HYPNOSIS MIC -DIVISION RAP BATTLE- RHYME ANIMA

DESCRIPTION

CAST

MANGA MusicHypnosis Mic: Before the Battle - The Dirty Dawg
MANGA MusicHypnosis Mic: Division Rap Battle - side F.P & M
MANGA MusicHypnosis Mic: Division Rap Battle - side B.B & M.T.C
MANGA MusicHypnosis Mic: Division Rap Battle - side D.H & B.A.T
MANGA MusicHypnosis Mic: Before the Battle - Dawn of Divisions
MUSICGlory or Dust
ANIME ActionHypnosis Mic -Division Rap Battle- Rhyme Anima+
MUSIC MusicHypnosis Mic - Division Rap Battle - FINAL

REVIEWS

• 

  Jamiebreeze

  40/100
  A disappointing music show.

  I tried watching this because the idea that you fight your opponents by rapping seemed interesting, but in the end, not even the rapping was enjoyable. When the first episode dropped, all I saw was one minute before I decided that I was not gonna punish myself with that garbage but my curiosity got the better of me so I picked it back up. A horrible decision on my part really. Like all anime shows, not everything is trash, but whatever original ideas or stuff that happens is not enough to salvage this dumpster fire, nor will it ever be enough to make up for the time I lost by watching this. I don't know if this is an adaptation of a manga or a game but if it's this bad, I can only imagine that either a) the source material must be bleak, or b)the studio just didn't adapt it properly.

  Bland characters, dull animation, ugly CGI. Hypnosis Mic is a great package indeed. The show is mostly episodic, the dramatic moments are full of cringe (most of them) and come off forced, the comedy is so-so, there is absolutely no tension, and I dare to say that there are a lot of episodes that feel like a drag to watch. That Halloween episode was one of the dumbest things I have watched this year besides the presidential debate. Like some say, nothing happens.

  Story:

  The main plot is that after The Party of Words(a political group) took control of the Government, the women involved in that group abolished all weapons, replacing them with hypnosis microphones, which can cause damage to opponents, and will now be used as a replacement for firearms, etc. All battles will be fought by rapping. Pretty cool concept, right? it is a shame that nothing else is. Every episode there is a mini-arc centered around either one character or a particular crew. These are all corny and end up being resolved instantly and make no impact whatsoever. The only time I was mildly interested in the story was in episode 7 when one of the characters ends up befriending a coworker that was committing robberies in the city. That episode itself had a great deal of potential but like everything else in the
  series, it gets worked up halfway and leaves you feeling unsatisfied in the end.

  Characters:

  This show has a ton of them. It wasn't that hard to remember the name of everyone, but to some people that may be a challenge. Most of these characters have oddly specific traits. Some are afraid of women when not wearing a jacket, some apologize for everything, some gamble more than they should, others cook dreadfully, etc. The characters are by no means memorable. Do not watch this show if you are expecting anything resembling character development. The characters are all fairly attractive even with their weirdly colored eyes. Their designs (hairstyle, clothing, and accessories) are stylish and seem to fit their personalities. All in all, characters are by no means ones you will hate, but they are just mediocre for the most part. They come with a set personality and that will never change.
  Whatever interesting element is revealed about them, the anime does not do much to expand on it. One of the guys, Samatoki, seems to have "lost" his sister. It is hinted at that she is alive and we even see her at one point but we never get a resolution on his story with her. Another character, Ramuda, seems to have a double personality. It is not touched upon until nearing the end and even then, the conflict is quickly solved in that same episode. Just like this, the staff manages to not care about using whatever compelling traits or backstory these guys have and using them to their advantage.

  There are no real antagonists in this show. Most of the conflict in the series is between those same characters that we already know and their past grudges against each other. The Party of Words could arguably be the villains but they are never characterized. At most what we get is some dialogue about how they have plans and how they are gonna beat the rappers but in the end, we know nothing about them. All the other rappers that face off against the main crews lack any decent characterization and otherwise look like normal pedestrians with the exception of the photographer's group. It is usually easy to tell who will win because they don't look important.
  
