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Old 12-19-2011, 09:11 AM   #51
Talon87
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Didn't click. I can tell you what it is. It's:

Spoiler: show
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.)
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Old 12-19-2011, 02:23 PM   #52
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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. I really liked it! I wonder if I could dig that piece up...
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Old 12-24-2011, 02:39 PM   #53
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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 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.

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Old 08-23-2012, 03:44 PM   #54
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Well here's a bump from the bottom of page 3. ^^; Having polished off Pokémon and caught up or stayed caught up with most of the other shows I'm watching (only Polar Bear Café is stalled, still at Episode 13 ^^; ), a few weeks ago I decided to catch up on this series. I re-watched the Makoto episode (the one with the amusement park and the bulk of Makoto's backstory), then I re-watched the Ritsuko episode (a personal favorite even if going into this series I didn't think I'd like Ritsuko very much), and then I put the show back down for a bit just 'cause. Picked it back up a week or so ago and re-watched the Takane episode (19). Then a few days ago watched the first half of 20 but had to put it down. Finally I circled back around and finished the rest of Episode 20 today. Thoughts:

It was good. The series is not what one could call "great" by any stretch of the imagination but it has its own charming appeal and is probably one of the better series I've seen with a main cast this large and consisting almost entirely of girls. But Episode 20, which can rightly be referred to as the Chihaya episode, was good for this series and it was modestly good for any series. I liked the song number at the end but I do wish that a voice as wonderful has hers had been given more screen time. I was expecting to hear a full rendition of Aoi Tori / Blue Bird before all was said and done but we never did: closest we ever got was a tiny morsel of the song back in like Episode 04 or 05 or some such. As for her character's backstory ...

Spoiler: show
I was expecting a deep, personal tragedy. I was not expecting what we got which is kind of peculiarly somewhere halfway between. Chihaya isn't to blame for Yuu's death but in a very soft sense is ... because he saw her on the other side of the street and ran into oncoming traffic and got killed. It's not the sort of tragedy you'd expect, like leukemia or running away from home and getting killed. Like, it isn't an AnoHana nor a Moshidora tragedy. ^^; It's just this bizarre freak accident where not only did Chihaya lose her little brother but she is kinda-sorta-oh-so-weakly to blame for it 'cause had she not been there then he wouldn't have run out into traffic and died. A tragedy like this makes me uncomfortable as a viewer 'cause I don't know what to do with it. ^^; It isn't something we're used to seeing and it isn't black or white, clear as crystal, as to whether she should allow his death to haunt her like this.

I think that if the show had hinted more frequently throughout the course of the previous nineteen episodes that Chihaya may or may not have a living younger brother and that she's very sensitive when things associated with him are brought up -- for instance, if one of the girls had brought a toy microphone playset to the office and it was identical to Yuu's, or if children had mailed in fan letters and crayon drawings to 765 and if the way one of them was drawn bore a startling resemblance to a drawing of Yuu's burned into Chihaya's brain -- then it would have been a lot more powerful and easy for us to relate to the level of tragedy once it was in fact revealed that she not only has a brother but more correctly had one. We kinda had to fill in the blanks ourselves that Chihaya had loved Yuu dearly, that she missed him, that she had been haunted by his death this entire time, etc. Episode 20 never comes out and says any of these things via dialogue or internal monologue. You're just shown a few flashbacks of the two as children, one in a children's playroom/bedroom, another at a summer festival, and that's kinda it for the flashbacks. Then you're shown a coloring book the boy had and given a very brief, awkward conversation with Chihaya's mother. We barely even hear Yuu's voice (in fact, do we ever hear it? I can't remember!) and I think it would've been a lot more powerful if they'd had a few "Onee-chan, daiiiiiiiiiisuki! ^-^"s thrown in there, echoing in her brain while she's sat on her bedroom floor.

But for all these complaints, there was a lot the episode did well. For starters, their portrayal of someone who suffers from depression. The unpacked boxes in her apartment even though she's been there for many months. The windowblinds drawn shut. The fact that she's showered / well-kempt despite not going out, as if torn between wanting to go outside ("today'll be the day ...!") so she showers but then not ultimately going outside, just staying in her apartment. Lashing out at people who are trying to help even though deep down inside you want to be appreciative of their generosity or kindness. And perhaps most importantly of all it not going away on the first try. The part where she goes out on stage, ready to rejoin society, and then ... her voice leaves her again. That part was perfect, not because it generated a spike of drama or set up for the other girls going to her rescue but because it sends the clear message that even if you're brave enough to confront the skeletons in your closet sometimes it can still be hard/impossible to leave the closet and stay out. So that was well-done.

