Wake Up, Girls! - Episode 1

Their first live concert was a success - well, as much of a success as you could hope for at a student metal band event - but what does the future hold for Wake Up, Girls as the New Year begins?

Given that there are bills piling up and manager Matsuda really isn't even sure what he's doing without the company president to demean him and boss him around, things aren't looking all that great, and some of the girls are already starting to think about moving on with their lives in the assumption that this could be the end of the road for their very short-lived idol careers.  But maybe, just maybe, there's some hope just around the corner, as it's revealed that another manager named Sudo wants to take on the group to relieve Green Leaf of some of the burden and take the group to new heights.

With this announcement comes renewed hope and excitement from all involved, with even the more skeptical parties ultimately being swept along in the hope of more work and a bright future as talk turns to on-stage introductions and the like.  An announcement from I-1 Club that they'll be coming to Sendai and building a stadium for a concert there reminds them of how far they still have to go, however, and as the episode ends it becomes immediately clear that Sudo's plans for the group might not be quite what they wanted for themselves.

Having done a decent enough job of setting up the group and premise of Wake Up, Girls in its initial movie, I'm just going to come out and say it - this first episode of the series proper was as dull as dishwater.  We're still no closer to seeing any kind of personality or character to speak of from any of the girls, and the major story points could be written on a Post-It and delivered in about five minutes of an episode at most.  With little of note to hold those moments together, this series needs to get into gear and fast if it's going to avoid becoming a long slog to watch.