  Music:
  

  This was supposed to be the selling point of the show. You would think the people in charge would try to make the rapping sound as best as possible, but I've gotten secondhand embarrassment by some of these songs. The groups each character is in do not sound good together. On their own, each character sounds decent, but when meshed together (not taking into account the opening theme), it just doesn't work well. Characters like Rio and Jakurai cannot rap (Aizen rapping will forever live in my mind rent-free). Mad Trigger Crew is probably the crew that sounds the worst for the majority of their songs. Their voices do not complement each other nicely in the songs showcased in the show.

  The soundtrack for the anime as a whole has some pretty nice tracks, but the character songs, which should be the most important given the nature of this show, are a complete joke. I can count with one hand the songs I have actually enjoyed, and no I would not download them to listen to at any point in my life. Not even as background noise. This is just sad now that I think about it. Opening and ending themes are just average and not memorable either.

  Animation:

  The show doesn't look that bad honestly. It looks painfully average. It looks better than some other idol shows I've watched like Utapri and Ensemble Stars. It didn't make my eyes bleed, had some personality into it, and it was consistent for its whole run, even if in episodes 9 and 10 the CGI looked worse than usual. Speaking of which, the CGI is hideous. It sticks out like a sore thumb. Furthermore, the studio mixes both the normal animation with it and clashes so bad that it just makes one lose focus. The difference between how the characters look normally against their CGI model is too much.

  The animation is not very fluid and there are a ton of shortcuts being taken. When characters scream, a bunch of action lines appear on the sides, the action is about to happen and then the shot gets cut off, and the characters' facial expressions have little variety. The atmosphere for the dramatic scenes is not executed well. The cuts chosen for important moments make no sense most of the time and they take away from whatever is happening. It is not completely lazy but there is nothing spectacular and the direction of the whole thing is just okay at best.

  I didn't completely hate watching this, but I still regret having watched it. There were no big expectations on my part. All I hoped for was a decent music show with okay characters but it didn't even live up to that standard. You don't have to have good characters, banger music, crazy visuals, and a compelling story to make a show enjoyable. As long as you have even just one of those things or an average of each category, I think you can have a fun or even okay show to pass the time but this is not it. I wouldn't recommend this show to anyone. I am sure whatever source this adaptation has, must have its fans. I know nothing other than the anime but I cannot imagine anyone feeling like this was a good show.

  My overall rating is a 4. There were some good moments but not a lot and I just feel like there are other similar shows that are better.

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• 

  Auran

  57/100
  The work introduces serious concepts with a likable cast, but has trouble utilizing it to any meaningful degree

  The streets of Tokyo have been rid of weaponized conflicts. Spearheaded by the Party of Words, a coup d'etat has radically transformed the way of living for the Japanese populace, springing up a matriarchal society where women alone are in positions of power and men are segregated to regions called "divisions" where they have to settle disputes by lyrical battles through the use of state-issued augmented microphones and with it either gain or lose territory; naturally, any other form of violence is strictly prohibited, including non-state issues mics. Through this mechanism, women have taken the lead where men has failed since time immemorial, to construct a society wherein peace and order are upheld in the truest sense, curbing of freedoms but a small price to pay for that worthy endeavor, surely. And thus would be the premise to our title. All of this may have sounded very enticing, and Hypnosis Mic too, is quite enticing in some respects. But you might puzzled as to why I'm phrasing it like my description and the show are two separate entities. And that's because, well, they are. The show could not possibly be more dissimilar than its premise would have you believe. I'm sure you the reader can attest to this, while reading the start of this paragraph, have you honestly thought, even for a second, that I was talking about a different show? Because see, HypMic ARB is hopelessly ordinary, and don't get me wrong, some of my favorite shows deal with the mundanities of life, but in a world that is supposed to feel extraordinary, it sticks like a sore thumb. I want the characters to feel the weight of the system under which they live, to have the fangs of tyranny seeping into their corner of the world, and seeing their opposition forming the baseline of their character. Unfortunately, vast majority of the show goes on like nothing abnormal is happening at all, and the last 2 episodes a last ditch effort to get things back on track to what the pilot episode promised, but too little too late...

