Welcome to a new series on The Muse Culture where we review the latest survival program “GIRL’S RE: VERSE”!

GIRL’S RE: VERSE is a virtual survival show by Kakao Entertainment where 30 girl group members compete to debut in a 5-member virtual K-pop girl group.

Origin and release year: South Korea (2023)

Starring: HOOK’s Aiki, Pengsoo, Bada, Boom

You can find a comprehensive list of all 30 contestants alongside their characters soon on our website here. If you’d like to see each girl’s profile and all posts regarding the show, check here.

Follow The Muse Culture’s Facebook and Twitter for more updates about the show!

Warning! This article contains spoilers about episodes 1-4!!! We will not mention the real identities of the contestants in this article to avoid spoiling that aspect of the show. However, a comparison article is available here!

First Impressions of the Show

Firstly, no one can argue that this show’s concept isn’t unique. In both good and bad ways. The concept where members are in an alternate universe called ‘W’ and end up buried in graves on a virtual hill when they get eliminated seems a bit extreme, but hey, we’ll give it a shot.

It might be a little bit confusing to keep up with all of the characters and the idols that they really are so stay tuned to our site because we will have a comprehensive list up soon. However, their hidden identities are the point.

The show’s theme song is quite cute and definitely starts it off on a high note. It gave ‘Clarity’ by Zedd happy vibes.

Boom was a hilarious MC. His one-liners had so much zing that they forced you to laugh through the chaos.

The animation was surprisingly good and witty.

Additionally, and this is a bit of a spoiler regarding the contestants on the show. But this writer was surprised to hear that WJSN and LOONA members were on the show considering the success they had on Queendom 2. To read a review of Queendom 2, click here.

How the GIRL’S RE: VERSE tier system works

• Diamond = Rank 1 to 5 contestants (5 idols)
• Gold = Rank 6 to 12 contestants (7 idols)
• Silver = Rank 13 – 20 contestants (8 idols)
• Bronze = Rank 21 – 30 contestants (10 idols)

Contestants’ Tier Predictions

The contestants were given the opportunity to predict which tier they think they belong in. Here is what they chose!

Diamond

• Catherine
• Kimserena
• Cacaoprincess
• Rien
• Sundaenaejang
• Keuang
• Kiki
• Jipsunhui
• Ujewel

Gold

• Nemo
• Rascal
• Hwaeuija

Silver

• Nikena
• Sera
• Hiroo
• Junghorang
• Muneo
• Cheer
• Barim
• Yenycall
• Rose

Bronze

• Chadodo
• Chonky Cat
• Watchiswatch
• Seoritae
• Ruby
• Dohwa
• Dopamine

Contestants’ Starting Tier (According to vote results)

Diamond

• 1 = Jipsunhui (first place)
• 2 = Keuang
• 3 = Sera
• 4 = Rien
• 5 = Hwaeuija

Gold

• 6 = Cheer
• 7 = Ujewel
• 8 = Zzaru
• 9 = Cherry
• 10 = Dohwa
• 11 = Watchiswatch
• 12 = Chonky Cat

Silver

• 13 = Cacaoprincess
• 14 = Chadodo
• 15 = Nemo
• 16 = Yenycall
• 17 = Hiroo
• 18 =Sundaenaejang
• 19 = Catherine
• 20 = Muneo

Bronze

• 21 = Junghorang
• 22 = Rascal
• 23 = Dopamine
• 24 = Ruby
• 25 = Nikena
• 26 = Seoritae
• 27 = Kimserena
• 28 = Barim
• 29 = Kiki
• 30 = Rose (last place)

1:1 Death Match Pairing And Results

The first mission was a 1:1 battle where the girls would be eliminated immediately if they lost. That means that 15 girls were eliminated straight off the cuff.

• (1) Jipsunhui (Won) vs. (7) Ujewel
• (2) Keuang (Won) vs. (16) Yenycall
• (3) Sera (Won) vs. (5) Hwaeuija
• (4) Rien (Won) vs. (10) Dohwa
• (6) Cheer (Won) vs. (27) Kimserena
• (9) Cherry vs. (23) Dopamine (Won)
• (11) Watchiswatch vs. (25) Nikena (Won)
• (29) Kiki vs. (19) Catherine (Won)
• (13) Cacaoprincess vs. (28) Barim (Won)
• (14) Chadodo vs. (18) Sundaenaejang (Won)
• (17) Hiroo vs. (24) Ruby (Won)
• (15) Nemo (Won) vs. (22) Rascal
• (8) Zzaru vs. (30) Rose (Won)
• (20) Muneo (Won) vs. (26) Seoritae
• (21) Junghorang vs. (12) Chonky Cat (Won)

Note: Chadodo didn’t participate in the death match because she was ill. Thus Sundaenaejang won by default.

Performance Review

• Zzaru’s vocal color was simply stunning singing ‘Stay Beautiful’. I also liked her song choice and how she didn’t go for an obvious choice. Honestly, it was a bit hard to judge the dancing because of the natural glitch of the virtual element but I thought her dancing was quite good, too.
• Rose’s vocal color really took me by surprise. Not only was it different to her speaking voice but it didn’t feel worthy of being last place. However, her high notes do need a bit of work.
• Cherry’s cover of ‘Stereotype’ was super pleasant and I thought she had a lovely tone and stable voice. However, Dopamine’s performance had more impact and there was a unique twist to the way she sang.
• Nemo and Rascal’s duet was heartwarming. Nemo has one of the prettiest airy vocal colors that I’ve heard in a while. Whereas Rascal’s voice is more on the classic side and incredibly stable. Their high note gave me goosebumps.
• Jipsunhui singing ‘Maria’ was sooo good. She was incredibly stable for the amount of high notes and runs that she had to pull off. Ujewel had a whimsical voice and I think she chose a song that truly highlighted the best elements of her voice. Her dance was fire, too.
• I’m OBSESSED with Seoritae’s performance. I love that she took on an unexpected genre and absolutely rocked it with an engaging and lovable performance. It’s even more impressive that she did it whilst feeling under the weather.
• Muneo sounded unreal!! Her voice was super clear and the song held so much emotion highlighted by her beautiful voice.
• Barim’s voice took us by surprise with its rich quality. The duality when she rapped? Unmatched.
• Whereas Cacaoprincess’ rendition of ‘Hello’ was also sweet. It was a feel-good performance. The impressions were… interesting.
• The idol persona from Dohwa was everything. She gave a holistically good performance.
• Rien sounded like a daydream. Her performance was so smooth. She showed every skill set that she had.
• Keuang has a lovely voice but I wasn’t sure if the song choice was strong enough to show off all the charms in her voice. It was lovely, though. She showed more of her charm in the second song which was a relief.
• Yenycall showed a lot of vocal depth and emotion. Her song choice was also a bit on the unfortunate side though.
• Kiki did really well but I think the VR didn’t do her locking justice. She’s super talented though.
• Catherine’s determination was really impressive. You could see that she studied which movements would come out better in VR. Being able to rock her performance so well in a virtual world made it even more impressive.
• Sera’s voice was insane for lack of a better word. It was the type of performance to give you goosebumps.
• Hwaeuija’s was melodic and filled with sincerity. It was impactful but subtle at the same time.
• Cheer’s performance was easily one of this writer’s favorites. It was soulful and her groove was innate. Not to mention how stunning her voice is.
• Kimserena had superb clarity in her vocals and an overall captivating voice. However, I think her strategy was a huge advantage. Her song choice was also clever.
• Chonky Cat had such a pretty voice and her performance was very vibey.
• Junghorang’s voice was also pretty but in a more fairy-like angelic way as opposed to being vibey.
• Watchiswatch was yet another lovely performance. Whereas Nikena was all flow and groove. Nikena’s husky tone was especially appealing.
• Hiroo’s song choice was unexpected but charismatic. She also had the ‘it’ idol factor.
• Ruby’s husky vocals and airy tone were out of this world. This writer absolutely loved her second song too.

Final Thoughts On Episodes 1-4

Considering that this is the kind of survival show where everyone has already debuted so you know that they are talented, the show guarantees a good musical listening experience.

I’m already enjoying the fact that the hidden identities has allowed a lot of idols who would easily be overlooked to come to the forefront in the show. There’s no obvious bias just upon hearing the idol’s group name, making for a fair competition truly based on skill.

I think eliminating people in a 1:1 death match straight off the bat was a reckless decision. There were a lot of unfortunate eliminations of people who could’ve made it to the top 5 if they hadn’t been eliminated. Luckily, I was relieved to find out that there would be consolation matches, too.

This show is the first of its kind which is incredible but the unique/unfamiliar format does make it a little bit more difficult to enjoy and watch.

The format definitely needs more improvement but luckily the contestants’ talent made up for the shortfalls.

What did you think of these episodes of GIRL’S RE: VERSE? Let us know in the comments!