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This anime focuses on hip-hop and is based on the drama cd series from ep1-9. People who are voting lower than a 5 and haven't even finished the anime are people who were never into the music genre or seiyuus so I don't know why these people even bother reviewing. It's like going into a fast food restaurant ordering something and then give a low review because they gained weight. I've watched the anime from ep1-12 so I will give a fair review based on what's to be expected in music genre anime even though I am a fan of the drama cd series. Expect ... this review to mention the drama cd series a lot of the time.

Story/Direction/Baity synopsis: Story-wise, ep1-8 follow quite faithfully to the drama cd though there are missing dialogues and development. Anything beyond 9 are completely new and diverted completely away from the drama cd. If you're anime only, you wouldn't spot anything wrong but for drama cd fans, you will notice the change of direction. The synopsis pretty much baited you all in thinking there will be epic street style rap battles between the groups- you won't see that in the anime. A complete miss in direction if you ask me; it's bad enough we don't see the rap battles in the drama cds (The drama cd always start off with what's going on before the supposed rap battle begin or after) the anime could have let us see both teams perform one after another but nope. It didn't do that. You are just told who won and who lost and take it as it is. You want to know what songs are used to battle one another? Go listen to the songs used in the drama cds because this anime expect most of the audience to be drama cd fans. Gotta thank them for confusing the anime only fans. Way to go.

Music: If you're watching Paradox Live: The Animation completely blind to the drama cd series, all songs will sound new to you because like I said you don't know what's there in the very first place. However, for fans of the drama cd going into the anime, you will be disappointed because only two units have new songs. As a music anime, it's often expected to have one song or two per episode but this anime fail to deliver that. You expect more freestyle rap? You only get that in 3 eps out of 12 (one of them was re-used twice). If you're anime only and you like the songs from the first four units, good for you. If you're a drama cds fan, lower your expectations because if you're a TCW or AKYR fan you are shafted out of anything because apparently this anime is about the poster child of Paradox Live. I

Animation: If you have seen the trailer, you will notice the use of CGI for the singing performance. The CGI used for BAE and TCW's performance is a 10/10 in my opinion. The CGI in cozmez and AKYR's performance however dropped slightly in quality in my most honest opinion. The CGI is pleasing to look at for the most part.

Enjoyment: If you're going into this anime without checking out the drama cds first, you will vote this a 7 or higher because the characters are all designed handsomely and pleasing at best. Who wouldn't want to see their idols from a drama cd animated? But if you're like me and you went into the anime starting from the drama cd series, you will will not vote this higher than a 7 because "Paradox Live: The Animation" shouldn't even bother having that name- they might as well call the anime "BAE" because of the blatant favortism of screen time for the poster child of the franchise; don't expect to see much of the other units because they're just stepping stones for BAE.

Is this anime overall for BAE fans enjoyment only? - To the drama cd fans: if you can overlook character assassination, sure the enjoyment is there because it is something new and assassination of the character you knew from the drama cd is something new. To anime only BAE fans, sure you will enjoy it

Personal overall: I looked forward to the anime but the anime is a disappointment to me personally. I'm aware it can't be 1:1 to the drama cd but the least they could do is give us something worth mentioning the anime instead of "Here's a poster child, let me shove them to your face so you can't see the other units". If you're anime only, do you even know Satsuki has a crush for Anne and thinks Anne is a girl? Did you know Iori and Yohei are close friends? Did you know Saimon and Yohei both love the same woman? You won't know that because you're anime only. I'm especially disappointed in the lack of new songs. Visual Prison gave us lots of songs, Marginal#4 gave us existing song AND new songs specifically for the anime. If I have to describe this, I feel that after ep9, I feel like watching the 3rd season of Starmyu; it feels unnecessary and hard to feel hyped up for.

What did I like about the anime: I know I complained a lot but there are things I liked in the anime too. The vibes between the characters are still there; you actually get to see the parents of some of the characters; being able to see what the phantoms look like when they perform; the freestyle rap (Non battle of course) is enjoyable, the new songs are good songs.

The drama cd series gave us 2nd sets of units already, will you come back to watch S2 if it happens? - Even though I am voting an overall 6 and I have a lot of complaint, I still want want to hope for S2 as long as they stop shoving the poster child to our face.

I'll be very honest, I've watched this anime for the sake of hearing Masuda Toshiki (Saburo) speak in a manly way. Not even Masuda-san can save this anime because from the moment the animators decided to do an EX-ARMS and Berserk 2016, Sabiiro no armor already shot itself in the foot with no way of redeeming itself

I've not seen the stage-play so I went into this anime blind. I'm sure the characters and the story are exciting in the stage-play but it's very hard to get yourself immersed into it when the anime's background is lackluster and when the anime decided to put 2D into ... it, they're drawn in the lowest of the low quality. I'm not even joking. Legit, when they're drawing characters in 2D, it feels like the animators just went "I'm going to draw this with the hand I don't usually use to draw! Lol!"

The only reason why I'm rating it a 3 and not lower than that because the VAs actually put a lot of effort into their acting despite the inevitable low review for whatever this is. The VAs- majority of them are new with only Masuda Toshiki being the only veteran. The voices at the very least fit every character.
Another reason why I am not rating lower than a 3 is because some episodes actually got me laughing.

The only good thing about this anime are the Opening song, Ending song, and Masuda Toshiki and the new VAs. I hope this anime doesn't screw the new VAs over and I hope to hear their voices in better works than this.

Seriously, who even greenlit this animation style? Learn from EX-ARMS and Berserk 2016 already, animators, nobody likes low tiered CGIs. Though I will admit at least the characters DO blink unlike in EX-ARMS

I watched this anime because my sister decided to pick this one. It's a very cutesy anime and I usually wouldn't watch this kind of romantically cute anime if I am watching on my own. This is one of those anime where you don't need to stress your brain out. You had a tiring day at work or school? How about a feel good anime with sweet love and fluffiness? This anime is, as Spongebob once said: "It's good for your soul."

Story is a 7/10. Nothing too stressful. You have Tamahiko, a self-loathing and pessimistic individual who can't see the point in living and planned ... to live without bothering anyone but in came a storm of Spring that is Yuzuki, who changes his life for the better. She's the driving force for Tamahiko to actually start living for real. It's a heartwarming story as you Tamahiko warm up to her and start connecting with others. This is a feel good anime, story-wise, there isn't anything complicated.

Art is a 7/10. Considering its plot, the art is nothing too difficult to take in. It's a feel good and cute story so the art will be cute too. Nothing much to say here because I'm not expecting topnotch visuals like you'd expect in UFOtable. It's simple and fit the theme, the art.

Sound: 8/10. Watching this anime from ep 1-12, you will pick up certain osts for sure. It really does make itself recognizable in the good way. One of the OST is literally called Tamahiko and Yuzuki. That is so cute and one of the most memorable OST. I rated the sound a lot higher here because this character, Kotori-chan, is a very talented singer and hearing her sing her insert songs really feel good. Hearing Kotori-chan sing is like floating on top of a cloud. That's how feel good it is. You can hear the full version of Kotori-chan's songs on Youtube. The sound really does reflect the past of Japan.

Character: 7/10. Each character is unique in terms of their design and their motivations. I think the characters are all drawn and voiced perfectly to match the personality that they're given.

Enjoyment: 9/10. This is a feel good anime. We're not expecting anything too major here that'd wreck the brain like a psychological anime that runs on deepness. You're supposed to feel that 'Fuwa fuwa' feeling after each episode. I think this anime would make a good chicken soup for the soul.

Overall Score: I think fair to give Taishou Otome a 8/10. It did its job to make the viewers feel good at the end of 20 something minutes. It managed to give everyone warmth to the heart. The characters really do grow on you and I wished this was a 24 episode instead of a 12. What a shame.

Issues?: Yuzu does say "Tamahiko-sama" very often but that is to be expected as it's rude back then to address someone by a "You" to their face. This anime is based in the Taishou era of Japan; if you go on Twitter asking about people's opinions on this anime you'd come across some morons who will be like "Tamahiko is 17 and Yuzu is 13!" This anime isn't for you if you're the type to bring modern day standards onto an anime based in the Taishou era. Please be stupid somewhere else.

When I looked at Visual Prison, I was skeptical of it at first because I thought it'd be one of those idol type anime where the character fits into a generic trope but as I watched it, it actually took me by surprise and I ended up enjoying it and looking forward to every Friday. The reason why I decided to give it a chance is because of Masuda Toshiki (Dimitri Romanee's VA). As someone who is familiar with the Visual Kei genre and a fan of Masuda-san, this anime sold me right away. The seiyuu lineup is amazing.

Starting off with talking about the ... story which I rate a 6/10, imagine Eurovision but the vampires are singing for the Scarlet Moon. I feel the story didn't really answer a lot of questions that fans have. With 12 episodes, I think it is possible to answer some of them but they never covered it properly; why does the Scarlet Moon want songs? What is Eclipse's motivation to protect their 'lambs'? I feel like a lot of the character backstories and their motivations are still shrouded in mystery. I feel like we still don't know Beth, Saga, Hyde, Dimitri, and Guil properly. I'm crossing my fingers that the anime will have a second season because I want to know more and more about the characters! Also, there's barely any blood sucking moments in the anime. What's the point having everyone as vampires if we don't see any feeding moments?

Art, I give it an 7/10. I mean, the characters are not drawn ugly. They're pretty attractive on and off the stage. Visual Kei is supposed to have the band dressing up and putting make up on. I feel Eclipse (current and past Eclipse) is the only band living up to the appearance of how Visual Kei is supposed to be. They feel more Visual Kei of what it used to be. Lost Eden looks like modern day Visual Kei bands. As much as I like OZ, OZ is still too idolish. OZ looks more like an idol band than Visual Kei band. But enough about the character art, yes, there are CGIs used in the anime but they're only used 3 times but honestly, the CGI in here works better than the CGI in Berserk and the The World's Finest Assassin Gets Reincarnated in Another World as an Aristocrat. The CGI for when Eclipse sing their songs are amazing in my opinion. That is CGI done right there.

Sound, 10/10. The 10 comes from the songs. Yes, my favorite band is Eclipse but even if you have a band that you like, you still find yourself enjoying the other band's songs. If you like JRock or Visual Kei, you will enjoy this anime for the songs because the seiyuus really do bring life to band songs and their solo songs. I wouldn't say the seiyuu lineup is amazing if it wasn't. If you lean more to Kpop or Jpop, don't expect the music to cater to your taste because if you don't enjoy Jrock, what are you doing watching this anime? You might as well watch Starmyu, Idolish7, or Utapri. This anime is for those who enjoys Jrock after all so expect strong bass, drums and electric guitar sounds. If you ask me whose vocal carried this anime, I think it's a tie between Makoto Furukawa (Guiltia) and Aoi Shouta (Hyde). Masuda Toshiki (Dimitri) gets a bonus mention for using a deeper tone when he speaks. So hot.

Character, 7/10. Ange on his own doesn't really carry the anime in the first few episodes. The other characters in this anime have more life and soul than him. When the band get together, you feel a family vibe from each of them. Heck, you immediately find who is the mom and dad of the group XD
OZ is a warm group and their character interactions reflect that. Lost Eden is like a warm family in their own way too which really surprised me considering they want to destroy the Scarlet Moon. Eclipse is pretty much a married couple with one another. For me, the most fun character is Dimitri Romanee. It will be spoilers if I reveal why so you're going to have to watch it yourself.

Enjoyment: Enjoyment-wise, I'd give it a 9. If an anime can make me look forward to each song/episode for the sake of enjoyment and not just because I want to finish it for the sake of finishing it, I wouldn't give it such a high score. I'm now in a pickle because what will I have to look forward to now that Visual Prison is over? I hope they will give out an OVA or something.

Fangirl level: 11/10. I ship Dimitri and Hyde.

Overall: I give this anime an overall 8/10. The main guy (Ange) is weak as a character in the beginning episodes but he slowly picks up the pace and ends up growing on you. The rest of the characters are loveable and they're all precious in their own ways. It lost two points because there's not enough Eclipse. While they're trying to focus giving everyone their own solo songs, there's not enough screen time for Eclipse. I wish for a season 2, fingers crossed!