  The characters are your usual diverse ensemble cast who share roughly equal screen-time as is the case for idol or idol-like shows. Normally this will result in the cast ending up being tropey and weak, and while I can't entirely deny this in the case of HypMic, I argue that it does more than most of its kin. There is some genuine attempt to individualize each character beyond just superficial elements like verbal tics and hair colors, during its runtime all 4 of our division will be facing certain turbulences—some serious and some more light-hearted—that communicate parts of their identity to the viewer in a surprisingly apt manner. Jakurai-sensei's comatose patient for whom he blames himself and suspects foul play, the brief moments where Samatoki seems to have concern for his teammates like not wanting to involve them to his familial issues, Rio's loyalty to his former Navy general, and yet him opposing his fellow comrades in their Machiavellianistic ways to rescue him... these sadly do not tie up to some grand narrative, likely due to time limitations, but it shows that it's not just about pretty boys dissing each other. A good litmus test for well-put-together characters is, in my view, to read a random part of the script and attempt to identify the speaker, and I believe HypMic fulfills that criterion relatively well.

  Art and animation are largely inoffensive, but staticity of frames is noticeable in certain parts. The CGI for rap portions are not jarring in the slightest, impressive even, when it's at its peak. The tracks are obviously not on par with the franchise's discography, but nothing to scoff at all the same. The character design has been a strong point of the franchise since it's very inception, and this adaptation is no different. All in all, it's an amusing "pick your favorite boy" kind of show that is bogged down by not having much to do with what you'd expect a show with concepts of such caliber to have.

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• 

  SunlitSonata

  50/100
  Hypnosis Mic's birth of corporate synergy clashing with director vision creates a baffling so bad it's good series

  “And they’re ‘rhymes wack, you hear’?”

  HypMic.......is a mess. A massive, massive mess. The dialogue is stilted, the tone bafflingly serious despite the premise, the lighting weakly considered, characterization inconsistent with numerous unearned turns, animation mediocre at best and empathetic context missing.

  Yet, somehow, it manages to be a really funny time.

  “So Bad It’s Good” is hard to truly quantify, since it depends on what can crack the spectrum to any particular person beyond average, everyday badness. However, most of the time, when applied to anime, it’s used to refer to something that tries to be dark and miserable but comes out as comedic instead; Assassin’s Pride, Mirai Nikki/Big Order, Ousama Game, Mayoiga and the early episodes of Arifureta as common go-tos. However, those shows tend to operate too much on misery to really hold any likable impressions for my part. Garzey’s Wing is a popular go-to for this category, moreso because of how absurd its entire conceit is than edge falling flat.

  Hypnosis Mic, though, champions being so bad it’s good for the sheer WTF value nearly every episode. It’s almost impossible to tell how much of the show is merely being an advertisement for music CDs, and how much is the animation team trying to make some sort of grand cohesive tale out of thin air. This push pull between corporate ad and direction vision gives the show a distinct flavor of entertainment.

  The core idea of the plot is that somehow, in some way, every normal weapon was banned from existing, except for microphones. An all female government is in place, which holds a rap battle tournament that four teams of three, who were once together in a group called “Dirty Dawg”, prepare to join.

  Any worldbuilding required to make this all happen is borderline nonsensical. The idea of an all-female government taking power, getting normal weapons totally banned (when most people IRL can easily slip illegal marijuana) and standing being asserted by rap dominance naturally only make since by Yu-Gi Oh/Jojo logic, but that just makes things more exciting. The sheer absurdity of these facts plastered onto what’s otherwise a fairly normal setting leads to some hilariously goofy moments.

  HypMic’s first eight episodes are essentially prep to get viewers to know each of the four teams, titled Buster Bros, Mad Trigger Crew, Fling Posse and Materno. Aside from Buster Bros they aren’t even in careers associated with rap, some being doctors, salarymen or military men. To get the audience to pick favorites among these Sonic Heroes, the show runners decided “let’s throw these pastel colored fujioshi avatars into deafeningly serious plots that’ll have nothing to do with anything else!” The plots tend to have a lot of threats thrown each team’s way, with the power of corny camaraderie to save the day. If nothing else, these episodes do a passable job showing why each team cares about their respective members.

