Acro Trip

Due to her mother's work, Chizuko Date has never remained in one place for long or grown attached to anything in particular. However, while temporarily staying with her grandfather Suikyou, she witnesses something extraordinary: a magical girl named Berry Blossom fighting against Chroma, member of the evil organization Fossa Magna. Seeing Berry Blossom save the day ignites a passion in Chizuko, and she swears to be a fan of the new magical girl in town thereafter.

As time passes, Berry Blossom's popularity dwindles due to the incompetence of her opponent. When Chizuko randomly encounters Chroma himself, she does not hold back her complaints against him. For his part, Chroma does not enjoy being defeated again and again; moreover, Fossa Magna will force him to resign if he continues losing. In desperation, Chroma begs Chizuko to become his second-in-command and help him with his evildoings.

For the sake of Berry Blossom regaining the spotlight, Chizuko must question whether it is right to join forces with the magical girl's sworn enemy.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Kurozane, Chroma Main

Shimazaki, Nobunaga Japanese

Date, Chizuko Main

Itou, Miku Japanese

Noichigo, Kaju Main

Minase, Inori Japanese

Mashima, Mashirou Main

Kawanishi, Kengo Japanese

Hugh Supporting

Koyasu, Takehito Japanese

Kuma Kaijin Supporting

Kameyama, Yuuji Japanese

Kokoa Supporting

Hanai, Miharu Japanese

Yogo, Masamune Supporting

Iwasawa, Toshiki Japanese

Tsuki Supporting

Sawashiro, Chiharu Japanese

Oomizo, Baryuu Supporting

Morikubo, Shoutarou Japanese

Konishi, Yuuki Producer

Fujii, Takahiro Producer

Kotake, Ayumu Director

Tanaka, Ryou Sound Director

Reviews

Jan 3, 2025

Melonada

Recommended

I don't usually watch comedies, but this obscure show really surprised me. It uses its theme in such a refreshing and entertaining way. The animation stands out mostly due to the visual gags, which are well done, and the voice acting is superb. Just don't go into this expecting much of a plot or action. Berry and Chroma only fight because they enjoy playing their roles, not because they actually hate each other.

Despite this, the characters take their roles very seriously, especially Chroma. He's a villain who wouldn't harm a fly but he's the funniest character in the whole show. Berry Blossom is a sweet ... and naive girl who can also be feisty. And Chizuko is the rational one of the trio, except when she's in fangirl mode. However, she doesn't take as much initiative as I hoped she would. Side characters like the talking cat Mashirou and Chizuko's grandpa also had enough time to shine. Over the course of the show, we learn more about the world and even explore the characters' backstories. Watching a magical girl show from the perspective of a villain's sidekick was also fun.

I didn't think it was possible to find a wholesome magical girl parody, but this show is perfectly safe to watch. It's just a shame that it doesn't cover the whole manga, so it doesn't really have a conclusion. Even so, if you enjoy subversion of tropes and goofy characters being goofy, it might just be your cup of tea.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Nov 3, 2024

CorrectorYui

Recommended

Preliminary (6/12 eps)

While this type of premise may have been overshadowed by the more adult version of it in Gushing over Magical Girls,
Acro Trip is definitely a series that deserves your time. The visuals and voice acting are great with voice actors coming from well known fun series like Bandori, Hamefura, and the Disastrous Life of Saiki K. The character designs are incredibly pleasing to the eye and make the manga come to life with the skill of Kawamura Toshie who's worked on 3 Precure seasons. Overall, it is a visual and auditory treat.

But, considering this is a comedy, the writing is the trait that must ... be looked at. And I'd argue it holds up. The comedic timing of the protagonist Chizuko is so fun and she plays an amazing straight man to contrast Chroma's idiocy, and sometimes Berry Blossom's. Chroma's voice actor being in an iconic comedy like Saiki K greatly helps his performance as he is great at delivering a fun and pathetic villain who wants so badly to be evil. Berry Blossom's voice actress also being in Precure previously helps her give the performance of a standard up-beat magical girl and how that trope is poked fun at by the story. Even the side characters such as the "animal" mascot Mashirou or Chizuko's grandpa are a treat and overall, the chemistry and timing has me smiling every time I tune in.

However, I will say that comedy is subjective and the very fast-paced and at times absurd comedy may not jive with some viewers so if you aren't feeling it after 2 or 3 episodes, then it might not be the show for you. But, if you are a magical girl connoisseur who enjoys some teasing and parody here and there in the genre, you will enjoy this light romp.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Dec 11, 2024

KANLen09

Mixed Feelings

Acro Trip — A more SFW version of Gushing over Magical Girls...maybe a bit too safe, perhaps, or is this the perfect guise compared to the NSFW adult version of the latter?

