English Dub Review: Kageki Shojo!! “4/40”

Overview
The first-year class gets another opportunity to act, this time in front of a crowd at the Culture festival. However, there are only four roles, and forty students, which only means one thing: auditions.

Our Take

Everyone is working as hard as they could both in speech and expression for the audition, and Sarasa still isn’t feeling that one bit due to a bit of jealousy. And wait no further, the audition is here, and it’s on full display in front of the teachers, which gives the class of 40 girls some hell of a pressure. Sarasa still has bad memories about her past in the Kabuki theatre and how she was rejected and even some past resentment regarding her supposed boyfriend, which might help her act the role. I think it is kinda crucial to explain how the actors get into the head space of characters that they are unfamiliar with, and this show conveys that properly for the main cast. 

For Ai, she’s content being in the background, but her former idol lineage raises expectations from the 2nd Year students and challenges for Juliet with Hijiri’s goading. On the subject of Hijiri, when exactly has she done anything productive? Based on observation, the school seems to be founded on unnecessarily tearing each other down. On that note, Hijiri’s character still annoys me. When you’re known for being a sneaky and manipulative cunt, you can’t exactly sneak or manipulate. Why exactly is anyone tolerating her? If she was growing facial hair, she’d be twirling her mustache.

Overall, this was a passable episode. Other than Taichi, Sarasa is the only other one to show Ai true warmth and kindness, and Ai used that as her motivation and fuel to take her performance a step further. It’s also considered rare that a 1st Year class like Sarasa’s is able to perform at the prestigious Kouka stage while performing Romeo and Juliet, and Andou will only pick 4 out of 40 students to do so for 15 minutes. And with two episodes left, It’s high stakes considering the Kouka name, and everyone is working their asses off in teams of 4.