Review: Kuu Kuu Harajuku “An Imaginary Friend in Need, Snowbound for Greatness”

Pop culture without the pop culture.

Overview:

HJ5 tries their best to perform despite severe criticism from one of their sponsors. In another adventure, they visit a snowed-in lodge, only to be attacked by sentient snowmen.

Our Take:

The show itself was a weird experience. It features a cast of girls that just want their band to succeed, even while being interrupted by weird supernatural creatures, which isn’t bad by itself. It has a cute premise, with pop idols fighting off snowmen, but doesn’t really have any substance beyond that. It’s just bland, and it probably doesn’t help that the characters fall into the uncanny valley with vaguely-anime designs.

The name is misleading because the show really has nothing to do with Harajuku or Harajuku style. While it is primarily referring to the Gwen Stefani brand, Harajuku is first and foremost a real place with a distinct fashion culture. That there was hardly anything even vaguely referring to that was really strange. The only thing indicating that it was inspired by Japanese sub-fashion are vaguely the clothing choice of the group, and that a machine summons a purple kawaii ninja. Yeah. Not the characters, not the setting, but purple ninjas. It could really take place anywhere, and none of the characters are distinctly Asian either, so having that be one of the main marketing points doesn’t make any sense. Talking about how ‘kawaii’ everything is while mispronouncing the word kind of says everything about the show.

The show in an isolated bubble is okay, more mediocre than anything. With the added context of it being Harajuku-based without having any sort of nod to anything actually Harajuku just makes it uncomfortable. While it’s aimed at kids, it doesn’t really have anything to say, aside from how cute everything is. There are other shows out there that have a good female cast with something to say, and this definitely isn’t one of them. In all, it’s nothing special, and there are better shows out there.