Maesetsu!

Manzai is a traditional form of Japanese stand-up comedy where two comedians act out skits as a straight man and funny man, guiding the audience through a series of punchlines. Two determined girls, Mafuyu Kogarashi and Fubuki Kitakaze, are aspiring manzai entertainers who struggle to achieve any real success, despite their lengthy time on stage. They often partner up with manzai newcomers and their close friends—Rin Araya and Nayuta Asougi—to help in the opening acts of each other's routines.

In order to eventually reach their desired fame, the four girls challenge themselves by changing venues, switching roles, entering competitions, and giving it their best to hone their craft and gain more experience. But before that can happen, these flourishing young artists must first grow into presentable performers to get signed as amateurs and start their dream in earnest.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Kitakaze, Fubuki Main

Onishi, Aguri Japanese

Asougi, Nayuta Main

Nakamura, Sakura Japanese

Kogarashi, Mafuyu Main

Oozora, Naomi Japanese

Araya, Rin Main

Igarashi, Hiromi Japanese

Kanari, Kanae Supporting

Furuki, Nozomi Japanese

Funakoshi, Haruna Supporting

Hoshinoya, Shizuku Japanese

Nakama, Hajime Supporting

Murai, Risako Japanese

Shiina, Shiho Supporting

Mori, Yuuko Japanese

JK Cool Manager Yamada Supporting

Hiramatsu, Hirokazu Japanese

Keiko Supporting

Shimoda, Rei Japanese

Cook, Justin Producer

Tomioka, Tetsuya Producer

Herek, Samantha Assistant Producer

Nobuta, Yuu Director

Reviews

Dec 27, 2020

dlxuniuniu

Recommended

In 2007 a new era of CGDCT (Cute girls doing cute things) began with “Lucky☆Star”. One of the best studios of all time was involved in this work: Kyoto Animation. 13 years later, Studio Gokumi and AXsiZ try to create something similar with "Maesetsu! Opening Act", but unfortunately this work does not quite create the "WOW" effect. Why am I comparing these two? You will see more about this below.

Have you ever heard of the Japanese word “Owarai”? Before I came into contact with this anime, this term didn't mean anything to me either. Owarai is a traditional Japanese comedy duo who perform in front ... of a live audience. It’s quite similar to stand-up comedy but they always appear as a duo. Their goal is clear: With various gags making people laugh. But this path is also hard and requires a lot of work. Our four main character (2 duos) are trying their best to make a breakthrough in this entertainment industry. Their ambitions are high, they aim to perform at the Nanba Grand Kagetsu Hall in Osaka which is very famous for comedy acts. But every beginning is difficult, our girls have to be content with small gigs in addition to their part-time work. We experience how they slowly become better and better despite ups and downs. It's a typical slice of life anime where we experience their everyday lives.

Our first comedy duo “Tokonatsu” consists of Fubuki and Mafuyu. Fubuki is known for being insightful and level-headed, she tends to be slow on some comedic uptakes like doing a proper pause. Mafuyu on the other hand is cheerful and high-spirited, she has high aspirations of being a proclaimed comedian. However, she easily gets distraught when her acts fail which happened at the beginning quite a few times. Nonetheless, they didn’t give up and you can feel how much they enjoy it.
Natuya and Rin are the other duo that goes by the name “RDeco”. Natuya is soft-spoken and carefree, she presents herself as a calm and pleasant person, always looking for the positives of the most negative situations. Her partner Rin is taking the logical part. She thinks rationally and is never afraid to opine her thoughts to others.
In addition to our two main duos, we can see a few other comedy duos like “JK Cool”, “Freak!” or the duo around Mafuyu's sister Manatsu “Tsundora”. The anime also explains well why all the groups chose that explicit name.

My first thought after seeing "Maesetsu!” was like: This is “Lucky☆Star”, just a little bit different in term of the plot. It is not exactly the same style but if gives you that vibe. The girls are portrayed in a similar cute form. The animation is not something that would catch your eye, but it is still fun to watch.

In addition to the many comedy appearances, we also hear OP and ED singing by our four main characters. It's not music that gives you a catchy tune, but you can hear the comedy part from it somehow.

After the first few of episodes I was a little bit skeptical to be honest. The jokes, what is the most important thing of the anime, were not convincing and also not that funny. But you could clearly feel the increase from episode to episode. Our girls worked really hard to get better and better. It is good to see that their efforts have not been in vain. Another interesting aspect is getting to know this comedy scene.
Believe in your dream and work hard on it, one day it may come true!

Finally, I would like to say that “Maesetsu!” is certainly not a masterpiece and there are surely parts that could be designed better. Nevertheless, for every CGDCT fan this anime is worth a try, it contains all the typical elements from this genre.
May we one day see our girls at the top of a big comedy stage!

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Jun 11, 2021

weebtrashco

Mixed Feelings

Are you unfamiliar with manzai? I wouldn't recommend this. Oh you are? Well, I'd still be ambivalent about recommending it.

Many have overstated Yoshimizu Kagami's role in this shows production and while he does offer some solid character designs I wouldn't consider it in the vein of Lucky Star.