  But remember, weapons are banned in the world of HypMic, so how are all these conflicts solved! RAP BATTLES! Scenarios where guns and grenades would exist are replaced by microphones because that’s just how the world works and everyone completely accepts it. The sheer power of rap allows teleportation, and it’s a sight to behold.

  Bank hostage situation? Rap Battle.
  Yakuza caper? Rap Battle.
  Mortgage scheme? Rap Battle.
  Illegal drug deals? Rap Battle
  Murder framing? Rap Battle.
  Terrorist bombing specifically to prevent one team from participating in a rap battle? Rap Battle.
  Only getting a B on my college final?! Rap Battle.

  These rap battles are the only times the show gets to add flair where there generally IS none. Most scenes have no flair; the animation is choppy, the lighting poorly implemented and garishly bright enough to make you think all the available colors got used on the character designs alone. With realistic backgrounds featuring absurdly costumed characters, you get the type of wacky dissonance that can elicit a chuckle all on its own. That said, the scenes before one of these conflicts get going with flat exposition are some of the only times the show is actively boring, little but basic partnerships to pass the time. Once the conflicts get into full force and get solved with a rap at the end, then it’s a blast.

  So how about the raps themselves, likely the main reason you’ve checked out this anime?

  I’m happy to report that they’re absolutely wild. If you’ve watched Epic Rap Battles of History before, they provide a good sense of what to expect; killer beats with over-the-top visual effects in conjunction with mad disses. Given the language barrier, I can’t tell if the animators took influence from them, but it catches a similar vibe. At some points it’s more effects than animation, with different filters thrown about, kanji and battle effects splattering the screen during the rap. 2D characters swap into CGI and back and forth, but the timing of the rap music videos is on POINT. It’s clear this is where the most effort went, for good reason, but it contrasts greatly to everything else in the anime. Props to the translators for creating subtitles that seem to fit into rhyme scheme. It’s hard to tell how well the seiyuu ACTUALLY sing the lyrics as someone who doesn’t understand Japanese, but if I could judge, the Buster Bros have the most amount of oomph and flow to their lyrics while Materno seems like they struggle with nailing lyric flow the most. The raps slap, and when they don’t, they’re so silly it’s hard not to laugh at them.

  Of course, the galaxy brained writing doesn’t stop once the division rap battles in title begin. If anything, the presentation gets even more bizarre.

  There’s attempts to add some angsty spice by implying that one character was involved in what happened to another character’s sister. Of course, this drama lacks the punch it needs without proper context. Because there was no time to build that up in the 8 episodic segments before that.

  Shonen battle mechanics get introduced! Now every character has specialized “traits” that only appear as they rap! Once again it’s spontaneous, poorly built up, and means nothing outside of specific scenes, but it adds to the general madcap nonsense that is this show’s existence.

  At around the same time, one character rather inexplicably appears to be a twist villain, with a more sinister grin and complicit goals. Yet, before the episode is even over, they’re instantly talked out of it. It’s almost incredible how the show decides to hold off on its conflict. This is then doubled down further by having two morality turns in incredibly quick succession for events the audience never got to see, only to have neither of them mean anything soon after. You can’t make this up.

  Despite all of these issues, the big conspiracy plot keeps rolling, with a repetitive background score of funky fresh beats even in the serious scenes. It’s fitting at times when things are more lowkey but only makes sillier any attempt outside of that. Like trying to understand its attempts to tell a story and remembering; we’re watching working professionals stuck in the rap circuit.

  Hypnosis Mic is a respectable anomaly of confused existence and cloudy vision. In this bizarre place where it’s narratively, tonally and structurally nonsense, but it somehow works to be entertaining. What makes the show so bad it’s good for me is that I just can’t tell what they were really going for with this story, beyond an attempt to show off seiyuu vocal range to mixed effect. The characters have light chemistry with their team members, but any attempts to develop anything fall hilariously flat. Its plot goes through every spectrum of tense you can think of under a weak production that gives it no gravitas. It’s a 3/10 for serious merit, but a 7/10 for enjoyment, so 5/10 is a fair way to place it. You might not find it hilarious, or just be interested to see all of the raps out of context, yet for me it hits the perfect spectrum of unintentionally intentional comedy to make it worth something.

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