Takashi Miike was
co-producer and series director for this ambitious Japanese television
series that aired from April 2017 to March 2018. This
first 20 episodes are included in this special four disc package, with
English subtitles. The series was conceptually aimed at young,
elementary school girls, but with its emphasis on music-oriented fantasy
and highly saturated psychedelic art, the program quickly became a favorite
of the youth drug culture. A Pee-Wee's Playhouse
on acid.
In a distant
kingdom, miracle icons called Sound Jewels are responsible for
all music, including the 'Song of Blessings.' These Sound Jewels are stolen
and transformed into Negative Jewels by the Demon King who will use them
to destroy the human world. He plans to corrupt adult humans by infecting
them with evil music. In retaliation, the Supreme Goddess sends the Rhythm
Fairies to the human world to enlist help from a Japanese superstar singer,
Mai Kanzaki. She
decides to hold
auditions for a new group, Miracle Tunes [officially MiracleČ],
but her real intention is to recruit Idol Warriors to help recover the
stolen Sound Jewels. Mai chooses two young girls, Kanon Ichinose and Fuka
Tachibana, to become part of the Idol X Warriors. As the series continues,
they are joined by sisters Akari and Hikari Shiratori from the American
girl group KariKari. Episode after episode, the five girls fight to purify
infected adults [known as Negative Jewels] and retrieve the corrupted
Sound Jewels from the Demon King and his gang.
Critics called it
"the start of a new television genre." Two mangas and a video
game were released. It also launched a singing career for the show's idol
girl group MiracleČ. The series was syndicated in Thailand,
South Korea and China. Interestingly, Italian TV took the concept and
created their own version in 2018.
Some Miike fans have been taken aback by this seemingly aberrant project.
But his films like N-GIRLS
VS VAMPIRES, YATTERMAN,
and GREAT
YOKAI WAR should have prepared his audience for this.
20
Episodes of a Japanese TV series on 4 DVDs with
English subtitles; original widescreen format (16:9), in DVD encoded
for ALL REGIONS NTSC, playable on any American DVD machine;
Extras include promotional music videos.