Series Review – The Idolm@ster

The Idolm@ster

As a series, I expected Idolm@ster to be a striking example of the moe genre that’s becoming grossly overrepresented in this day and age. Based off a video game franchise that’s infamous for it’s appeal to otaku in Japan, my expectations of this series were very much along the lines of shows like K-ON and Lucky Star, both unambitious moe series that try to be cute and silly about everything they do. It was only natural then that when I saw the promotional poster for Idolm@ster (an image of 13 cute girls in idol attire), warning signs began blaring off in my head. To put it simply, I had a really tough time dropping my biases against this series as I watched it.

Well, now that this series has been finished, I can say that my expectations were quite accurate in many regards, but that didn’t mean that this show didn’t surprise me here and there. The show did end up being about those 13 girls acting all cutesy and innocent, very much in line with moe shows. The plot even got very formulaic at times, where each episode would end up focusing on the goofy aspects to each heroine, trying to spin each in a fun and silly light. The cast was initially rather memorable, but for the wrong reasons. I would remember characters much more often for their ridiculously silly antics, as opposed to any deeper levels of character development. And numerous conflicts felt very forced and unnatural, especially the ones involving the Kuroi boss and Jupiter towards the middle of the series.

However, just stereotyping this show as a typical moe show doesn’t do justice to the merits that Idolm@ster actually does have. Underlying the silly antics to the cast is a story of these girls struggling towards stardom. While a vast majority of times it seems that these idols have everything made too easy for them, there are also moments where their underdog status was very much noticeable. And not to mention, three central characters to this show get some genuinely powerful character development, and makes them stand out amongst this rather diverse and large cast. There were a few episodes that I could think of that took me by complete and utter surprise, mainly for just how well it presented it’s character tensions and atmosphere.

Unfortunately, these genuinely excellent episodes of more in depth and powerful characterizations were very much the exception rather than the rule, and the rest of the series was dominated with the typical silly idol fare. This series certainly didn’t feel like it painted an accurate image of the whole Idol subculture in Japan; rather, it felt like it tried to gloss it over with silly moments and slogans that indicate success comes with enough hard work. To be fair, I never expected this show to try and paint an accurate picture of life as an Idol in the first place.

Production-quality-wise, this show certainly wasn’t terrible. There seems to have been a decent budget for this series, but aside from a select few noticeable bumps in animation quality during certain episodes, the production quality was fairly average. Music was very much in line with your typical J-pop songs, so your liking of the soundtrack would very much be dependent on your tastes in music. I personally felt that none of Idolm@ster’s songs were memorable, but many would beg to differ.

In the end, Idolm@ster was a series that very much fell in line with moe genre stereotypes, with a select few episodes that were exceptions. A vast majority of this series is about watching a bunch of to-be idols goof off and be silly, where you’ll see them do stuff like goof around while trying to find some pudding that disappeared from the fridge, and so forth. In other words, if you enjoyed series like Lucky Star, K-On, and other moe slice of life series, Idolm@ster is a show very much for you.

 

Animation/Art: 7.0/10

Music: 7.0/10

Setting: 6.0/10

Characters: 7.5/10

Story: 7.5/10

Overall Enjoyment: 7.1/10

Quick Impressions – The Idolm@ster – 25 (Final)

Episode 25 Final –

Quite honestly, there’s not much to say about this episode. After all the heavy drama in the most recent episodes, this finale opts to play things safe and have a proper happy ending. And outside from that, excluding a few character relationship wrapups, there isn’t much to really say. I guess it’s nice to see the Producer back on his feet, Chihaya back into her musical career, and having Haruka finally back to her regular free-spirited personality. But those are conflicts we saw resolutions to plenty of episodes ago. This finale was meant to pretty much bring closure to the actual series itself, as opposed to individual character relationships. Oh yea, and of course, be a huge advertisement for Idolm@ster music.

All that being said and done, it seems that the producers to this anime have left behind enough plot points for a potential season two. I personally don’t think a season two would be necessary, mainly because we saw all the character growth we needed here, but I guess it doesn’t matter to the creators if the Idolm@ster anime was profitable. Anyways, this was a nice episode showcasing the entire cast, as wrapping up the story for the few characters that have gotten some real in-depth development. Nothing else, really, except for maybe the brief scene where potential rivals to the current idols seem to be getting into the idol game.

Screenshots are later in the post.

P.S. Dang, I think this was one of my shortest posts ever. 😉

Quick Impressions – the Idolm@ster – 24

Episode 24 –

Well, considering how heavy in atmosphere last week’s episode was, it’s no surprise that this one was also mostly devoid of a light-hearted atmosphere. Rather, this episode explicitly focused in on Haruka’s feelings about everything that’s happened to the group. As successful the idol group has been,  they are pretty much a perfect example of the adage “victim of your own success”. Everybody no longer has the time to be with each other due to their busy schedules as successful idols, and as a result, the group bonds that were so important to everybody was being strained. For someone like Haruka, who thrived on these group bonds, such a change up has really hit her hard. Her emotional turmoil was quite obvious when we saw her pouring out her feelings during her role in the play; her performance was riveting in some ways, which Miki acknowledged. Seeing Haruka going through a lot of emotional hurdles was heartbreaking, or at least, pulled at the heartstrings.

