Sentai Filmworks has released Girlish Number: Complete Collection on a two-disc Blu-ray set. The 2016 anime contains all 12 episodes of season 1 for around 300 minutes of entertainment.
Girlish Number has an interesting premise so I was excited to check the show out. It’s an anime about voice actors. Chitose Karasuma is the main character and she wants to become a popular voice actor in the industry. She has the perfect voice but she is also lazy, clueless and self-absorbed. She basically only gets work because of help from her brother. Finally, Chitose is able to get a job in a big production.
However, she finds out that her dreams of hitting it big maybe even more difficult than first imagined when she notices the producers are more lazy and clueless than she is. Not only does everything on set goes wrong but the ratings keep getting worse and quality stories are being thrown out and replaced with an exploitation of swimsuit photography and cheap gimmicks. Can Chitose and the acting ensemble save the production or are they doomed to have bad careers in a dead end job? You’ll just have to watch to find out!
I found the show interesting and entertaining. It would have been easy to do just a comedic and light-hearted love letter to the animation industry but there are some unpulled punches included in the comedic tone. Producers are quick to try to turn a simple novel into fast money while cutting corners in every avenue of the production itself. Often they are more concerned with selling toys and cheap crap than making a quality show the actresses can be proud of.
While not being insufferable the lead character at times is played to be unlikable which is an interesting choice for the show. It not only makes her a bit more believable being self-centered, lazy and struggling to succeed but also shines a light on how the industry looks at their talent as a whole. There is a nice ensemble to the show, with different personalities trying to work together to make the show run.
Girlish Number is from studio Diomedea (previously Studio Barcelona after splitting from Group TAC). They seem to specifically do Manga adaptations and release a handful of series each year in Japan. Shota Ibata is the director, his first work according to IMDB but he has worked in the animation department for a few recognizable shows (Black Lagoon, Accel World, Corpse Princess). The story is written by Wataru Watari who is the creator of My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU which we reviewed recently.
The picture and sound quality are what you would expect from a modern anime from Sentai. Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 with English subtitles is included.
Special Features:
Inside Show Preview
Clean opening and closing animations
Girlish Number Final Thoughts:
Slice of life stories are interesting to me and I think that Girlish Number is a pretty solid anime for that type of story. At times it gets a little silly and the main character can be a bit irritating but I think it all evens out as a whole concept. It might not always be a “fun” show but the inner workings of a voice actor’s life in a failed production is a great premise that Girlish Number pulls off for the most part. I think if you are interested particularly in that kind of plot you owe it to yourself to check this one out. You can purchase a copy for your collection on Amazon or other fine retailers.
Note: This Blu-ray was sent to us for review. This has not affected our judgment or editorial process in any way. Please contact us if you have any questions regarding this process.
