Wake Up, Girls!: TV Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.0
Overall		4.0

Wake Up, Girls!: TV Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie Review

An entertaining music-infused anime series.

Wake Up, Girls! is an entertaining rise-to-stardom story about an all-girl band on the brink of success. The anime series is adapted from the story by Yutaka Yamamoto. Released by Sentai Filmworks in North America, Wake Up, Girls! is full of heart, humor, and good old- fashioned fun. A must-see production for anime fans.

Green Leaves Entertainment faces risk of bankruptcy. The president concocts a zany idea of forming an all-girl band of total unknowns to help save the company from total collapse. Can the all-girl band save the day? Manager Matsuda (Shintaro Asanuma) looks for talent – and finds it wherever he can. Thus a band is formed: Mayu Shimada (Mayu Yoshioka), Airi Hayashida (Airi Eino), Minami Katayama (Minami Tanaka), Yoshino Nanase (Yoshino Aoyama), and Nanami Hisami (Nanami Yamashita). Competition rises at every turn but the girls band together in friendship to bring the music to life.

Green Leaves Entertainment President Junko Tange (Noriko Hidaka) disappears and is replaced with a seedy music producer who suggests dressing up the girls with as little clothing as possible (while forgetting about emphasizing the music created by the band altogether). As the girls start to face new challenges with their management, a quest to continue on spurs creativity and dedication to their craft: to never give up – no matter what. Wake Up, Girls! have arrived.

The animation on the production is top-notch throughout the complete series. The character designs and background art are well thought-out and give the series a unique style within the genre. These elements help the filmmaking to excel. The art is colorful, vibrant, and fun. An excellent effort by everyone involved.

The series has impressive cinematography by Haruhide Ishiguro (Sagrada Reset, Level E) and art direction by Takanori Tanaka (B: The Beginning, She and Her Cat: Everything Flows). The series manages to imbue itself with a unique visual aesthetic that is apparent throughout the production. Something about it simply 'clicks' and the end results are all the better for it: the art and visuals vibrantly shine.

Time to dance-dance-dance!

One element of the production which was delightful was the music score by Satoru Kosaki (Bakemonogatari, Inakunare Gunjo). The music was a wonderful backdrop to the production. There is an impressively charming element to the score and the songs. The results are like magic: providing the series with plenty of pathos.

The editing by Hiroshi Okuda (Avalon, Spy Sorge) doesn't miss a beat. The anime series doesn't drag-on unnecessarily and feels well-paced throughout the season. There is something to be said about a well edited anime series (as the medium is often loaded with 'filler episode' fare). The series works wonderfully without over-extending its own invitation.

The screenplay by Touko Machida (Samurai Champloo, Akame ga Kill!) is surprisingly entertaining. Though there are plenty of all-girl band anime series out there, some of them are better than the rest: Wake Up, Girls! is certainly an example of a well thought out series. The characters are charming. The storytelling is ripe with creativity.

One thing that was appreciable about the series is how Wake Up, Girls! is never overly exploitative. Though there are a few episodes with some “fan-service” (as is the norm for anime), the bulk of the series relies on quality storytelling and character-development over non- stop fan-service. There are merely occasional scenes which emphasize the girls but these moments certainly take a back-drop.

Yutaka Yamamoto (Full Metal Panic!, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya) made an enormously entertaining production. Wake Up, Girls! is never a bore to sit through and the direction is fun to experience episode-to-episode. Yamamoto makes viewers care for the characters – and the music. Check it out.

Wake Up, Girls!: TV Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Arriving on Blu-ray from Sentai Filmworks, Wake Up, Girls! is presented in 1080p MPEG-4 AVC encoded high definition in the original television broadcast aspect ratio of 1.78:1 widescreen. The release features an impressive presentation that manages to showcase every nuance of the animation. The encode is pleasing throughout and never struggles to preserve the line art or background animation. The color reproduction is superb and capably reproduces the efforts of the team of animators. Whether the series focuses on a dramatic sequence or a dance-scene spotlight, the encode capably handles the material and with ease. There are no egregious issues to report in regards to compression artifacts and the like.

Wake Up, Girls!: TV Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The release is presented in Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo (with English subtitles). The release does not include an optional English dub option. Though no English dub is provided, the original Japanese audio track is top-notch and will satisfy fans. Dialogue is clear and easy to understand. The music score and song selections (as well as the opening/ending themes) are enormously engaging. A high-quality audio reproduction.

Wake Up, Girls!: TV Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Clean Opening Animation (HD, 1:32)

Clean Closing Animation (HD, 1:32)

The release also includes a selection of trailers promoting other releases available from distributor Sentai Filmworks: Shirobako (HD, 1:32), Is the Order a Rabbit? (HD, 1:32), HaNaYaMaTa (HD, 1:32), and Locodol (HD, 1:33).

Wake Up, Girls!: TV Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Wake Up, Girls! is an entertaining anime series with plenty of heart. The characters are full of charm and the production features great animation and toe-tapping music. There is never a sense of the series being dragged on unnecessarily with filler-episodes and the like. While it might not be the most original production around, Wake Up, Girls! is full of creativity and a cool style. Sentai Filmworks produced a quality release with a strong presentation. The release is light on extras but is worth a pick-up on the technical merits and the quality of the series. Highly recommended.