Cute Girls Doing Cute Things is a large and and beloved genre, but like any large and beloved genre, it is now starting to spawn enough series where the girls are all doing the same thing.
Like the isekai genre sprouted off too many fantasy anime featuring a normal guy being sent to another world, now is the age of the Girls in a Band sub-genre of CGDCT anime! – But, you know, hopefully with a catchier name.
Regardless of what to name the genre, anime music is always appreciated and music anime is the perfect excuse to stuff a series full of bops. As many also appreciate cute anime girls, it is no wonder that “x number of girls forming a band” has become such an increasingly popular music anime set up.
If you are looking for more anime recommendations about girls starting a band to enjoy, head on down below.
Girls Starting a Band Anime
K-on
While K-on is very much four girls in a light music club rather than an independent rock band, there is no arguing that K-on penned the original formula for the budding “girls in a band” sub-genre of music anime.
A group of girls start a band. Mostly cute slice of life interactions. A big dash of documenting the creative struggle. They play the occasional banger.
That’s it, that’s the formula. That’s K-on.
However, as K-on follows a what is still just a high school club, it mostly keeps the music on the school level and may not offer the glimpse of the professional music world that some may be craving. Furthermore, considering the main character can’t play an instrument at all, it takes significantly longer to get into the music. Well, music that sounds good, anyway.
Bocchi the Rock
Bocchi the Rock is K-on come again in a more relatable skin. The series follows a girl riddled with social anxiety who learned to play the guitar as a way to help make friends. The initial plan has failed spectacularly over the years, but it has allowed the titular Bocchi to develop stunning guitar skills over years of diligent practice and posting on legally-not-YouTube.
This eventually does help her make new friends in the form of being recruited into a band, but as you would expect, social anxiety remains even when people make the first move. While Bocchi the Rock has some good music, a large part of its charm is its creative depictions of anxiety in a way that hits quite close to home for many people.
Jellyfish Can’t Swim at Night
While “girls in a band” is an modern, but increasing trend, a good portion of the stories lack a modern sort of feeling. They take place in the era of Youtube and Facebook, but Jellyfish Can’t Swim at Night lives in the era of TikTok and Instagram.
Those eras are so similar, but the feelings of depicting trying to get a new band off the ground in the modern age of social media feels so different, and that is really a large part of why Jellyfish Can’t Swim at Night excels.
The other part of why Jellyfish Can’t Swim at Night excels is due the the relatable – and again, modern character flaws and personal/professional issues that it explores. From the shut-in Vtuber with what appears to be subtle gender dysphoria to a failed idol to an illustrator that blended into obscurity to a gifted musician living in a xenophobic nation, this series explores a true mix of modern misfits through the lens of contemporary amateur music production.
Carole & Tuesday
If you want a music anime that has the most dense collection of amazing insert songs, then look no further than Carole & Tuesday. Left in the capable music-minded hands of Shinichiro Watanabe, known for his expert use of music in Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo, and Kids on the Slope, Carole & Tuesday unfolds a true rags-to-”well, we’ve made it” story about two vastly different girls breaking into the professional music world.
Taking place on a futuristic Mars, a runaway wealthy girl and a scrappy girl just trying to get by bond over a shared love of music and form a duo together.
Carole & Tuesday is less “girls being cute” and more focused on the actual struggle to break out of obscurity and make it as an actual musician professionally. While the girls themselves belt out several great songs, Season 2 features an American Idol/Eurovision-type song contest that really let’s this series stretch its auditory legs.
BanG Dream
In a vast sea of idol anime, BanG Dream and its very “idol-esque” sounding title often gets lost among the waves. However, contrary to how the title reads or the promo’s look, BanG Dream is actually about several high school girls who decide to form a band.
While BanG Dream originally showed off just one new band, it expands rapidly into multiple girl bands of various types and niches in the music industry. As such, while it does follow bands, in its way, BanG Dream also sort of treats the members of the large ensemble cast of girl bands as idol-type characters themselves by really fleshing out their various marketable personalities.
Girls Band Cry
One of the most charming features that is really defining the “girls in a band” sub-genre of music anime is that each member of the band isn’t so much just a stereotype, but is often a flawed, relatable character who is growing through their journey through music.
While many of the above series do them well, Girls Band Cry puts the most focus on growing its flawed characters through their turbulent journey in both life and music.
Although faulted for its less-than-ideal quality CGI animation, it is one of those series where that too-common bar for entry is a true shame due to the sheer high quality of both the music and the characters.
Irodorimidori
Not every anime can be a gem, but those who aim for average will always fall short of even that bar. It is very clear that Irodorimidori was aiming at average, being an unambitious fan service anime following one of the bands from Sega’s Chunithm action-rhythm arcade game.
This series follows a girl who indulges in the urban legend of her school that has graduated a number of students who go on to be big stars. That urban legend states that if a student excel in the upcoming festival show, they will get extra credit. As the main character is failing her classes, she decides to form a band and give it a go.
Irodorimidori is a Cute Girls Doing Cute Things anime very much in the same vein as K-on but without even the fraction of the personality and with the bare minimum of production. Even the lackluster CGI in Girls Cry Band can be looked past for the good character story, but there isn’t any depth like that to be found here.
SoniAni – Super Sonico The Animation
Similar to Irodorimidori, SoniAni is an unambitious anime produced to represent a company rather to tell a story. This time, SoniAni follows Super Sonico, the mascot character for Nitroplus games.
As you would expect from an anime about a company’s mascot, SoniAni follows the world’s most perfect girl as she gushes over cute things, has that highly marketable “adorable clutz” personality, works as not just a professional model, but also a waitress for her grandmother’s restaurant, and finally, in that vast wealth of free time she must have – starts a band with her college friends.
If nothing else, SoniAni provide a cute anime girl to watch and not a lot to think about.
Do you have more anime recommendations that you think fit the “girls in a band” sub-genre of music anime? Let fans know in the comments section below.
