Dance with Devils

Continuing with the devils theme, Dance with Devils is the next anime that I will be reviewing.  Dance with Devils is twelve episodes long and aired during the Fall season of 2015.  Do not let the title fool you, this anime features singing, rather than dancing.  Each character in this anime showcases their fabulous vocal talents and do so throughout the whole anime hoping to win the heart of the main character.  Dance with Devils earned a rating of 6.74, according to MAL.  The anime has a low score, and I can see why.

Plot Summary

Dance with Devils is follows around the student, Ritsuka Tachibana.  The anime starts out with Ritsuka being called to the student council room.  The reason why she was called to the room proved to be unclear, resulting in the school assuming that Ritsuka was in trouble.  The other students were spreading these rumors, jealous of her chance to talk with the student council.  The dreamy student council is made up of the leader Rem, pretty boy Urie, the masochist Shiki and bad boy Mage.  The point behind Ritsuka being called to their room was for them to scout out the Grimoire (a secret item), which happens to be Ritsuka herself.  Moving forward, more devils began to realize Ritsuka’s connection to the Grimoire, leading to the kidnapping of her mother, altering her life.  Shortly after, Ritsuka learns of the demons surrounding her.  The student council all devote their days going after Ritsuka in hope of her falling for them, so they could obtain the Grimoire.  Ritsuka’s brother, later on revealed to be cousin who also has a crush on her, Lindo, returns home to protect Ritsuka against the demons with his skills as an exorcist.  Ritsuka’s life is surrounded by drama and a handsome guy at every corner.  Not only does she have to battle to keep her lovers away, but she also has to protect herself from the demons in another world trying to come after her.  However, Ritsuka has nothing to fear, her very own demons, the student council, will gladly travel to the other world to defeat a demon for her.

Viewpoint

I happen to love reverse harems and comedies, they are genres I specifically look for.  I began watching this anime expecting to see the typical four guys wanting to make a girl theirs, however, I did not expect this.  The anime was a musical, which was a pleasant surprise at first.  I have never watched an anime with so much singing, it reminded of the well-known Disney movie, High School Musical, thus tricking me into thinking it would be good.  Attractive guys singing, who could ask for more?  Despite the characters attractive appearances, the majority of the songs within the anime were cringe worthy and there was no real story other than the men wanting to make Ritsuka theirs.  The anime wasted a perfectly good story by focusing on the student council gaining a love interest.  The idea behind the anime was for the student council to seek the Grimoire, not to fall in love with her and stalk her throughout the day.  Dance with Devils was overall cringe worthy and felt randomly strung together.  The first episode sets your hopes high, however, you soon catch on to the fact that the whole anime is just the student council stalking some girl and taking her strange places, thus making the anime uninteresting very fast.  This anime has ruined my belief that all reverse harems are worthy of my time.  I rate Dance with Devils with a 1 out of 5 stars.