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What Anime Are You Watching Right Now?

BUU8800

By BUU8800
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PokeNirvash
PokeNirvash

Whatever happened this year, Buu, I hope next year goes better too. (Bullhorn.) Yona of the Dawn 17

BUU8800
BUU8800

Alright well 2017 has come and gone and I've made no secret of my feelings regarding it. I've had bad things happen in my life before, loved ones die, etc...but this was probably the worst year of my

Dark_Cloud_Overhead
Dark_Cloud_Overhead

Hiya. I decided upon my New Year's resolutions, and one of them, believe it or not, is to watch some more anime.  Watching more than I did this past year, which was practically nothing, should be a pi

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blueraven1999 Monster Mutant

blueraven1999

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Lupin III: The First - 10/10

Good movie.  One of the few dubs I'm willing to watch since part two is

of the first anime shows I really loved plus Tony Oliver is my favorite Lupin.

I wish it was 2D instead of 3D but for 3D animation it's pretty good.

Edited by blueraven1999
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Blatch Luminary

Blatch

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Daily Lives of High School Boys 2-4
To Your Eternity 4-6

And now, some reading material:

The iDOLM@STER Cinderella Girls Episode 1: "Who is in the pumpkin carriage?"

Spoiler

Welp, here we go again...

First of all, it's worth mentioning that CG has a different origin compared to the mothership. The original mobile game launched in November of 2011, before the Toonami revival even began, and I was a wee young lad who lost my first Twitter account to some sort of obvious hacking link. Part of the reason it's called "Cinderella Girls" is because, originally, almost no one in the game was voiced. Through fairy tale-related shenanigans the playerbase had to produce them until they could go from rags to riches and afford a voice actress. Keep this in mind as we go along.

So the show begins with a ticking clock, and then a group of girls we don't know about take the stage for a performance. There's lots of fluffy dialogue about how they've always dreamed of this moment and that it means so much for them, yadda yadda. They're even somewhat dressed like Cinderella. Then we get an opening sequence with lots of idols in lots of different places: TV screens, magazines... other things that don't rhyme. And all the while, none of these are the original 765 Production idols. Going forward, they'll only be reserved for cameos and shit. So after this ends, we get our first named idol: Uzuki Shimamura, who's been training to become an idol for a while now and is currently working with a trainer. Soon enough, who should come through the door but a... Producer? Oh no, this is not BaneP. He's scary and has an unflinching gaze. Keeping up with tradition, his nickname is TakeP, as his seiyuu is Shunsuke Takeuchi, who was only 17 years old at the time of this show's premiere.

TakeP comes in to inform Uzuki that she'll finally be making her debut as an idol. Super exciting! She'll be part of a brand new unit of three girls, the other two of which are still being scouted. TakeP's agency that he works for is 346 Production, and he'll be seeing her again soon enough. To celebrate this achievement, Uzuki goes to the local flower shop to buy a bouquet for herself. The resident high school girl who works there certainly enjoys her spirit. Later on, said girl gets involved in an altercation involving the police. Fortunately, it's just because some kid's toy fell on the ground, and since it has a screw loose, he was afraid she might try to break it. One mishap leads to another, causing TakeP to show up and bail her out, only to offer her an idol application of her own. She declines, and it's implied he's been trying to do this for a while to no avail.

Back at the dance studio, TakeP asks Uzuki to keep doing her lessons. Then he goes off to find this other girl again, asking her the same questions he did to Uzuki. What a void of charisma this guy is. After meeting with Uzuki yet again, he offers her to go talk to this potential new recruit herself. Her name is Rin Shibuya, and through the power of small talk, Uzuki manages to get her closer to becoming an idol. Her rationale? Because it would allow Rin to do things that are interesting, and might also be fun. Oh, and Rin has a dog that TakeP saves from running away. So just like that, we have our first two candidates for the new unit, and right as the credits are ending, we meet a promising looking candidate for the final spot: yet another high schooler, the peppy Mio Honda.

And there you go! Compared to the first episode of the 2011 series with its bold documentary-style opener, this one is more low key, but also hints at a much larger world. With well over a hundred different idols to produce, you better believe that this show is going to cram in as many as it can. I also like how it's able to portray more nuanced character interactions as opposed to the non-stop comedy antics of the 765pro crew. It's one particular color of a rich tapestry, and it fits in with idol anime of other styles very well, just like how a jam band ties the threads of progressive rock and jazz fusion together. See you for the next twenty-five weeks. =D

And now for the potpurri...

