Trapezium

Unusually for a film, Trapezium has opening credits, and they're very inventive, mixing a range of animation styles from pop-art colours through to sketches in a lined notebook and birds made of stars, it's a lovely start to a beautiful film, full of colour and detail. It made me feel summery just watching it!

The film follows Yu Azuma who is prepared to go to any lengths to become an idol. Scouting for members of her band, she visits schools in the prefecture hoping to recruit the perfect idol team. Starting with Teneritas Southern Girls' Academy (the prefecture's top school for rich girls) to scout a girl called  Ranko Katori at the Tennis Club, she loses a match to her and, knowing that the girl is a fan of the tennis manga "Aim for the Ace", becomes friends with Ranko who she nicknames "Miss South". 

Her next conscript is Kurumi Taiga, student at a vocational school who made a name for herself in a robotics competition, though that meeting goes less well as she's too shy to meet with Yuu and runs off. Thankfully a boy named Shin who she met on campus puts in a good word and the two get together the next day. That gets her a "Miss West".

Finally she meets an old school friend while scouting the Northern area, and her team is formed with Mika Kamei as their final member.

Yuu, Mika, Kurumi and Ranko starting out as NEWS

With all in place, it's up to Yuu to plan their ascensions to stardom, which doesn't always go according to plan and notably she has all this planned out without informing the others. One of the appealing things about Yuu is the little smiles she flashes when her plans come together, it's a devious little aside that shows a manipulative personality that should serve her well in the entertainment industry. It's not a great way to make friends however and the relationship between the girls (and Shin as their photographer) forms the basis of the drama.

It's all incredibly efficient - the group are together and working on their first joint project (charity work) within 25 minutes. That's impressive scriptwriting from Yuko Kakihara (Blue Box), who adapts the original novel by Kazumi Takayama with aplomb. especially given that the film never feels rushed, nor does it ever spend too much time on any one arc. The journey of the NEWS (North, East, West, South) group isn't a smooth one and there's more than enough drama, heartbreak and reconciliation to fill the 1 hour 34 minute runtime. It never fails to look gorgeous either, Cloverworks studio clearly paying attention to every last details, from composition to lighting, Masahiro Shinohara (Re:Zero season 3) deserves much credit for making such an opulent film.  

There's no dub so we're left in the hands of the Japanese voice cast, Asaki Yuikawa (The Elusive Samurai), Hina Youmiya (BanG Dream! It's MyGo!!!!!), Reina Ueda (Solo Leveling), and Haruka Aikawa (That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime). Each provides a nuanced performance in their roles, and the conflict and camaraderie are all believable and moving. 

As someone who isn't so much into the idol world, I did find a drama about the career path very enjoyable. In much the same way that I'm more interested in wrestling documentaries than wrestling itself, don't let the idea that this is going to be too sweet for your tastes dissuade you, there's a realism to the film that keeps it very grounded and highly engaging. Whether you like idols or not, the universal themes running throughout the film are captivating enough to give everyone a good time.

I can highly recommend Trapezium, as a coming-of-age film, corporate drama and even behind-the-scenes look at a major entertainment medium, it's gripping, moving and enjoyable in equal measure.

Trailer: