The Idolm@ster

[Doppleganger]

A series of interactive simulation games for the Xbox 360, The Idolm@ster casts the player as "The Producer", a rookie male producer of female Japanese idols (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_idol). All of the girls have distinctive personalities and traits that The Producer has to take into account as he molds them into popular idols. Since The Producer isn't much older than the girls he's supervising, a great source of the girls' development is catalyzed by The Producer's personal relationship with them. Often, there's a mental handicap (not necessarily an experience or talent based one) that prevents the girls from reaching their potential, and it's up to The Producer to set them straight.

Oh, did I mention most of the girls end up developing crushes on The Producer? Well, except Azusa, her approach is to act like she's already married to The Producer.

Soon to be an anime of unknown quality, but the games are especially vibrant for their incredibly addicting choreography and catchy J-Pop songs. I was first interested in IM@S for the videos, but stayed for the visual novel aspects, which I hope will be retained in the anime. Though, I doubt the anime will be able to give all the girls the development they were given in the games.

Characters:

Staff

The Producer - the main character. Male, twentysomething, tries to be professional, but finds it hard to do as he gets close to his wards. His default role is as a manager, but depending on the girl, assumes the role of father, brother, best friend, boyfriend, or loyal confidant.

Takagi Junichirou - President of Produce 765, the company who employs the game's idols. A veteran producer himself, Takagi warns "The Producer" that a girl he used to produce fell in love with him. This girl is believed to be Otonashi Kotori.

Otonashi Kotori - late twenty something girl who works in the Produce 756 front office.

Idols

Amami Haruka - red, energetic, clumsy. Good singer, loves to stare off in random directions, leading to the creation of the "Nonowa". One of three main heroines.

Kisaragi Chihaya - blue, aloof, and a loner. Fantastic singer, has the most raw talent of any idol. One of the most beloved characters. Second of three main heroines.

Hoshii Miki - fresh green/gold, lazy, fair singer. Sexually curious, she has an above-average body for a girl of her age (14) and loves to tease. Has incredible development during her "awakening". Third of the three main heroines.

Hagiwara Yukiho - white, perpetually terrified, good singer. Very insecure outside of the stage, raised in a traditional Japanese family.

Takatsuki Yayoi - yellow, poor, weak singer. A dirty but upbeat girl who is quickly enamoured with The Producer. Her figure (and singing) improve in The Idolm@ster 2. I guess it's because she started eating right.

Akizuki Ritsuko - normal green, strict, glasses. 18 years old. Originally an intern wanting to become a producer, The Producer takes her job, but she gets it back in IM@S 2. Critical, perceptive, and perfectionist. One of the smartest characters in the game. Good voice, good singer.

Miura Azusa - purple, slow, good singer. Daughter of Kentaro Miura, the author of Berserk, Azusa attends community college and is known for being a bit sluggish in conversation. But she's very mothering. Possibly the only girl who sees the Producer as a sexual interest.

Minase Iori - pink, loli, tsundere, fair singer. KUGUMIYA RIE character, I need not say more? Raised rich, but wants to reach out to others deep down. Very insecure and childish on the inside, no strong mature figures in her life.

Kikuchi Makoto - black, boyish, weak singer. Makoto is a tomboy who seeks to have a more girlish side. She unleashes it in IM@S 2 and subsequently loses all of her sex appeal!

Futami Ami/Mami - yellow, loli, twins. Prepubescent yet sexually precocious (not as much as Miki), they see The Producer as an older brother. Or do they? Worst singers in the game (given, they're the youngest and most inexperienced).

[Mcsweeney]

Miura Azusa - purple, slow, good singer. Daughter of Kentaro Miura, the author of Berserk,

LOL, who the hell's idea was this? Is it a tribute for that time he said he wasn't making new chapters because he was too obsessed with playing Idolm@ster?

I didn't even think that was true, I just assumed he was trolling his own fans.

[Doppleganger]

Interviewer: 「Miura-sensei, it is well known that you enjoy playing The Idolm@ster. Many have noted that you share your last name with Miura Azusa-san. Do you have any special feelings toward Miura Asusa-san?」

Kentarou: 「I see, it is a coincidence, isn't it? But I have a preference for Amami Haruka-chan. I have no special feelings toward Azusa-san.」

Azusa: 「Ahahaha...」


Speaking of that, here's The Producer acting like Azusa's fiancee (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klaDjUgqlhU) as I mentioned in my opening post.

I was originally making that up...such was just my impression of what Azusa might do given the opportunity. Boy, I'm not sure if I should be pleased or relieved I know this game so well!

[Talon87]

Aww, that scene is so cute. :oops: Definitely 100% no doubt out of all the girls, Azusa would be Talon's mai waifu. All woman, all adorable. :oops:

EDIT: Aww, what Miura-san said is too cruel to Azusa. AWWWWW ADORABLE at her "ahahaha ^^;" laughing it off.

*Yuki comes in and slaps Talon*
Yuki: THEY'RE NOT REAL! :evil:
Talon: Sorry. :cry:

[Doppleganger]

Azusa's really sweet, definitely in my top three alongside Chihaya and Haruka. Though, I prioritize the singing first, then look to the character.

Miki has some of the funniest scenes, but also the most raunchy (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nwk4mkp-apw). By that video's point, though, she's awakened and is completely enamoured with The Producer. The great part is how The Producer has adapted to keeping her in line, he had a lot more trouble handling her advances pre-awakening.

Some of the comments are great too, "someday you'll ride big things". LOL.

...

Haha, I found a very amazing (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPP0DSBkj2U) trio featuring Iori, Azusa, and Makoto. "My Song" is one of Azusa's best, but this one is amazing. Apparently I felt the same way six months ago, one of my comments is in the box.

[Talon87]

I enjoyed that song but I didn't see your comment. I doubt you're narutofan78215 or dangokagome and those are the only comments I see from around 6 months ago.

I dislike Miki with her short brown hair. Really hate short hair in general. (Few exceptions, e.g. Yukiho.) Also, in her case, I think the long, ragged, dyed-blonde hair really complemented her personality and lent her a lot of appeal. Going natural and short seems to have killed that and rendered her "just another girl." Maybe that's what she was going for though. Shrug. I hate it when people program shit in for the guy you're supposed to be playing as like "I prefer girls with short hair," and I see that that's what they had Producer-san say on Miki's true route, so whatever. :roll: I dun like it, but I'm just glad Miki has her regular hair for the anime (judging from the PV).

Speaking of Yukiho ... aww (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAeg-UCNOO8). :oops: That was adorable. One thing I love about her character type (the innocent princess who knows little of the outside world due to her insular upbringing) are moments like these. I also like how (despite whatever her official age might be >_>) she's very mature-sounding. Despite all the crybaby stuff people associate with her, she has a very ... mature, ladylike aura to her. Perhaps this is why the lolikon masses have left poor Yukiho in the dust. :cry: Don't see many people excited for her. Even in the PV, she got completely shafted footage-wise.

[Doppleganger]

I enjoyed that song but I didn't see your comment. I doubt you're narutofan78215 or dangokagome and those are the only comments I see from around 6 months ago.

I'm the former. Surprise!


I dislike Miki with her short brown hair. Really hate short hair in general. (Few exceptions, e.g. Yukiho.) Also, in her case, I think the long, ragged, dyed-blonde hair really complemented her personality and lent her a lot of appeal. Going natural and short seems to have killed that and rendered her "just another girl." Maybe that's what she was going for though. Shrug. I hate it when people program shit in for the guy you're supposed to be playing as like "I prefer girls with short hair," and I see that that's what they had Producer-san say on Miki's true route, so whatever. :roll: I dun like it, but I'm just glad Miki has her regular hair for the anime (judging from the PV).

She always keeps the long hair in non-awakened routes. When she awakens, she asked The Producer his preference. It's at that point you can have her keep the long hair, or cut it short and she'll stop bleaching it.

I'll be really excited if we get awakened Miki in the anime. :D It'll cause a lot of tension among the girls because she's so clingy...


Speaking of Yukiho ... aww (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAeg-UCNOO8). :oops: That was adorable. One thing I love about her character type (the innocent princess who knows little of the outside world due to her insular upbringing) are moments like these. I also like how (despite whatever her official age might be >_>) she's very mature-sounding. Despite all the crybaby stuff people associate with her, she has a very ... mature, ladylike aura to her. Perhaps this is why the lolikon masses have left poor Yukiho in the dust. :cry: Don't see many people excited for her. Even in the PV, she got completely shafted footage-wise.

Yukiho sounds very timid in public, but she has a mature singing voice. I really liked that about her but I've had less interest since her CV was unfairly replaced in IM@S2. It's hard to continue liking a character whose very soul has been ripped out and replaced, even if the replacement has tried very hard to make the character her own.

[big bad birtha]

When I first found out about Idolm@ster, I was already into clips made from a program called Miku Miku Dance. Since most Idolm@ster videos were of girls singing and dancing, I always compared Idolm@ster with MMD. Unfortunately, Idolm@ster paled in comparison to MMD clips in my mind. IM@S had characters that I didn't even know singing and dancing, while MMD had characters I know and like doing that and alot more. Hell, some MMD clips have IM@S characters, like the one I showed a while back that had Iori singing with Frieza.

Then came Precure endings (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmK8CS12YxA) which left IM@S in the dust.

Of course, due to my inability to read Japanese and play IM@S like the fans have, my comparisons are probably incredibly unfair and biased. Maybe the anime will change my indifference towards IM@S.