Random thoughts:

  • I've seen some complaints that this show's animation is a step down from the 2011 anime, but so far, I think it looks fine. The use of thinner lines and a slightly muted color palette helps with the realism. And the actual animation is respectable... at least for now.</ominous>
  • Uzuki's face going pale (plus the spiraling eyes) when she first meets TakeP is very, very good.
  • I can't tell whether TakeP is bad at his job or his gankish nature means he's not good at questioning, but I'm willing to bet he did choose Uzuki for her smile. As for Rin? Probably her disgust.
  • There is apparently a theme going on in this show with clocks, and how different times on them mean different things for Cinderella. I don't know where to start with this, but most scenes in this episode take place during the day, the exception being when Uzuki goes to get flowers in the evening. We'll see how this plays out, as I'm sure the symbolism will increase when more idols get involved.
  • Super geeky lore alert: Uzuki buys a bouquet of anemone flowers from Rin at the shop, at the latter's recommendation. They're supposed to represent anticipation and hope, but what's really interesting is that they eventually wrote a song for Rin called "AnemoneStar" that came out more than a year after this episode aired, and well after this show finished. Very smooth. That song's got a bit of a rock flavor, pretty far removed from what's featured in this episode.
  • This show was originally exclusive to Daisuki, but soon ended up on Crunchyroll after the former service shut its doors. It was probably the only notable exclusive it had other than the first season of One-Punch Man.
  • By the way, this show does take place in the same timeline as the first series. There's a moment in the credits for the 2014 movie that confirms it, with Rin looking at an advertisement for 765pro's latest venture. But I also haven't covered that movie, largely because it features characters from a different branch of the franchise, and said franchise is getting an anime of its own soon. Also, it (the movie) isn't legally streaming, but this is par for the course for Aniplex. 😒
  • Actually, the original series isn't even legally streaming anymore. Crunchyroll seemingly had a 10-year license, and it expired on April 21. Grr. Luckily, I've unashamedly pirated the BDs, and you might as well do the same if you want to watch it. But now I'm starting to trail off...
  • Foreshadowing: My March 17 "What are you watching?" post hinted that I would be covering this show and Wonder Egg. Did you find the hidden whited-out text?
  • Rating: TV-PG, for the overall theme of TakeP being a stalker (although the word is never used), having a "murderous stare", and one character appearing in an advertisement wearing a sweatshirt with blood painted on it. Actually, that's her default look.

Next up comes the focusing on the idols. I'll only keep it to whoever the episode mainly focused on, in order to keep myself from sounding like a walking wiki page.

Idol roundup:

  • Uzuki: 17, Cute-type. 4th Cinderella Girl (basically meaning she was the most popular idol, determined through an election). Basically the aloof one, just like Haruka, although she seemingly doesn't have a dark side. Voiced early in the game's history and has a solid fanbase. She gets memes, and some of them can be pretty weird, like the famous "Uzupaka".
  • Rin: 15, Cool-type. 3rd Cinderella Girl. Wasn't involved in a traumatizing incident as a child. The very first idol to be voiced, and also the first one with a solo song. Better than you at most things, including amassing fan art.

Finally, to resurrect something I dropped in the original iM@S series after a few episodes...

Music reviews:

  • "Onegai! Cinderella": This is basically the theme song for this whole part of the franchise. If you'd never heard of it before (not like you have), it does a good job of laying out the basics. Namely, that there are three attributes: Cute, Cool, and Passion. The fact that two of these start with the same letter has always annoyed the hell out of me. Overall, this is a good song, doing its job at sounding like a fairy tale.
  • "Message": One of the songs from the election. This was sang by the top five girls of 2014, so you know it's gonna be good. The lyrics are fairly chipper, with the idols singing how grateful they are to be upon the stage, by the riverside. The piano intro is nicely integrated into the ending of this episode. On the other hand, I enjoy songs from later elections a little better, as they're mostly slow-paced ballads.

And that's basically it. Make sure to visit the other thread if you want a more in-depth look at the rating as well as the requisite screenshots.

[wonder egg real soon now]

Edited by Blatch
Fixed spacing plus the link in the title.
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blueraven1999 Monster Mutant

blueraven1999

Posted
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Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun S2 ep 3
 

Spoiler

 

Romiere is wonderful.  If I was a student there, I'd vote for him in a heartbeat.

I actually like Ameri more like this.  She's too meek but she was too violent and strict before.

She's cool when she's with Iruma listening to the manga stories but that's it.  If she was like that

all the time, I'd actually like her character but I don't.

 

 

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blueraven1999 Monster Mutant

blueraven1999

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Fruits Basket: The Final 6
 

Spoiler

 

Shigure really is a jerk.  I understand why he did it but the way he said it

was just terrible imo.  Honestly  I prefer him the way he is in the first anime series.

It's been a long time since I last read the Fruits Basket books.  I don't remember

how it ends so this should be a good season.

 

 

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