It’s time to put on the first performance!

What They Say:
It’s time to perform in front of a live audience for the very first time, but are guys ready for it? There is no going back now as the new generation of SHONEN HOLLYWOOD presents the thought-provoking play, “AIR BOYS.”

The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Though the focus on Kira didn’t do too much for me, I’m still enjoying the different kind of pacing that this series feels like it has. You can easily see how so many female oriented shows of this nature goes with few that break out from the mold, so getting something playing in familiar territory but in a manner that’s not the norm is welcome. The downside is that the characters haven’t connected well for the most part as Kakeru had some decent minor material to start and then Mii kind of stole the show for a bit before Kira put it into a coasting mode that slowed it down a bit. The individual character focus works, but there’s been little sense of real progress or even a real and tangible goal for the troupe. That starts to change here though.

This episode gives us the boys performing in front of a small and scattered audience for the first time with the Air Boys play, which has them working as crew on board a plane with its focus largely on the crew quarters where they do the meal prep and the like. The passengers are all off-play so it’s interacting with people not there beyond the curtains, but there’s some creative aspects to it that come to life that makes it fun to watch, especially as the boys deal with them without overacting too much. The play runs well through the first half as it goes with the extended flight and delves into the characters the actors are playing and their back stories while also providing some moments where they talk to the audience as well, which is always interesting when done well. It hits some decent notes here overall, but it’s easy to be less interested in the characters of the actual series than the play itself since it feels like we get to know them better and more quickly…

As it goes into the second half, things get more interesting as it progresses with the story and we see a few ad libs thrown in that even the audience recognizes but like because it provides a little more flair to things. For the most part though, this episode is an interesting exercise because it doesn’t spend time with the cast as they normally are but rather just letting them perform. So it’s not something where we get an internal dialogue from them about what they’re experiencing or feeling or how they’re performing, but rather just an episode showing us the performance itself. And that is interesting, but it feels like an episode that while it does give us a look at their talent and ability, is overdone in a way so as to keep you from being all the invested in it. It could have been done in half the time with more of a look at their thoughts through it to keep us engaged rather than as a passive observer.

In Summary:
With the performance taking up the entirety of the show, it certainly has its moments. A play with one set and four performers can definitely be interesting and there are ups and downs to be had here as each of them acts out in ways appropriate for the setting and character without really overdoing it. There’s some creative stuff to it – which we see in the credits sequence – that goes into how the play itself is put together and I like that. But for the most part, it’s a hard episode to invest in because it’s a play that you may not have an interest in with characters you really don’t know well and it doesn’t offer us the insights to it that it could with internal dialogue and more behind the scenes bits. It’s a solid performance, but it’s an odd choice to make to be sure.

Grade: C+

Streamed By: FUNimation

Review Equipment:
Sony KDL70R550A 70″ LED 1080P HDTV, Apple TV via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.