Another thing the episode did well was how, without detracting too much from the focus on Chihaya, they began to develop Haruka a bit too. The part where she talks with the Producer and asks him if she's really a bother was the first time we've seen Haruka be more than a glowing smiling posterboard cut-out of a character. Again, it's not the sort of problem I expected and it kinda takes me out of my comfort zone of familiar, black-and-white tragic backstories, but it's interesting how this girl who is so cheery may be frustrated by her own cheer because for every 9 people who don't give her any feedback period, positive or negative, there's 1 person who tells her to buzz off and quit being a goody two-shoes nuisance. When you're just naturally nice, when that's just who you are, it can create an interesting identity crisis / internal conflict for yourself between acting naturally (and worrying that people think you're superficial and a nuisance) and living a lie (in which case you have self-loathing issues of a different bent). Not sure when Haruka's episode will be but at this rate I guess they're saving it for the big finale. Kudos, then, to the writers for beginning to lay the framework down for this. It's exactly what I wished they'd done for Chihaya but all we ever got from her were shots of her singing looking really melancholic and serious.

It's kind of funny that I put the show on hold here last winter for fear of running out of episodes in the middle of a perceived Chihaya arc only to find out today that the "arc" was only this one episode long (and 1.1 or whatever if you want to count the tail end of the previous episode). I kinda wish that bbb or anyone else who watched past where I watched had just told me, "Don't worry, Talon: small spoiler? The 'arc' isn't really an arc, it's just one episode." Well, I can easily say that now. Who knows. Maybe if they had told me that last December I'd have been all "!#&#&*#*#*#$(* why did you spoil me!? " lol Who the hell knows. But yeah. It amuses me that I put the show on hold for what ultimately amounts to no good reason at all. ^^; Now I've got six whole episodes to go few/none of which will focus on Chihaya. Kind of a bummer really.

Just looked up at the bottom of bbb's last post. I agree: that scene was probably the highlight of the series thus far. The animation was a little rough for the girls' faces but they seemed to save their budget for physics surrounding Chihaya's face and eyes throughout the episode. But what really sells that scene anyway isn't the animation but the singing.

Doppel once mentioned that, just like with Morning Musume, some of the girls of 765 Produce can't sing for shit but are cutie-pie idols for the fanboys, like Kago Ai in Momuse or Yayoi in Idolmaster, while others of the girls have got the vocal chords it takes to cut it as an actual singer, never mind as an idol, like Takahashi Ai in Momuse or Chihaya here in Idolmaster. (For singing sample, consider her cover of "Haru yo, koi".) I would've loved to have heard Chihaya sing more rather than waste so much time early on with forced ensemble episodes; but then again, we kinda knew that that's what we were getting into with this one. A twenty-six episode iM@S anime can't bring the game to life with full fidelity to the source material. It can't possibly give every Chihaya fan as much Chihaya as he wants, every Iori fan as much Iori as he wants, every Ritsuko fan as much Ritsuko as he wants, and so on. It was limited from the beginning to pretty much being an affair where each girl gets an average of 1.5 episodes to herself (some two, others only one) and the remaining episodes are episodes featuring the entire group. I realize the anime's not intended as a replacement for the games and that we should probably play Idolmaster 1 and 2 for ourselves some day if we want to get the full Chihaya path, but still: I'm a little disappointed with how little we've gotten to hear this wonderful singing voice.
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Old 12-31-2012, 03:47 PM   #55
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So, I still need to finish this off. But in the meantime, I come with news for fans of iDOLM@STER ... *cough*
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Old 01-07-2013, 12:57 AM   #56
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So I decided to start watching the episodes of Puchimas. 5 of them are out at the moment. They're about what you'd expect from 3 minute specials. Obviously it's really cute. Puchima Yukiko giving Ritsuko a massage was probably enough to kill a fella. Though so far, there has been no Yayoi, Takane, or Iori, so I'm basically just watching stuff for characters I don't care much for.
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Old 01-07-2013, 01:14 AM   #57
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I've watched the first four. I've enjoyed it so far, and up until Miki showed up in Episode 04 I kept thinking "WHEN WILL THE REAL GIRLS SHOW UP AND MEET THEIR YUKKURI CHIBI BIGHEAD COUNTERPARTS?" But then the real Miki did show up and I realized, "Wuh oh. There's a problem now." And that problem is trait overlap. You can crack jokes about Akyuu wanting to lounge around, eat all the time, diving for Producer-san's crotch, etc. all you like when the real Miki is not around because fans find it funny and are like "That's so Miki!" But then when the real Miki is around, and both Miki and Akyuu are fighting over onigiri, it's like, "Do I need to invoke Highlander now or something? 'THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE!', I say!" 'Cause it's not funny or for that matter even broadly workable in the longrun if you try to sell "lol we have 14 or so girls and 14 or so yukkuris who are moeblob chibi versions of the girls and do all of their stereotypical behaviors." Y'know? So I'm conflicted, conflicted as to whether the show can stay fresh if it continues to partner up the real girls with their real counterparts.