[Doppleganger]

I have to admit the PreCure endings beat pretty much all the anime girl dancing I've seen thus far, but the key difference between that and MMD (?) is the PreCure endings are computer animated, while the MMD and IM@S dances are hard-wired into their respective game engines. One doesn't have to animate an IM@S dance, one merely has to select the choreography and the idol will perform it, if she's capable (this depends on affection). While such is a lot less flexible than MMD, IM@S has the benefit of estalished characters, voices and CVs siging in-character to certain anime themes, needing only a dance to go along with it.

I haven't seen much for MMD beyond "Carlito" though, and from what you've told me that one was exceptionally good. I'm unsure if MMD videos are animated, too.

[big bad birtha]

Every MMD clip is fanmade. While difficult as hell to use, if someone skilled uses it, they can create something amazing.

Also, I've shown you quite a few clips from MMD besides Carlito. I'll list a few of the ones I've previously shown.

Ronald McDonald Berserk parody (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LygKnJGIx_c)
The K-On girls making a The Maximum Hormone performance (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzNIG5LqInE&feature=channel_video_title)
A bunch of Vocaloids dancing to The World Warrior (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmezGA8yMk0)

There were some others, but those were the most noteworthy I remember. The Touhou/Home Alone 2 parody was done on MMD as well.

[Doppleganger]

Some new IM@S information -

1. The series will be 24 episodes long, plus two Blu-Ray disc episodes only.
2. Each girl will have character arcs, but they'll be intergrated into the main plot.
3. Jupiter will be in the anime, as antagonists/rivals.
4. Some of the DS characters (i.e., Ritsuko's reviled cousin) will cameo.
5. The Producer will not appear in the anime, Ritsuko will assume his role.

...

:(

[Talon87]

Ooh. :| (sounds like ew) That's not cool. So basically ...

(1) The show will totally not be covering Game 1 territory. Rather, it's going to be covering Game 2.5 territory, a.k.a. "either some time during or else some time after the events of Game 2, possibly a little of both." I guess we knew that from the way the girls looked slightly older (especially the twins and Iori), but this is a bummer for a newcomer like me. In fact, it just might be one part of a three-part deal breaker.

(2) No Producer means no meaningful stories like in Game 1. No Producer means it's just a senseless K-On!-style harem show where every girl is a mai waifu candidate and there'll be no romantic tension or anything. So instead of going the Amagami SS or the Yosuga no Sora route, they decided to go the K-On! route with this. I do not like this. :| Not given what you've told me about in the past. Part 2 of a possible deal-breaker.

(3) 24 episodes divided across 12 girls means that these so-called "character arcs" will at best be 2-3 episodes per girl. And with no Producer (and thus no romantic interest, father figure, etc), the arcs are going to be as dull as "oh look, it's Azusa's day at the amusement park" or "oh look, Iori tries to cook and cries chopping onions, how funny." Not sure how I like this. Either be longer and give every girl an opportunity for a story arc, or stay at 24 (or hell, even shrink down to 13) but focus in on only two or three (if 13) to four or five (if 24 and more fleshed out development) characters. Not really a deal-breaker, just a gripe.

1 + 2 + 3 = not quite three thirds of a three-way deal breaker = I'll still probably check out the show with you, buddy. :) Barely. :| Can't say I'm not disappointed. #5 is especially disappointing to hear. Obviously it was going to be hard for them to cast Producer-san since so many otakus insert themselves into his shoes and Mai Waifu up these girls, but ........ I really thought they'd do it. Cast the voice actor who did Oji-san in Minami-ke to be Producer-san. He'd be perfect. (Well, I don't have any idea of what Producer-san represents to you, but when I picture him in my mind I see Oji-san (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZViYJooivfM#t=9m10s).)

[Doppleganger]

(1) The show will totally not be covering Game 1 territory. Rather, it's going to be covering Game 2.5 territory, a.k.a. "either some time during or else some time after the events of Game 2, possibly a little of both." I guess we knew that from the way the girls looked slightly older (especially the twins and Iori), but this is a bummer for a newcomer like me. In fact, it just might be one part of a three-part deal breaker.

Right.


(2) No Producer means no meaningful stories like in Game 1. No Producer means it's just a senseless K-On!-style harem show where every girl is a mai waifu candidate and there'll be no romantic tension or anything. So instead of going the Amagami SS or the Yosuga no Sora route, they decided to go the K-On! route with this. I do not like this. :| Not given what you've told me about in the past. Part 2 of a possible deal-breaker.


I don't know about K-ON!, having not seen it, but the sense of there being "no guys in romance positions" is going to hold true, though Jupiter and Ryo will be in the show. Since the lack of The Producer clearly means this show's purpose is promotion for the IM@S2 game, it seems likely to me there won't be shipping of Jupiter and Producer 765's idols because that would seriously anger the male fans, and not just the otaku.

I really should watch Xenoglossia to get a feel for the comparison, since that followed a similar formula of completely omitting The Producer and any romance-related plot development, but Xenoglossia favoured a Muv-Luv Unlimited style genre swap.

I need to clarify that IM@S2 is both a remake and a sequel to the original. IM@S2 assumes that The Producer didn't take his producing job when the opportunity presented itself, allowing Ritsuko to assume it and causing some changes. The Producer from the first game then joins Produce 756 a year later, and Ritsuko moves to managing her own sub-group (consisting of Ami, Iori and Azusa).

So while I can accept Ritsuko being "The Producer", no male character pretty much stunts how the original character drama was supposed to play out. In Chihaya's case for example, her parents divorced after her younger brother died, so she not only had no male presence in her life, but little in the way of a parental figure at all. The Producer acting in those capacities filled a hole in her life.

Ritsuko can't do the same believably. First of all, Ritsuko is a more talented manager than "The Producer", having interned at Produce 765 for several years before accepting the position. As such, she's much more detatched from the idols needs and wants - The Producer's rookie status and inexperience allowed him to touch the girls' lives more intimately than Ritsuko could, and he's a rare man on top of it. She's too close in age to the girls to act as an adult confidant.

This is why she was given Ami - the youngest idol, Iori - the most childish idol, and Azusa - the eldest idol to manage. She doesn't have to beat Azusa over the head to perform and can intimidate the other two. Ritsuko couldn't handle Chihaya, Takane or Miki. Yayoi's big motivation in working hard was to please The Producer - who she had a crush on - so I can't imagine that happening with Ritsuko either.



(3) 24 episodes divided across 12 girls means that these so-called "character arcs" will at best be 2-3 episodes per girl. And with no Producer (and thus no romantic interest, father figure, etc), the arcs are going to be as dull as "oh look, it's Azusa's day at the amusement park" or "oh look, Iori tries to cook and cries chopping onions, how funny." Not sure how I like this. Either be longer and give every girl an opportunity for a story arc, or stay at 24 (or hell, even shrink down to 13) but focus in on only two or three (if 13) to four or five (if 24 and more fleshed out development) characters. Not really a deal-breaker, just a gripe.


As I understand it, all the character stories will be happening simultaneously in the framework of the "main plot". Meaning, they're going to be treated more like sub-plots, but because of the sheer number of them, they're going to take the lion's share of screen-time.

My impression is this is going to make a very boring anime, except for a few shout out moments for people who already like the game.

Cast the voice actor who did Oji-san in Minami-ke to be Producer-san. He'd be perfect. (Well, I don't have any idea of what Producer-san represents to you, but when I picture him in my mind I see Oji-san (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZViYJooivfM#t=9m10s).)

Daisuke Ono voices him in the drama CDs. He's presented as an energetic guy who strives to be professional, but occassionally succumbs to bouts of perversion. In that sense, he's more relatable than a harem lead (typically a dense guy unaware of the bounty around him) but one who puts his responsibilities first.

[big bad birtha]

The lack of the Producer really kills alot from the show. There's very little room for character development if the trigger for the development is gone. Also, I don't like the thought of it turning like a "SHE'S MAI WAIFU!" show like K-On.

I guess the fact that it's 26 episodes long could be counted as a plus. It's still short considering the cast, but it beats mad rushing everything within 12 episodes like shows these last few years have been doing.

Even if the show turns out bad, I'll still watch through it.

[Talon87]

Finished the first episode. Non-spoiler thoughts first:

The animation in this series is top-notch except in one spot: character animation. This is a disastrous case of not having one's priorities straight: for while I appreciate a good background artist's talents tremendously, and The Idolmaster has surprisingly offered such talents in a number of still shots, an anime that is dedicated to telling the stories of 14 main characters has got to, got to focus on drawing those characters well. And unfortunately, the characters look as poorly-drawn now in the full episode as they did in the trailers we'd seen earlier in the year. :( They're not terrible-looking, per se, but you'll definitely be pulled out of various scenes by visibly poor faces and bodies in motion.

Another problem the show suffers from, or at least the first episode suffers from, is pandering to the audience by showcasing many of the girls' trademark catchphrases or behaviors. From Yukiho's grabbing a shovel to go dig herself a hole to Azusa's reading the horoscopes to see what her future might have in store for her romantically, the episode behaved a lot like an excited seven-year old who is quoting to his older brother every single line from a movie they mutually enjoyed. We are the older brother, and all we can do is embarrassedly smile while wishing our little brother would calm down a little and not ruin the film for us by going over the top with things.

The third and final negative I see in this show is something the show, by its very nature, couldn't help: and that's that it will alienate most female viewers. The show is clearly meant for an older male audience and the bulk of the episode squarely places the viewer in the shoes of a cameraman who is declared very early on to be male. I would think that it'd be hard for a girl to feel like she's the one asking the questions once this happens.

