"Kaikan Phrase" also known as "Sensual Phrase" is a Japanese-rock oriented romance driven Japanese anime series. The series was adapted from the manga that was authored by Mayu Shinjo and published by "Shogakukan." The anime is directed by Hiroko Tokita and produced by "Studio Hibari" running for up to forty-four episodes. The anime focuses on romance and band rivalry. It’s one of many Japanese-rock inspired Japanese anime series. Keep in mind that Japanese-rock has a huge following throughout Asia and the rest of the Pacific. And it’s also through Japanese anime that there is a demand of Japanese rock in North America.
This anime series is what you call a "shojo" romance story. Shojo is aimed towards female audiences whom are between the age of thirteen and eighteen. In a sense, shojo type series are basically teenage chick flicks. Kaikan Phrase can be classified as one of those chick flick titles as it is supposed to appeal to females more than males. Shojos are no exception to the use of "bishonen" which is classified as a "beautiful boy" or a "beautiful male." The males look very beautiful and could be somewhat classified as metrosexual by the way they look and the way they dress.
Kaikan Phrase revolves around a famous Japanese rock band called Aucifer. It also goes focuses on the relationship between a normal school girl named Aine Yukimura and Sakuya Ookochi. The series starts out with Sakuya taking a piano gig at this hotel. It’s revealed that he is a music prodigy in both instruments in voice. Sakuya is like the reincarnation of Amadeus Mozart whom had eidetic memory. In a sense, Sakuya has very good eidetic memory as he instantly memorized the music notes before playing. He could play the piano and sing very well at the same time.
While Sakuya is being talked to by a mysterious woman, there’s a music group that looks to be splitting up. The drummer named Yoshihiko "Santa" Nagai caught his girlfriend cheating on him with another member named Yusuke. However, Santa quits the band and goes back to running the cash register at a music store. Santa’s friend also quits the band along with him. While Sakuya is working gigs at the hotel, Santa is basically recruiting members for a new band. This presents the interesting premise of a band getting together to be famous after recruiting Sakuya. The series shows that it’s not easy to come up with a band as prospective members aren’t that willing to join without some incentive.
Santa’s driven by the fact that he doesn’t want to play for a band that he doesn’t believe in. But there are a bit of differences between the anime and manga itself. In the anime, it gives more focus on the band Aucifer. In the manga, it gave more focus on the relationship between Aine and Sakuya. In the opening and beginning themes, they have real life actors portraying the characters.
The real life band called "Aucifer" was actually formed to promote the anime. It looked to be disbanded afterwards as Aucifer went inactive in 2003. They also created another band called "e.mu" to promote the rivalry in the story. The creators created two bands and promoted a rivalry to promote an anime series.
The series is only available in Japanese with English subtitles. It’s unlikely that the series may be licensed, dubbed, and released to the United States in the near future.