Singing, Lies, Rumours, and Social Media – You’re Always On Stage
Voice of Fox is one of those short anime that comes out that very few people seemed to pay attention to. And it kind of makes sense. The Autumn anime season was full of some amazing titles and you can’t watch everything. A short anime that adapts a Chinese Manhwa about a kid wearing a fox mask and wanting to make it as a singer probably isn’t high on people’s watching priority list. Still, there was something about the first episode that drew me in and I’m really glad I strapped in for the ride. While Voice of Fox isn’t a ground breaking masterpiece that must be watched, it is a solid effort at telling a reasonably interesting story in a fairly short run time given episodes are only around ten minutes long.
Where Voice of Fox works is the tight focus on a very small pool of characters who interact within a larger social setting. With idols and stars making up a large part of the cast, social media and the internet play a huge part in this story as public perception sways and changes with events, rumours, apologies, and performances. While at times the public opinion seems to veer far too strongly too quickly, it is a good look at the pressure of anyone living in the public view and who relies upon fans and an audience for their livelihood. Hu Li also explored the idea of being independent or being part of an agency and the difficulties in getting yourself out there alone vs what a large company can achieve.
Where it falls down is that too many of these characters are either good people with poor luck getting trod on by an uncaring system or they are ruthlessly ambitious with very little in the way of actual human emotions. The characters who are set up as the antagonists don’t get to be anything other than star hungry and while the anime does attempt to give Kong Que (the guy who Hu Li is the ghost singer for) some sort of angsty back-story, it is one of the moments that is a bit rushed and the emotional impact is minimal. It also is quickly forgotten when you realise that despite what has happened to Kong Que he is still pretty ready to throw Hu Li or anyone else under a bus for just a scrap of fame so he’s not exactly a nuanced character.
The story largely focuses on the events around a reality idol show searching for the Rising Star of China, at least for the first half. The filming is rocked by scandals as singers get sick, power outages occur mid-performance and Kong Que is revealed as a fake and Hu Li as the real voice. This section of the story is really quite focused and driven and while there are some comedy moments that don’t quite stick their landing, by and large it is highly entertaining.
The second half, where we explore the characters and their motivations a bit more and wait for their final decisions, is a little less well handled. It does come back to the competition and we do get a satisfying ending, but there’s a little loss of momentum in the second half.
There’s also a lot of singing in this. I really enjoyed the music including the OP and ED but I also really just liked the performances. If the music doesn’t work for you, that is possibly going to be a deal breaker because all of these characters are on stage at some point and singing.
I’d recommend giving this one a go. It was one of those pleasant surprises of the Autumn season and I really wish more people had watched it because it would have been fun to discuss it more each week. Not a perfect show by any means, but one that I could definitely get lost in and just go along for the ride.
- Episode 1 – Curiosity
- Episode 2 – It Isn’t Paranoia When They Are Watching
- Episode 3 – Relying on Coincidence, Mishap and Luck
- Episode 4 – Is Hu Li Losing His Resolve?
- Episode 5 – Can Hu Li Actually Conquer Sky’s Twisted Challenge
- Episode 6 – The Incredible Realisation That This Anime is Amazing
- Episode 7 – The Fallout From A Fox’s Shattered Reputation
- Episode 8 – Do These Characters Have the Courage to Face Their Ghosts?
- Episode 9 – Rumours and Lies, Tragedies and Triumphs
- Episode 10 – It’s Never As Simple As Follow Your Dream
- Episode 11 – Voice of Rumours Vs Voice of Reason
- Episode 12 – The Final Face off For The Fox
For some reason I didn’t see this post until now, but I’m very interested in trying this one out.
It’s definitely worth trying. It might not be your cup of tea but you might end up really enjoying it.
👍👍👍
Heh, the writing was a little clumsy at times (I mean, if they hire a ghost singer, surely they can get him a backstage pass?) but always pulls through when necessary. It was a charming little show. It felt a lot like a soap opera, which isn’t something I’m used to in anime.
Yes, it had its clumsy moments and moments that just didn’t have enough time to develop, but I did end up quite enjoying it.
I’m gonna watch this.
If you go in with reasonable expectations you’ll probably low key enjoy.
I definitely hadn’t heard of this, but that really adds to the appeal for me. I tend to veer more towards the lesser known titles in lieu of the more popular stuff. Of course, there are exceptions (AoT being one of them). The story sounds interesting, if not mind-blowingly original and I like the animation from the screen shots you’ve shared. I’ll admit I don’t typically watch idol-type shows, but I’m intrigued enough to give this a shot. Thank you for talking about! Probably would’ve missed it otherwise.
It definitely isn’t perfect but given it was an idol based story and with a short run time, I went in with fairly low expectations and ended up fairly impressed with how invested I ended up in the characters and story. Besides, with ten minute episodes you can watch the whole thing relatively quickly so the time to entertainment ratio works out well.
Indeed! That does make it more appealing, lol. Is this on Crunchyroll or Hidive?
Crunchyroll has it.
Sweet thank you!!