In the hopes of escaping to a new possibly better place the girls of the Radio Research Society meet under the sacred tree to perform the 4:44 Ceremony. According to an urban legend performing this ritual at 4:44pm while listening to radio static tuned to just the right frequency will open a gateway to another world. Its a premise weve seen in similar forms before. https://i.ur.com/SqCzDBN.png Of the five members in the club most of them dont expect the 4:44 Ceremony to actually do anything and only participate as a fun social activity. Asuka a cheerful girl who dons a big red hair ribbon has the most faith that the ritual will eventually succeed. Yuu the reasonoriented president of the club and Asukas closest friend is the most skeptical. All of the girls like each other to some extent establishing a welcoming vibe to the group. https://i.ur.com/VPFYDaR.png Chloe the modest one whofor some reasonpeppers her speech with French phrases finds a crystal near the sacred tree. When she places it in a specialized radio she finds an odd sound at the 0633.1 AM frequency. The group elects to perform the ceremony at this frequency and unexpected things start to happenincluding the emergence of some suspicious snow bunnies and most surprisingly another Asuka. The cheerful Asuka playfully nicknames this other Asuka Seriouskaa portmanteau of serious and Asukadue to her more serious demeanor. https://i.ur.com/K0NZTul.png When the 4:44 Ceremony succeeds all five girls are transported together to another world and the one wearing the headphones merges with a version of themselves in that world. This provided some of the most interesting and often humorous moments particularly when Asuka and Seriouska were involved. We see each of the principle characters live through another version of themselves and confront the choices and regrets of that other self. This aspect of the story gave an otherwise familiar premise some psychological weight. https://i.ur.com/1EVKNhZ.png Hostile forces from a Twilight realm trail them antagonize them and create turmoil for everyone in its wake. Its believed that a king in this Twilight is the root cause. Initially the group tries to avoid this king but they soon realize they have no choice but to confront him her or it to protect themselves and the inhabitants of these other worlds. Honestly I wouldve preferred less emphasis on these parts and more emphasis on the main characters confronting their other selves. But I understand that taking such a route may not have been as entertaining for a lot of people. https://i.ur.com/Nh8Puv1.png Two littleknown studios DandeLion Animation Studio and Juumonji did a really nice job on the production. Aside from one or two wonky frames here and there the 2D art and animation was mostly polished and the 3D computer animation for the action scenes wasnt too jarring when it appeared. Theres still that moment when you go Oh its in 3D now. but it doesnt take too long to adjust to the transition. https://i.ur.com/9ESWveu.png My interest in this series was initially piqued when I saw clips of the gloriously overthetop action scenes going around on Twitter. My expectations started at Maybe I could watch this as a filler show between JoJo episodes... and ended at That was actually fun If you dont mind seeing some things you may have seen before and arent bothered by the occasional fanservice you could have a good time with Akanesasu Shoujo. https://i.ur.com/5ahDMB3.png
70 /100
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