Posted by  |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
「大好きなもの, 大切なもの」 (Daisuki na Mono, Taisetsu na Mono)
“The Things I Love, The Ones I Cherish”
I never quite know what to expect from IM@S, as the series continues to throw the girls’ names in a hat and pick a few out at a time. Or at least, that’s what appears to be happening from my perspective, with Hibiki and Iori sharing some screen time with Yayoi after already getting a bunch in episodes four and six respectively. I’m sure some more thought goes into it than that, but the fact that they could probably get away with it goes to show the numerous options at series’ disposal with such a large cast. Rather than cramming everyone into every episode, IM@S focuses on a handful and doesn’t even feature the rest, which makes it a slice-of-life series with a rotating cast.
Case in point, I didn’t think I’d enjoy an episode about Yayoi all that much, but it wasn’t all that bad with the way it focused on family values. To that end, I was pretty impressed by Iori, whom I figured was going to provide a wealthy take on Yayoi’s poorer lifestyle yet didn’t act the least bit spoiled like most Kugimiya Rie characters. Instead, she proved to be pretty dependable and very likable with the way she took care of Yayoi’s siblings and called in the Producer to help search for Chousuke after he ran away. One of her best character-defining moments was when she refrained from talking poorly of eating just bean sprouts, gave them a try, and absolutely loved them. It may not have seemed like much, but that sequence of events completely twisted my image of a typical Kugimiya Rie-voiced character. It was like Yayoi spiked the dinner with crack with her secret sauce. Heck, she even had me craving some bean sprouts.
As for the sentimental aspect, I wasn’t too emotionally invested in Yayoi and Chousuke’s small fight, though I did find the way they made up somewhat touching. I was more taken back by the way Yayoi takes care of her five younger siblings without a single complaint, which reminded me of how she said she hopes to become an idol to better provide for her family. It was a very sweet impression that I wasn’t expecting to get from IM@S, so there’s another example of the series touching upon something different every episode. From this showing in particular, Yayoi has jumped up my personal rankings a fair bit. It always helps when I’m a sucker for the hardworking-type who makes the most of what they have. I still think she’s too innocent to be an idol, but I do want to see her succeed as one.
* Random observation: Hibiki seems to like it when someone touches her butt. Just sayin’.
INS6: 「キラメキラリ」 (Kirameki Rari) by 仁後真耶子 (Nigo Mayako)
Watch the 6th INS!: Streaming ▼
ED7 Sequence
 |
 |
 |
ED7: 「おはよう！！朝ご飯」 (Ohayou!! Asa Gohan) by 仁後真耶子 (Nigo Mayako)
Watch the ED7!: Streaming ▼
Preview
 |
 |
 |
Yayoi wasn’t very interesting for me. Even the drama with her brother felt forced. If anything her house invitation was just a set up for Iori’s character development. And it worked, Iori did come out very strong here, especially on how she handled the kids. Shoehorning Producer was strange though, although I suppose he comes across as someone Iori can depend on.
I think this is why I like this show more than K-ON!. I can actually feel characters developing, rather than spend a half-hour of nothing.
P.S. I love bean sprouts. Bean sprouts are awesome.
I believe this is the second time I’ve seen you mention “forced drama” within a week.
I’m of the belief that all drama, in the strictest sense, is “forced” by deus ex machinas. Though it is up to the writer to ensure that this forced drama does not get in the way of the audience’s enjoyment of the story.
It all comes down to the question, to quote from Russell Crowe from Gladiator: “Are you not entertained?” :p
So yes, while you may be correct that the drama was forced, but it was done so in a good way, no?
PS As a K-On-tard, I vehemently disagree with your statement that watching K-ON is spending half-an-hour doing nothing. But I guess our mileages vary.
I called it forced because it seemed so wonky in its execution. I mean Chouske just suddenly decided to smack his brother and make him cry. This happens AFTER its established that he babysits the kids when Yayoi isn’t around. It just comes of as silly and lacked any emotional investment as Divine said. Its like they needed to establish Yayoi, because Iori upstages Yayoi in her own character episode. There are better ways to do it.
Overall it’s still not too bad, unlike the one in HanaIro which I found incredibly stupid.
This had me in stitches for a few minutes XD. It’s funny how Kotori’s and Haruka’s role in this episode is to stay frozen in time like that. That popular Haruka fan-doll appeared in a couple of scenes at least. Iori really shine in this episode. I see this episode to be as much about Iori as it is about Yayoi. As for Hibiki… I really don’t know what to say 😛
The preview seems to hint on having more action next episode, can’t wait 🙂
I honestly don’t mind if Kotori stays frozen like that. Her face was priceless.