But I'll say again, for now, I've enjoyed it. Haven't gotten around to watching Episode 05 yet but I will soon.

As for the main series, each episode of Puchimas I watch makes me feel guilty that I am SO CLOSE to finishing off Idolmaster and I still haven't done it yet. Should totally just plow through that one tomorrow. Not even two hours. Less than that. Four episodes, just bam bam bam bam done.
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Old 01-11-2013, 01:28 AM   #58
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The Chihayas meeting each other wasn't that bad. Chihya is more open and childish, so there's atleast a clear difference between those two in personality. Though the "Chihaya doesn't like her flat chest" joke constantly shoved in your face is annoying. Chihya herself is adorable though.

Next episode is Iori! Can't wait. Though looking at this, everyone looks like they're from IM@S1, which likely means no Takane. Such a shame.
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Old 01-11-2013, 01:43 AM   #59
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Iori's thing might've just been a flashback. Though you are right that Ritsuko has her iM@S 1 look and not her lady business suit iM@S 2 look, so ... But wait a second. Miki's there, isn't she? So doesn't that mean it's after Miki+Takane+Hibiki's group joins 765 Produce? 'Cause Miki shouldn't be there otherwise, not if this really is iM@S 1. No? So yeah, maybe Ritsuko is just rockin' her old look and Iori's having a flashback or something. We'll see tomorrow.

Caught up on Puchimas (through Ep09). Series continues to be cute but insubstantial. I mildly enjoyed the boob size joke with Chihya and Chihaya but I totally misunderstood it at first. I thought they were implying that Chihya, in reference to Chihaya's breast envy, liked girls with big breasts (and displayed this affection by biting them). Only in Episode 09 did it become clear to me that, no in fact, she dislikes Miki and that she likes Ritsuko in spite of her decent rack. I thought she was Chihaya's opposite (of sorts) in this regard, but it turns out she's very much just like Chihaya. ^^;

Episode 06 was cute.

I was hoping for / expecting Azusa to show up in 09 given Chihya's deal. No one has breasts like Azusa does.

Looking forward to Kotori getting her own chibi.
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Old 01-11-2013, 02:00 AM   #60
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I thought Miki was there from the beginning, and one of the 3 main girls along with Haruka and Chihaya. Also it's not only Iori and Ritsuko, but the twins as well. In IM@S2, one of the twins has a longer side ponytail, but in 1, they're the same length. When I first saw the show, the fact that the twins looked like their old selves flew over my head.
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Old 01-11-2013, 02:25 AM   #61
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I see the source of my confusion. Miki was in the 360 version of iM@S 1 as a bonus character (this I knew) and was a member already of 765 (this I did not know). Canonically, she leaves 765, unsatisfied with her producer, and joins 961 Productions' Project Fairy in a PSP game. Then she, along with the other two in the group (Takane and Hibiki), bounces back over to 765. See, I didn't remember the PSP game. I thought the 360 version of iM@S 1 was the one where the girls' rivals are Miki, Takane, and Hibiki. But I guess that never even happened.

I wonder then if P-san is voiced by the anime's Producer (i.e. iM@S 2 Producer) or whether he's voiced by somebody else (denoting he's a different person altogether from the anime Producer, and very probably is iM@S 1's Producer).
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Old 01-20-2013, 10:47 PM   #62
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Hmm....it seems I was wrong about the lack of Takane and Hibiki. Not only did they appear during the next week's preview, but their page on Funimation has them. I guess they used the IM@S1 designs because they were more popular or something? Either that or they just seem like more lighthearted designs and are better suited for the show.

