Episode 1 of Cue! is finally here and it’s been a while since we have gotten an anime that’s about voice actors. The first episode introduces the brand new agency AiRBLUE and the 16 voice actors who just became affiliated with it. Being a rookie voice actor surely isn’t an easy job with all the pressure and competition it comes with. With that being said, will the start of their voice actor dream be smooth? Let’s find out!
The episode starts off with the scene of Haruna, one of the fresh voice actors in the AiRBLUE agency who is practicing voice acting. At first glance, it would seem like she’s already decent at being a voice actor: she has consistency in pacing her voice and she’s fully internalized with her character. However, when the important line comes up she felt nervous and her script fell, therefore, causing her to mess up her lines. A rookie mistake if you ask me. After that mishap, it was shown that she was actually voicing her favorite character, which explains why she was on accord with the character so much. After all, loving your role is important in order to play it well. Haruna’s scene already projects on what the other girls will be – they have potential but major flaws to fix. The scene ends when Haruna realizes that she’s already late in meeting everyone for the first time in the agency.
The AiRBLUE Agency
Like its members, the agency is pretty new. Haruna who thought that she was late and just rushed there finds herself helping the manager clean up the place because she came in an hour early. After a while, the other 15 voice actors finally came. With 16 overall members in the agency, it may be hard to remember each one. On top of that, there’s also the manager, the lesson coach, and the president of the agency. Luckily though, each of them has a distinct personality so it makes things easier to at least recognize them. After everyone introduced themselves to each other, it’s time for their first lesson immediately.
First Lesson
The girls were told to act out one scene from Shakespeare’s famous work, Hamlet. First off was Mahoro Miyaji who delivered a mature interpretation of Ophelia. It was revealed thereafter that she’s actually a child star which explains that her acting was a bit stereotyped according to their coach. Coincidentally, Mahoro’s voice actress, Megumi Yamaguchi, is also a child actress which is really nice to know that there are some easter eggs put into the show. After Mahoro, it’s now time for the rest to show off their skills. Knowing that there are 16 of them, the performance of the rest was just quickly shown. Among all the pairs, Haruna and Maika stood out quite a bit. Not because their performance was the best among the rest but they had their own unique depiction of Hamlet and Ophelia and they were completely synced all throughout the scene.
Impressions on The First Episode
Overall, episode 1 of Cue! was just mediocre at best; it wasn’t entirely bad but there’s nothing spectacular about it either. It also can be a bit intimidating to continue since the first episode already introduced such a large cast which can be worrying because there’s a chance that not every character will get the spotlight they deserve. Fortunately, the series just confirmed that it will be split into two cours so we could expect that each character will be substantial and fleshed out a bit. Regardless, the fast-paced first episode already leads the girls to their very first audition. Will they be able to land their first role? Only the next episode can tell.
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All images via Crunchyroll
©CUE! Animation Project
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