Other than those three gripes, though, the episode was cute fun. Nothing particularly special really happened, other than seeing the 13 girls (plus Otonashi if you count her) being themselves and doing things. If the entire series is like this episode, I think most will drop it save the diehard iM@S fans. But I don't think any other episodes are going to be like this one given how things ended. I get the feeling a story arc is going to start right off the bat and it'll be fun. If I'm right, then that's good. If not, well, ... ^^;

For Doppel: Chihaya sings a certain song (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNQDOY9KjLQ), albeit briefly, in this episode. Wouldn't have noticed it were it not for you! :)

Now, for a big spoiler thought! :D

Producer-san is here after all! :D

Thank goodness. I was really disappointed that the animation team weren't going to include him because they were cowing out to the K-ON! "mai waifu! :evil:" crowd. Well, let the Mai Waifu crowd frown and tear apart their volumes of Kannagi all they like. I'm happy that iM@S decided to go with the Producer route and I'm even happier that they decided to jettison the somewhat awkward "place yourself into the Producer-san's shoes" role-playing aspect that fit the games well but wouldn't have worked so well imo with the show. (If you want proof of this, just look at the first 20 minutes of the episode!)

The bad news is, the anime seems to take place after the first game and there's no mention of an original Producer-san. The good (?) news is, some of the problems plaguing some of the girls from the first game are still present in the anime, most notably Chihaya -- and this might mean that the anime will deliver a lot of the relationship development from the first game! :D Or so I, as someone who's never touched the games, am hoping. :)
I'd love to see the series go into a more serious direction with any of Chihaya, Iori, or Azusa given some of what we saw in this episode. And given what we saw, it seems like it's a very real possibility that they may wish to explore Chihaya's Game 1 story arc which would be amazing for me. But I dunno. Whether the anime is going to be an adaptation of the games or whether it's going to be a complete omake which complements them remains to be seen.

[big bad birtha]

Watched episode one. I'm not sure what to think about this yet, to be honest. The cast is bright and entertaining, even if a few things seem a bit cliche. I still can't tell whether this show is just going to go over everyone's stories, or just be a slice of life about the characters. Only time will tell I guess.

Also, white haired girl is cool as hell.

[Talon87]

I liked the part with her in the interview when the guy was like, "Can you tell me where you come from?" and she's like "That's a secret. :P" and then afterwards the cameraman asks her if that was her plan all along, to charm the judges by acting all mysterious, and she's like "Plan? What plan? He shouldn't be so goddamned nosy about my private life." lol

[Doppleganger]

I'm a bit embarassed to say this, but I...liked it. I liked it a lot, even though the flaws were as plain as day. :oops: I guess IM@S has too strong a grip on my heart for me to outright revile this, but like a mother who has unconditional love for her child, there isn't really a lot of passion behind my criticism.

Pandering? You bet this is. I feel A-1 even took advantage of this in one of the earlier scenes - Haruka walks into a store and starts talking to some guy reading modeling magazines.

"A man! How dare they!!"

Oh. It's Makoto. :lol:

Oops!

I'm confused why Makoto is still hung over the boyish stuff, though. This is IM@S 2, right? She's over that in IM@S 2. What gives? :?

There's also stuff where Yukiho is complaining about speaking poorly with boys. Uh, well, she's perfectly fine speaking with men, the point is she gets really nervous around boys her own age. This is why she freaks out over The Producer at first - he's only a few years older than her! - and why her relationship with him eventually allows her to take on a live performance. For most of the characters, lives are problems because of stage fright, singing lamentations, or some-such. Yukiho's challenge was that there would be boys her own age in the audience.

I felt the camera-man idea was a pretty clever segway toward transitioning the first person element of the games to anime. But it didn't go far enough. If they were going to run with this idea, why not have The Producer (voiced by Daisuke Ono) just off screen, conversing with the idols?!

Like Talon, I was really bugged by the character animation and stunned by how high quality everything else was. However, I took more offense to the character designs than the animation itself. This doesn't look like Idolm@ster. It looks like Ano Hana. :|

I was expecting something along the lines of Giant Robo (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAwUfqSFGJE), since the character designer for GR did the IM@S games.

However, the L4U OVA didn't have proper character designs either, but it still felt like an IM@S anime. This felt more IM@S than Xenoglossia, but less than that OVA. The major tickle was the tone/atmosphere - like Hikaru no Go, the games have a rather rosy, romantic, idealized setting where even if there's something troubling or tragic going on for the characters, it's not like emotionally devastating. I felt Heartcatch PreCure had this same atmosphere. This IM@S anime doesn't, and feels sort of distant and professional.

I didn't really care for the chaotic scenes with the whole cast, with random, almost cameo appearences for characters not getting focus, like Chihaya and Yayoi. Stuff I liked - and was interested in - were conversations between duos. Azusa and Takane? Takane admires Chihaya and Azusa, so I was interested in what they had to say one another. But immediately after that we have the fanservice shot with Miki, the act of which was less irritating than cutting away from Azusa and Takane.

There was some humour though. I'm not sure if you guys would have gotten it, but when Miki was singing her chords and going "I'm doing well, aren't I?" every note was flat. :lol: She really isn't that great a singer if she can't stay in tune unassisted.

But you know, if I had to gripe-

What the f*dge, where was the MUSIC?

You bastards give us ten seconds of "Aoi Tori" then cut it off! Hidoi! And as much as I like "The World is All One" the choreography for it was pretty awful.

I lowered my expectations for the anime after hearing about The Producer getting axed, but I was at least expecting a story of song and dance. ಠ_ಠ

But bottom line - I liked this a lot since I got to see/hear the IM@S cast in some form. There were some cute game references all over the place. But the episode was largely boring aside from that, there was hardly any dancing/music (which defines the games!) and it's completely deficient in plot/characters.

What's the plot of the game? The Producer has this girl, and it's his job to get her popular. Once she's popular, he has to coach her through her first live performance. It's more of an objective than a plot, but it's what strings the story together and gets The Producer involved in the life of his idol. It's merely a template to allow for the interesting character development.

Remember, the "selling points" are personality traits and trivia bits given to an audience to fuel their imagination. Only The Producer sees the girl for who she is behind those points, and that's what was most interesting to see in the games. I haven't seen any of that in the anime except for that brief scene between Azusa and Takane, which didn't amount to anything.

Good news is, though, that the anime pretty much blew all of the outsider's information on this one episode. I can't imagine the next 23 being more of the same, we should be seeing change as soon as next week. I'll remain optimistic...heck, I stuck with Steins for 13 episodes. I can give it my all for Idolmaster!

[Talon87]

For someone who started off saying he couldn't find fault with this, you sure managed to point out a lot of fallings-short. :lol: To address one of your complaints, though, I'll try and boost your overall opinion of the episode by trying in my own ignorant way to identify scenes which covered what you meant when you said that you hadn't seen any "selling points" in the episode aside from Azusa and Takane's conversation about horoscopes.

If you hadn't already gotten to see this in the games, then in this episode you got to see ...
that the fang-tooth girl, Ganaha Hibiki, and the two twins, Ami and Mami, seem to be best buds
that Chihaya is technologically inept (the cellphone scene)
that the twins like school even though they hate (some) homework
that Chihaya and Haruka seem to have something of a senpai/kohai relationship since (in several scenes) Haruka seems to pair off with Chihaya and seems like she's sort of clinging to her
during the gym exercises at 21:32, you get to see how the various girls sit on a hardwood floor and how this reflects (a) their upbringing and/or (b) their personalities. Haruka, for example, looks positively middle-class next to Takane two spots over who is sitting in a very proper seiza style. Azusa has adopted a more ladylike posture while the twins sitting next to her look just like kids.
I dunno if this is what you meant. That last one is probably more a moe or charm point than the character interaction stuff you wanted, but I think a few of the earlier bullet points addressed that. Anyway, I am sure you're going to get tons of character interaction in duos and trios later. If Produce 765's offices are akin to a summer camp lodge, it stands to reason that certain girls will pair off to hang out. They won't all be sitting in a round circle all the time all being a big family. That's not rational. So you'll surely get to see who the writers (and possibly Bandai-Namco's game's producers!) canonically pair off. I would have thought that'd have happened in the games already, but I guess not? :?

You mentioned confusion about when the story takes place. Yeah, I'm confused too. But there is at least one clue. I forget where I heard it, but somewhere in the episode they throw around "6 months," and I remember finishing the episode thinking to myself, "Okay, so the anime takes place 6 months after the end of Game 1." I have no idea why I thought this, but I did. Questions I would have for you, though, would include:
When did Game 1 start? (Spring? Summer? Fall? Winter?)
How long did the average path last in Game 1? (One year? 6 months? Less than 3 months?)
When did Game 2 officially begin relative to when Game 1 left off? In other words, officially how much time is in between the two games?
'Cause that could answer a lot. If Game 2 began 3 months after Game 1 ended and if Game 1 ended after only 1 month, it'd mean that the anime has to be post or mid-Game 2. But on the flipside, if Game 2 began more than 6 months after Game 1 did, then this game could be taking place pre- or at the start of Game 2. I think it's safe to say that the anime can't be taking place at the beginning of Game 1 since we already have the trio of rival girls (Miki, Takane, and Ganaha) as official members of 765. But it could be taking place right smack dab at the end of it for all we know. For every sign that we're in the future (like Iori's growth and hair style change) there seems to be a counter-sign that we're in the past (like Chihaya's emotional state or Azusa's long hair). Which reminds me ...

Thank God Azusa has her beautiful long hair again. T_T

Another thing we have to consider is that this anime may once again, like Xenoglossia, be taking place in an alternate universe. That would certainly explain some of the oddities surrounding Episode 1. It's quite possible that ...

