Houkago no Pleiades

Subaru is a young girl who likes to see the stars. One day, she opens the door to her school's observation room, only to find a large indoor garden instead! She meets a boy named Minato who says some strange things, telling her to leave soon after their meeting. As if the day wasn't weird enough, Subaru accidentally finds a strange blobby creature who runs off with her compass, leading her to stumble into a club room with girls wearing witch costumes!

Subaru recognizes her friend Aoi in the group, and despite Aoi's protests, Subaru decides to join the club. Shortly after, she gets a strange automobile-like staff and a magical transformation from the club's "president," the blobby creature from earlier, known as a Pleiadian. Aoi and the other members—Itsuki, Hikaru, and Nanako—have been looking for engine fragments of the spaceship that the Pleiadian used to travel in, so that it can go back to its home. But it seems that these girls are not the only ones searching for the fragments...

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Subaru Main

Takamori, Natsumi Japanese

Aoi Main

Ohashi, Ayuru Japanese

Nanako Main

Fujita, Saki Japanese

Hikaru Main

Makino, Yui Japanese

Itsuki Main

Tateno, Kanako Japanese

Minato Supporting

Kuwashima, Houko Japanese

Pleiadeian Supporting

Fujita, Saki Japanese

Takahashi, Yuuichi Producer

Saeki, Shouji Director, Episode Director, Script, Storyboard

Iida, Satoki Sound Director

Makino, Yui Theme Song Performance

Reviews

May 15, 2013

LawlumBawlum

Recommended

Nice little 4 episodes,

7/10 Story is pretty simple, gather Engine Fragments in order to get the Pleiade (a little alien) back into outer space, there is also a "bad" guy trying to collect them.
9/10 Art is pretty good being that is being made by Gainax,
9/10 Sound of music was very nice, also good voice actors
8/10 Characters are pretty unique in their own way,
8/10 Very enjoyable for just 4 six minute episodes.

cannot wait for the movie this July

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Feb 1, 2011

jigglyppuff8

Mixed Feelings

This review is being written under the assumption that there are only going to be these 4 episodes as it concluded pretty well.

Afterschool Pleiades is a very simple mahou shoujo. There's no metaphors for today's society, blatant fanservice, over the top humor, nor any overlying themes. It just has magical girls and the power of friendship. For whatever length it had, Afterschool Pleiades didn't try to be anything more than your basic mahou shoujo.

Story 6/10.
The story is simple mahou shoujo stuff. A girl one day unexpectedly receives magical powers and uses them to collect fragments of a magical device. In this case, remembering the Subaru ... sponsorship, these fragments are called "Engine Fragments". There's also a rival character who wants to collect these fragments too for what seems to be a desire for power. No edgy plot twists or anything of the sort here. Just plain, old "power of friendship".

Art 8/10.
Compared to most other mahou shoujo series, the magical girl outfit designs are relatively simple. White clothing with no excessive frills or ribbons. Their transformation sequence is quite tame as well. Despite its simplicity, their clothing has quite the magical girl feel to it. The cutesy artstyle fits the mood of the show perfectly. As this show's main points take place in the night sky, the outer space visuals filled with stars can be somewhat stunning. The character sheets and fan art end cards during the end credits helped to flesh out the show even a little more. Overall, the art of this show was done quite well as to be expected of something of short length.

Sound 6/10.
The overall tone of this show is very mellow and healing. As such, the sounds used in this show for the most part were quite mellow as well. The sound did its job and set the mood when needed. It's not anything noteworthy though.

Character 5/10.
Obviously due to its short length, none of the characters' personalities were able to be fleshed out at all. That even includes the central main character who we know nothing more than "she is slow". There are some semblances of character archetypes, but that's it.

Enjoyment 6/10.
It's always nice to watch cute girls doing cute things or something like that. It's not particularly long or anything, spanning the length of an average episode of anime, so it's not really wise to complain about it being a waste of time. It was entertaining and was able to hold my attention until completion.

Overall 6/10.
As stated previously, Afterschool Pleiades didn't try to be anything more than your basic mahou shoujo. Most of its faults can be attributed only to its short length. Had this been a fully fleshed out series, it would've been much easier to find faults with this series as there would've been more time to develop the characters, story and everything else. As it stands however, Afterschool Pleiades is nothing more than a short healing story and should be enjoyed as such instead of trying to find faults with its fundamental structure.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Feb 1, 2011

SgtBash

Not Recommended

I have never seen a Gainax production that I didn't like... There is a first time for everything.

The characters and plot are shallow, generic, and uninteresting. The pacing is absolutely horrid. The art style is decent, until your retinas are bombarded with bright pink mahou shoujo nonsense, which makes you wish you were never born. I personally wanted to gouge out my eyeballs with a screwdriver.

Besides for the usage of the Pleiades's constellation as seen on Subaru's logo, this show has absolutely nothing to do with Subaru or cars at all. The closest you will get is the horribly out of place engine sounds which ... come from the glorified broomsticks the girls ride on. This production has barely any redeeming qualities, which coincidentally includes the ending theme.

I thought that both Subaru and Gainax would provide us something up to their normal standards of quality. So far I have been completely wrong, and will be watching just to get it over with.

Reviewer’s Rating: 2

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