English Dub Review: Ensemble Stars “Autumn Live ~Part 2~”

Overview (Spoilers Below)

Mao and Andy get intel from Eve that Nagisa was basically locked in a room by his abusive dead father, and that’s why he is the way he is. After practicing separately for a bit, Trickstar gears up for the Autumn Live. Anzu asks a favor from Hokuto’s dad to promote a bigger audience for Trickstar’s competition against Adam, and because of this, the gang has a huge crowd to perform to. Mao also vows to work on his insecurities and self esteem as a performer. They end their performance, and Adam readies their counter.

Our Take

Well, that’s definitely child abuse alright. Nagisa having a childhood like that explains why he’s so socially forward and even rude — it can cause all kinds of mental problems in a kid. It’s also sort of a Stockholm Syndrome-y situation because he clearly still wants his father’s approval, despite the fact that he abused him and is also dead.

It’s been a pretty Mao-centric couple of episodes, which is good since all the other characters have had their mini arcs. The problem is that Mao doesn’t see himself as an equal compared to the rest of Trickstar, which is apparently obvious to people like Nagisa, but it was never obvious to the audience. Like, what about Mao makes him mediocre? He’s never shown slipping up, or not smiling onstage. It’s kind of strange because this problem seems sorta invisible.

Despite this, though, the music vocal performances were great as always. Even if one aspect of the show’s plot/characters aren’t always working out, we can always rely on some slamming music to carry the extra weight. That kind of quality just isn’t something that can be captured in an English dub, that’s for sure.