05-25-2011, 08:57 PM | #1 |
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The Idolm@ster
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. 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).
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ふたりの想いが見つけだす希望 今 信じあえる あきらめない 心かさね 永遠を抱きしめて Last edited by Doppleganger; 05-26-2011 at 11:56 AM. |
05-26-2011, 10:06 AM | #2 | |
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I didn't even think that was true, I just assumed he was trolling his own fans.
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05-26-2011, 11:55 AM | #3 | |
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Quote:
Spoiler: show
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05-26-2011, 12:03 PM | #4 |
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Aww, that scene is so cute. Definitely 100% no doubt out of all the girls, Azusa would be Talon's mai waifu. All woman, all adorable.
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! Talon: Sorry.
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05-26-2011, 12:18 PM | #5 |
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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. 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 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.
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05-26-2011, 12:38 PM | #6 |
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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. 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. 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. Don't see many people excited for her. Even in the PV, she got completely shafted footage-wise.
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05-26-2011, 02:49 PM | #7 | |||
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I'll be really excited if we get awakened Miki in the anime. It'll cause a lot of tension among the girls because she's so clingy... Quote:
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05-29-2011, 11:55 AM | #8 |
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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 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. |
05-29-2011, 12:33 PM | #9 |
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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.
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05-29-2011, 01:47 PM | #10 |
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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 The K-On girls making a The Maximum Hormone performance A bunch of Vocaloids dancing to The World Warrior There were some others, but those were the most noteworthy I remember. The Touhou/Home Alone 2 parody was done on MMD as well. |
06-09-2011, 11:04 PM | #11 |
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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. ...
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06-09-2011, 11:57 PM | #12 |
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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.)
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06-10-2011, 12:48 AM | #13 | ||||
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Quote:
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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. Quote:
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. Quote:
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06-10-2011, 01:09 AM | #14 |
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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. |
07-08-2011, 01:30 PM | #15 |
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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, albeit briefly, in this episode. Wouldn't have noticed it were it not for you! Now, for a big spoiler thought! Spoiler: show 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.
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07-08-2011, 02:04 PM | #16 |
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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. |
07-08-2011, 02:40 PM | #17 |
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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
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07-08-2011, 03:18 PM | #18 |
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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. 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. 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, 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. 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!
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07-08-2011, 04:36 PM | #19 |
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For someone who started off saying he couldn't find fault with this, you sure managed to point out a lot of fallings-short. 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 ...
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:
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 ... Spoiler: show 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.
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07-11-2011, 04:25 PM | #20 | ||||
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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.
Spoiler: show Quote:
Quote:
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. Quote:
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. Quote:
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07-11-2011, 05:15 PM | #21 |
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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.
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07-15-2011, 03:04 PM | #22 |
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Images: (spoiler tagged so the surprise isn't ruined for you )
Spoiler: show 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.
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07-22-2011, 02:01 AM | #23 |
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Join Date: Mar 2007
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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. |
07-22-2011, 07:46 AM | #24 |
時の彼方へ
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Lafayette, Indiana
Posts: 20,578
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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.
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. 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. 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:
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07-22-2011, 07:21 PM | #25 |
我が名は勇者王!
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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.
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