Show by Rock!!
Show By Rock!! is a mobile rhythm video game developed and published by Geechs, in conjunction with Sanrio. It is Sanrio's first-ever franchise project aimed for older audiences, as opposed to the younger audience. The game was released on July 30, 2013 for iOS and on June 27, 2014 for Android devices. In January 2018, development transferred from Geechs to Edia with its service discontinued in December 26, 2019. A successor to the original game was later developed by Now Production and published by Square Enix on March 12, 2020 on all mobile platforms.
Four anime adaptations based on the series were made. The first three animated by Bones and is the first late night anime based on a Sanrio character or franchise. Season 1 aired in Japan between April and June 2015 on Tokyo MX, a short anime aired from July to September 2016 and a second season aired from October to December 2016. The third season of the series was animated by Kinema Citrus and aired from January 9, 2020 to March 26, 2020. A fourth season is currently in development. A manga adaptation of the first series began serialization in Kadokawa Shoten's Young Ace magazine in July 2020.
Gameplay
Show By Rock!!
Show By Rock!! is a mobile game, combining elements from both rhythm games and raising sim games. Players can choose from 26 different bands, each having their own music style and uses special cards for each gameplay. The player's team can have up to five cards, and choose one support player from a list. The player has a certain amount of "soul" for each element depending on their cards. The player can play whichever song they would like from the band of their choice, as well as the level that works with their team. Occasionally, a band's members' Melodisian Stones may turn dark, and thus a boss battle appears. For the boss battles, you may only choose a song from the band whose Melodsian Stones turned dark, and the goal for each boss battle is to survive until the end. Players also get to create their own character at the start of the game, and design their own room.Fes A Live
Gameplay for Fes a Live is similar to that to the original series that preceded it, but presented it in a landscape format similar to THE iDOLM@STER SHINY COLORS and BanG Dream!. Unlike the previous game, the game only has a limited amount of bands presented but each are assigned to their musical alignment: Melody, Harmony and Rhythm instead of the traditional elemental attributes of the previous game. Gameplay for the live section mode has the same elements from the original and inherits newer twists such as swipeable notes, the ability to adjust scrolling speed and a more traditional 5-note layout.A new feature of the game is the town of GURF, which serves as a main hub for the player. Players has to customize with specific buildings in order to gain sound dollars, the game's free currency. These can also be earned by obtaining items after each play session specific to each band, which can be sold to the shop ans also can level up each band. As the player levels up, newer slots in the town were added in order to add more buildings. Also, players can also upgrade buildings by buying them through the in-game store using sound dollars as well. The game also has a boss battle mode, which can be accessed through by finding a corrupted myummon in town and defeating it can earn players with more currency. The game's bromide system also returns, allowing players to obtain bromide cards through gacha using Melodisian Stones and each card can be evolved if certain levels are reached, each having various rarity. In addition to a story mode, the game also has a 69 Memorial Mode, which allows players to read the storyline of the original anime series for new players of the game.
Plot
''Show by Rock!!''
Cyan Hijirikawa is a first-year high school student who has a good passion for music. However, she is very shy and doesn't have the courage to join the school's music club. But on one fateful night, she gets sucked into the rhythm game she had been playing on her smartphone after receiving an item called "Strawberry Heart". Cyan ends up in a new world called Midi City, a place where those who command music control everything. There, she sees a concert performed by a kemono band called Trichronika and realizes she had taken on the form of a white kemono cat girl, dressed in a costume resembling Gothic Lolita fashion. However, when a "dark monster" starts to attack the concert and begins to corrupt the Melodisian stones of the Trichronika members, Strawberry Heart materializes in Cyan's hands and tells her to play something with it to defeat the monster. As she saves the band from turning into dark monsters themselves, she returns to her human form, but retaining her cat ears and tail. She is then approached by Maple Arisugawa, the CEO of Banded Rocking Records to join his recording agency. She meets ChuChu, Retoree, and Moa, the vocalist, bassist, and drummer of Plasmagica, one of Banded Rocking Record's bands. Retoree asks Cyan to join, and she accepts. Together, they all tackle and perform together in the music scene, aiming to be the best music band of all Midi City, discovering the secrets surrounding the Dark Monsters and importantly for Cyan, to find a way to get back to her own world.''Show by Rock!!#''
Set after the events of the first season, the intergalactic fleet led by the malevolent Queen of Darkness, Victorious, unleashed a devastating attack on Sound Planet in the future, causing total destruction of Midi City. Upon its destruction, a mysterious band named Bud Virgin Logic appeared and performed a malevolent tune to the surviving denizens while Dagger Morse corrupts all the citizens, draining them of their sound energy and plunging the city into chaos and despair. From the attack, only Ninjinriot survived and feared the worst scenario that would lead to the fall of the Sound Universe. With no choice, the band traveled back in time to prevent it from happening. In present-day Midi City, Maple told the members of Plasmagica, Shingan Crimson, and Cristicrista that their recording label is holding a beneficiary concert to the people with somewhat positive reactions. Though at the time of the concert, Plasmagica, despite not having Cyan is eager to perform, until Bud Virgin Logic appeared alongside Dagger Morse, who announced he will destroy the ones who defeated them. But they were thwarted by Ninjinriot, who rescued the trio. After Dagger and his band retreated, Arashi told them that bad things will happen if they don't stop Dagger and Bud Virgin Logic, resulting in the said bad future and got everyone worried that there will be a new battle. At the same time in the Human World, Cyan Hijirikawa was stuck in a writer's block regarding composing a song for her band in the upcoming school festival. Kamui arrived at the Human World and transported Cyan back to the Sound World in order to prevent the dark future from happening. With the entire world in a knife's edge, it's up to Cyan and her friends once again to stop Dagger and Victorious from destroying the Sound Universe.''Show by Rock!! Mashumairesh!!''