They like replaying the shot with Iori running away alot. I did like Haruka's puchima double. The "Ka KAAAAA!" is retarded but cute. Actually is Haruka that goofy in the original game? It would be a plus for her if she was. She isn't like that in the A-1 anime.

My favorite episodes so far would probably be 8-9. Chihya is so god damn cute.
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Old 01-23-2013, 06:25 PM   #63
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Through Episode 18 of Puchimas. Still no additional progress on Idolmaster proper.

Puchimas is cute but it's a bit too much effort to come up with something to say about a series for which, if you summed all of its episodes up thus far but not counting the recaps or the ED credits, would possibly be less than one standard episode. ^^; I guess I can try by saying ...

I find Haruka (or should I say Amami Haruka? ) much more amusing in Puchimas than in Idolmaster. In Idolmaster, she always struck me as the forced "standard main character who doesn't really stand out in any sort of meaningful way" type. Well, it seems like Puchimas is to Idolmaster what Carnival Phantasm was to FSN and Tsukihime: and as such, it is completely lampooning Haruka mercilessly but to great comedic effect.

The more I see of Ritsuko, the more I keep feeling like she is my top waifu candidate of all these girls. Which is ... really distressing. >_> 'Cause I don't like crabby women. Nor do I like Ritsuko's iM@S 1 hairstyle. Nor would I pick her for 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, or even 5th place in a beauty pageant out of all these girls. But Ritsuko is just so ... good marriage material. ^_^; She's smart. She's productive. She parents well with a balance of tough love and kindness. She's the most mature one of the group, even more mature than the Producer and Kotori. I guess I'm just attracted to that.

Ritsuko: ^.~

But ugh, she's so crabby. >_< ^^;

My favorite of the chibis so far is probably ... hmm, I dunno. Hard to say. I guess Yukiho's chibi form. Then probably Chihaya's. Then Miki's. And finally Haruka's.

Hooray for Takane and Hibiki showing up, though I'm not really a big fan of Hibiki, I'll admit. ^_^;
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Old 01-24-2013, 02:29 PM   #64
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Just saw Episode 19 of Puchimas.

Spoiler: show
Possibly the best one yet. Takane has always been a favorite, but I don't think I've ever seen her as awesome as she was here. Didn't realize she had a thing for Chihaya though. Or will any chibi suffice?

Loved how they poked fun at Chihaya's depressing hikikomori-esque lifestyle by making it seem like a dark creepy aura emanated from her open door. Hibiki is all "X_X" whereas stupid Yayoi is all "la dee da dee da ^-^". haha

This episode just had so many great bits. Like when Hibiki and Yayoi say "konnichiwa~" in sync at Chihaya's front door. Or the aforementioned door opening bit. Or when Takane plucks Chihya off the ground and makes a run for it, calmly saying in her ever-cool voice, "I will be happy to take her."

Man, why does it have to be so short!? >_< I want Episode 20 now!

lol @ that borderline orgasming in the sneak peek
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Old 02-01-2013, 01:51 AM   #65
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Puchimas: Saw 20 and 21 a few days ago; and saw 22, 23, and 24 just now.

One, Takane is awesome.

Two, the accursed "Ritsuko is best iM@S waifu" vibes continue.

Three, paradoxical to any talk of waifus, I'm shipping Producer-san x Ritsuko pretty hard now.

Four, Azusa remains the best damn waifu on that show physically (age, body, face, hair, voice, everything).

Fifth, did I mention Takane is awesome? One of the franchise's best characters just keeps on getting better and better.
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Old 02-04-2013, 12:45 AM   #66
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Puchimas: Just saw 25. Amazing. Takane is amazing.
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Old 02-04-2013, 03:01 AM   #67
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Indeed she is. That's precisely why I was afraid of her not appearing. It'd suck if the best idol wasn't there. Though I'm beginning to worry that they will run her into the ground. The last thing I want is to be sick of her. Though I'm glad they didn't throw the "BAIN BAIN!" thing at Takane. I always thought she was second to Azusa, so I was afraid they'd make that a focus too.

