Show By Rock!!

Episode 5

The "dark monsters that bring dark music" have returned to Show By Rock!!, and their connection to the shadowy figures watching over Midi City is becoming somewhat clearer. Unfortunately, the show has been crammed with so many elements by now that it's difficult to remember them all until they resurface. Cyan herself even seems to have forgotten her goal of fighting monsters so she can return home, which doesn't sit well with Strawberry Heart the talking guitar, who has served as the show's resident info-dumper up until this point.

A monster appears only briefly in a battle against Tsurezure at the start of the episode, and although one is purported to be attacking a band across town later on in the story, Cyan arrives on the scene too late for the beast to get any actual screen time. Actually, the show has been at its most enjoyable when these monsters weren't part of the proceedings, but introducing such a huge plot point only to ignore it for three solid episodes would just be ignoring the elephant in the room. Too bad the producers didn't axe that element in pre-production, but perhaps if the monsters were part of the game, they felt compelled to include them in the show.

It seems like every band that makes an appearance in the game has to have a cameo on the show, even though it's to the show's detriment to have one new band introduced after the other. The series would do so much better to focus on bands "battling" each other on the stage instead of battling monsters. Alas, that ship had already sailed right from the get-go. Even so, the series shines with its funky musical interludes and colorful costumes, and even though we meet two members of yet another band this week (Shizuku Secret Maid, an underwater-themed band), we've yet to see them actually perform. The lack of a full-length musical performance is noticeable and makes for an episode that's less fun than usual.

That said, the show took some steps forward to a more cohesive plot this week, without any elements that came out of left field. Chuchu's discovery of Cyan's otherworldy origins is paced to a tee—there's no danger of her keeping the discovery secret for too long, as the episode ends with Plasmagica and ShinganCrimsonz confronting Cyan about it. It was also interesting to see Retoree's crush on Cyan driven home earlier in the episode, only to have her take Cyan keeping such a big secret from the band very hard. It's perfectly in line with her character and an improvement over her random fits about not being liked by her bandmates a couple of weeks back.

Usually, Show By Rock!! is more spectacle than substance, but this episode's attempt to give the show a little more weight only underscores how well-suited the show is for its usual fluffier fare. It's a series that sometimes tries too hard despite doing such a good job at entertaining when it's humorous and fun. If it had less going on at any given time, it would be the perfect escapist guilty pleasure.

Rating: C+

Show By Rock!! is currently streaming on Funimation.

Amy is a YA fantasy author who has loved anime for two decades.