Could it be...a Maji Love REVOLUTION? (Anime Review)

ST☆RISH has returned for a brilliant season three of the Utapuri (Uta no Prince-sama) series! The SSS (Super Star Sports) are being hosted in Japan, and due to the opening performance being broadcasted around the world, ST☆RISH hopes to debut worldwide at the event! However, it won't be easy, as QUARTET NIGHT has the same plan in mind. Will they be successful?

Plot and Characters

As always, Uta no Prince-sama Maji Love Revolutions features the seven characters of ST☆RISH: Shinomiya Natsuki, Ichinose Tokiya, Aijima Cecil, Jinguji Ren, Ittoki Otoya, Kurusu Syo, and Hijirikawa Masato. It also continues to have the same characters like Nanami Haruka, Shining Saotome, and some of the teachers as well. QUARTET NIGHT also retains their...well their quartet. But there are a few new people involved, some old faces only seen in season two return, and of course, everyone's favorite Piyo-chan returns multiple times! While it seems everything is the same, we see so much more character development with ST☆RISH and QUARTET NIGHT, in which not only are there episodes for ST☆RISH characters, but one single episode each is dedicated to a QUARTET NIGHT member as well to develop further with the help of Haruhi.

Voice Acting

Again, the voice acting for Utapuri is always important when it comes to the anime. Not only is it because you need to get an idea for the character, but due to the heavy musical influence as well. Due to this, not only is it great that the former members were kept on for the this season, but that the new voice actors in the series live up to their expectations as well. I could preach all day about how wonderful the voices of ST☆RISH and QUARTET NIGHT are, but seeing as the past two seasons really focused around them, there's no reason to. I do enjoy though the fact that season three allows for us to explore the more musical sides of QUARTET NIGHT as singular members. And the last episode shows new singers as well, who sound great too!

Animation

Sadly, despite how beautiful they look most the time, I found that there were a lot of flaws in this seasons animation. Constantly characters in the background are poorly drawn in anime, and Maji Love Revolutions did show that to be true. For example, there was a scene where Cecil was in the background and his face just...looked odd. There are also a few weirdly drawn eyes due to the screen being at odd angles. However, don't let these mistakes deter you! Most of the animation of Maji Love Revolutions is great, and keeps up with the style used in the past two seasons...except for their actual song, where some of the dancing looks to be done with something similar to Miku Miku Dance (MMD) software.

Music

Ah yes...possibly the one thing everyone actually comes to watch Utapuri for is the Music. This season focused on the "Cross Units" where character pairs are broken up. Hope you don't ship Masato and Ren, Natsuki and Syo, or Otoya and Tokiya. And due to these Cross Units, poor Cecil finally gets to be included properly! The new match-ups became Otoya and Natsuki, Ren, Syo, and Cecil as a trio, and Tokiya and Masato. In turn they produced three new songs as the cross units: "EMOTIONAL LIFE", "CODE:T.V.U", and "Original Resonance" along with individual character songs that are not featured in the season. Maji Love REVOLUTIONS is their group song for the competition as well, though there is no full version as I know of yet. QUARTET NIGHT members also get two new individual songs for the season; though only one is featured in the anime. They also get their entry song "Evolution • Eve" that is their weapon against ST☆RISH's entry. Finally, there is "HE★VEN'S GATE -Beginning of a Legend-" which is...interesting to say the least. Not spoiling anything though! My point is, that the songs are great as usual, but they've also stepped up their game with the music this season. It definitely made it worth it to watch!

Overall Grade On the Doki Doki Scale

From a scale of one to ten dokis (or in this case, stars for ST☆RISH!), that explains the feelings on the anime in total...

★☆★☆★☆★☆★ Ten Stars in total!