I watched both seasons of Dream Festival. Here are my thoughts: This is basically male Aikatsu. Surprisingly good direction. Drama is handled well sometimes. At times there was definitely some 'forced drama' (forgive me for using this phrase), but it's a male idol show so I basically expected that. Forced drama and corniness comes with the territory (keep in mind the target audience demographic of this kind of show). I don't necessarily dislike forced drama but I will acknowledge it when I see it. In any case, the anime did a decent job of achieving the 'emotional rollercoaster' effect that I often enjoy in idol shows suchas this.

Richer characterization than expected, especially with consideration for cast size. Most episodes had some element of character development within them, which is something I perceive as being a major strong point. The cast is fairly likable as well.

There was occasionally some shounen-ai subtext between characters, but it wasn't prominent. I would have expected more of that kind of thing from an anime like this actually. Not a negative or positive thing, just a neutral observation.

Idol songs themselves are good and the background OST is decent too. I notably enjoyed the voice acting of some of the characters (Yuuto and Chizuru).

Over-the-top tacky idol outfits, just like Aikatsu!

Warning: CGI is used for the dance scenes.
The character designs are very simplistic, probably to make CGI easier. Animation quality is serviceable at best. Art style is quite bland and lacking in detail. Visually, the production seems low budget.

My rating: 7/10
Overall, this anime is surprisingly good for a low-budget low-viewership ONA associated with a video game.

It did everything I'd expect from a male idol show and I felt satisfied with its performance. I wish there were more seasons. I would have rated this higher if the drama was executed a little better or if I liked the characters a little more; that's not to imply that the anime did poorly in either of those regards though.

I'm a huge sucker for idol shows that depict the more realistic/harder/behind-the-scenes aspects of working as an idol. This show does this fairly well, in addition to its other positive qualities. My expectations going into this were admittedly low, but I ended up being pleasantly surprised. I really like idol anime though so I might be biased.