Wake Up, Girls! The Movie Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.5
Overall		4.0

Wake Up, Girls! The Movie Blu-ray Movie Review

The must-see prequel to the Wake Up, Girls! anime franchise.

Wake Up, Girls! The Movie is a fun prequel film to the anime television series. The feature-film comes from an original story by Hiroshi Yamamoto. Though the film might be all-the-more fun to watch as a established fan of the series, newcomers should be able to easily join in on the fun as well. A charming anime feature with plenty of good merits.

The Wake Up, Girls! have yet to form as we know them: Mayu Shimada (Mayu Yoshioka), Airi Hayashida (Airi Eino), Minami Katayama (Minami Tanaka), Yoshino Nanase (Yoshino Aoyama), and Nanami Hisami (Nanami Yamashita).The talented girls are all off on their own adventures as each girl begins experiencing their own respective journey towards a future with the band.

The film explores the establishment of the band: the origin story that started it all. Wake Up, Girls! The Movie is about concept to execution. The early days and the beginning performances from the unknown talents. Can the Wake Up, Girls! find success and go from total unknowns to hit superstars?

The feature-film gives plenty of screen-time to the supporting characters: Manager Matsuda (Shintaro Asanuma) seeks out talented girls to help form the band. Green Leaves Entertainment President Junko Tange (Noriko Hidaka) becomes obsessed with the idea of forming the group and generating some new revenue for the business. These goofball anime characters have plenty of scenes within the feature-film.

The origin story: the beginning of the band.

Yet the core of the production is about the band itself – and the girls who bring the music to life. These characters help enhance the storytelling. The experience of watching the prequel is all the better as a result. There is much to enjoy about the character-based drama and the heart imbued in to the series.

The music by Satoru Kosaki (Maesetsu!, Beastars) helps elevate the filmmaking as well. The songs are fun and give the production a sense of energy. The score adds a lot to the series tonal balance as well. An excellent effort.

The animation direction by Ryu Nakayama (Sword Art Online the Movie: Ordinal Scale, Yatterman Night) is fantastic. The feature- film looks every-bit as impressive as the television series. There are occasionally some sequences which seem to have even better background artwork. The animation is superb and highly stylized. An outstanding job by Nakayama.

The screenplay by Touko Machida (Samurai Champloo, Wake Up, Girls!) manages to explore these characters enormously well. The emphasis on the early formation of the band makes the film feel unique within the franchise stratosphere. Machida gives some nice nods to the characters and the filmmaking experience is all the more enjoyable as a result.

Yutaka Yamamoto (Wake Up, Girls! Beyond the Bottom, Big Windup!) is a strong filmmaker and did a solid job as director. The production has so many remarkable elements behind it. Wake Up, Girls! The Movie is fantastic: entertaining, well-paced, and creative. The passion behind the filmmaking can be felt. Well done.

Wake Up, Girls! The Movie Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Arriving on Blu-ray from Sentai Filmworks, Wake Up, Girls! The Movie is presented in 1080p MPEG-4 AVC encoded high definition in the original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.78:1 widescreen. The release capably preserves the animation. Background art, line art, and character animation are equally well presented with the top-notch encode. The presentation never struggles with compression and no egregious artifacts or banding can be seen. The encode is satisfying throughout. Colors are well balanced and presented. The release is another top-notch effort from Sentai Filmworks.

Wake Up, Girls! The Movie Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Wake Up, Girls! The Movie feature-film is presented in Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround sound (with English subtitles). There is no option provided on the release for an English dub audio presentation. A remarkable presentation nonetheless, Wake Up, Girls! The Movie sounds clear and dynamic. Dialogue remains crisp and easy to understand throughout.

The music selections are similarly well preserved and sound clean throughout the entire sound design. The surrounds are well utilized to expand the sound-stage with music. While the surrounds don't have much in the regards to deep LFE or nuanced sound effects, the music score implementation makes the added channels well worthwhile.

Wake Up, Girls! The Movie Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The release includes a selection of trailers promoting other releases available from distributor Sentai Filmworks: Monthly Girls' Nozaki- kun (HD, 1:32), Shirobako (HD, 1:32), Locodol (HD, 1:33), and HaNaYaMaTa (HD, 1:32).

Wake Up, Girls! The Movie Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Wake Up, Girls! The Movie is an entertaining feature-film set within the universe of the television series. The production has great animation, music, and storytelling. The characters are charming. Everything sings – and not just the band. The Blu-ray release features a strong presentation. A worthwhile pick up for any fan. Highly recommended.