This was a really sweet episode. I wasn’t too saddened by Chousuke running away, but the reunion with his sister was a really sweet touch. Also, I’m finding myself really warming up to Iori, who’s pretty much proven that she isn’t just another spoiled Kugimiya Rie loli (heck, I wouldn’t even call her a loli). Plus I thought that the scene at beginning was actually pretty funny with everyone’s shocked faces and the Producer overflowing his cup of coffee. My only complaint with this episode is that I never want to hear Yayoi do a solo ever again :P. That insert was absolutely ear-grinding.
Really?
Well she seemed to be in absolute ecstasy in this shot. Though I suppose she might have been dreaming about her pets.
I know you can massage someone by stepping on/put weight on. But thanks for the observation, can’t unsee now.
Say Divine I’m suprised that you weren’t able to spot the Nonowa meme reference.
Finally this episode come. Okay last episode, I asked the fan if it will be worth it to watch the xenoglossia. Against their better advice, I watch it and I need to complain a bit. That not even a bit similarity between the real idolm@ster and xenoglossia aside from the same name.
Anyway, I really enjoy the episode now. I felt that I get to know them more and more ALTHOUGH I have a feeling that it will pass soon enough since I was never a fan of Type B anime.
P.S. while it last, I enjoy the show.Looking forward to Colurful Day song appearing.
Yeah, it speaks volumes when one finds that carnival phantasm has more common elements with fate stay night that the real idolm@ster with xenoglossia.
For me, as long as they don’t focus too much on the producer, I’ll enjoy the show. Among all the characters, he’s the most disappointing one so far. But that is by design I guess.
Man, more Xenoglossia hate? Sure, it wasn’t a good Idolmaster anime, but it was a romping fun mecha show. Sunrise clearly had a lot of fun making it, though it seems most of the audience missed the joke, since they had to come back a few years later and pound it into our heads with SoraKake Girl.
Man, more Xenoglossia hate?
Just leave them… Your the one who lose when you have to answer every hate post for Xenoglossia. I mean, sure, Xenoglossia isn’t iDolm@ster, since it’s part of Project HiME and OTOME. But it was good mecha fun.
And even in this series, many complain of Project Jupiter being there… *facepalm*
SO I’m gonna troll all those haters:
Makoto X Hokuto FTW!
Well, they need to know their audience. I think they failed in that respect. Otherwise I agree with you, it wasn’t bad as a mecha show.
Depends on what “audience” really. Idomalster fans no, but fans for Mecha and cute girls got what they wanted. I watched the show with no knowledge of Idolmaster and got what I wanted.
Well, when one gets the rights to a franchise, some would assume that the work done would be targeting the audience of the franchise. Not saying that it is “wrong” otherwise, but I would say that it is not an unreasonable assumption. The show could have been made without the franchise branding behind it after all.
Hates Xenoglossia and ships Makoto with a boy.
Sad, just, sad.
oh come on! Makoto and Hokuto looks good together. And Makoto wants to be girly girl since season 1 of the game. The best way for her to become a female is to get a boyfriend…
Sadly, instead of straight, it looks like Yaoi instead… LOLZ
The only thing I can say is I should have listen to senpai advising me not to watch it. Really regret it now. Fortunately my love for idolm@ster is recent and superficial so I could still watch the rest of it no problem. Just feel the need to voice that I should have listen.
@The Mo0n DOgg: awww, you are going to make Makoto cry 🙁
I found Xenoglossia ok. Its a fun watch and if anything it did introduce me to the real Idolmaster. It doesn’t deserve the hate honestly.
Besides the Idolmaster fanatics are obsessive psychos. It’s not really new. Just look at Project Jupiter.
Eh. I felt that Xenoglossia was fairly average in the first half, but the second half was actually pretty amazing, filled twists and turns. To be fairly honest, it’s a bit of a pet peeve of mine when people rail on an anime for not being faithful to it’s source material when some of the original material is actually in reality pretty enjoyable (think of Ao no Exorcist). People should judge shows based on how well the series is executed rather comparing it to it’s source material.
