Gekidol

A 2021 Sci-Fi Anime, Gekidol (also known as Gekidol: Actidol Project) is an anime about acting. And cute girls. And a cute Robot Girl. And a giant gaping hole right in the middle of Tokyo.

Seria Morino is a Japanese high school girl who, after watching a hologram-enhanced theater show, begins to dream of being an actress. When having a discussion about this with her friend Makoto Higuchi over this, a woman called Kaoru Sakakibara recruits her to join her acting troupe, the Alice In Theater. Seira accept this, and shows herself to be remarkably good at it. And so, she joins the troupe at the end of Episode 1.

But this show isn't all about a girl's journey to become a good at actress. There is a gaping hole right in the middle of Tokyo, something appeared five years ago and killed many people. The Alice In Theater also features, in addition to the human actresses, Doll, a Robot Girl who is able to act. As the story goes on, the secrets behind the hole, Seira's past, and Doll's existence are slowly revealed.

Animated by Hoods Entertainment, which famously did the anime adaptation of Seikon no Qwaser. Directed by Shigeru Ueda, which directed some episodes of Qwaser, but most famously animated episode 286 of the Bleach anime. Licensed by Funimation.

Tropes used in Gekidol include:

Accidental Kiss: Seria and Airi kiss each other when the first falls of the steps of a bus in Episode 4.
Book Ends: One of the series' first scenes is Seria performing a scene from a play in public. One of the last ones is her doing the same thing in a completely new timeline.
Bowdlerise: The Funanimation ending is much more tamer than the Japanese release's ending, showing scenes of the girls singing and acting instead of a naked Seria and, by the second part of the series, a naked Doll and Izumi.
Chekhov's Gun:
- In Episode 3, more than one character notices how good Seira is at imitating how other people act. By Episode 5, it is revealed she and her twin sister swapped places more than once, and Seira was perfectly able to imitate her behaviour.
- The Airi, Izumi and Seria Love Triangle, which was already shown to make the first two fight over the third ruins Enri Viano's plan in Episode 12, preventing their timeline from being erased, as the two begin to fight in the middle of the stage.
Combat Tentacles: Doll has control over these using the care system, as shown by Episode 10.
Fan Disservice: Naked Kaworu wrapped in tentacles in Episode 10? Nice. Naked Kaworu wrapped in tentacles because Doll wants to reactivate her memories as Miki so she can kill Hiro? Not so nice.
Fanservice Extra: The image of very busty prostitute is seen on a poster of a brothel in Episode 1.
Girlish Pigtails: Several girls have pigtails but the one which we know most about is Megumin who indeed has a girlish personality.
Male Gaze: This anime is really in love with the girls' rears, especially Seira's, which is shown from a low angle during the opening.
Ms. Fanservice: In addition to the instances of Male Gaze, Seira is also shown naked at the ending animation of the first six episodes.
Nipple-and-Dimed: All instances of nakedness of female characters occult the nipples.
Older Than They Look: In-universe, Airi doesn't realize Manami is older than her.
Polar Opposite Twins: As shown by flashbacks in Episode 4, Alice and Seria were like this as kids, with Alice being more communicative and cheery while Seria more shy and reserved. As result of this, their parents clearly favored Alice over the latter.
Princess Curls: Higuchi's hair is styled with ringlets and she casually mentions not being a big burden to her to buy SMT tickets, which are said to be very expensive.
Rei Ayanami Expy: The doll is pale, thin, has light blue short hair like Rei, has otherworldly origins, speaks in a emotionless tone when not acting but eventually grows more emotional, and has a strong connection to Takezaki, the producer of the Alice In Theater.
Set Right What Once Was Wrong:
- The Innovators want to erase the timeline which is the setting of the show because it only exists because of the war between their faction and the Gazers.
- In Episode 12, Seria unintentionally ruining the reenactment of Enri Viano being shot establishes a timeline where the time-space distortion never happens, Miki never travels back to the past to chase Enri Viano, and Okazaki and Doll are not present.
Shameless Fanservice Girl: Airi didn't have problem with being a gravure model and exposing her breasts for photos.
Slut Shaming: Airi went through this as shown by her flashbacks in episode 3, with people talking badly of her behind her back during her career as a junior idol, and this discrimination pushed in her becoming a theatrical actress instead.
Survivor Guilt: In Episode 5 Seira is shown to have this over her parents and sister dying, though the reasons seem deeper than they first appear: Her parents thought they were taking Seira with them but it was actually Alice, who decided to change places with her twin sister so she could be better treated. On the day the incident at Ikebukuro happened, they disappeared in the middle of the disaster.
Third-Person Person: Megumin tends to refer to herself in third person most of the time as "Lovemin", her idol name.
Title Drop: By the third episode, the acting troupe is named "Gekidol" when while they're discussing a name for them, Seria fuses the word "engeki" (theater) with "idol" and Kaoru likes the suggestion.
Xanatos Roulette: Defied. At episode 12, Enri Viano's plan to correct space-time hinges on Airi, Izumi and Seria perfectly reenacting the incident between Miki, Azusa and Kyouko five years earlier, improbable as it may be. Seria goes off-script, as actors often do, and the first two fight over the third for romantic reasons, completely ruining everything.