Content Warning: This anime contains a white radial gradient that viewers with photosensitivity may want to keep in mind. I have been informed by an AniFem staff member that they experienced a minor migraine as well as witnessing a friend experience sensitivity as well. Viewer discretion is advised and encouraged.
What’s it about? At Gloria Private Academy, stars are born, and for young Beethoven, it’s his time to go from fighting in the streets to making music in the sheets–classical music that is! For you see, at Gloria, students with the talent of legends take on their skills and names for the ultimate competition to see who can rise to seize melodic glory once more!
I’m just going to say it up front: you all know why I chose this. Even if you’re relatively new to the AniFem community, I’ve made a name as an Idol fan on here, and I aim to maintain it by making CLASSIC★STARS, the most indulgent and ridiculous pilot this season, my entire Spring 2025 personality. In fact, I kept muttering, “This is going to be my whole ass personality!” and cackling during my watch, which bodes well for my thoughts on this premiere.
But will this new entry to the massive catalogue of Boy Idols be good enough to strike a chord in the wide, vast chambers of my idol-loving heart, or are things going to go sour from the first note? Come along with me to find out!
Episode 1, “Emotion 01: For My Own Soul,” starts out with our main boy (eventually, to be Beethoven) in the throes of his own ennui. Gone are his glory days of boxing after a knockout that destroyed his very soul. Now, he walks the rainy streets of Anywhere-machi, Japan, a bandage on his boyish cheek, downtrodden, but not completely without hope. Thank goodness he’s in an idol anime because his time to shine is soon.
But first, a concert set to some classic music with a bit of pop rock and roll thrown in. It is glorious, it is decadent, and it is camp! And thankfully, after this delectably indulgent intro to the world of CLASSIC★STARS, Beethoven is inspired by the music–and huge, angelic wings–he witnessed to take a step toward his future.
Enter Gloria Private Academy, the swankiest of swank boy schools to ever boy school it up. I’m talking buttresses, sprawling pathways, greener, halls, coeds, and best of all, color coded idol interests, of which we meet and witness many. Because of the size of the cast, we don’t necessarily get to know them yet, but we’re still at the start of young Beethoven’s journey. Will he give up his gloves forever and leave the ring, or is his future as a musician the only way to find his fighting spirit again?
By all means, CLASSIC★STARS is not the cream of the crop. It’s not even the biggest, baddest, boy-est idol series. But damn if I didn’t enjoy every single second that my eyes were pinned to Crunchyroll’s silver screen. This is for the gurls and the gays and thems and the theys, and wow, wow, WOW! Did I love it!
The animation is your run of the mill style: it reminded me a lot of I-CHU, an idol anime from Winter 2021 that I bounced off of initially but found great joy in once I let myself just indulge in the silliness. And that’s really what CLASSIC★STARS asks of its viewers, who I imagine are largely pre-established fanbase and newcomers looking for singing boys. Leave your lofty ideals behind and enjoy the fact that there’s a bunch of Japanese teens running around with the names of famous European composers and musicians. It makes no sense outside of the nonsense premise and honestly, it doesn’t need to! After all, rarely am I after a deep, life-changing story here: I’m invested in having fun, singing songs, and finding my newest oshi.
One of the reasons why I really like male idol anime are that they feel like a celebration of female indulgence and the female gaze, and while I’m not a woman, I greatly find affinity with that specific joyful experience. I like how idol anime look at what marginalized genders find engaging about masculinity and delivery. In this case, as with many, it’s pretty boys who have colorful hair, a wide range of appeal, charming personalities, and for CLASSIC★STARS specifically, blend symphonies and classic movements with rollicking guitar licks and hot boy vocals that call to the inner emo in me. That’s why I keep coming back: I like that male idol media allows me to indulge in the femininity I previously experienced and enjoy recapturing. I like that it’s not shameful to just be me.
That said, I really enjoy the unique premise for this anime, especially because it’s taken so incredibly seriously in a way that borders on hilarious but never feels like a joke. Beethoven (we never learn his actual name prior to this moment) is the perfect lens into this world, providing an outsider’s opinion on the wacky and wonderful happenings at an academy where boys can become men who channel centuries of European musicality.
My verdict? Please give this a try, especially if you aren’t someone who ever considers male idol anime worth it. I think it’s so wonderfully enjoyable plus, there’s a lot ot music packed into this episode which to me, always feels like a win-win when it comes to jumping into a new piece of idol media.
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