I'm no manzai expert, as someone with a bit more familiarity with the medium than most in the West, perhaps such a perspective might be useful.

As an original co-production with Yoshimoto Kougyou, the largest comedy agency in Japan there's a novelty to this, and it's wholeheartedly committed to giving a broad look at the industry from an amateur ... perspective.

But the jokes aren't that funny, even from the context of someone familiar with the style and its sense of humour (this was a minor point of conversation in the Japanese online discourse) and it takes some time for the series to get a handle on the pacing that suits it best. It gets funnier. That's very much the point. You don't decide to be a comedian on a whim and wake up funnier. You bomb, you fall back on dumb puns, you do it on stage to no one laughing and then you do it again and hope this time, maybe this time, you'll get a laugh.

Maesetsu will beat this into you with aggressive schadenfreude. Every bomb hurts you almost as much as it does the characters. To me that's the novelty that makes this series interesting. There's a believable sense of character progression that's rather honest. As the characters grow into themselves they also grow into their jokes and there is a satisfaction that comes from seeing that. Perhaps it's just the writing staff becoming more comfortable with writing manzai as production went on, even the material from established (fictional) comedians comes off weak early on. Regardless, it's a quality that endeared me as time went on.

At best it's a middling 4-girls show and at worst a curiosity. Yet there's value in exploring such a curiosity. While I can't argue for it's quality, it's a memorable experience I'll keep in mind for a while to come. For the daring with a mind to look into a facet of Japanese entertainment less-explored within anime, give it a look.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Dec 27, 2020

KANLen09

Not Recommended

Comedy is subjective.

What does stand-up comedy mean? According to Britannica: It is comedy that generally is delivered by a solo performer speaking directly to the audience in some semblance of a spontaneous manner.

However, this business practice is very different in Japan. Owarai geinin, or two-man comedians as they are referred to, is a very lucrative business, and by no doubt very popular in its own homeland. I remember having used to watch Owarai geinin in many variety shows through Japanese-imported programs over the years, and the insanity of referencing as much content as they can really helps add to the hilarity vibe, not to mention ... the already magnificent calibre of prolific Japanese comedians that never ceases to amaze me growing up with them in the past.

To no one's surprise that such a show was conceived to teach newcomers about Owarai geinin, I'd think that: "Hey, this unknown show can be somewhat niche, but at least unique." And to no one's dismay, this anime quickly bombed by the 3-episode rule for being very tedious and boring, not to mention the flat comedy that almost can be akin to a sound producer having to edit the "audience laughing SFX" track to repeat multiple times from start to finish.

If you want to know what's noteworthy of this show, it's Lucky Star's author Kagami Yoshimizu character designs, and mind you, that source material is more than 10+ years old (and currently on hiatus). Oh, and director Yuu Nobuta, having to direct 2 shows this season: Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear, and this (I'd presume he didn't really care about this the entire time).

At this point, I really feel sorry for the various female Seiyuus that did the VA jobs for the entire character cast, because you can't match "success is the mother of all failures" with inconsistencies. Yes, the point of this whole show is to see the main quad-duo Owarai geinin of Mafuyu-Fubuki (Tokonatsu) and Nayuta-Rin (RDeco) to "struggle valiantly" and pick up on their own paces of succeeding step-by-step with help from some real-life Owarai geinin (e.g. Freak!'s Junki Tomita and Ubu no Hatsuna), that's really good to have mentors following up their learning journeys.

But this is 2020, not 2007. What works in the past doesn't translate well into the current times, and to be honest, Lucky Star back then was kinda the same thing (as told by Joey The Anime Man): "It was batshit full of references that anyone outside of Japan won't understand." and that rhythm applies to this show as well. So unless you live in Japan, you're probably very lost to answer what is going on, and even as an Asian myself, little jokes I can get, and many others I don't.

No surprise yet again of the Studio Gokumi X AXsiZ collab, that's always a thing for the bright coloured, child-like shows. Just fine. Same with the OST, nothing really special to say about it.

Again, I don't blame you if you entered into this show thinking that you'd have a relaxing comedic time. Nope, it's as entertaining as the worst performances you've ever heard in your life. Nice try, but you're better off watching Lucky Star instead, that I can recommend as a classic.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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	Poll: Maesetsu! Episode 3 Discussion MrAwesome2018 - Oct 25, 2020	21 replies	by RGreatDanton »» Jan 15, 12:34 AM
	Poll: Maesetsu! Episode 2 Discussion Ashhk - Oct 18, 2020	29 replies	by RGreatDanton »» Jan 15, 12:23 AM
	Poll: Maesetsu! Episode 1 Discussion MrAwesome2018 - Oct 7, 2020	35 replies	by RGreatDanton »» Jan 15, 12:12 AM
	Poll: Maesetsu! Episode 12 Discussion KANLen09 - Dec 27, 2020	16 replies	by Lolicon »» Feb 25, 2024 5:21 PM
	Poll: Maesetsu! Episode 6 Discussion Ashhk - Nov 15, 2020	10 replies	by Muow »» Dec 15, 2022 4:38 AM

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