Episodes: 13
How: Crunchyroll
Grade: A
Summary: Otonokizaka High School stands on the border of three cities: Akihabara—a pop culture mecca that's evolving by the minute; Kanda—a conservative, cultured city where history and tradition reign supreme; and Jinbo—a quiet area reserved for a more mature, sophisticated population. Amidst this culture clash, the school now faces closure due to the enrollment of fewer and fewer students.
With the school planning to close within three years, nine female students come together with one thing in mind—form a pop idol group to revive the school's popularity and keep it from shutting down. "In order to protect our beloved school, there's only one thing we can do... become pop stars!"
Their goal is simple: Become an overnight sensation and use their nationwide media exposure to promote their school and bring in a wave of new students to the ailing area. A simple but solid plan, they figure. Naturally, they're nervous and wonder if this plan can really succeed, but for better or worse their new journey has begun...
How it is.......
So, I've never really watched any of these Idol type shows... They just never really appealed to me. I may have to rethink that stance though, this was really good.
Three girls set out to save their school from closing by becoming School Idols. Sounds a little corny. It wasn't corny at all though, it was very follow your dreams and you can do whatever you put your mind to. Yea... okay.... maybe a little corny.
It didn't just come together for the trio though, it was like no one {a few were} in the school was supporting them at first. When they preformed their first "concert" {one song} only a few people showed up to watch them preform. This didn't stop them though, they went on with the show and didn't let the small showing discourage them too much..
Slowly, with hard work the three girls gathered others to join their group... first it went to six...then to seven and then finally to nine. Nine.
Who we have......
Honoka Kousaka; She's the leader, she's the glue, she's what makes the girls stick together. It was her idea to start the Idol Group and it's her that keeps it from falling apart. She doesn't have any specific talent, but she's always the optimist and strives to do her best.
There was a small time late in the series that she pretty much quits Muse, this caused pretty much all the girls to split up and go their separate ways. This was short lived however...
She lives with her parents and younger sister in the back of their sweet shop, which ironically she hates red bean paste.
Kotori Minami; Honoka's and Umi's best friend, she's the kind, absent minded one that designs the girls costumes for their performances. Normally quiet, she sort of fades into the background. The big drama at the end of the first season revolves around her not telling Honoka that she'd been accepted to a fashion design school in another country.
All packed and ready to go at the airport, she can't seem to force herself to get onto the plane. Which is good, since Honoka shows up to bring her back to Muse and the School.
Umi Sonada: Umi,Umi,Umi. She's the shy one, even has stage fright... but man she's a bit scary when she's training the girls stamina. Bossy,Bossy, saying "No" to her seems impossible and she'd be a great drill Sergeant.
Hanayo Koizumi: Hanayo has dreamed of being an Idol since she was a little girl, never having the courage to go for it till her friend Rin pushes her.
Rin Hoshizora: Hanayo's best friend, she really never had much interest in becoming an idol, but she joined Muse to help Hanayo along. She's an energetic,tom boyish girl and just seems to become friends with everyone she meets...
A little bashful about wearing skirts.
Maki Nishikino: This was a hard nut to crack, she can write music and sing beautifully, but since she had chosen to follow in her parents footsteps to become a doctor. She really didn't feel she had the time to become an Idol.
At first they needed her to just write and record some music for them, but then...after some help from Hanayo and Rin, Maki joins the group.
Nico Yazawa: This girl is annoying, you kind of want to slap her through the whole show. She's the last member of the Idol Research Club that had slowly disolved for some reason or another {Probably because Nico's annoying}. Anyways, At first Nico can't stand Muse...stalking them, sending them failure messages and stuff.
Then, since Muse needed to be a club and that Idol Research Club was all ready there.. they talked Nico into joining. Uhg.
Eli Ayase: One of the last girls to join Muse, she's the Student Council President and was also trying to find a way to save the school. Which didn't involve and Idol Group. She's an ex ballerina, an extremely good ballerina that just didn't quite have the stuff for the big times. When Honoka finds out about this, she's all about getting Eli to teach them to dance...
With a little push from Nozomi and a lot of annoying from the other Muse girls, Eli finally agrees and... ends up being a scarier trainer than Umi. She whips the girls into semi-shape...
Nozomi Toujou: This girl is fun, she's the Student Council Vice President and Eli's best friend. She's really grabby, yes...that's the main thing I remember about her. She likes to grab the other girls breasts and fondle them... it's sort of a punishment in ways.
She's also into telling Fortunes and says the Idol Group would only work if there were 9 Girls. Took them a while, but they got to 9.
The End: It was a happy one, I guess. Muse had gained enough popularity for the school to get enough Applicants to remain open, which means there was no real reason for Muse to remain together.
There was a huge implosion after Honoka got sick and then Kotori decided to leave and all of the bad break up stuff happened. Yet, out of the jaws of destruction it was pulled and all the girls decided to remain in Muse and sing another day!
Well, sort of. It was really just one of those bright, shiny, everyone is happy endings.
I'll get around to watching Season 2 eventually.