Producer-san, the camerman, is the girls' first outside producer. IIRC Ritsuko was in charge in Game 1 until Producer-san showed up, right? And then after Game 1 (and going into Game 2) she retires from being an idol and resumes her role as a producer, right? Well maybe that's what's going on here. Ritsuko doesn't seem like she's the producer of just Iori's trio. She seems like she's the producer for all twelve girls. Maybe this is an alternate universe where some (not all) of the events of Game 1 have already taken place and one important change is that Producer-san, the Producer-san (from Game 1), has only just now shown up. In this alternate universe, the fight with Miki's trio already took place with 765 emerging victorious, but certain events which Producer-san triggered (like Chihaya's growth or Iori feeling like she's successfully proven that she isn't riding her father's coattails or Yukiho learning to be more comfortable around boys) have not taken place yet and will take place during this series.

Another possibility is that this is a slight re-telling of the story but not a completely alternate universe; and that where the anime picks up, there had been an original Producer-san and that this second Producer-san is a newb. That might explain why Chihaya was so cold towards / sensitive around him (because she was reminded of the first Producer-san), but then again, at that time she only knew the new guy was a cameraman, so that doesn't quite make sense. Also, it wouldn't explain why, if there had been the original Producer-san from six months back until just recently, some of the other girls still have their problems too. So I don't think this theory is right, but we won't know for certain that it isn't until the next few episodes.
I like the sound of the first theory in the spoiler box. If it's true, it means that this anime shouldn't have to step on the toes of any sensitive otaku fans in Japan but at the same time I very well might be getting the anime I so very wanted. Only time will tell.

[Doppleganger]

I just exploded because I actually deleted the episode right after the ED, and didn't see the SURPRISE at the end which Talon boxed. I was reading a blog that mentioned it and was totally blown away.

Even if the guy isn't voiced by Daisuke Ono, he is voiced by the young man who voiced Kabuto Kouji in Shin Mazinger! What a treat! I'm so pleased! YEAAAAAAH!



during the gym exercises at 21:32, you get to see how the various girls sit on a hardwood floor and how this reflects (a) their upbringing and/or (b) their personalities. Haruka, for example, looks positively middle-class next to Takane two spots over who is sitting in a very proper seiza style. Azusa has adopted a more ladylike posture while the twins sitting next to her look just like kids.


I hadn't noticed this, and frankly I'm impressed you zeroed in on such a detail that breezed by me. Such posture definitely reflects some quality of the girls, I should be more attentive!


I dunno if this is what you meant. That last one is probably more a moe or charm point than the character interaction stuff you wanted, but I think a few of the earlier bullet points addressed that. Anyway, I am sure you're going to get tons of character interaction in duos and trios later. If Produce 765's offices are akin to a summer camp lodge, it stands to reason that certain girls will pair off to hang out. They won't all be sitting in a round circle all the time all being a big family. That's not rational. So you'll surely get to see who the writers (and possibly Bandai-Namco's game's producers!) canonically pair off. I would have thought that'd have happened in the games already, but I guess not? :?

The "selling points" are basically a handful of ideas that the Idols' personalites are built around, but marketed in-universe as fan fuel. The complex behaviour of real life celebrities are likewise reduced to digestible trivia in tabloids. But IM@S the game and hopefully the anime will show you how those interests shape the character's behaviour.

For example, in the first game, Yayoi was designed to be a poor girl. She had a pretty slim frame, was a weak singer, which was supposed to reflect her impoverished upbringing. She REALLY fleshed out by IM@S 2, and supposedly she acts a bit differently now that she's earning a large salary, though I wonder how the anime will show that contrast.


You mentioned confusion about when the story takes place. Yeah, I'm confused too. But there is at least one clue. I forget where I heard it, but somewhere in the episode they throw around "6 months," and I remember finishing the episode thinking to myself, "Okay, so the anime takes place 6 months after the end of Game 1." I have no idea why I thought this, but I did. Questions I would have for you, though, would include:
When did Game 1 start? (Spring? Summer? Fall? Winter?)
How long did the average path last in Game 1? (One year? 6 months? Less than 3 months?)
When did Game 2 officially begin relative to when Game 1 left off? In other words, officially how much time is in between the two games?
'Cause that could answer a lot. If Game 2 began 3 months after Game 1 ended and if Game 1 ended after only 1 month, it'd mean that the anime has to be post or mid-Game 2. But on the flipside, if Game 2 began more than 6 months after Game 1 did, then this game could be taking place pre- or at the start of Game 2. I think it's safe to say that the anime can't be taking place at the beginning of Game 1 since we already have the trio of rival girls (Miki, Takane, and Ganaha) as official members of 765. But it could be taking place right smack dab at the end of it for all we know. For every sign that we're in the future (like Iori's growth and hair style change) there seems to be a counter-sign that we're in the past (like Chihaya's emotional state or Azusa's long hair). Which reminds me ...

The details are a bit sparse, but from what I've heard, the original producing job was taken by The Producer, which somehow lead to a shortage of idols - Takane, Hibiki and some others were drafted by Studio 961, forcing Ritsuko to become an idol herself. The route lengths aren't defined, but my impression was they were six months to a year, with six months being the more likely scenario because the girls didn't age in the first game. I've seen communication events at all times of the year, so I'd say it's likely girls were trained in different seasons.

In IM@S 2, The Producer didn't take the original producing job, so Ritsuko got it. Studio 961 created Project Jupiter, the male idol brigade, because they were suffering from the idol shortage. Takane + Hibiki went to 765 Pro. It takes place six months after the first game.


Another thing we have to consider is that this anime may once again, like Xenoglossia, be taking place in an alternate universe. That would certainly explain some of the oddities surrounding Episode 1. It's quite possible that ...

Producer-san, the camerman, is the girls' first outside producer. IIRC Ritsuko was in charge in Game 1 until Producer-san showed up, right? And then after Game 1 (and going into Game 2) she retires from being an idol and resumes her role as a producer, right? Well maybe that's what's going on here. Ritsuko doesn't seem like she's the producer of just Iori's trio. She seems like she's the producer for all twelve girls. Maybe this is an alternate universe where some (not all) of the events of Game 1 have already taken place and one important change is that Producer-san, the Producer-san (from Game 1), has only just now shown up. In this alternate universe, the fight with Miki's trio already took place with 765 emerging victorious, but certain events which Producer-san triggered (like Chihaya's growth or Iori feeling like she's successfully proven that she isn't riding her father's coattails or Yukiho learning to be more comfortable around boys) have not taken place yet and will take place during this series.

Another possibility is that this is a slight re-telling of the story but not a completely alternate universe; and that where the anime picks up, there had been an original Producer-san and that this second Producer-san is a newb. That might explain why Chihaya was so cold towards / sensitive around him (because she was reminded of the first Producer-san), but then again, at that time she only knew the new guy was a cameraman, so that doesn't quite make sense. Also, it wouldn't explain why, if there had been the original Producer-san from six months back until just recently, some of the other girls still have their problems too. So I don't think this theory is right, but we won't know for certain that it isn't until the next few episodes.
I like the sound of the first theory in the spoiler box. If it's true, it means that this anime shouldn't have to step on the toes of any sensitive otaku fans in Japan but at the same time I very well might be getting the anime I so very wanted. Only time will tell.

I'd agree with that. It seems like the problems plaguing the idols in game one have been carried over to game two, but in a different time period. Sort of like watching the first eight or so episodes of Geass R1 and R2 - lots of parallels, but different circumstances.

[Talon87]

How could you have deleted it without seeing it through to the very last second? XD And how did you not see my spoiler box until after being spoilered by somebody else just recently? I would have thought that you'd have scrolled up and expanded it the moment you thought you'd finished the episode the first time around.

Your explanation about the chronology for Game 1 and Game 2 is making a lot of sense. It would seem, then, that Producer-san in Game 1 need not be the same man as Producer-san in Game 2 and that, even if he is, it seems like already Game 2's relationship to Game 1 is that of an alternate retelling and not a direct sequel in the exact same universe. What you've describe (about Ritsuko filling in b/c Producer-san never showed up and about Takane, Miki, and Fang going with 765 w/o any fight between the two studios) would seem to:
a) be consistent with the alternate universe theory and
b) fit what we've seen in Episode 1 smashingly.

So sort of a good news, bad news, good news scenario:
Good News: We should get to see some of the moving stories from Game 1 since (apparently) they're rebooted in Game 2 and will thus probably be rebooted for the anime as well.

Bad News: But they may not get the full fleshed-out treatment that they got in Game 1, which sucks. :\

Good News: But hey, at least we get more girls, they're older (i.e. less loli, even if only slightly so), and we get to have fun with the drama surrounding Project Jupiter. :)

[Talon87]

Images: (spoiler tagged so the surprise isn't ruined for you :))
http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g92/talon87/Idolmaster/ep02_001_th.jpg (http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g92/talon87/Idolmaster/ep02_001.jpg) http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g92/talon87/Idolmaster/ep02_002_th.jpg (http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g92/talon87/Idolmaster/ep02_002.jpg) http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g92/talon87/Idolmaster/ep02_003_th.jpg (http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g92/talon87/Idolmaster/ep02_003.jpg)
Iori and the Loli Quartet discuss strategy

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g92/talon87/Idolmaster/ep02_004_th.jpg (http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g92/talon87/Idolmaster/ep02_004.jpg)
This is what every non-lolikon dreams of seeing Futami Mami look like when she gets older.