Needless to say, because of Takane, the episodes where they visited Chihaya were the best ones. Well another plus is that it was about the two cutest chibi idols (Yukipo and Chihya)!
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Old 02-05-2013, 05:55 PM   #68
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Idolmaster: On a whim, and propelled by enthusiasm for Puchimas, I resumed watching Idolmaster proper and watched Episode 22. A pretty fillery episode (well, most are), this was the Christmas episode. Is it just me, or is there some envy of Miki / some feelings of self-worthlessness on Haruka's part that are simmering just beneath the surface? Maybe I'm imagining things. Four episodes to go and I can declare this one finished!

Puchimas: Just saw 27. Having a crazy-real feeling of having seen 25 and 26 two days ago, got 27 yesterday but didn't watch it yet, and got 28 today, meaning I had two new episodes to watch and would be on 28. While I did watch 26 already, it would've had to have been only just yesterday, given the time stamp and post body of the last post I made. I think I may have figured out the cause: UTW seems to now be using snapshots that no longer match the current episode. I could've sworn yesterday's picture showed Chibi Kotori. Well, today's shows a different one than I remember. So I figured I had two Chibi Kotori eps waiting for me. Except no, because the picture they have up right now for 27 hasn't shown up at all yet, not even in the sneak peek for the next episode. (So I have no fucking clue where they got it. @_@) Never mind, they got their screencap for 27 from the split second a car drives by in the beginning. -_-;

Anyway, personal confusion aside, I've seen thru 27 and believe that makes me caught up.

26 was okay but nothing too great imo. (The twins just ain't that great. ^^; )

27 was solid. Not the best we've had, but Chibi Kotori was cute and both gags (first with Producer, then with regular Kotori) were amusing if old hat (P's) or a bit too heavily forced (Kotori's).

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Old 02-12-2013, 01:43 AM   #69
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Puchimas: Thru 31 (caught up). Looking forward to Yukiho meeting Yukipo. Yukipo is far too adorable to be afraid of! Interested to see what Azusa's chibi is like but, despite me liking regular Azusa just fine, I suspect that her chibi form won't be all that interesting. Who knows though, guess we'll have to find out tomorrow.

Idolmaster: Just watched 23 on a whim ('s why I'm posting) and holy cow at that ending.

Spoiler: show
I remember seeing that image of Haruka crying (the one at the very, very end of the episode, after the credits have already started to roll) a long time ago on UTW's blog. I'm not watching UTW's iM@S subs though, but anyway, I remember seeing that and being soft-spoilered by it that shit was going to go down for Haruka towards the end of the series. But I hadn't remembered it being Episode 23, and I never imagined it was going to be because of something like this! (I figured it was going to be because she didn't get the part.)

Tempted to watch 24 now. I think I might, but it's late ...
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Old 02-12-2013, 03:31 PM   #70
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Idolmaster: Ended up watching 24 last night and 25 today. Was surprised by just how much 25 felt like a series finale ... and then it turned out, it was the series finale and 26 is a bonus episode. So I guess I've technically finished Idolmaster. But I'll wait until I watch 26 before officially checking this one off of my checklist.

Thoughts on 24:
Spoiler: show
So this is what Amami Haruka's path is like, huh? Man, this was surprisingly psychological 'n' dark for Idolmaster. But it dealt with a real issue in the entertainment industry, which is when someone goes into entertainment and then loses themselves along the way and realizes that the work they're doing is no longer fun and isn't what they wanted. I thought Haruka's issue -- how she wants to have fun singing and being an idol with others, and not just singing and being an idol by herself -- was, while perhaps very niche (?), a very fitting issue for the character that is Amami Haruka. I would liken Haruka to the tiiiiiiiiniest of wheel centers, and I would liken the other girls in 765 Pro as these huge orbs which lie on the circular perimeter around that central, tiny hub that is Haruka. Like this:



