I tried watching this because the idea that you fight your opponents by rapping seemed interesting, but in the end, not even the rapping was enjoyable. When the first episode dropped, all I saw was one minute before I decided that I was not gonna punish myself with that garbage but my curiosity got the better of me so I picked it back up. A horrible decision on my part really. Like all anime shows, not everything is trash, but whatever original ideas or stuff that happens is not enough to salvage this dumpster fire, nor will it ever be enough to make up for the time I lost by watching this. I don't know if this is an adaptation of a manga or a game but if it's this bad, I can only imagine that either a) the source material must be bleak, or b)the studio just didn't adapt it properly.

Bland characters, dull animation, ugly CGI. Hypnosis Mic is a great package indeed. The show is mostly episodic, the dramatic moments are full of cringe (most of them) and come off forced, the comedy is so-so, there is absolutely no tension, and I dare to say that there are a lot of episodes that feel like a drag to watch. That Halloween episode was one of the dumbest things I have watched this year besides the presidential debate. Like some say, nothing happens.

Story:

The main plot is that after The Party of Words(a political group) took control of the Government, the women involved in that group abolished all weapons, replacing them with hypnosis microphones, which can cause damage to opponents, and will now be used as a replacement for firearms, etc. All battles will be fought by rapping. Pretty cool concept, right? it is a shame that nothing else is. Every episode there is a mini-arc centered around either one character or a particular crew. These are all corny and end up being resolved instantly and make no impact whatsoever. The only time I was mildly interested in the story was in episode 7 when one of the characters ends up befriending a coworker that was committing robberies in the city. That episode itself had a great deal of potential but like everything else in the
series, it gets worked up halfway and leaves you feeling unsatisfied in the end.

Characters:

This show has a ton of them. It wasn't that hard to remember the name of everyone, but to some people that may be a challenge. Most of these characters have oddly specific traits. Some are afraid of women when not wearing a jacket, some apologize for everything, some gamble more than they should, others cook dreadfully, etc. The characters are by no means memorable. Do not watch this show if you are expecting anything resembling character development. The characters are all fairly attractive even with their weirdly colored eyes. Their designs (hairstyle, clothing, and accessories) are stylish and seem to fit their personalities. All in all, characters are by no means ones you will hate, but they are just mediocre for the most part. They come with a set personality and that will never change.
Whatever interesting element is revealed about them, the anime does not do much to expand on it. One of the guys, Samatoki, seems to have "lost" his sister. It is hinted at that she is alive and we even see her at one point but we never get a resolution on his story with her. Another character, Ramuda, seems to have a double personality. It is not touched upon until nearing the end and even then, the conflict is quickly solved in that same episode. Just like this, the staff manages to not care about using whatever compelling traits or backstory these guys have and using them to their advantage.

There are no real antagonists in this show. Most of the conflict in the series is between those same characters that we already know and their past grudges against each other. The Party of Words could arguably be the villains but they are never characterized. At most what we get is some dialogue about how they have plans and how they are gonna beat the rappers but in the end, we know nothing about them. All the other rappers that face off against the main crews lack any decent characterization and otherwise look like normal pedestrians with the exception of the photographer's group. It is usually easy to tell who will win because they don't look important.
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Music:
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This was supposed to be the selling point of the show. You would think the people in charge would try to make the rapping sound as best as possible, but I've gotten secondhand embarrassment by some of these songs. The groups each character is in do not sound good together. On their own, each character sounds decent, but when meshed together (not taking into account the opening theme), it just doesn't work well. Characters like Rio and Jakurai cannot rap (Aizen rapping will forever live in my mind rent-free). Mad Trigger Crew is probably the crew that sounds the worst for the majority of their songs. Their voices do not complement each other nicely in the songs showcased in the show.

The soundtrack for the anime as a whole has some pretty nice tracks, but the character songs, which should be the most important given the nature of this show, are a complete joke. I can count with one hand the songs I have actually enjoyed, and no I would not download them to listen to at any point in my life. Not even as background noise. This is just sad now that I think about it. Opening and ending themes are just average and not memorable either.

Animation:

The show doesn't look that bad honestly. It looks painfully average. It looks better than some other idol shows I've watched like Utapri and Ensemble Stars. It didn't make my eyes bleed, had some personality into it, and it was consistent for its whole run, even if in episodes 9 and 10 the CGI looked worse than usual. Speaking of which, the CGI is hideous. It sticks out like a sore thumb. Furthermore, the studio mixes both the normal animation with it and clashes so bad that it just makes one lose focus. The difference between how the characters look normally against their CGI model is too much.

The animation is not very fluid and there are a ton of shortcuts being taken. When characters scream, a bunch of action lines appear on the sides, the action is about to happen and then the shot gets cut off, and the characters' facial expressions have little variety. The atmosphere for the dramatic scenes is not executed well. The cuts chosen for important moments make no sense most of the time and they take away from whatever is happening. It is not completely lazy but there is nothing spectacular and the direction of the whole thing is just okay at best.

I didn't completely hate watching this, but I still regret having watched it. There were no big expectations on my part. All I hoped for was a decent music show with okay characters but it didn't even live up to that standard. You don't have to have good characters, banger music, crazy visuals, and a compelling story to make a show enjoyable. As long as you have even just one of those things or an average of each category, I think you can have a fun or even okay show to pass the time but this is not it. I wouldn't recommend this show to anyone. I am sure whatever source this adaptation has, must have its fans. I know nothing other than the anime but I cannot imagine anyone feeling like this was a good show.

My overall rating is a 4. There were some good moments but not a lot and I just feel like there are other similar shows that are better.