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g92/talon87/Idolmaster/ep02_005_th.jpg (http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g92/talon87/Idolmaster/ep02_005.jpg)
And yet this is what the girls' experiment at imitating adult sex appeal turned out like. >_<

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g92/talon87/Idolmaster/ep02_006_th.jpg (http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g92/talon87/Idolmaster/ep02_006.jpg)
I mean, dayum. >_< Though I must say, that bust Iori's packin' is pretty-- okay, okay! :lol: =P
LOL @ Yayoi's shame face

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g92/talon87/Idolmaster/ep02_007_th.jpg (http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g92/talon87/Idolmaster/ep02_007.jpg)
Probably one of the cleanest zoom-in shots of a happy Iori we've seen so far.

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g92/talon87/Idolmaster/ep02_008_th.jpg (http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g92/talon87/Idolmaster/ep02_008.jpg)
And this Iori-centric episode finishes off with an end credit sequence devoted to the tsundere loli princess.
This was a fun episode that was three parts overall plot, one part Iori-centric. The overarching plot premise is that the girls' agency photographs are all terrible, in part because of the eccentric tastes of 765's President. So the Producer, along with Otonashi, is able to convince Ritsuko to have new photos taken for each of the girls. The older girls are more secure about the image they want to present but the younger ones, led by Iori, spend the episode trying to figure out how they ought to dress for the photo shoot.

The episode introduces Project Jupiter via a brief cameo (one of the band members knocks into Haruka in the hallway at an audition and the two briefly exchange words) and also mildly develops each of the twelve/thirteen/fourteen girls' personalities, even if the focus is most heavily on Iori and her loli crew. (For instance, Chihaya has trouble smiling at the shoot, Azusa is all woman, and Yukiho displays more boy-phobia.)

The sneak peek's title plus some of its sample video suggests that if the next episode is going to be another character-centric one, it'll probably focus on Yukiho. But anything could happen so I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

[big bad birtha]

I just watched episode 3, which focused on Yukiho. For the most part, she got on my nerves. The over the top screaming and freaking out just annoyed the piss out of me. However, she completely redeemed herself during the concert part of the episode. God damn that was great.

Takane makes only two lines this whole episode, and they were cool as hell. The next episode seems to be about her, so I definitely look forward to it.

For the most part, this show is pretty fun and entertaining. Too bad Idolm@ster fans don't seem to think the same thing.

[Talon87]

Yukiho got on my nerves too. Going into this, she was originally one of my Top 3 alongside Azusa and Chihaya. Now she's pretty much dropped off the map. The whole "I'm a scaredy-cat" thing got old fast. Like bbb says, the best part of the episode was towards the end when she redeemed herself onstage, but it was too little too late to salvage the character for me.

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g92/talon87/Idolmaster/ushikichi_farewell_th.jpg (http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g92/talon87/Idolmaster/ushikichi_farewell.jpg)

Even though it was such a short scene, and even though I'm still not a big fan of Fangtooth, I absolutely loved the scene with Ushikichi. Iori's comment was so inappropriate ("Why did you have to give it a name?") because it made it sound like the villagers plan on butchering the cow later for meat, hahaha, oh wow. Way to comfort her, Iori. :lol:

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g92/talon87/Idolmaster/takane_sneak_peek_th.jpg (http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g92/talon87/Idolmaster/takane_sneak_peek.jpg)

I liked Takane's lines in this one as well. She's interesting. She led the narration for the sneak peek for next week's episode but she was surprisingly not very present in the video footage (just three shots), so I'm not sure what to predict. Next week may be another smorgasbord episode like Episode 01 was, or it may be a Takane or Chihaya-centric episode. (Chihaya's even less likely, but then again she's the only other girl to show up in at least three shots.) If I had to guess I would guess Takane-centric, but who knows at this point.

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g92/talon87/Idolmaster/van1_th.jpg (http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g92/talon87/Idolmaster/van1.jpg)

Even though we'd already seen it in the preview for the series, I really loved the picture of the girls on the van. It's good in several different ways:
By seeing who sits with who, you can see who kind of gets along with or best fits with who. This is more of a general rule than a hard-and-fast one (see for example Miki being sat with the two Futami twins), but for the most part it holds.
The facial expressions, body contortions, etc in this shot really characterize the girls. You've got Miki who's sleeping like a slob, you've got Mami (the child) who's on hands and knees turned backwards over the seat talking to somebody else, you've got Iori doing her Little Miss Priss hair-flick and winked eye, you've got Yayoi looking like some completely uncultured, innocent kiddo all excited, Takane looks ladylike, Azusa looks like a happy woman, and Chihaya looks positively disinterested. It's little things like this, as stereotyping of the girls as they may be, that make the anime kind of neat imo. You didn't get stuff like this in K-ON! too early on because K-ON! had to work hard to build the girl-idols it was wanting otakus to glomp. Idolmaster doesn't suffer the same fate: the games have already done all the difficult character-building work and so the anime is Glomp Central from the get-go.

[Doppleganger]

Yukiho's state of perpetual terror is pretty exaggerated in the anime. While it's of course present in the game, most of the conversations with The Producer weren't defined by it. They were mostly "what do you think" kind of conversations rather than watching how the character behaved, which is the biggest change in watching the show IMV.

Yukiho was always one of my favourites because when she's performing, she adopts a different singing persona - even if she's shy and reclusive off-stage, onstage she's far more commanding and confident, reflected in her deeper, more mature voice. By her last communication event, after her live, that maturity has crossed over into the off-stage. But like "Haruka is clumsy", her fear and insecurity comes across as far too blatant.

I rather like Makoto's treatment, though. Game-wise, Makoto's complex wasn't quite so blatant. She likes to be girly, yes. But she's an irredeemable tomboy too, so the key is striking a balance she's comfortable with. I feel this has come across reasonably well, but like everything it's still a bit exaggerated in the anime.

More singing please! Like Akagi, one of the appeals of IM@S is the non-verbal, non-behavioural insight into the characters, in this case, communicated through their singing. Remember how Akagi deduced Urabe's thinking while observing how he handled the 2 Pin? So much of that can be derived from the singing...but there's still not enough for me. I feel trying to balance a cast this large might be a big part of it.

[Talon87]

I wanted to mention this, it's probably been brought up before, but in case not ...

The Japanese are a more numerological (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numerology) society than we are. Also, in Japanese there are multiple readings for the same number. (Explanation deleted as it takes too long to explain. For an introduction to the topic, see Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_numbers).) Because of these two factors, the Japanese are able to -- and do -- play word games with numbers. This ranges from mnemonic devices and lucky test exam candidate numbers to nicknames for corporations or individuals. Take for example ... Namco.

Because I was introduced to Idolmaster by Doppel, I never really stopped to think about the peculiarity of their agency being named 765 Puro. But now that I'm watching the anime and I have Japanese audio to go along with these girls, I've picked up on something: they call the studio by name and it's ...
7 = Na
6 = Mu
5 = Ko
Namco. :) How do they do this? Well, one reading for 7 in Japanese is nana, so one acceptable single syllable rendering for 7 is 'na' in these numeric word games. One reading for 6 in Japanese is muttsu, and so one acceptable single syllable rendering for 6 is 'mu'. Now we come to 5. One of 5's readings in Japanese is go. Among five's readings, nowhere is there a ko. But the Japanese, much more than us, pay attention to the important of voiced vs. unvoiced phonemes: so much so that their entire alphabet is based upon voiceless consonants (and five vowels)! The Japanese alphabet includes the voiced counterparts by adding little markings to the letters. So for example, ka か becomes ga が (see the two marks?) and ta た becomes da だ. Thus, in the minds of all Japanese, ka and ga are like two sides of the same coin. I think you see where I'm going with this. If 5 is go, never ko, but if ko is the voiceless alter ego of go, then for the sake of playing these number word games it's acceptable to go ahead and attribute a sound like ko to 5. And so, with the final piece of the puzzle in hand, we have '7' '6' '5' = 'na' 'mu' 'ko' or 765 = Namco. :)

So yeah: go back to one of the scenes in any of the episodes where the girls are talking about "765 Puro" and see what you hear.

[big bad birtha]

Gah! Way to mislead a person, episode 3 next episode preview! Here I was thinking episode 4 would be an amazing episode about Takane, but it ended up being an episode about Chihaya being emo. Oh well, Takane got some pretty amusing moments this episode, and like always, she kicks ass.

[Talon87]

Idolmaster is very quickly shaping up to be the sort of show I watch when there's nothing better on but which I drop when there is. Basically, it's become K-ON! if it wasn't already that from the very beginning.

My friends who know me irl are continually amazed I watched not only K-ON!, but K-ON!! (second season) all the way through as well. It's notoriously a show for lolimoe fans (not me!) and it's also notoriously a show which is pure fluff, zero substance (which again isn't for me!). But I watched it at a time when there was not much else on TV for me to watch. So I said "what the hell" and watched it. Was it cute? Sure. Was it memorable? Ehhhhh... (What is there even to remember? Nothing happened! >_> Sure, you can say "the time Mio fell down!" or "the time Yui got sick!" or "the time Azusa got a tan!", but those aren't exactly memorable moments. LOL In fact they're pretty goddamn ordinary.)

Same thing's happening here. Watched Episode 04. Was it good? Sure, it was good. It even focused on one of the three girls I currently care most about (Chihaya, Azusa, Takane). But ....... it was fluffy. It was damn fluffy. It was just moe moment after moe moment, shallow character dev moment after shallow character dev moment, and it never really grabbed me. It's no No.6. It's no Usagi Drop. I realize not everything can be, but this isn't even Gintama, and Gintama's been thrown onto the On Hold pile for like three weeks now. Soo ... I dunno. I'll probably keep collecting this one for now so that if I decide to go back to it (as soon as next week!? XD) I can, but as of right now it's looking like I might axe Idolmaster and spend the 7 hours and 20 minutes that I'll save by making that decision in some other manner. It isn't bad ... but it isn't worth my 22 minutes either. :| Even dicking around on the PS2 playing Dynasty Warriors or other time-wasting games would feel like less of a waste of my time than watching Idolmaster. The "each girl gets her own episode" format is really, really killing it for me. It's all lolimoe showcasing and zero "okay, let's tell a moving character story over the course of 3-5 episodes."

