Episode 1 of fall anime season 2016’s ClassicaLoid starts off with a bang: stirring classical music, bright sounds and colors, bold line art, wildly enthusiastic animation and chaos rising as the music builds. ClassicaLoid’s opening theme is one of this season’s most energetic, an exciting array of colors and wacky styles and shining lights.
There’s certainly such a thing as too over-the-top, but honestly? I watched Concrete Revolutio, and I supported what it was trying to do. Give me your wild, your wacky, your colorful and outrageous yearning to be something at least slightly different than a smartphone tie-in anime. I'm down.
While I don’t think ClassicaLoid is going to tackle any of Concrete Revolutio ’s sterner subject matter, it promises to be romping good fun. The character design and art is delightful. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart has a long pink braid, a giant pink hat and cape, and yellow shorts with pink squares on them, while Ludwig van Beethoven rocks a leather motorcycle jacket and monologues with passion and intensity on the perfection of gyoza. (Agreed, dude.)
Aside from our two classical composers, we have Kanae, one of our main characters, who is living in a now-foreclosed mansion where Mozart, Beethoven and her old friend Sousuke are staying. For the first half of episode 1, we get shenanigans: Sousuke whining, Kanae yelling at everyone to leave, Beethoven trying to cook gyoza with scientific intensity, and Mozart freewheeling about the premises.
But throughout our episode 1 runtime, we get flashbacks of Kanae’s happy childhood in the mansion with her grandmother. These flashbacks help to ground the wildness of the ClassicaLoid characters and premise, especially when emotionally tied to objects such as the mechanical organ that doesn’t work and the giant painting of a ballroom.
Once the demolition of Kanae’s foreclosed mansion is at hand, the mechanical organ magically starts to function again (well, it wasn’t magical, but it did involve Mozart on roller skates crashing into it). The sound of the organ playing seems to trigger a frenzy in Kanae, who screams for the demolition crew to stop. It appears to be too late, as a wrecking ball slams into the mansion wall.
That’s when Beethoven shouts “Musique” and explodes with light. Perched atop the mansion, he floods the place with light and color and music, summoning the ghosts of a ball long past. Kanae’s grandmother, magically young again, welcomes her to the ball. As Opus 68 plays, the demolition instruments transform into wacky mechs and do battle… then break into a waltz… as the demolition workers twirl as well…
Finally Beethoven calls an end to the magic. Kanae, reinvigorated by the spirit of her grandmother, swears to protect the mansion. (Even the mansion windows are shaped like string instruments, and there’s piano keys on the roof.) The demolition crews drive away. That’s when the plot deepens: the demolition workers call in the presence of CassicaLoids, who are apparently “escaped,” to two concerned frilly young girls who turn wide eyes upon Great Bach-sama. Bach instructs them to proceed: “Andante.”
The closing credits show us that we can look forward to Chopin, Liszt, Schubert, Tchaikovsky, Badarzewska, and of course, Bach. The plot by its nature is going to provide tons of classical music to enjoy, though most of it is rather liberally (and electronically) reinterpreted for the show. But wherever ClassicaLoid is going, it looks like a load of fun.
ClassicaLoid is simulcast on Saturdays at 7 AM here on Crunchyroll. Will you be watching? Feel free to discuss episode 1 of ClassicaLoid in our comments section below.