Well, I don’t know much about the “hate” (since I don’t actually hate it), but in Xenoglossia’s case, there was no need for the association with the original game. It could have been just another reasonable mecha anime, but I guess they thought it would be good to exploit the brand to gain some initial publicity. For some fans of the game, they probably felt that they (as fans) got exploited with something they did not want. With Exorcist at least it had some relation to the story in the original manga. In the end I think it’s all about expectations. Personally, I feel that the way they shoved the characters and terminologies used in the game into Xenoglossia as a mecha anime was quite insulting for the mecha genre. Otherwise it was ok I guess. Not fantastic, but ok.
Actually, when you put it like that, I really agree with you. It actually is pretty insulting to tack on characters from another franchise and to use those characters and terms to draw a larger audience. But to be fair, it is considered a spin-off.
Honestly!! When did I ever use the word “hate”. All I said was I should have listen to the advice to not watch it. AND that I want to complain that there is no similarity between idolm@ster and xenoglossia.
You know, judging from everyone reaction. I kinda can guess how heated the discussion was regarding to this xenoglossia when it first appear on screen.
For a fair rating, I would rate xenoglossia is one anime I will never watch should if I wasn’t a fan of Idolm@ster(which explain why I never watched them) . Now that I like Idolm@ster and started to watch xenoglossia, I can only say that I’ll probably dropping it soon. Funny that the episode I’m pondering to drop it is the same episode of xenoglossia that drop from RC
https://randomc.net/image/THE%20IDOLM@STER/THE%20IDOLM@STER%20-%2007%20-%20Large%20Preview%2003.jpg
NEW SHOUNEN HERO… er, which anime is that?
This episode was cute. I applaud Yayoi for being family-oriented. Being the eldest, I think it’s instinctive for them to nurture and care for the family. I don’t understand it sometimes coz I’m the youngest. While I do care for my family…I’m not ready to be the ‘responsible’ yet.
I’m more of a romance comedy type of person. There’s only a few slice of life anime I watch which involves a different genre like Natsume Yuujinchou. Even so, I really am liking this series. 🙂
This episode make me cry T.T ~
Divine, please don’t drop coverage of iM@S despite what your latest RC polls say. 🙂
That said, this seemed like an episode for our Working Class Heroine Yayoi at first, but also more or less became a development ep for Not-So-Spoilt Ojou-sama Iori as well. Hibiki was pretty much a side character here, she too needs some spotlight just for her alone.
Like Strike Witches, iM@S is pretty much a soothing slice-of-life show with a huge cast, and so, as with Strike Witches, I have a feeling iM@S will get a second season just to cover development for all the girls.
I agree with Kenny and Aisu below. This show just has an underpopulated fanbase on RC.
I agree with Kinny. It seems like you really enjoy covering iM@S, and Miki has yet to have a centric episode! The future is full of potential!
I was surprised with how much I liked Iori in this episode, considering I wasn’t a big fan of her in the past couple. I guess this is the strong point of this show: it really knows how to make each of the girls shine. I think my favorite part was seeing Hibiki and her play with Yayoi’s siblings. Horribly cute!
I also hope you won’t drop this series weekly coverage. It has been very entertaining! I guess the low vote on the poll is because this is not quite a ‘main-stream’. So not many people vote for it.
Boring anime. Drop.
Piss off troll.
This is my least favourite episode, I watched it 2 times against the normal 3-4 times.
Moe is a nice element when used wisely, otherwise, when love turns into hate you know a storm is coming (happening to me with Ikoku Meiro no Croisee’s Yune).
Idolm@ster is doing a fine job with the sugarcoating as I am nowhere near bothered by it (I am bothered by K-ON! so I take it on small, tiny, less than one minute video clips) and always want more, I still watch my sugar though.
Azusa this week? :Not Bad:
I think Divine might have a point about the randomness of the characters, it’s almost like you could have a list of premises or stories. Then you pick a set of idols, usually 3 or 4. Then you adapt said premise to the specific character profiles of how you think the idol should react to the storyline. Seemingly good formula so far. This episode was nostalgic for me I had this incident with my brother when we were small just like that where he was after my food and i tapped him one not realizing he’d bawl and got told off lol. I ran to my room though not away lol. Ahhhh
Please don’t drop this show, I like to read your coverage.
Then vote for it at the poll now!!
Sorry but this show really does not compare at all to Mayo Chiki, the reason why in my opinion this show lacks, is because of the balance. I really dont like shows where it’s mostly about one gender, for example a story about all boys (like kyou kara maou, etc.) and all girls (k-on, this show, etc.) because it tends to be boring in the long run. I like a show that actually features both guys and girls, and their relationships to one another, whether it’s a harem genre, romance, comedy, drama, sci-fi like Steins Gate, etc. A show like this where guys are just side or extra characters and mostly focus on the girls loses its charm for me in the long run, which is probably the reason why I could not stomach watching K-on for more than 3 eps. It’s even worst for all guys character shows like kyou kara maou, where the girls are also side or extra characters.