But I guess if I want that, I have to go play the game, huh? :? Maybe I'm being unfair then. I dunno. I mean, this is all coming from the guy who thought Nyan-Koi was cute (if a time waster) and that Kiss x Sis is the best thing since sliced bread, so ... >_>;

[Doppleganger]

Maybe I'm being unfair then. I dunno. I mean, this is all coming from the guy who thought Nyan-Koi was cute (if a time waster) and that Kiss x Sis is the best thing since sliced bread, so ... >_>;

I don't think so. We all knew when the strategy for balancing the cast was announced (everyone gets a storyline, at once!) that the show wouldn't be as substantial as the game. For what it's gained in breadth over the character routes, it's lost in depth.

To be frank, I've lost interest in the anime in spite of being a major game fanboy, and had to force myself through Episode 03. It still feels like it's in "documentary mode" despite the lack of a camera.

As mentioined before, what I really liked about IM@S was it was a character-driven story with the unique "Japanese idol" raising perspective. The Japanese are all about indirect cues when it comes to social interaction, but the girl's progression in her singing and dance routines, while also indirect, are a pretty obvious reflection of her inner state of mind. Looking out for the non-verbal communication is pretty interesting, but there isn't a ton of that here.

I'm in a weird position where I feel almost obligated to watch this, but I don't really want to because of how dull it's becoming. Even Steins, with my fuming hatred for how stupid it is, makes for a more entertaining, if taxing on the heart experience.

I can't believe you watched all of K-ON! either. :lol:

[Talon87]

Twice. Watched it all again before embarking into the second season. Isn't that ridiculous? :lol: Me, of all people.

(Favorite girl is Ui. Sawako-sensei is in 2nd. Favorite of the main five is Yui in Season 1, Azusa in Season 2. Favorite scene is this epic scene that was set up for all episode (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwC1LHjmPhE) from Season 2, will spoil the episode for you if you've not seen it before.)

I was probably, like, one of five non-lolikons on the entire North American continent who watched that as it aired. :lol: No idea what possessed me ... I have zero inclination towards watching the movie, and yet lord knows I probably will.

As for Idolmaster, like I said ... I don't see myself not getting Episode 5 next week, but I can't say I'm excited to watch this show anymore. I felt really guilty watching Episode 04. It was time I could have spent reading some neuro papers, watching Three Kingdoms 2010, or doing any other number of things. Still, I chose to watch it, so obviously it's not all that bad. It's just ... it's K-On! for 2011. Pick a girl to fanboy over and watch all the girls do various forgettable moe things each week. Like you said, though, ... we knew this going in, so I guess there's no point in me complaining about it now.

Guess I'll cross the bridge when I come to it next week.

[big bad birtha]

I'm just treating this show as a slice of life comedy. I did the same with K-On. It has some funny moments, and the cast is entertaining enough to keep me somewhat interested. Of course, it doesn't compare to some of the better slice of life comedies, but it's not like I expected it to, since it replaces comedy with otaku pandering moe hijinks.

To be honest, I prefer a lesser slice of life comedy over idol sexual harassment. Once again though, I haven't played the game, so maybe it's not full of sexual harassment.

[Talon87]

Yeah, totally forgot to comment on that. That really bothered me too all episode: the cameraman on the cooking show was such a perv. What was with the constant panty shots!? It's not like there are real-live cameras going after girls in the worlds of anime when we see panty shots, yet here in Idolmaster there was a physical dude shoving his camera towards girls' crotches to get shots of their undies. What the hell. :|

[Talon87]

:oops: -_-;

I got Episode 05 several days ago. Just let it sit there. Last night as I crawled into bed, I loaded it up remotely and said "What the hell, let's watch it." >_>; So much for that huffy-puffy boycott of mine. Well, we'll see, it could always come back (see discussion below!) ...

This was the token beach episode. It actually wasn't too bad. It had loads of great scenes like this ...

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g92/talon87/Idolmaster/iori_tells_ghost_stories_th.jpg (http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g92/talon87/Idolmaster/iori_tells_ghost_stories.jpg)

... and this ...

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g92/talon87/Idolmaster/breast_envy_01_th.jpg (http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g92/talon87/Idolmaster/breast_envy_01.jpg) http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g92/talon87/Idolmaster/breast_envy_02_th.jpg (http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g92/talon87/Idolmaster/breast_envy_02.jpg)

... and this.

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g92/talon87/Idolmaster/precocious_miki_th.jpg (http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g92/talon87/Idolmaster/precocious_miki.jpg)

Speaking of the beauties Takane and Azusa ...

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g92/talon87/Idolmaster/sexy_beauties_th.jpg (http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g92/talon87/Idolmaster/sexy_beauties.jpg)

And speaking of t-shirt Chihaya :lol: ...

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g92/talon87/Idolmaster/classic_chihaya_th.jpg (http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g92/talon87/Idolmaster/classic_chihaya.jpg)

Typical. :lol: Classic Chihaya.

That's the one thing I think Idolmaster (the anime) really excels at: and that is being a moe smorgasbord. Every girl is doing every manner of moe things in every episode. In this token beach episode, you had the "let's race to the far-away rock" girls (Ganaha, Makoto). You had the "I don't want to show too much skin" girl (Chihaya). You had the clueless about what a beauty she is girl (Azusa). You had the quite well aware of what a beauty she is and will make boys do ridiculous things for her girl (Miki). So on and so forth. But some moe moments were a little more personalized, like ...

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g92/talon87/Idolmaster/takane_ojou_has_quite_the_appetite_th.jpg (http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g92/talon87/Idolmaster/takane_ojou_has_quite_the_appetite.jpg)

... or like ...

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g92/talon87/Idolmaster/iori_still_sleepy_th.jpg (http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g92/talon87/Idolmaster/iori_still_sleepy.jpg)

Yeah, I definitely aww'd at that one. :lol: :oops: These sorts of scenes, even if they're just static screens (like in the last example) that last for only a few seconds, really help to establish or to fortify what the girls' personalities are like in the mind of the viewer. It's these little things which make the girls feel more real, I guess, and therefore more Mai Waifu-able for the K-ON! crowd. But speaking of aww moments :oops: ...

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g92/talon87/Idolmaster/chihaya_aww_01_th.jpg (http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g92/talon87/Idolmaster/chihaya_aww_01.jpg)

Aww. :oops:


http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g92/talon87/Idolmaster/haruka_aww_th.jpg (http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g92/talon87/Idolmaster/haruka_aww.jpg)

Awwww! :oops:


http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g92/talon87/Idolmaster/chihaya_aww_02_th.jpg (http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g92/talon87/Idolmaster/chihaya_aww_02.jpg)

AWWWWWW! :oops:


As much as I wasn't a fan of Iori going into this, I've gotta say that she has more personality than most of the girls. But also, she looks much better (and less loli) after the time skip. For instance, one of the highlight scenes of the episode was when the girls got scared witless on the nighttime beach. In it, you can see Iori sporting a nice hairdo:

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g92/talon87/Idolmaster/iori_and_co_get_scared_01_th.jpg (http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g92/talon87/Idolmaster/iori_and_co_get_scared_01.jpg) http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g92/talon87/Idolmaster/iori_and_co_get_scared_02_th.jpg (http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g92/talon87/Idolmaster/iori_and_co_get_scared_02.jpg)

There were also scenes that were just plain pretty. Like this sunset scene:

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g92/talon87/Idolmaster/sunset_th.jpg (http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g92/talon87/Idolmaster/sunset.jpg)

I've said it before, I'll say it again: the show's animation is embarrassingly poor when it comes to the foreground art (i.e. THE GIRLS THEMSELVES!) but whoever they hired to do background art for this production is doing a bang-up job. Real fine work.

Anyway, I promised that I'd mention why I might be dropping the show again. Well, it's a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it looks like the show is fast shaping up to be either iM@S 2 or else the prologue to it because the end of this episode unveiled the formation of Ryuuguu Komachi:

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g92/talon87/Idolmaster/ryuuguu_komachi_001_th.jpg (http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g92/talon87/Idolmaster/ryuuguu_komachi_001.jpg)

The thing is, this is really cool to me because it means we may actually be telling more story and doing less Girl-of-the-Week dicking around. But at the same time, it bums me out because ... well, just look! ;_;

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g92/talon87/Idolmaster/ryuuguu_komachi_002_th.jpg (http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g92/talon87/Idolmaster/ryuuguu_komachi_002.jpg)
Neuuuuuuuuuuuuu! ;_; What have they done to your hair, Azusa!? What happened to your beautiful, beautiful hair?

