The real-life school was founded in 1913, and is known for how intense and strict they are with their student's school life and personal life. They even go as far as having their students undergo Military training as a part of their curriculum.
The story itself reflects this real-life scenario in realistically intense ways. It doesn't attempt to sugar coat what these young girls go through in their path to becoming performers in the larger than life musicals they put on, with each student wanting to be the top performer - of which only 4 students out of the entire school can be.
Taking the punishing experience that the school is, it pairs that with themes of how women are viewed and treated by society as a whole, audiences that will eventually watch them, and specifically by men, as in the case of the main character of the story, Ai.
Ai is an anxious girl who doesn't like being in public, as she was once a very famous Idol in a group called JPX. In addition to that, though, she very specifically fears men, and her background that gets explored that leads to her hating men ties itself to the grueling experience that is the musical school she now finds herself in, and the overall theme of how women are treated within it even by other women.
On the other side of the story, we have the secondary main character - Sarasa Watanabe. By comparison, Sarasa is brash, fearless, talkative, happy-go-lucky, all almost unbearably so.
She's also incredibly tall, and very sturdy, which often leads to others pointing out how well she would do in the male roles - despite the fact that her goal is to play Lady Oscar in the Rose of Versailles performance. This pairs nicely with the previously established themes, and goes a step further by showing that her background involves growing up in a family with Kabuki performers, and wanting to become one herself - but ultimately being told she would never be able to due to her being a woman.
Kageki Shojo!! excels at just about everything it offers, and it offers a lot. Even though it carries a lot of heavy themes, it does so with an adoration for the craft regardless, and it doesn't ever dwell in the negativity of it all - it's still a bright and positive story, which can often be a fine line to toe without making light of the situations. The plot itself, though, is not just a vehicle for themes - every character is so well developed and full of life, and each one of them are vying to be the absolute best performer in the school.
While the ending definitely left more to be desired for, ending right at the moment things were going to take the plunge into the cast's acting journey - it's still a satisfying, concise story; one in which of all of its themes were deeply explored, all of its main character's were studied, and all of their arcs were wrapped genuinely.
With breathtaking cinematography, wonderfully exciting and interesting characters throughout its massive cast, its true to life reflections of actual Japanese performances and schools, its many references to iconic and influential Shojo manga, and of course the deeply intense themes that tackle subjects like femininity versus masculinity, sexism, self confidence, and more - Kageki Shojo!! undoubtedly lands itself a spot as a contender for my Definitive Top 100 Greatest Anime of All Time List.
My Current MAL Rating: 8/10
Top 100 Contender: Yes
Current Top 100 Ranking: 15/100
