Wednesday, February 28, 2018

Wake Up, Girl ZOO! (2014)


Wake Up, Girl ZOO! is a net animation spin-off of Wake Up, Girls! where the group is re-imagined as animals at a zoo in Sendai.  Comprising of 10 episodes, each of around 3 minutes long, this is not a long series at all and is aimed to provide short fun laughs.  Being such short length, there's not much plot to speak of.  The first and last episode parodies the anime's.  The last animal at a zoo in Sendai dies and Matsuda is ordered to go find new talent, cue to the seven group members.


Each member is now wearing an animal outfit, which mirrors their appearance in the anime during the weather forecast segment.  Mayu is a lion, Airi is a shark, Kaya is a crocodile, Miyu is an eagle, Minami is a tiger, Nanami is a wolf and Yoshino is a bear.  A lot of the episodes strangely focus more on Miyu and Nanami, with Mayu and Yoshino taking a backseat.  We get episodes on Miyu teasing Nanami on her ideal man, Yoshino being scared of the dark, a parody of a game starring Miyu, pro-wrestling where Mayu and Yoshino lists out all of Airi's faults and other events where the group members try to advertise the zoo by handing out flyers but since they're all carnivores, everyone runs away scared.


Perhaps the funniest episode would be when the group puts on a show at the zoo (parodying Wake Up, Girls! debut concert in the first movie) and upholding justice, they fight other characters from the anime that appear as cardboard cutouts.  The series is animated in a simple chibi style and it does not take itself too seriously, although the ending theme is catchy.  Overall, Wake Up, Girl ZOO! is not super funny, but is not super bland either.  It's an amusing side distraction if you're a fan of the anime and you have some spare time.

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