Tsukiuta—The Animation: The Complete Series

Tsukiuta is one of the various “idol” genre anime series that center on Japanese teens who moonlight as pop musicians. This particular title, a hit in the Far East, is a multimedia-platform franchise, with music CDs, video games, manga, and even live stage extravaganzas. But occidental viewers may well wonder what all the fuss is about, as two six-man bands (Six Gravity and Procellarum)—comprised of idealized schoolboy types—practically ooze teamwork and positivity as they perform on stage and engage in character-building exercises when out of the spotlight. Antics range from the mundane (running for class president, acting in a play, meeting fans as “manager for a day” at the record store vending their music) to the…only slightly less mundane (going on a trip that turns into a tongue-in-cheek monster hunt á la Scooby-Doo, dealing with female associates who have somehow transformed into toy bunnies). It's a harmless but also mostly weightless series. Presenting all 13 episodes from 2016 in a Blu-ray/DVD Combo edition, in Japanese with English subtitles, rated TV-14, this is an optional purchase. (C. Cassady)