'UtaPri' anime ~ seriously, I just wanted this GIF to pop up as soon as you open this post

Just the other day I noticed an Indian TV-drama being aired on one of our popular channels that targets young and emotional teenage girls. You know what it's like, right? Every phrase is followed by a row of close-ups showing how every character reacts, or even more, they may start saying something one by one.

Ugh... Japanese TV-dramas and anime are not that bad, but I kinda felt there's something similar in the way they drag the story and make it last several month without anything actually happening.

story and characters

When my friend, a serious grown-up woman of 24 years, just like me, told me she started watching Naruto, I could not understand how that could be possible, but she answered that at least she can turn off her brain and purely enjoy it as a standard shounen story from 00-s. But the next time we discussed it, this is what she said: 'you know, they just show every character for several seconds, or repeat key words of the scene several times, then you look at the timeline and see that half of the episode is already over.'

Let's face reality, pretending these moments are really that important requires being no more than 10 years old and dreaming of becoming a princess in the future. I'm slightly older than that, and I cannot really close my eyes to that. I mean you srsly want me to watch how a guy runs through the corridor, falls down simply because he is in a hurry, even though there is nothing on the floor, inserts a CD into the player and it starts glowing only because the song recorded on it is supposed to be beautiful?

Or admire how manly the prince looks with his gothic guitar?

I mean, the more I watched, the more I wanted a pickled cucumber. 'Cause it's so rainbow-coloured I'm almost blind now.

So, this is a reverse harem, a genre I genuinely despise. Why on Earth did I decide to watch something like this? I hoped that it would be slightly better than those usual stories where the Heroine always cries, gets captured and just refuses to become useful in any possible way. And it's true, our Heroine here is not a damsel in distress, she's a sincere, loyal and hard-working girl who even studied sheet music in a day or so when she realised she won't get anywhere if she does not. Not that trope when an overly positive heroine manages to get along somehow only by her mood and help from others. Though I must admit Nanami is the usual

and she's constantly praised by others 'cause

which alone makes me want to eat a pickled cucumber again, at least she studies in the academy and after graduating starts working diligently, using her ability to communicate with different kinds of people and studying their nature for the sake of creating music specially for them.
So, everybody around her is kind and caring, even though they may sometimes look cold. And they sing everywhere. Green meadows near her rural hometown? Okay!

It wouldn't be thrilling if the harem and the Heroine were separated too much, so they live together even after graduation, in an ordinary Japanese dormitory.

 My bad, it was 'dormitry'.

So, what's the story about? I can't tell even after I watched it. But it's something like a fairy-tale.
One of the popular comedy sketches on Soviet TV was a parody on how documentary reports were created at the time. In it, a reporter approaches a man sitting on a bench in a park, and accidentally he turns out to have been recognised a top performer at his workplace, then he mentions his son is currently in the army and accidentally the son comes and greets him saying he has just returned from the Far East, and finally, when he mentions he can play musical instruments, accidentally there is a grand piano in the bushes so he can play it right away. The phrase 'grand piano in the bushes' has since become a symbol of developments that are supposed to be accidental but are just a bit too convenient for the story for the audience to believe in.

If not a piano in the bushes, then at least a guitar on the street.

And, the story is very romantic. Is supposed to be... They probably thought I'd swoon upon hearing such words.

That's the end. My heart is totally captured by such gallantry.
Okay. Does this receive any development? 'Cause in half of harem anime the Heroine does not make any choice until the very end, and even if she does, it does not make the story any more successful - I'll never ever change my mind about 'Fushigi Yuugi' or 'Skip Beat', they are both extreme in creating a world full of pink-coloured snivel.
So, in UtaPri Nanami does not explicitly choose anyone, but it's obvious that one character was chosen as the main one. So,