Haruka is one of the least interesting characters in Idolmaster. She doesn't really stand out in any way. If we were to compare all of the girls to flavors of ice cream, there's a good case for arguing Haruka as regular vanilla ice cream. Chihaya is way more interesting and/or has a way bigger and deeper backstory. Takane likewise. Iori likewise. Ritsuko likewise. Azusa likewise. Makoto likewise. All of the girls, even Yayoi (who is pretty much my least favorite of the group), have got bigger backstories or deals going on than Haruka does. She's like the least interesting or imposing main character there can be in a franchise like this. To be honest, Haruka feels like the everyman who has found herself suddenly thrust into the magical world of idols. A character like Miki feels much more like your usual star of a series like this one, if the star is to be an unusual / not typical girl. But that's just it. Even if Haruka is standing in for the everyman, Amami Haruka is this team's central pivot point. And these final few episodes (23 and 24) did a great job of exploring that idea. How Haruka has always been there for everyone else on the team and has, to a very large extent, exemplified what it means to be a de facto team captain ... and so now when she herself is lost and can't find her way, the other girls only now realize just how much they'd been relying on Haruka's optimism and determination to keep the group together. They only now realize that without Haruka leading the way in those endeavors, the girls are practically on the verge of becoming strangers as they each do their own professional things. So that, I thought, was kind of interesting. An interesting way to develop Amami Haruka. Basically, she may not be the brightest star in the sky, but she is at the center of the brighest stars' conglomeration.

Thoughts on 25:
Spoiler: show
The bit with President Kuroi screwing over 765 Pro with their building purchase didn't quite make sense to me. It sounded like ...
  • President Namco purchased a skyscraper office.
  • Which he heard about from his "friend", the unscrupulous President Kuroi.
  • Kuroi was scamming his "friend".
  • Took the money.
  • Ran off with it.
  • And the skyscraper's construction is being abandoned halfway.
Is that the general idea? If so, then what I still don't get is:
  • Why would President Namco just write this off as a "lol, I got fooled ^^;" punking? Shouldn't he be filing serious legal action against his friend?
  • Just how fucking evil can President Kuroi be, to steal his one-time friend's entire business enterprise's savings like that? We were told that this office upgrade cost 765 their entire savings, i.e. every single dime of profit they had made over the past few years which had not already been reinvested in other expenditures. So this setback ... not only has borderline bankrupted 765, but it's set them back an honest-to-goodness two years. Now, granted, the idols are more popular now than they were two years ago, so maybe they can make that money back in like one-quarter the time it took them the first go around? But still. What the hell.
  • Why is the building's construction being abandoned? This is the one I least understand. I could see why the building's construction might be going on hiatus while the city zoning people look for a new construction firm to take over for Blackwell Construction, but still: no metropolis would just be like, "Okay, yeah, that's cool, we have a half-built skyscraper here, let's just abandon the project." No fucking way. With or without President Namco's help, they would get a new team in their STAT!

    And what I also don't get with this particular point is, it's not even like President Namco financed the construction of the entire skyscraper (... did he? ). He just bought an office, a single office in that enormous building. Surely there were other investors as well. Surely other people are involved in this case. So even if President Namco is like "Teehee! ^.^;" about being fooled by his old friend, surely there will be other litigants who want to see President Kuroi in court!?
Other than this, the episode was fine, if a little long in a few places. The best bits were the song and dance numbers, which (sadly ^^; ) isn't always the case with Idolmaster. I quite enjoyed the OP1 revisit, and I also really liked the final song in the episode.

Oh, I forgot to mention: the Blackwell thing is a pun. Kuroi in Japanese might be read 黒井 which literally means "black well" or Blackwell as a name, but it's also readable as 9 (ku) 6 (ro) 1 (i), or 961. We always thought of him as the president of 961 Pro, the rival agency for 765 Pro, so attention wasn't really even drawn to his actual name of 黒井. The pun at the end of Episode 25 ... was basically intended for Japanese audiences who might not be super familiar with English but who know juuuuust enough to decode the pun. Anyone remotely familiar with Japanese and who speaks English fluently would get it immediately, but for the Japanese, it's sort of like the same thing we experienced when we realized that 7 (na) 6 (mu) 5 (ko) --> Namco.

Last edited by Talon87; 02-12-2013 at 03:37 PM.
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Old 02-13-2013, 05:35 PM   #71
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Idolmaster: Finished Episode 26, and with it the Idolmaster anime as a whole.

Episode 26 was a cute bonus episode. I honestly enjoyed it more than the series finale. ^^; I tend to like parody works or other things which are done "for the fans", so this episode, which perfectly saddled that transition line from regular episode to parody episode, was great. We got to see some fun little situations ...

Spoiler: show
Like Azusa "getting married" ... for a movie.

Or like Takane discovering rotating sushi bars ... and eating tons and tons of it to spite the Project Jupiter boys who were also there.