That all being said, this episode was less about shock value (the Producer didn’t die), and more about exploring the character relationships that are being strained. Haruka might’ve been going through emotional hurdles, but her setback also had a big impact on the overall idol group. While it was especially noticeable for Chihaya, and to some degree Miki, it also affected everybody from Iori to Mami.

What made all this a bit surreal, though, was how Haruka was comforted by an imaginary toddler version of herself, only for that mini-Haruka to suddenly grow up into an idol version of Haruka, and comfort her. While the illusion obviously holds a lot of emotional significance, I also feel it was a cheap way for the producers of this show to resolve her conflict. But hey, in the end this arc did a good job at developing the cast. Was the episode disappointing? In some ways, yes. The production crew for Idolm@ster took the easy way out in solving the conflict. But was it emotionally moving? Yes, I’d say it was quite good.

Screenshots are later in the post.

Quick Impressions – The Idolm@ster – 23

Episode 23 –

Wow, I think this was genuinely the most impressive episode of Idolmaster so far. Idolmaster did have it’s strong moments here and there (such as the arc that developed Chihaya), but this arc blows everything else out of the water. The way in which the episode showed the gradual decline of Haruka’s eagerness, and her fall into a depressing state, was done perfectly. A key tenet to good story telling is to “show it, not say it”, and in that regard this episode did very well. Mainly, the gradual disappearance of Haruka’s smile was a very fitting way to show her decline into her depressive mood, and on top of that, the plot twist at the end just compounded onto everything. I’ll say it right now; I think this episode was absolutely superb at highlighting Haruka as a character.

Haruka’s eagerness to try and get everybody together and practice highlights some very interesting new character dynamics that have become rather obvious in recent episodes. The stark contrast between early on in the series when all the idols fooled around together, to now when everybody is busy, is really noticable. Perhaps the term here is “a victim of your own success”? Nevertheless, Haruka is a perfect character to help highlight this sudden change, where Haruka has always been the team player pushing everybody forward when things got rough. When the “team” is no longer holding itself together as much, it’s no wonder that Haruka has been feeling rather down. I guess it’s partially Haruka’s fault for having expectations of the “team spirit” while everybody is simply too busy to follow through, but nevertheless it was a good way of reflecting upon Haruka’s strong connections with the rest of the cast.

One thing that I think might happen in the next episode or two is a round of tensions between all the idols. After all, there’s bound to be somebody that will push around the blame onto others (perhaps Miki blaming Haruka). Of course, this is just me being pessimistic and all. But knowing Miki’s straightforward personality, it’s very well possible that there will be a ton of drama in the upcoming episode or two. All I know for sure is that the next episode or two might prove to be devastating to the idols.

Screenshots are later in the post.

Quick Impressions – Idolm@ster – 22

Episode 22 –

You know, I’m surprised at just how much I’ve come to like the characters to this series. Sure, some of them were more prominently developed than others (especially Chihaya, Miki, and Haruka), but the show has surprisingly managed to get a fair bit of development for everybody. Admittingly, some of the development was superficial, but in the end it made for a very fun cast of goofy girls.

That being said, now that the main cast has pretty much managed to take off with their careers as idols, I’m sort of wondering where the story can go from here. Without Jupiter and the Kuroi boss, and with the girls already idols on their way to stardom, I don’t really think there will be any more major conflicts around. Then again, this series is starting to draw to a close, so the lack of a conflict isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Maybe we’ll see more development for the Miki x Producer relationship? Lol. Either ways, I already can have a general idea as to how this anime will finish off. But dang, a Christmas episode three weeks early? At this rate we’ll probably end up seeing New Year’s early too.

Screenshots are later in the post.

Quick Impressions – Idolm@ster – 21

Episode 21 –

Hrm, and here I thought Chihaya’s arc ended last week. Well, this week does bring some nice closure to her conflict, as well as finally gets the Kuroi boss to stop his over-obsessive stalkerish sabotaging. He seriously needs to get a better hobby, aside from tormenting former friend’s idols-in-training that is.

But hey, now that Kuroi probably won’t interfere anymore, we won’t have any more of those awkward conflicts anymore. It’s a welcomed change up in my book, especially when half of the conflicts just felt petty and forced. The episode does close off on an interesting note with regards to the Kuroi boss, who has a rather brief chat with Studio 765’s boss amidst a seemingly nostalgic little restaurant. The moment added a slight shade of complexity to the previously one-sided hate that Kuroi had for Studio 765’s idols, but it’s a bit too late now to add such developments for him >_>;;

So yea, fairly normal episode that wraps up the whole Jupiter-kuroi issue that’s been plaguing this show for the past few weeks. On a side note, I can’t believe that I didn’t realize until now that the seiyu for Chihaya is the same voice actress that voiced Makise Kurisu in Steins;Gate. Go figure that it’s near the end of Chihaya’s arc that I realized the seiyu connection…

Screenshots are later in the post.