Let's be frank with ourselves here, yes? The Mahou Shoujo a.k.a Magical Girl premise, like with Isekai/fantasy, was once marketed to death and above thanks to famed series the likes of Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha a.k.a Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, to the ongoing franchises of PreCure (and its many iterations) that still continue to motivate generations of ladies (and even guys to an extent) that there's just something special about being Magical Girls for ... that matter. On the more adult side, you can consider that this Winter's Mahou Shoujo ni Akogarete a.k.a Gushing over Magical Girls has been the de facto runaway success experimenting with the raunchy, erotic side of the theme itself, so much more that it opens a can of worms for the seemingly impossible. This Fall, we go back to the basics with mangaka Yone Sawata's lone work: Acro Trip, a short-lived, completed 5-volume manga that precedes the latter series that's marketed on Shueisha's Shoujo-catered Ribon Magazine...is the anime worth your time? The TL;DR: it depends on you.

From a story standpoint, Acro Trip is quite literally bare bones for a mangaka that is his/her only work, because it takes your stereotypical "Mahou Shoujo good vs. corporative organizational evil" and just goes ham with wherever the story/plot makes sense of its progressive direction in order to develop it. As such (or rather, in a way), you can thank Yone Sawata for laying the groundwork for MahoAko mangaka Akihiro Ononaka to take that formula and walk its talk with the Erotica-cum-Yuri aspect that truly makes it stand out even more to the spoils of the audience now just frothing at their mouths to want more MahoAko material (which is thankfully getting a sequel). But back to Acro Trip, you can lay the direct comparisons based on the characters themselves: the "Gushing over Mahou Shoujo" admiring character of Date Chizuko having to fawn all over her local hero of Berry Blossom (real name Kaju Nochigo, but stick to Berry) alongside her cat mascot of Mashirou fighting against the evil that is Fossa Magna's Chrome.

If you thought that the show is just way too simple in its execution, that's because it is with its one-dimensional characters that just serve their purpose for the plot and nothing else, with the weak sauce of both the hero and her villain alongside his Kuma Kaijins (who are the epitome of Monkey See, Monkey Hear, Monkey Do). Not to mention Date Chizuko herself being the most hardcore Berry fan of all enough to try to get as close to her by all means possible, cultivating an evil, stalker-ish mindset as compared to Chrome, who's all walk but no talk of his simple plans to try and take down Berry Blossom, only to fail miserably each and every time.

The one star (or Trip, I should say) of the anime is its strong casting. By itself, Chizuko and Chrome's relationship as evil-"doers" stands up on its own like a typical Japanese Manzai comedy shtick, and its not-so-serious nature reflects that perfectly to the T, to add to its nonchalant and absurd comedy that some people will love and others will hate. Add their characters with their VAs however, and you'll get an almost replica of the typical Mahou Shoujo premise (like PreCure) with comedy so unhinged that it feels like a parody in and of itself, because it IS a parody first and foremost. The goofy antics of Date and Chizuko's objective to become evil may be stale, but it's entertaining to a degree that their chemistry is the thing that makes or breaks the show overall, and that is quite important to the enjoy factor you will have for the anime.

For the newly established, almost 3-year-old production house that is Voil, Acro Trip, being the studio's very first work, gives us a glimpse of what we can expect out of its overall production values. And while it's decent, it's no different from many now-3rd-rate studios that have been established in the last 5 to 10 years or so. If this diversification of new and smaller animation studios is what the AniManga industry is hoping to see within the next few years to up the ante on quantity over quality, Japan truly is taking many steps back with this approach and not tackling its most over-pronounced problem for years now.

The music is apt for the series in general...I mean, it's a Mahou Shoujo show to begin with, so cheerful and joyful music in the form of Inori Minase's OP and KanoeRana's ED will help, right? And while it sure does get the job done, these are songs that you will hear once and forget about it thereafter, because it's quite the catchy jingle that unfortunately doesn't hold its weight altogether.

Maybe I'm judging Acro Trip too harshly, seeing it as a comedy parody first and letting its not-so-serious vibe lean on me that I will find this kind of mediocre and boring. Indeed, the saying of "comedy is subjective" is literally appropriate for this show, and for a first time out, mangaka Yone Sawata got the work that he/she really loved to create, even if it's simple with the execution laid down that at the end of the day makes the "worth your time or not" question incredibly easy to answer.

As for my final answer: give Acro Trip the 3-episode rule and see how it does for you.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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	Poll: Acro Trip Episode 12 Discussion KANLen09 - Dec 11, 2024	37 replies	by AngelFlash »» Jan 18, 1:20 AM
	Poll: Acro Trip Episode 9 Discussion voater - Nov 20, 2024	17 replies	by AngelFlash »» Jan 6, 11:19 PM
	Poll: Acro Trip Episode 11 Discussion KANLen09 - Dec 4, 2024	15 replies	by Sigmar-Unberogen »» Dec 28, 2024 2:59 PM
	Poll: Acro Trip Episode 2 Discussion KANLen09 - Oct 2, 2024	43 replies	by HiddenSilentMe »» Dec 25, 2024 7:20 AM
	Poll: Acro Trip Episode 3 Discussion IzanaSolos - Oct 9, 2024	39 replies	by RGreatDanton »» Dec 24, 2024 10:54 AM