Or like Kotori going on a ramen "date" with Producer-san and doing her run-away-crying-embarrassed-in-slow-mo thing again.

It was good like that. And now ... time to review the series overall.

Plot: 5/10. Very average. There isn't much of a "plot" really to speak of, to be perfectly honest. Thirteen or so girls join a fledgling talent agency in a bid to become Japan's next top idol. These girls become friends and co-workers and work hard to achieve their professional goals and personal aspirations. They run into some potholes along the way when a rival talent agency starts resorting to underhanded (and in some cases downright criminal) tactics to try and sabotage the girls' performances or careers, but in the end they manage to overcome it all and become well-loved across all of Japan. That's ... pretty much it, and you don't need 26 episodes to tell that story. ^^; The result being that most of the episodes were just Girl of the Week episodes which gave us a closer look at one of the thirteen girls.

Characters: 6/10. They were fine. The problem with Idolmaster ends up being that the cast is far too large to afford significant development time to most of the main characters. Even the ones who do get the most screen time and the most dramatic backstory developments, Chihaya and Haruka, only get a thimble full's worth compared with what the stars of a typical 26-episode anime series would get. It's simple math though really: when you have 13 girls (12 if you merge the twins into one) + 1 more in the form of Kotori + the Producer himself + the two presidents and the cameraman friend of theirs (if you merge them into one since they go together anyway), you have 15 or so character-entities to develop. That's 15 or so characters in only 26 episodes. Two episodes per character on average, if even that. And sure enough, most don't get two episodes. Yukiho gets one (thank God, it turns out ^^; ), Hibiki gets one, Takane gets one, Yayoi gets one, Azusa ... Azusa I think only gets the one that she shares with Makoto (who later gets her own episode) ... yeah, there just isn't enough time to go around.

Animation: 5/10 or 6/10. Even for 2011, when the series first aired, the animation was already well below par when it came to character animation. This has to be one of the cheapest character animations I've seen in a mid-budget anime in years. It is so sloppy and amateurish! The background animations weren't too bad though, but that's not what you're really here for with a series like Idolmaster which is supposed to be all about the characters. Still, it wasn't terrible, and thanks to the background animations and the occasionally nice character animation as well, I would say it was about average for 2011.

Music: 8/10. This is a matter of taste as most of the music in Idolmaster is either 1) background elevator music or else 2) the various pop songs that the girls sing in the games. I enjoyed but didn't quite love most of these songs. However, a few songs really grew on me, including the first OP and the second OP. The second OP I especially loved.

Replay Value: Medium-Low. It was a fine little time waster romp, but in the end, it was very much a time waster. Nothing that had to be seen. Guess I'm glad I did see it though since it gave me a lot more familiarity with the various characters than I had had before, and that's useful since the girls do show up from time to time in Japanese fanart and the like. Rather than rewatch the Idolmaster anime though, I think I would much rather play the games. I'd be interested to see what the differences are between the characters' stories in iM@S 1 and iM@S 2, and I get the impression that each girl would feel a heck of a lot more fleshed out if I played a full game path with them rather than getting only tiny snippets of them in twenty-four episodes and center stage in one to two episodes.

OVERALL: 5/10 or 6/10. Probably 5/10. Despite some of the above-average scores given in categories above, ultimately I felt like The Idolmaster was a perfectly plain, typical "filler series" for an anime season. Nothing was really off-putting or terrible, but nothing really grabbed you or made you desperately want to watch each week. I think that should be pretty obvious if you look at the various hiatuses I took to finish this series. (Three in total, I think? Four viewing stretches to get through this one, spread out over a 1˝ year period?)


Puchimas: Watched Episodes 32 and 33. Cute. Would like to see more of both Azusa and Chibi Azusa though as we don't really have a great feel for the latter yet and I'd like to see how the former reacts to her.
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Old 02-22-2013, 12:12 AM   #72
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Puchimas: I was trying to figure out why I hadn't posted in this thread despite watching 34 and really wanting to talk about it ... and then watching 35 and really wanting to talk about. Then I realized why:


I had wanted to share pictures.

Episode 34:
Spoiler: show

This episode was amazing. As an Azusa fan, this was just flipping amazing. When the two of them meet for the first time and they do that double "Ara~ ^-^"? HRNNNNNNNNNNGH TOO CUTE! >.< And then when Azusa picks her up and they both look so happy? Yeah. Too cute for words. I'm tryin', but ....

