A3! Season Spring & Summer

Going into A3! Season Spring & Summer / Act! Addict! Actors! Season Spring & Summer, I had thought it was just another male idol group tale. That’s actually apparently not correct; this is about acting rather than singing. However, mechanically-speaking, that doesn’t make much of a difference. It very much has the same formula as one of those boy- band stories (in fact, it follows those style points so closely that I’d bet that it was deliberately designed that way) and doesn’t offer enough beyond that for it to likely have much appeal to anyone who doesn’t normally like boy-band series.

That this is based on a mobile game is almost painfully obvious; the whole opening episode here is a classic “build the team from the ground up” scenario, complete with a fall to nothing to explain why the group is starting over and a crisis that puts a sense of urgency into the effort. Izumi clearly represents the player of the game, and considering that, she offers the one minor surprise: she might actually have a personality and definitely has a backstory involving acting. The series could have at least something going for it if she’s allowed to develop further along with the boys.

The boys show less promise. The starting character initial recruit is about as blandly the genki boy as they come, the second has the standard mixed-color hair with deadpan coolness but is only interested in Izumi, and the third recruit hasn’t even distinguished himself enough yet for his archetype to be clear. (There’s also the older theater manager in the amusingly-awful patched suit, but he doesn’t count.) Two of them know how to spout off Shakespeare, but beyond that we don’t see them much in performance action yet. The Next Episode previews during the closer indicate that more bishonen are slated to appear, and the name indicates that at least two of the necessary four troupes will be dealt with in the series, but based on appearances along none of them look any more interesting.