Taking place somewhere after the 2nd season, the story focuses on Howan, a Fox Myummon who lives in the countryside on Sound Planet. Though she enjoys her peaceful life in the countryside, Howan dreams of music stardom and gets the chance to achieve her dream when she passes the audition for a music competition in Midi City. Meanwhile, the guitarist Mashima Himeko is equally passionate about music but feels uncomfortable having been placed in a band with two other young artists, the bassist Delmin and the drummer Ruhuyu. Howan loses her audition pass, making her unable to join the audition. Under the glittering lights of Midi City, when Howan is distraught at losing her audition pass, Howan, Himeko, Delmin and Ruhuyu meet each other for the first time and discover together with what they could never reach alone.Characters
Main Bands
;Plasmagica;Shingan Crimsonz
;Tsurezurenaru Ayatsuri Mugenan
;Trichronika
;Criticrista
;Arcareafact
;Bud Virgin Logic
;Uwasanopetals
;Shizuku Secretmind
;* Shabobon – drums
;* Turtle B.I.G – bass
;Shinimonogurui
;Dolly Dolci
;Ninjinriot
;Baiganba V
;Gauga Strikes
;Yokazenohorizon
;Mashumairesh!!
;Dokonjofinger
;Reijingsignal
;Kuronoatmosphere
Supporting characters
;Maple Arisugawa;Angelica
;Grateful King Strawberry Heart
;Master
;Rocker
;Lameca Pashalikowa
;Jeff Parisugawa
Antagonists
;Ogasawara;Dagger Morse
;Victorious
Media
Video games
The game was first unveiled by Sanrio on the game's official website and was first released on July 30, 2013 for iOS and later on Android platforms on June 27, 2014. Sanrio's Chief Director of License Business Akito Sasaki said at a licensing expo that the reason for the game's artistic distance from Sanrio's usual style is because it is geared toward young boys. Several promotional videos were also released for the game, and were uploaded to Sanrio's official YouTube account. Service for the game was discontinued on December 26, 2019.A sequel game to the series titled Show by Rock!! Fes A Live was developed by Now Production and published by Square-Enix in both iOS and Android devices on March 12, 2020.
Anime
A 12-episode anime adaptation of the game animated by Bones aired on Tokyo MX between April 5 and June 21, 2015. The series is directed by Takahiro Ikezoe and written by Tōko Machida, with music composed by Yasuharu Takanashi, Funta7 and Rega Sound. The opening theme is "Seishun wa Non-Stop!" and the ending theme is "Have a Nice Music!!", both performed by Plasmagica. Shimomura of Sanrio commented that "Sanrio is targeting males who like anime and games, a demographic we haven't targeted up until now, in order to develop cross-media marketing through games, anime, and SNS." Eri Inagawa, Cyan's voice actress, commented that "This has been a long-awaited anime adaptation. I'm so happy I could cry."The series is licensed in North America by Funimation, who simulcast the series as it aired and began streaming a dubbed version from June 7, 2015. Funimation released the first season on Blu-ray and DVD on December 6, 2016 in North America and on February 20, 2017 in the United Kingdom.
A short anime series titled Show By Rock!! Short!! aired from July 4 to September 19, 2016 and is also licensed by Funimation. The main theme is "Do-Re-Mi-Fa Party" by Plasmagica. A second season, Show By Rock!!#, aired from October 2 to December 18, 2016. The opening theme is "Heart o Rock!!" while the ending theme is "My Song is YOU!!", both performed by Plasmagica.
A third season, titled Show by Rock!! Mashumairesh!!, is produced by Kinema Citrus and aired on Tokyo MX, BS Fuji, UNB, SUN, and TV Tokyo on January 9, 2020. Seung Hui Son directs the series, with Daisuke Tazawa as the series's scriptwriter and Nobuyuki Itō as character designer. Polygon Pictures handles the series's 3D animation scenes while both Yasuharu Takanashi and Funta7 returned to compose the series's music in Pony Canyon. Funimation has licensed the third season. The season aired for 12 episodes.
A fourth season titled Show By Rock!! Stars!! is currently in development and will air on Tokyo MX and BS Fuji sometime in 2020. Takahiro Ikezoe and Tōko Machida both return to direct and write the series alongside new director Daigo Yamagishi. ENGI will handle the series's 3D animation scenes with Hiroki Yoshioka as CG producer.
Manga
A manga adaptation of the first anime was written and illustrated by Takemaru Yokoshima and began serialization in Kadokawa Shoten's Young Ace magazine on July 4, 2020.Reception
Nick Creamer of Anime News Network gave the first episode a positive rating, stating that the "debut was a wild merry-go-round of delirious nonsense, but most of it was the enjoyable kind of nonsense" and "this was a wild and largely entertaining debut, but it also leaves me with plenty of reservations. Shows that rely on novelty to stay interesting often fizzle out quickly, and Show By Rock!! premise doesn't necessarily seem unique or engaging enough to have much staying power once the sparkles fade." However, Amy McNulty gave the first two episodes a B+, saying that "Show By Rock!! is hard to pin down. It's like a pinch of Di Gi Charat, a dash of The Idolmaster and a quart of Sanrio-style magical girls mixed together and thrown into a frenetic cyberpunk setting. It attempts to do too much at once, yet it manages to juggle plot points fairly well so far."The popularity of the anime is also shown at the 30th Sanrio Character Ranking with Plasmagica ranking at sixth place and Shingan Crimsonz at second place.