Bakumatsu Rock is about the Tokogawa period if the Shinsengumi were a boy band helping to keep the Tokogawa shogunate in power. During this time the only songs allowed are the Heaven’s Songs. Anything else is illegal. There is an underground movement of rock that the main character is taking part in.
Bakumatsu Rock mixes feudal elements with modern elements with no real explanation. All the characters dress like they are from the era, but they have things like modern lighting, speakers, and guitars. All these things are out of place, but the show still tries to play it off like it is the Edo period.
When the band gets together at the end of the episode it is just too much. Lightning coming out of the main character’s hands, fireworks behind him, magically appearing insturments, and exploding shirts. Guess they would not be a proper boy band with shirts on or that the shirts were somehow offensive. The whole thing was like a magical girl transformation sequence.
Hopefully in the future Bakumatsu Rock will explain more about how the Heaven’s Songs keep the populace in line. The girls seem to do anything for the boys in the group, but what about the men? Also if the commoners are not getting many chances to see the group, why aren’t they rebelling more? The whole thing seems rather silly.
Right off the bat this seems a lot like AKB0048 except in feudal Japan. Only in this show there are only certain types of songs that are allowed. If this show does turn out like AKB0048 it should be an interesting season.
Overall Bakumatsu Rock is a bad show and so many things make no sense. It is in fact so bad that it has gone back around to interesting. At this point I want to see what else they are going to do with this stupid concept.
Status: Still Watching. This show is pretty crazy. Left me wondering what they will do next.
