Shonen Hollywood Blu Ray Set Review

Fifteen years ago, the legendary idol group Shonen Hollywood broke the hearts of thousands of adoring fans when they retired at the height of their popularity. Now, a new group of boys has arrived at the famous Hollywood Tokyo Theater hoping to become the next generation of the famed super group. They have the looks, but will they have the drive and courage to stay optimistic in the face of an industry laced with false fronts and broken dreams?Take an introspective look at the world of idols, and follow rising stars Kakeru, Makki, Shun, Kira and Daiki as they train day and night—sacrificing the best years of their lives—for the chance to live forever as famous idols.

Box Set Review 

Well, let's be honest from the get-go: The blu ray box set for Shonen Hollywood isn't very good. The box presentation is very lack luster, and the second you look at (or so I thought when I first saw the box set) was that I was picking up an anime out of the bargain bin section because nobody wanted it. The box set really did not do any favors for the series and gave me the wrong impression from the very start. The packaging is a serious problem--even the picture used to represent the series at a first glance is very....plain and underwhelming. I see a bunch of dudes, standing around in some really cool fashion---but the problem is that they all look like carbon copies of each other, except with different hair colors and slightly different hair cuts or styles. The only, truly, unique thing about this boy squad is their matching themed uniforms. And that underwhelming feeling carries on as you're watching the series. It isn't just the physical box set that is mediocre. 

Anime Review 

...I don't even know where to start.My track record for enjoying idol related anime isn't very positive. While most people greatly enjoyed Love Live!---I wasn't a convert, but I will say it was decent watch. Frankly, I do indulge in my guilty pleasure of otome animes (or reverse harems, whatever you want to call it) from time to time, so I thought that...maybe...I could get some fangirl enjoyment out of Shonen Hollywood. I was wrong. I was so wrong, on so many levels.The best way to describe Shonen Hollywood is that its the shoujo counter part to Love Live! Geared towards, primarily, the female audience Shonen Hollywood follows the story of group of five good looking guys singing and dancing, and the series is filled with half-assed attempts of character development as the group plans to dominate the idol scene in the near future. I also like to think the series reminds me a bit of Sakura Wars--where the girls are a theatrical troop, and the plays they put on is the actual internal struggles happening with the characters while on the battlefield....Except, Shonen Hollywood lacks the really cool mechs and overall character development Sakura Wars has.Instead we see a very stale story of a group of people looking to be the best in their desired field, mixed in with all the other stale character developments/character arcs for each member of the idol group. To sum up what I thought about the character development in Shonen Hollywood is a small piece of a conversation I was having about the series with Mithadriel: "I know exactly what's happening (with these characters)- there is nothing different about this series. They all have the same internal struggle like every other good looking bishie that dances and sings. Until one of them starts doing drugs, this isnt going to be interesting."And thats my honest opinion of Shonen Hollywood. I watched 11 episodes of the series, just 2 shy of finishing, but couldn't. Shonen Hollywood fails to grab my attention because it is the definition of "cookie cutter,"the series is very flat and one dimensional. I paid very little attention to the show while it was playing--multi-tasking while watching, playing Overwatch!--but was still able to fully follow the story because it was that obvious.The one thing I looked out for in each episode was their adorable owl mascot! And When the highlight of the show is the show's mascot; who really only shows up for a several screen shots in a single episode, that says....not so good things about a series. I want to give Shonen Hollywood some redeeming factors--you would think that it was an idol show the music and animation would be great, enough to at least keep me engaged during an episode. Nope. There is very little music during these episodes, no performances, more just watching the boys mold themselves INTO idols and prepping for their long awaited performance. Dance with the Devils had a larger musical happening, and that was an otome show that really had nothing to do with singing songs---they just bursted into them because they could. You would think since I was watching a show about idols, and not demons, these guys would sing and often....Nope. So I cant even give this series any good points in the music department. There is a severe lack of it. Except episode 10; it was like they realized there was hardly any music happening for this series so they threw everything into a single episode.But just to cut Shonen Hollywood a break---the ending songs aren't bad. I usually don't stick around for those, but the ending sequences were enjoyable.Usually, Im not hard to please when it comes to animation style either. Most shows I watch will at least get a good review when it comes to their animation and art style....Shonen Hollywood left me very confused. There was just something very off about the character designs that didnt just fail to captivate me, but made feel like it was high budget hentai. You know, the style isn't nearly as grimy or low budget like usual hentai, but they put some money into it, but you can still tell at first glance at the animation style that...well, it's hentai because it just has that certain feature. I was ready for.....awful things to happen at any moment. Like, I was legitimately concerned that I was handed off a mature series to review. That being said, it should be apparent that I did NOT enjoy the animation in Shonen Hollywood. Besides the hentai vibe art style, there were loads of frames where the production team got straight up lazy. "Is...is that suppose to be his face from a distance? What happened? Who slapped him with an alien stick?" Or something similar was something I found myself asking frequently. The close ups of each character is are good though, and most of the group shots did have some extra work put into them.  The Verdict?I watched Shonen Hollywood so you don't have to.Don't waste your time. BUT, if you're brave of heart or just really don't mind lazy and stale story telling you can buy the blu ray set from Funimation for $33. 12 episodes for $33 isnt a bad price, but really---just stream it, you might be super embarrassed to have this series on our shelf.Parting thought: How in the world did this series get a SECOND season? And NO, I will not be reviewing that.