D4DJ is a multimedia project I have been following for a bit less than a year before the TV series started, my excitement towards the anime was huge, and I'm really happy to say that not only it was nice, but it also surpassed my expectations.

This anime follows the cheerful Rinku and her new (and not that new) friends as they form a DJ unit in a school very heavily focused on that activity (the funds spent on that big-ass beautiful building and all the rooms with equipment to do DJ performances must have been crazy). As the episodes pass, they will meet new rivals that will both bring a bigger challenge to overcome, and also become friends that will help out each other to improve even further.

One of the most important things to mention is that this is one of the rare music anime that is not really focused on drama, the characters do have problems and sad moments, but they all get resolved without being dragged out more than needed. I sure love a good drama, but I personally loved how D4DJ managed to have emotional moments while mostly just being an anime focused on sheer fun and good vibes.

Now time to take on a part that is usually very controversial for the anime watchers but that really shouldn't be the case for this anime: CGI animation. SANZIGEN is a studio focused on anime of this type, and as someone who watched how Bang Dream from that same studio drastically improved between the second and third season in terms of CGI quality, I can say that D4DJ now took it not one but three steps further to become one of the best looking works using that style of animation. It makes me so happy to read so many people who are not a fan of CGI say that they found this anime to look great and not feel uncanny as they usually feel. With that said, I have to admit that the background chars suffer from generic face syndrome, but how well the main cast looks and expresses their emotions, and how great the performances are make up for it hard.

Performance from episode 1 if you want to see an example

Spoiler, click to view

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As a music anime, one has to indeed give a lot of value to the music, and nothing to worry about, because this anime covers that section nicely as well! Nearly every episode has a new song (or two) that make you spam on loop on youtube after watching it due to how nice it sounded, and the normal soundtrack that plays during the series is also very solid and memorable. Not fully related, but since series about DJ performances are close to none, I really liked how D4DJ made sure to show the basics of how it works so one can make an idea about what the characters are doing and not just feel clueless with what the task of a DJ is.

I have to give its own paragraph to the opening song of this anime because it not only sounds fantastic and shows how good the CGI of this anime is, it also fits so well with the theme of DJ performances this work focuses on. Guru Guru DJ TURN!! Really can be seen as three different songs transitioning one after the other, and this (groovy) mix delivers hard to make it one of the best openings from 2020. Make sure to check it out if you haven't yet! Link right below.

Sadly we're now reaching the end of this review, I hope I managed to convince you to give this series a chance! I glossed it over to not go full on detail, but while I really enjoy the music, what makes me truly love D4DJ is its lovable cast full of different personalities that just work greatly together (or become closer after struggling due to their ways to be), I'm sure that if you watch this anime you will end up feeling the same way and will want to see more of them!