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Old 07-24-2011, 12:06 PM   #26
Talon87
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I wanted to mention this, it's probably been brought up before, but in case not ...

The Japanese are a more numerological 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.) 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.
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Old 07-30-2011, 11:41 PM   #27
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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.
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Old 08-01-2011, 01:15 PM   #28
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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 ... >_>;
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Old 08-01-2011, 06:47 PM   #29
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Originally Posted by Talon87 View Post
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.
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Old 08-01-2011, 07:27 PM   #30
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Twice. Watched it all again before embarking into the second season. Isn't that ridiculous? 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 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. 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.
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Old 08-01-2011, 08:11 PM   #31
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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.
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Old 08-01-2011, 08:28 PM   #32
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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.
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Old 08-10-2011, 12:27 PM   #33
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-_-;

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 ...


... and this ...


... and this.


Speaking of the beauties Takane and Azusa ...


And speaking of t-shirt Chihaya ...


Typical. 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 ...


... or like ...


Yeah, I definitely aww'd at that one. 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 ...



Aww.




Awwww!




AWWWWWW!


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:


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


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:


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! ;_;


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. 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. If we don't? Fuckin' A, I'll have wasted my time on this. >_>;
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Old 08-13-2011, 09:55 PM   #34
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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:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Wikipedia's article on Morning Musume
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.
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Old 08-15-2011, 09:13 PM   #35
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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.
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Old 09-12-2011, 08:29 PM   #36
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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?
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Old 09-12-2011, 10:24 PM   #37
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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.
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Old 10-15-2011, 11:21 AM   #38
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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 then I would be alot more excited about it.
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Old 10-15-2011, 12:07 PM   #39
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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. 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.
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Old 11-18-2011, 08:34 AM   #40
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Am still only halfway through Episode 09 -- it's been that way for about a month now -- but this screencap sneak peek 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 ) just to get there. If not ... I'll still probably pick it back up some day: that day just won't be today. ^^;
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Old 11-19-2011, 12:52 AM   #41
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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 ). 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. 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!

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 ... )
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Old 11-28-2011, 10:55 PM   #42
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Find myself listening to iM@S music this evening. Discovered Moony as sung by Chihaya, Azusa, and Makoto and have fallen in love with it. Stupid title, awesome song. 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 as sung by all and Colorful Days 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. 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?
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Old 11-29-2011, 12:29 AM   #43
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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...
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Old 12-11-2011, 02:54 PM   #44
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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.
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Old 12-12-2011, 10:19 AM   #45
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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?
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Old 12-12-2011, 10:48 AM   #46
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Probably because it's stupid. 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.
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Old 12-12-2011, 11:13 AM   #47
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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.
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Old 12-18-2011, 09:11 PM   #48
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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* ). 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):

Spoiler: show
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, 2005, and even 2007 saw a rather "handsome," tomboyish look for Makoto Hitomi, but in 2011 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.

Spoiler: show
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.
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Old 12-19-2011, 02:04 AM   #49
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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:
Spoiler: show
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:
Spoiler: show
We finally get our Takane episode! 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! ) Very Japanese.

The episode ends with one hell of a plot twist regarding Chihaya. Looking forward to watching Episode 20 tomorrow.
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Old 12-19-2011, 02:10 AM   #50
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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...

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