Quick Impressions – Idolm@ster – 20

 

Episode 20 –

I’ll be the first to admit that this week’s episode of Idolmaster was quite overdramatic. Was it a bit too serious? Yes it was. Was the episode a bit too cliche? Yea, pretty much. But was it a good episode? Surprisingly, yes.

This series has been hinting at Chihaya’s past for a while now, and is probably the only heroine that has gotten such treatment in Idomaster. So I guess it’s not much of a surprise when her arc turns out to be the strongest in terms of both character development, and showcasing just how far our cast has gotten since the very first episode.  All the idols in this series are quite close, and protect each other as friends. There’s plenty of evidence of that here, with everybody from Iori to Miki pitching in to try and cheer Chihaya up.

But while this was a character development episode for Chihaya, surprisingly this was also a development episode for Haruka. For Chihaya, it was dealing with her painful past that was her hurdle to overcome. For Haruka, it was something much more different; questioning her attitude and self-confidence. It’s interesting to note how Haruka was dismayed when Chihaya called her a “meddlesome girl”, especially when Haruka automatically felt that she may have been “meddlesome” to others around her as well. This does indicate a lack of confidence in herself, or at least, uncertainty about her own actions. In that sense, we got a good feel for both Haruka’s light-hearted personality along with the insecurities and uncertainties she seems to have.

But yea, this was quite the emotional roller coaster. Admittingly, I’ve never cared for Chihaya too much because we barely knew her as a character, but this episode improved her characterization by leaps and bounds (kind of like the Takane episode last week). While the episode could’ve been implemented in a less blatant, more tastefully subtle manner, it nevertheless got the message it wanted across.

Screenshots are later in the post.

Quick Impressions – Idolm@ster – 19

Episode 19 –

Woah, for some reason I actually enjoyed this episode quite a bit. Considering how I’m not the biggest Takane fan, it’s kind of a shock that I found this episode entertaining. However, I do wish that the kuroi boss would just go bury himself in a pit or something. He’s a terrible antagonist, where’s he’s so stereotypically evil that I feel like it makes my eyes bleed upon sight. Seriously, Idolm@ster should be more about the actual idols climbing towards the top; having some stupid antagonist that ruthlessly targets them is not the best way to go.

Rather, it would be great to see a group of girls that can compete with the 765 Pro idols, because competition almost always brings out the best in people. I guess Jupiter kind of counts as valid competition, but they don’t quite fit the mold because of their gender.

Anyways, about the episode. Takane was surprisingly competent throughout the episode, where even though she was very mysterious about everything she was doing, she went about capturing her paparazzi stalker in a timely fashion. The producer must’ve felt pretty crappy after Takane captured the same guy that he himself got owned by. :3

The big thing here, though, is how all the foreshadowing about Chihaya’s past has finally manifested itself in a tangible conflict. Up until this point, there’s been a lot of hints about how Chihaya has bad relationships with her family members, but it’s with this episode where it finally comes to light. And really,  it’s a really dirtymove on the kuroi boss’ part for attacking Chihaya via very personal matters. He shows no respect at all, and like I said, is so stereotypically evil that I feel like he makes my eyes bleed.

Screenshots are later in the post.

Quick Impressions – Idolm@ster – 18

Episode 18 –

Hrm, well I’ll openly admit that I never actually anticipated seeing Ritsuko as an idol again. I mean, this series has mentioned her previous status as an idol more that a few times already, but I never thought she would ever take back up to the stage again (even as a backup). But hey, it did show some rather interesting new sides to her personality that we’ve never seen before, which is always nice.

I’m not a fan of Ryuugu  Komachi in general, though, so I can’t say I was thrilled about this episode. It was fun, but at the same time I didn’t find the focus on the trio as anything particularly special. I will admit I was amused when Iori and Mami got revenge on Ritsuko by making her dance a lot. But aside from that, this episode played everything safe for the most part.

Hey, at least the Kuroi president and Jupiter didn’t show up this time around. Automatic plus.

Screenshots are later in the post.

Quick Impressions – Idolm@ster – 17

 

Episode 17-

And here we get a Makoto-centric episode, which I don’t think we’ve seen in this series at all yet. It was a silly, whimsical and fun episode for the most part, even with the slight bit of drama involving the enemy studio. This series has really been trying to explore more of it’s cast by having one-episode arcs about each, and while I’m not a huge fan of the approach, it does give the characters more personality. That being said, do idols really have enough free time to play around for a vast chunk of the day? It sure seems that way in this episode.

Makoto’s prince-complex is pretty fun to watch for the most part, especially when she goes into anti-prince rant mode. All of this does make me wonder how many actual guy fans she has, lol. Anyways, aside from fleshing out her hatred of her princely image, Makoto turned out to be a rather entertaining character to watch. A bit too rash and hot-headed, mind you, but still fun as a character. The way her story was wrapped up is rather cliche, though it does end up fitting with her character.

And of course, Miki goes all nuts when she learns that Makoto took the producer to an amusement park. I still don’t quite get why Miki calls the Producer “Honey”, but hey, it makes things more entertaining :3

Screenshots are later in the post.