I cant explain it well, it’s my opinion anyways, but I just feel that what makes a good show is to have a good plot and well balanced characters (not an all guys or all girls as main characters) show, cuz really it is not just that interesting.
I’m voting for Mayo Chiki and Idolm@ster. And don’t worry Jupiter the male idols will come soon, so the balance is going to be fixed.
lol vote for this? It’s destine to fail.
Idolm@ster = Miki, not story = nothing much to blog about.
lol. Then why are you commenting here? You should be commenting on anime you like or at least anime you don’t think will fail.
A better answer: Who are you? You popped out of nowhere! spontaneous generation maybe?
And about dropping/keeping the show: Do as you see fit Mr. Divine. I like the show (my personal favourite) but if it is a drag, then no use in forcing it.
Yet another pathetic hater trying to prove his existence.
I have to agree with many of the posters above when I say I truly hope you don’t drop this show Divine. Having recently just gotten off an incredibly stressful period in my life, I discovered this show…and I have to say that I am absolutely loving it! I never expected it either, especially when all I heard was that it is based on a game. To be honest, the only reason I gave this show a shot was because you blogged about it in the first place.
I don’t think you should just blog shows based on popularity as that does preclude quite a few shows from getting attention. Understandably, you are quite busy and have to drop shows, but I think your enjoyment from blogging a show should be more significant than the sheer popularity of it. Frankly, if a show is popular enough, people will seek it out through hype or recommendations without needing to be highlighted
Completely agree with all of this 🙂
Sorry but this show really does not compare at all to Mayo Chiki
That it doesn’t. Mayo Chiki is a flaming, sexist, heteronormative, insulting pile of shit.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Sigh, somehow this show attracts trolling behavior. I can’t seem to figure out why though. If you ignore the premise of the girls wanting to become idols, this is pretty much just a slice of life anime. I don’t see why it gets so much hate. Regardless of which show eventually gets dropped (or not dropped) from blogging here, it’s not like it will get canceled.
*Sniff* If Divine drop this show, where should I go with the new found love for idolm@ster? You introduced it…Beside I don’t see why people bother telling us that they hate this show. Normally show that I don’t watch, I don’t even bother clicking into the comment itself.
I don’t understand what makes Mayo-Chiki better. I get a feeling a warmth and connection to the characters as I watch each episode of The iDOLM@STER. However with Mayo-Chiki, I feel a desolate chill of coldness due to the pure crap on screen. You can tell it was made for money. While iDOLM@STER is equally as manufactured for optimum monetary gain, you can tell the creators are putting a lot of love and effort behind the project to make something truly great. Each episode delivers a down to earth conflict, with a sense of growth in the characters in iM@S, something that Mayo-Chiki just fails to do on a constant basis. It’s only good for fanservice with beautiful characters, that’s it. An experience that is easily interchangeable as the seasons come and go by other fanservice/ecchi anime. The iDOLM@STER has staying power, Mayo-Chiki does not. I can see iM@S becoming a memorable Slice-of-Life if it continues the good work. At the moment, I can say it’s clearly underrated.
It’s also pretty shocking that Mayo-Chiki ranks higher than the power house known as Mawaru Penguindrum. An excellent show, that is light years ahead of Mayo-Chiki in every aspect.
I hope you do continue to blog this wonderful anime. I’m pretty sure many of us fans enjoy reading your analysis on each episode thus far. But in the end, if you do not continue to blog it, then oh well…
I don’t know about other people but the reason I vote for Idolm@ster and Mayo Chiki is because MPD and Blood-C is being blogged by Guardian Enzo(blogger for the awesome S;G). I don’t feel left out since I could always comment over his website.
I secretly hope that you will vote the same.
P.S. to sincerely respond to your comment. Yes I felt that this Idolm@ster anime is done very nicely slice of life with better character growth. This is because Idolm@ster have more budget to make it good since they don’t put emphasis on the sales of Blu-ray rather focus on the upcoming Idolm@ster game.
Mayo Chiki is earning a lot of vote because it harem anime, plain and simple. And I won’t lie, I LOVE harem anime.
Yayoi’s secret sauce: just water laced with a few drops of LSD.
Otherwise, I think that you should continue with this, Divine. But if you decide to drop this, I’m okay with it.
The paagron of understanding these issues is right here!