Butch Azusa has arrived. :| (Okay, maybe "butch" is too strong a word to describe this hair style. But ...) I am sad. 'Cause as far as my moe K-ON! motivations for continuing to watch this K-ON! Pop Idols series are concerned, there goes one of the three reasons and the single biggest one to boot: Azusa. So now all I've got are the weaker two motivators, Chihaya and Takane. Oh well! We'll see. Chihaya's fascinating enough so long as they reveal her backstory instead of merely hinting at it like they did in her first character episode. Takane I know next to nothing about other than that she kicks the main male idol's ass when he keeps insulting Ritsuko: see sample here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WRO1KLNv_0#t=11m45s). The male idol calls Ritsuko a presumptuous glasses[-wearing bitch] at one point. She tells him that he's the presumptuous one and is completely lacking in manners. Then he calls her a little yapping bitch (キャンキャン kyan kyan is the noise small dogs make in Japanese. He refers to Ritsuko's speech in this manner) and says she is in person just as he'd heard she was. (The Producer-san character wonders what he means by this.) "The weaker the dog, the more it barks" the male idol tells them. Ritsuko is at a loss for words at this point (around 12:50) but then Takane steps in and basically tells the guy, in her most polite Japanese, "JUST SHUT UP, YOU RUDE PERSON! I WON'T ALLOW YOU TO INSULT MY FRIENDS ANY MORE THAN THIS!" The dude is so taken aback by this that he literally falls a bit backwards and asks her what her problem is. (LOL, REALLY!? XD) Ritsuko is also surprised by Takane's sudden outburst. If we get to see this Takane-kicks-some-ass scene in the anime? Sweet. :D If we don't? Fuckin' A, I'll have wasted my time on this. >_>;

[Talon87]

So, I watched Episode 06. Doppel, even if I end up dropping this, I think you should definitely get back on board and continue to watch it. If you liked the games, then I think you should like the developments in Episode 06. It seems to mirror the ideas I'm weakly familiar with from iM@S 2 very much with Ritsuko handling Ryuuguu Komachi and Producer-san (the player) getting a competitive jealous itch that drives him to try and form a working group out of the remaining girls. Whether he'll form some of the groupings I've seen on Youtube or not, I dunno. To what extent those groupings are player-decided or are scripted by the game, I also dunno. But the groundwork has been laid for him to basically do iM@S 2 from this point forward.

Next week's episode does regrettably look like another "LOLI MOE MOMENTS ^-^" filler episode again, judging from the sneak peek, but considering how fun Episode 05 was, and as cliché as it should have been (and was in many ways!), I'm actually a little hopeful that Episode 07 will be fun to sit through. We will see.

Aside question: Doppel, does this mean that in iM@S 2 you weren't able to make a squad with Iori, Ami, or Azusa? Because they were in Ritsuko's squad? Or were you able to still utilize them? (And if so, how? What was the in-game explanation?) I know that in real life a girl can be in more than one idol group, like how with Sunshine Project the girls that are in the large idol group Morning Musume can also be in smaller spin-off groups with two or three fellow MoMusu girls, but I'm wondering how that's explained in iM@S since it almost feels like the three (Ami, Iori, and Azusa) just became Ritsuko's project and are so busy with Ryuuguu Komachi-related scheduling that they're going to be more or less completely unavailable now to the Producer-san in the anime. Would be curious to know what, if any, difference there was in the iM@S 2 video game.

Speaking of Morning Musume, on which I'm almost 100% certain The iDOLM@STER is based, it might interest you to know Doppel something I was just reminded of courtesy of Wikipedia:
The group is a rare case in which the producer, Tsunku, controls all aspects of the group rather than the manager. According to the management, Tsunku is responsible for producing the songs, concepts, costumes, makeup, live shows, CD-sleeve designs and more.
It's so true though: most idols have a manager who works as their liaison with the talent agency, yet in Idolmaster it is the producer himself, the aptly-named Producer-san, who serves not only as the girl's producer but as their manager, costume designer, etc. If not proof that iM@S = Morning Musume the Video Game, it's certainly a strong boost to the argument for any fan who wants to advance that theory. :)

[big bad birtha]

I was gonna complain about Idolm@ster 5 a week ago, but I completely forgot about it. The week the beach episode aired, Nekogami had its own beach episode, which annoyed me. Slice of life/harem anime should hold back on beach episodes! There's other moe activities the girls can take part in for otaku to furiously masturbate to, such as: taking part in surgery, driving monster trucks, robbing graves, and watching a UFC fight. There's nothing more moe than watching a girl watching someone have their jaw dislocated.

Episode 6 was alright. It had some Miki moments that didn't totally annoy me, and Iori finally obtained her hat. I wonder when we'll have the idols brawling with the Jupiter guys. Since they're males other than the main guy, they're obviously evil and must die. That's one of the laws of harem anime after all.

[Talon87]

Has anyone else been keeping up with this? I have an on-again, off-again relationship with the program. Currently through Episode 08 (of 10 aired so far). I know Yuki said she looked into it and couldn't really tolerate it much. Doppel, did you abandon ship back when I did and made that huge proclamation about "I'll be damned if I'm gonna waste more time on this!" (I did. @_@ T_T) Or have you been secretly keeping up with it?

[big bad birtha]

I'm still watching it weekly. I just figured it was pointless saying anything if I was the only one doing so. Well, that, and I had nothing to say. The show's okay so far. It has some great moments here and there, and that's enough to keep me entertained.

[big bad birtha]

I was gonna talk about the first half of this wasn't I? My opinion hasn't really changed since my last posts though. It's still an okay slice of life show where the idols sometimes have awesome moments. They sometimes try for drama, but this show does a crappy job with that, making the drama just overdramatic nonsense. Not really much else to say. Sure, I watch when the release is out, but I'm not exactly chewing at the bit to watch it. Actually, I have no problem sticking with the sub group who releases a week later than the other one, since it's not like I'm watching an amazing show or anything.

However, if the anime was like this badass clip (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ujjg5Oj7Df0&feature=player_embedded#!) then I would be alot more excited about it.

[Talon87]

That was pretty awesome as a fan parody, but I wouldn't want to watch a show that was just like that (i.e. was the original property and was not based off of something else) as then it would just be a generic magical girl show hybridized with a generic mecha show. The best part of that video for me was the Azusa robo's missiles. :lol: And how they then crashed into the flat-as-a-board Chihaya robo's chest. And while the twins are all excited, the Chihaya robo goes "Kuh =\", agigtated by the obvious difference in her and Azusa's chests. lol

I haven't seen any new episodes since last time (Episode 08, the wedding shoot episode with Azusa and Makoto). I haven't abandoned it per se, but it's definitely back on the Wait List.

[Talon87]

Am still only halfway through Episode 09 -- it's been that way for about a month now -- but this screencap sneak peek (http://www.arinashi.com/img/yzqupbyd.jpg) for Episode 20 has me daring to hope that in its final act Idolmaster decides to go the emotional and serious route and decides to dedicate time to Chihaya's path. If so, then I might hop right back on board pretty quickly and slog through the "filler" (a.k.a. the rest of the show :lol:) just to get there. If not ... I'll still probably pick it back up some day: that day just won't be today. ^^;

[Talon87]

Finally pushed through Episode 09 and also went on to watch Episode 10. While Episode 09 was only okay, Episode 10 was pretty good (by iM@S standards :lol: :oops:). I enjoyed it. And I really loved that the ending song was the anime's all-ensemble version of Go My Way, which apparently came out on CD a few weeks back (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxrc-Gb8-ZU). This is definitely my favorite version of the performance and so I'm glad to be able to have it on hand now. I only wish it were longer than just 2 minutes! :oops:

The show itself remains a K-ON!-style production, but Episode 10 gave a glimmer of hope that things might pick up. Jupiter made their first all-team appearance, though the girls still haven't formally met them yet, and Ryuuguu Komachi is bit by bit getting on the radar of otaku everywhere. I just wish things were happening with Chihaya and Takane. Not to mention I wish Azusa would grow her hair back out. ;_; (Yeah, I know that one's not happening. Sigh ... :()

[Talon87]

Find myself listening to iM@S music this evening. Discovered Moony (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1cN18IgrD0) as sung by Chihaya, Azusa, and Makoto and have fallen in love with it. Stupid title, awesome song. :oops: Love the chorus bit, especially. Awesome throwback to my faves from the '50s and '60s. Then of course I re-listened to some of my earlier iM@S favorites like Go My Way (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxrc-Gb8-ZU) as sung by all and Colorful Days (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnmOg8D3XL0) also as sung by all.

Doppel, I thought you might be interested in this: h t t p : / / w w w . s o n i x g v n . n e t / 2 0 1 1 / 1 1 / i d o l m s t e r - 2 - g a m e - s o u n d - track______________.__________html , with the last bit left intact aside from inappropriate underscore stretches inserted for good measure against a more intelligent bot. =P :) Delete the spaces from everywhere else, though, as well as those two underscore stretches surrounding the final period in order to restore the URL to its original form. In any event, I'm sure you probably already have this, but I thought I'd throw this out there all the same.

Is it wrong that I look at the picture of the four at the beach in the MOONY Youtube video link and I think of us? :oops:

[Doppleganger]

I don't have any of the IM@S-2 songs, so thanks for that! What I did have before I've forgotten how it came into my possession - all loss-less Monkey's Audio files that I got to partition myself.

I haven't watched any videos since two incidents occurred - YouTube kicking me off my troll account (where all of my favourites had been saved) and getting addicted to BBB's PreCure MMD's. Winter is the time for a pure soul serenade, I should search again...

[Talon87]

Watched Episodes 11 through 13 the other day and 14 just now.

Episodes 11 and 12 were the "Miki's upset she can't join Ryuuguu Komachi" two-parter. They were okay.

Episode 13 was the non-Ryuuguu girls' first live concert. It ended up becoming much bigger than I thought it would be and by episode's end it honestly felt like a season finale. I guess given that it was episode 13 that this would make sense, but still, surprised me. Probably one of the series' strongest.

Another of the series' strongest was Episode 14. It starts off very interesting, then moves into fun fanservice jokes, but then sort of stalls and starts to get boring. Right when I'm ready to quit watching, BAM! in comes Jupiter and the show starts to get its first real plot arc since forever ago.