We finally got to meet Iori's petite idol. It was fine. 1) I like iM@S 2 Iori's design way more though and 2) it played off of the easiest, most predictable thing about Iori (tsundere) but did so in a ... way I wouldn't really have called tsundere. Like, not at all. ^^; It was really weird to me that they were trying to use that particular scene to showcase that Puchi Iori is tsundere just like normal size Iori is. *shrug*, oh well! Don't really care -- 'cause I got my Azusa + Chibi Azusa tag team! ^_^ Ara ara~!

Episode 35:
Spoiler: show

More Miura-san goodness. The highlight of the episode was the return of Haruka and her "Amami Haruka desu!~ ..........{ignored during this time}-- HAI, KETTEIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII! ^______^" gag. Was fucking unbelievably hysterical and spot on the first time, was still really really great the second time. Love it. This parody series rips on Haruka so, so badly but good lord if the parody version of her ain't spot on!

As for Episodes 36, 37, 38, and 39, I still haven't seen 38 or 39 yet and I only thought 36 and 37 okay, but I'll happily talk about those two briefly below.

Episodes 36 & 37:
Spoiler: show
So these episodes showcase Miki, via her chibi Afuu, from the end of her iM@S story mode. Where she cuts her hair, quits dying it, and really presses home the point that she loves the Producer.

Episode 36 jokes that people mistake Makoto for a boy all the time, and this extends to Afuu too. Fine, and I like Makoto well enough, but this joke is nothing too great.

Episode 37 continues it, having Afuu glomping Makoto and Yukiho trying to cheer Makoto up yet inadvertently making her feel even worse.

This might of course be answered by either 38 or 39, but all I'll say is that from where I'm sitting, there are two things I want to see:
1 - Yukiho meeting Yukipo, as I'm not entirely certain that this has even happened yet and if it hasn't, well, it needs to
2 - Puchi Takane

The latter I am hoping that they're saving for last -- they certainly seem to be. They know their demographic! And they know that Takane is the star of this show! From where I am, I think the only chibis we have yet to meet are Hibiki's and Takane's, and I'm pretty sure we meet Hibiki's in 38 or 39 (that I've not seen yet), so ... that would mean they've indeed saved the best for last. =3
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Old 02-23-2013, 02:29 AM   #73
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I'm keeping up as well. I can't really think up of much to say about 3 minute episodes though.

Puchima Azusa and Iori were cute. I really liked Azusa's little "Ara~".

It's awesome how Takane has mastered the use of the Puchimas. I really hope they make Takane's Puchima double interesting. It would suck if they just make it a ramen muncher with nothing else to it.

________________

I just finished episode 3 of the A-1 anime. I almost forgot what an amazing scene the Yukiho "YAAAAAAAAAYYYY!" was. I don't like Yukiho that much, but it was still a great scene. I also forgot how much of a mood killer Chihaya was. God she's so damn emo. I think Takane straightens her out early on though, so that's a plus.
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Old 02-26-2013, 05:11 PM   #74
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Puchimas: I'm caught up, having seen 38 and 39 a half-week ago or so, 40 the other day, and 41 and 42 today.

Spoiler: show
Chibi Takane is quite cute, but:

1) she doesn't seem to play off of Normal Takane too well and

2) Normal Takane doesn't seem keen to take care of her.

Both of these things are off-putting to me since I quite like that most of the Puchi Idols have since wound up with their regular-size analogues. But Takane has been parading around Miura-san like she owns her (in both Eps 41 and 42) and has been trying to pawn Takanya off onto others.

This makes me wonder if this would have been the better way to do things: have had every single idol's Puchi double show up except Takane's for pretty much the entire series. Have had Takane continue to be the awesome, awesome star of this series that she has been so far. It works since she's the only one who doesn't have a Puchi idol of her own. And then, in the series finale, have her meet Takanya and the two pair off.

That stated, I am still happy to have Takanya around now. I just want them to make her work.
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Old 02-27-2013, 12:08 AM   #75
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Episode 42 stuff.

Spoiler: show
I'm guessing Takane doesn't want to take care of her chibi self because Takanya will likely end up being a glutton.

Admittedly, I was disappointed too. Even if Takane doesn't want to feed a glutton, it's still discouraging to see her cold to her chibi self.
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