Idolmaster is interesting
July 18th, 2022 12:38 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
avocadomakiIdolmaster is interesting...
Before I decided to start watching the Idolmaster anime on a whim, I only knew two things about it. Kentaro Miura, the author of Berserk, loved it. And it was popular around the same time as Vocaloid exploded in popularity on NicoNico, leading to its enshrinement as one of the site's Big Three.
I honestly don't know what made me watch the anime. Maybe it was an attempt to see if there's anything an idol anime has to offer to me, a cynical person who thinks the industry is exploitative. It's not true that idols, always sweet and submissive, are the pinnacle of femininity, or that every girl wants to sing and dance meaningless songs for a bunch of sweaty old men! And I say that as a girl myself.
This is where Idolmaster sets itself apart from other shows like Love Live! by adding a dash of realism. The girls in the group struggle with motivating themselves to perform routines they don't connect to. Their careers begin by performing shows in tiny villages who-knows-where. One episode even has them star on a cooking show with creepy cameramen who makes the girls uncomfortable. This adds a sense of plausibility to the scenarios which I found very welcome.
Sadly the show leaves these moments as just moments - tiny references to the reality of the seedy idol industry. The characters simply brush off the implications even when those darker incidents are mentioned in later episodes. This is convenient for the show's intended image of the idols as pure beings who overcome everything with friendship, but it also misses out on opportunities for character growth or even just a deeper and more thoughtful look at what the girls face on a daily basis and how it affects them.
Idolmaster opts for gags and pop culture references to have the viewers bond with their idol of choice instead. (Side note: while making the original game, the developer wanted the girls to be more "realistic" than your typical anime character. This is incredibly ironic when the majority of the characters are gags.) The humour is unoriginal, but managed to be silly enough to give the anime a bit of flavour anyway.
And to be honest, that flavour was enticing, though it was weak and watery. Idolmaster's anime prompted me to learn about the games they're based on. I like games which allow me to grow alongside the characters, and Idolmaster is all about training your idol to become a smash hit so that their career - and your career as a producer - can continue. The way it's based on ephemeral, mass produced pop culture makes the first Idolmaster games feel like something invented for a vaporwave music video and it lends it a nostalgic charm.
The anime wasn't a good anime, but it was a good advert, I guess...
Before I decided to start watching the Idolmaster anime on a whim, I only knew two things about it. Kentaro Miura, the author of Berserk, loved it. And it was popular around the same time as Vocaloid exploded in popularity on NicoNico, leading to its enshrinement as one of the site's Big Three.
I honestly don't know what made me watch the anime. Maybe it was an attempt to see if there's anything an idol anime has to offer to me, a cynical person who thinks the industry is exploitative. It's not true that idols, always sweet and submissive, are the pinnacle of femininity, or that every girl wants to sing and dance meaningless songs for a bunch of sweaty old men! And I say that as a girl myself.
This is where Idolmaster sets itself apart from other shows like Love Live! by adding a dash of realism. The girls in the group struggle with motivating themselves to perform routines they don't connect to. Their careers begin by performing shows in tiny villages who-knows-where. One episode even has them star on a cooking show with creepy cameramen who makes the girls uncomfortable. This adds a sense of plausibility to the scenarios which I found very welcome.
Sadly the show leaves these moments as just moments - tiny references to the reality of the seedy idol industry. The characters simply brush off the implications even when those darker incidents are mentioned in later episodes. This is convenient for the show's intended image of the idols as pure beings who overcome everything with friendship, but it also misses out on opportunities for character growth or even just a deeper and more thoughtful look at what the girls face on a daily basis and how it affects them.
Idolmaster opts for gags and pop culture references to have the viewers bond with their idol of choice instead. (Side note: while making the original game, the developer wanted the girls to be more "realistic" than your typical anime character. This is incredibly ironic when the majority of the characters are gags.) The humour is unoriginal, but managed to be silly enough to give the anime a bit of flavour anyway.
And to be honest, that flavour was enticing, though it was weak and watery. Idolmaster's anime prompted me to learn about the games they're based on. I like games which allow me to grow alongside the characters, and Idolmaster is all about training your idol to become a smash hit so that their career - and your career as a producer - can continue. The way it's based on ephemeral, mass produced pop culture makes the first Idolmaster games feel like something invented for a vaporwave music video and it lends it a nostalgic charm.
The anime wasn't a good anime, but it was a good advert, I guess...