NOTHING. I TELL YA HE DIDN'T EVEN ATTEMPT. He just went to the summer festival and caught her a carp. Oh, and then he comforted her when she cried. Who said UtaPri would be romance? No-no-no. If you need romance, go and play the game. By the way, it's just what I'm going to do 'cause I'll not let this go until I make sure Nanami ends up with Tokiya.
By the way, I was probably supposed to be touched by such an emotional scene

but, chewing a pickled cucumber since I cannot endure this sweetness anymore, I can only say that I noticed how graphics changed for the better with every new season.

graphics
Well, that is probably what Mr. Oozuka was talking about. This is the case when animators were drawing beautiful faces and with nice lines, trying to make everything look as fairy-talish as possible. And though sometimes I can endure a less beautiful graphics for the sake of an interesting story, I'm generally not actually against a more refined style.
The backgrounds were sometimes really impressive

But here you reap what you sow. If Oozuka-sensei made his characters too simple but paid attention to their movements, moving objects in UtaPri are lacking natural smoothness and look really amateurish. No, you won't convince me it's all right. This is probably the most hilarious moment illustrating the quality of the video.

Just before the third season the creators probably realised that it looks unnatural themselves and made the characters 3D. Not a good decision either.

It's obvious they wanted to make their characters move like they do in Japanese boys bands, but I'm not actually sure if it was a good idea. You can just turn off the sound in the ending video and turn on a random song by a random Johnies band, or vice versa. 'Yeah yeah doki doki flavor', says the preview of this Hey Say Jump song, but it could be a line from Starish's song with an equal probability.

music
If the anime is called 'the princes of singing', then at least can you hope for a good OST and image songs? A rhetorical question.
The problem is, half of the songs is extremely dull and boring, especially those accompanying some emotional moments, like
while the other half was better than average, both image songs and background music. I'd say some pieces were even impressive, especially when we take into account it's not an anime emphasising music (oh let's be honest it's not). As expected, it sparked an row of fan-playing on YT.

And it would be even better if the all seiyuus were good at singing, but most of them were obvisouly chosen not for their vocals, but for their speaking manner.

voice acting
So many fangirls proclaim their love to the seiyuus singing their songs on Soundcloud that I'm surprised. Okaaaay... Maybe I'm just slightly wrong, but I take pride in my ears, and I can tell you that most of seiyuus cast for UtaPri are mediocre singers. I would understand if it were anything else, but they're supposed to be princes of singing.
If you manage to be cool with that, you can totally enjoy their speaking. Want to introduce your younger siblings or children to the world of Japanese voice acting? Just show them UtaPri. And they'll know the establishment of the current seiyuu world. You can choose whoever you want. And if you don't want anyone for the moment, there'll be more next time. First they added Heavens, then Quartet Night, and if you need MOAR then there are new members in Heavens so that you wouldn't sue the creators for limiting your choice.
It was refreshing to hear Sawashiro again as a cute little girl, just a bit similar to her kawaii mode in Di Gi Charat. I was also surprised to hear Imai Yuka's voice, she made a very memorable character out of her not-so-important-heroine's-best-friend.
And those teachers and agencies presidents... Oh my goddable!? Just when did I become a person who's not bothered by a guy wearing female clothes and saying 'good-morning-PUUU!' as a greeting???

conclusion
So let's get to the point, why did I watch it to the end? Why am I sad now that I finished watching? The seiyuus. Yes I know this is a cheap fanservice, but I cannot throw stones at them. They created a wonderful atmosphere, and even though there was too much saccharine, the characters really became like one big family. Such atmosphere always makes me forget that I hate reverse harems. And makes me slightly jealous. Makes me want to be a part of such a 'family' myself.
And of course... I couldn't drop because of this:

>____<
If not for that wonderful ability of the Japanese to laugh at themselves and retain a certain degree of soberness, I would have stopped watching anime long ago.
Well, if they didn't have that ability, they wouldn't troll their own characters like this

or admit that the current TV programs where celebrities participate are very superficial and contrived.

p. s.
I JUST CAN'T OMG I feel so embarrassed when I watch this video as if the seiyuus were daincing it themselves...