English Dub Season Review: Gekidol Season One

Overview: Young aspiring actress, Seria (Macy Anne Johnson) is recruited by theater director of Alice in Theater, Kaoru Sakakibara (Caitlin Glass), in the hopes of discovering her acting talent and, unbeknownst to her, something beyond imagining transpires all the while. 

Our Take: Gekidol was a series I was not expecting. Not expecting in various aspects with how it’s story unfolds and evolves over the course of a mere twelve episodes. What begins as a lighthearted anime focused on a girl group of idols/theater actresses soon becomes something very different.

First things first though, Seria, our main leading lady is a shy and unassuming girl with a big dream. She is by no means exceptionally original but at the very least leads the show well with her developing confidence and friends she trusts in to help her along the way. Seria and her friends are a joy to watch as their company, Alice in Production, do their best to keep up with the bigger production company that is SMT. SMT which has ties to Alice due to the two owner’s previous history in that of Hirokazu and Kaoru, respectively. The girls’ overwhelming passion and enthusiasm make them easy underdogs to root for as their production crumbles out from under them and they try new and inventive ideas to keep up with SMT. Each of them is also just unique and enjoyable to watch in their own right with how diverse and/or eccentric each is. They also push each other creatively in various ways that, when they go beyond overly heartfelt speeches, are well-executed. However, there are plenty of cheesiness along the way too so don’t expect the depth to extend to every aspect. 

The animation is decent too with most of the cute character designs doing the heavy lifting but they move well enough when some on stage choreography is necessary or they are singing their hearts out with some emotional songs. Songs that are well performed by the entire lineup of English VA’s in that of Macy Anne Johnson, Madeleine Morris, Marissa Lenti, Stephanie Sheh, Apphia Yu, Emily Fajardo and Dani Chambers, who also bring each of their characters to life exceptionally well. 

The show even touches on some important issues, such as how young girls are oversexualized in the Japanese modeling industry. But those types of darker real world problems along with important storylines that have a crucial impact on the girls’ relationships with one another have little lasting effect with how quickly they are resolved, not delving too deeply or even offering compelling resolutions for them. 

However, where this series really starts to take a major turn is when the major explosion that rocked Seria and other members of the troupe starts being pushed into the forefront. It gets into some crazy deep cut sci-fi concepts that are completely unexpected out of a series that had very little to do with it for most of its run. So much so that it feels like a different series and just dumps tons of exposition in the final couple episodes of the season that not only doesn’t give you a moment to process it, but also throws off the pacing and doesn’t even develop the characters affected in an effective manner. Oddly enough, it surprisingly manages to weave together a satisfying ending for the connected tales by tying up each in a way that gives care and attention to both. 

Gekidol is such an uneven, odd concoction of different tones and stories that it never manages to perfectly nail any one of them. except for one that is. The leading ladies’ developing friendship and their attempt at rising fame and competing with SMT. And although it attempts to tackle bigger issues, it never manages any lasting impact and, unfortunately, gets dragged down by an overstuffed sci-fi plot in the final stretch that, at the very least, sticks the landing in its momentous end.