Still, the show's pretty much a waste of time to watch. ^^; It's cute, I guess, but it's pretty much either fluff or else substance written by a 10th grader. Actually training with the idols, I imagine, made the games much more fun.

[Doppleganger]

There's an officially sanctioned manga for Idolm@ster that's tying all the fanboys' dirty underwear in knots - Idolm@ster Break. Apparently, the man who grows up to be "The Producer" is just a 14-16 year old boy, and Takagi takes him up as an intern. Naturally, it's a lot more awkward than even the games because the girls kind of treat him the same way as they do the 20-year old producer, but he can't stay professional (cause he's not).

I don't really understand why this is such a cause for contention. It's not ecchi or anything (apparently, I haven't read it). Art-wise it looks better (and more faithful) than the anime. I wonder, why the hate?

[Talon87]

Probably because it's stupid. :lol: =P Young 20's Producer is ideal because he can simultaneously fulfill so many roles:
- the surrogate father
- the surrogate older brother
- the boyfriend
- the man (as it relates to the girls who have issues with men in general)

Teenage Producer can only fulfill one of these roles adequately -- the boyfriend -- and even then it's probably a totally different flavor from the boyfriend he is as a man in his early 20s. I think that in an effort to make the franchise more acceptable for those who have an issue with the Producer's and the idols' age gap, they've alienated all the fans who were more interested in those girls (and those routes) where the Producer played more of a fatherly or older brotherly role.

Also, even though the events in Idolmaster 2 seemingly contradict those in Idolmaster 1 in places, fans are fans and one of the things they insist upon is canon. The idea of an alternate universe where the Producer showed up one year later (i.e. Idolmaster 2) is probably acceptable to them, but the idea of an alternate universe where the Producer first met the girls when he was only a teenager -- and therefore around the same age as many of them -- proves to be unacceptable to many fans. It's kind of like the difference between the J.J. Abrams Star Trek we got (acceptable alternate universe) and the J.J. Abrams Star Trek we could have gotten where (suppose) Kirk and Spock became best friends as kids at a boys' summer camp for Federation children. Having the Producer only be 14-16 years old makes him Chihaya's junior and very nearly Iori's equal. Considering these two characters alone, you can see how having the Producer be a child changes everything -- and many fans will reject this as too large a breach of canon.

[Doppleganger]

The canon stuff is pretty silly. The bulk of the anime draws from IM@S-1's stories anyway, though it's dressed in IM@S-2's. While I appreciate the upgraded engine (sans the Gainax Bouncing) and new songs, I'm less enthusiastic with a lot of the IM@S-2 changes, but maybe that's because I so very much loved the original game's content.

Interestingly, Producer Jr. (Yuutarou Takagi) is listed under Produce 765 staff on Wikipedia. He's apparently the grandson of President Takagi succeeds him as president while he's sick. I guess it goes beyond just being The Producer.

[Talon87]

Watched Episodes 15, 16, and 17 and am halfway through Episode 18 right now. The show is finally starting to come into its own as:
(1) we get juicy girl-devoted episodes that really flesh out each of the girls' main selling points, one girl at a time; and
(2) we get an actual story arc involving 961 Produce, a.k.a. the rival boy band Jupiter and their asshole of a manager, President Kuroi.

Episode 15 was a sort-cute hugely-time-wastey episode that parodied the real-life variety shows that idols go on in Japan to entertain their fans. It was basically a "What if iM@S were real? :O" episode for all the fanboys at home. Episode 16 was a better episode but one starring Ganaha Hibiki, not really one of my faves. (She's okay, but ...) Still, it was one of the better Idolmaster episodes we've had so far. Then Episode 17 came along and things got really good. This was the Makoto episode where we pretty much learned all of Makoto's backstory, why she wants to be an idol, what her hopes and dreams are for the future, and how she feels about Producer-san. A really, really solid episode, although it probably does mean for the Makoto fans that she's out and will never get another episode devoted entirely to her again (poor Makoto fans! :(), given that we only have nine episodes remaining (assuming 26 episode series) and tons of idols who have yet to even get much of any screen time (*cough**cough*TAKANE?*cough* :oops:). But yeah. I already liked Makoto insofar as she has more depth than half of these girls could dream of and she reminds me of MoMuse's Yoshizawa Hitomi (expand spoiler box for more details):

Quoting the Hello! Project Wiki:
In the past, [Yoshizawa] has often been perceived as the tomboyish member of the group, due to her voice, manners, and hobbies. Furthering this perception of her masculine side, Yoshizawa's first lead came in 2001 with the release of the single Mr. Moonlight ~Ai no Big Band~, in which she played a dashing playboy character. She has since managed to mostly overcome this, as many view her as having matured out of her formerly tomboyish character once having assumed leadership of Morning Musume in 2005.
You can see some pictures for yourself here: 2003 (http://images.wikia.com/helloproject/images/9/9a/2003.jpg), 2005 (http://images.wikia.com/helloproject/images/9/95/Hitomibirthday8.jpg), and even 2007 (http://images.wikia.com/helloproject/images/d/dc/2007.jpg) saw a rather "handsome," tomboyish look for Makoto Hitomi, but in 2011 (http://images.wikia.com/helloproject/images/2/24/Yoshizawa-hitomi.jpg) and going forward she's really pushing hard for a more feminine look. IRL, hers was similar to Makoto's story: all of the other MoMuse girls attested to the fact that Yoshizawa was the most feminine girl in the entire group. Despite this, the producer, Tsunku, sought to promote Yoshizawa as the tomboy of the group given how wildly popular she was amongst MoMuse's female fans.
But this episode made me an official big fan of Makoto. Not enough to break into my Top 3, but she's securely in my Top Half of all the girls now.

But now I start Episode 18 and ... sheer awesomeness overload. The Ritsuko episode. This is great.

They set it up beautifully and I can't wait to see where they take it from here. Because I'm so superficial when it comes to harems and such, Ritsuko's never been one of my favorites. Those pigtails of her were fugly to me, I didn't like her low voice, and the glasses and freckles weren't doing it for me either. But they gave her some sexier businesswoman glasses, tied her hair into a cute topknot, took away the freckles (foundation? XD), and now she's pretty nice. But yeah: the idea of a 元アイドル (former idol) staging a comeback, even if it's only a short-lived one, is priceless. :) Can't wait.
Idolmaster's taken a hell of a long time to get beyond mindless fluff and graduate to semi-mindless fluff, but it's finally done it. Here's hoping that, come Chihaya's episode, we get something that's entirely devoid of mindlessness and jam-packed with awesomeness. :)

[Talon87]

Just finished Episodes 18 and 19. Both were great. The series' second half so far has been quite better than its second half.

Episode 18:
It was fantastic to see Ritsuko back in action. Loved her interactions with Iori throughout this entire episode. The part towards the end with Ritsuko's fans having shown up with their "normal green"-colored glowsticks that they were waving around to give her encouragement was awesome.
Episode 19:
We finally get our Takane episode! :D This was a really good one if you like Takane. I absolutely loved how at the end they were implying that Takane is a Lunarian. ("The old capital" indeed! :lol:) Very Japanese.
The episode ends with one hell of a plot twist regarding Chihaya. Looking forward to watching Episode 20 tomorrow.

[Doppleganger]

I'm most interested in the Takane and Hibiki episodes myself. Most of the back-stories being covered right now are lifted straight from the girl's respective routes in IM@S-1.

I'm not sure what the twist is you're referring to, but I think it's-?

MAJOR CHIHAYA SPOILER DO NOT OPEN UNTIL X-MAS 2012 OR HER EPISODE ARC...

How her brother died, and her parents broke up because of it?

[Talon87]

Didn't click. I can tell you what it is. It's:

She seems to be traumatized over the death of her little brother. She goes to visit his grave during a festival she and the other girls had gone to. There, she encounters her mother. The two appear to get into an argument. A paparazzi catches all of this, takes some photos, and gives them to President Kuroi of 961 Produce. He then has a tabloid-esque story published in a magazine that says:

"She let her little brother die." (As in, she just stood by and watched as he died.)

[Doppleganger]

Yup, more or less the same spoiler.

Chihaya has the worst family situation of the idols, and that's juxtaposed with her incredible talent. Small wonder why she's my favourite!

Once upon the dawn of time, I wrote a scenario for Haruka when she sang Maison Ikkoku's OP (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_K01a1qpHU). I really liked it! I wonder if I could dig that piece up...

[big bad birtha]

I managed to finish this. I originally put this down because I couldn't stomach the Hibiki episode, but I decided to go ahead and finish all of the episodes since the show was finished.

I thought episodes 20-25 were great. They were a bit cheesy, but I couldn't help but get into them. Chihaya's part of the concert in episode 20 was an especially powerful scene. I'm honestly surprised I got into this show as much I did. Sure, it's riddled in cliches, and most of the pre-episode 20 dramatic scenes were pretty bad (the very reason I lagged on the Hibiki episode), but I thought every character was fleshed out pretty well and likable. Hell, I think everyone had some really good moments. It's also nice how Jupiter ended up the way they did. I assumed they'd automatically make Jupiter evil since they were males other than the producer. Thank goodness it didn't happen.

I'll miss this show. It wasn't exactly great, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. If I had to rate it, I'd give it a 7.8.

EDIT: Doppel, if you catch this, I would strongly recommend that you watch this scene (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZg30Dur5lM) from episode 20. This Chihaya scene is the most powerful scene in the entire show. The lead-up was perfect, and when Chihaya started singing, I got freaking chills.