English Dub Review: Ensemble Stars “Tanabata Festival ~Part 1~”

Overview (Spoilers Below)

Eichi approaches Anzu and asks her to organize the next DresFes, which also happens to be an S1. While Anzu is still shell-shocked, she runs into Ra*bits (and Kaoru.) They’re all equally shocked that Eichi has asked her to perform such a task, and she gets information on what they’d like to see in the DreFes (a point system that gave new units a fair shot against more known ones, a bigger stage, etc.) Kaoru enlists the help of Souma, Adonis, and Kiryu, (who are also taken aback.)

Anzu studies the DreFes rules/previous events. While doing so, Sakasaki shows up to reintroduce himself to Anzu, weirdly hitting on her as Kaoru did. He asks her if she’ll help him and his magic-themed group, Switch. While helping them with tech stuff, Eichi approaches them and asks why fine is listed to perform with Switch at their B1. This is because Sakasaki asked Wataru to bring in a crowd for them because he owed him a favor. Eichi sighs and concedes, considering that Tsumugi is “one of the reasons fine exists.” Switch and fine perform successfully at the B1.

Anzu later submits her proposal for the S1, which is Tanabata Festival-themed. It states all performers can still have a chance to perform and get publicity, even if they lose, and that a fan-selected wish will be granted. Eichi happily approves this.

Our Take

Wow, this is the first episode in Ensemble Stars where Anzu actually does something. Okay, that’s not true — we all know she does things every episode, but she herself is never the focus. For god’s sake, we’re more than halfway through the season and practically everyone is still calling her “transfer student” instead of her actual name. She still has the personality of a cornflake, but this is the most independent she’s acted so far — even cheekily telling Kaoru, “Not a chance, buddy,” in response to his flirting. Anzu is still obviously a place-holder character for desperate fangirls to imagine themselves into, but for .5 seconds, she seemed alive.

Eichi really seems to have gotten character development by being supportive of the newer groups at school — even if he was still snooty about having to perform at a B1. The relationship between him, Tsumugi, Sakasaki, and Wataru seem to hold a lot of baggage. There’s definitely more going on behind the scenes with them, and hopefully, they’ll give us more information on their history so that their interactions aren’t so confusing to watch. Right now, it sorta makes the viewer feel like a third wheel.

As stated previously, it seems like Trickstar is sort of taking a back seat to all the other performers and groups the show has to offer. Getting their stories is interesting, but it needs to be interconnected or else it’ll feel more like a bunch of unrelated stories. At the very least, it’s fun to see that we’ll definitely be getting the standard “festival” episode. Wouldn’t be an anime without that!