Jump to content
UnevenEdge

What Anime Are You Watching Right Now?


BUU8800

Recommended Posts

Wonder Egg Priority 2

I also finished rewatching all of Season 1 of Squid Girl... and then I went back and reread all the episode reviews I did for my content ratings special years ago. First of all, I'd say this show holds up really well, and there are parts of episodes that I didn't like before that I've really come around on. The second segment of S1E10 is a good example. I don't know why I thought that having Sanae swear of her Squiddy obsession just for five minutes or so made it worse, but now I feel that it managed to pack a lot in, being sad, a little creepy, but also very funny, and wrapping itself up in a nice manner. As for the reviews, I was shocked to see that a lot of my writing still hold up. There are some cringey moments here and there, but I was expecting those. There were jokes that haven't dated well plus references that seem impermeable nowadays, but I also enjoyed the weekly selections of squid puns, subsequent subversions of them, various other recurring bits and things that help the posts flow better, and also how much fun I had watching the series and dishing out my honest thoughts. So yeah, I'd love to get on a consistent schedule doing this for Cinderella Girls and the like.

[you can bet your beak on it]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The iDOLM@STER Cinderella Girls Episode 3: "A ball is resplendent, enjoyable, and..."

Spoiler

Okay, time for parto trio. It's gonna get a little weird, so buckle up.

In the beginning, Cinderella Girls actually had no voiced characters, excepting the original 765pro cast. It wasn't until they gave Rin a voice in a TV commercial that they started the grand tradition, and then they started voicing characters in batches. They all got solo songs, which you can expect to hear in this show.

Picking up from last episode, the three idiots now have a job to do: learn the dance moves for Mika's solo performance. All three of them have a rough time, but nothing too bad. This is what being an idol entails, after all. However, Miku does nothing to help by constantly giving the girls challenges, like a Jenga battle, or solving a Rubix Cube. They do them all in short order, which just makes Miku more upset. All the while, Chieri and Kanako are training with them too. The latter has made some sweets which does not make their trainer very happy; the former could care less. Then, the three girls go into the dressing room to look at costumes. They're all rather cool outfits, with hats and ties. It's fairly chaste, although Mio's version has some of the white shirt ripped off at the bottom to expose her belly button. Very sinful. Then Rika and Miria come in to see what they're doing; the former wants the outfits to be sexier, goddammit! I got some very strong "band of idiots" vibes from these scenes.

Before you know it, it's the day of Mika's concert, which will actually be a package deal including other idols and their solos. Miho, Akane, Mayu and Mizuki (first and last from the first episode) are also going on. Sadly, Uzuki, Rin and Mio haven't quite gotten the dance moves down yet. Their last rehearsal didn't amount to much, as they were thrown off by getting thrown up through trap doors in the stage. Suddenly, things start to look bleak, with Mio looking especially unresponsive. As the hall fills up and the other Cinderella Girls project members show up to cheer on their teammates, it suddenly seems that the idols won't automatically succeed at this thing they're doing.

So Miho and Akane perform, and then it's time for Mika's spot. At this point, Rin decides there's not much to lose, so she tells the other two to just roll with things, and it seems to restore morale. But then, Akane shows up backstage and asks the three girls if they're going to do any calls. Inspired by her favorite food (Steaming! Hot! Rice!), they decide to make their entrance on stage with Mio's choice: fried chicken. And now you know why that particular phrase amongst the whole became a meme. But also, what would you know it but it works! They accompany Mika while she sings "TOKIMEKI Escalate", and they nail all the dance moves just like that. The crowd goes wild. TakeP, whom I haven't even mentioned up to now, is moved. Guess things are just unicorns and rainbows after all, huh? The three idiots then triumphantly cheer backstage while talking to their "veterans", which is followed by a low-impact stinger of them continuing to hang around the hall as the roadies take the stage and such apart.

This was a good episode. It goes to show that this isn't going to be a banal retread of the 2011 show, although some people might be turned off by how it suddenly pivoted to a happy ending. Who knows if that'll be the case going forward... 😏

Random thoughts:

  • Gratuitous CG meme of the week (somewhat NSFW): This is a photoshop, but you'd probably know as soon as you see it.
  • Frankly, I think idols being backup dancers is a weird idea. Isn't their major charm point that they sing? Well, I can't be too loud about it because the 2014 movie features this as the crux of its biscuit, only with idols from the Million Live branch. You wanna hear about that one? Well, it's not licensed, and knowing Aniplex, it'll probably stay locked in their vault. I might still get to it someday.
  • Concept-Gual Continuity: Miku, on top of being a cat idol (so original), was also a rival character in the original mobage. This explains why she's suddenly so challenge-minded here, although I'm assuming it'll be dropped in later episodes.
  • There are four versions of the trainer girl, and we see two in this episode. And yes, that's the same seiyuu (Ayumi Fujimura, a.k.a. JP Eiko from Squid Girl; currently on medical hiatus) doing both voices.
  • Props to whoever's subbing Anya's actual Russian talk. It would be nice if I could know who they were.
  • The color palette gets nice and dreary in the meeting room just prior to the performance. Nice touch! Too bad I'm not the kind of person who's knowledgeable about anime staff.
  • Clockwatch: Near the end of the episode, an on-screen clock ticks from near VII to VIII, in a way that just screams "this will be important". I suppose this is what people were talking about when they said the clock foreshadows certain things.
  • No cameos from unvoiced girls in this episode, surprisingly. Just remember: it's like a caste system.
  • Rating: TV-PG, for what amounts to one use of "sexy".

Idol roundup:

  • Miho: 17, Cute-type. Shy girl who loves her teddy bear. Not much else to say, but she's in a big unit with Uzuki and another character.
  • Akane: 17, Passion-type. The most energetic girl in the universe! She plays rugby and presumably eats a lot, not to mention is in a unit with Mio and someone else. Most relevant to my interests, she's the best girl of Norio Tsukudani, creator of Himegoto, a series that is very important to me (in spite of the anime being ineligible for content ratings). Her other works include a manga about voice actresses that I made the TVTropes page for, a decent incest manga, and a whole-ass agency of Virtual YouTubers, spearheaded by the one she plays herself. Tamaki hasn't done any streams to get the newest Akane SSR in Deresute, and that makes me sad, but that's another story.
  • Mayu: 16, Cute-type. Total yandere, insofar as a PG-rated series will allow. Has a tendency to break into her Producer's car. I like her on some days.
  • Mizuki: 28(!), Cool-type. Newscaster turned idol. I already talked about her, but it's never a bad idea. She may be a Christmas cake, but I think girls like that are built better. Voiced by Nao Toyama (or rather, Tōyama), legendary seiyū, but I explained that also.

Music reviews:

  • "TOKIMEKI Escalate": Mika's Cinderella Master solo. Make sure to buy the CD for a lyric sheet, drama tracks, and other things neccessary for a parasocial relationship! This one's alright, with lyrics about expressing yourself, wandering about in the moonlight and all that, but the advanced charts for it in Deresute are the hardest material known to man.
  • And... uh, that's it. They played the ED from last episode again, albeit with the episode continuing over it; it's not like the last series where you get a different one in every episode. But we do get glimpses of Miho and Akane's CM solos during the scenes before Mika's performance.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Life Lessons with Uramichi-Oniisan 1 dubbed

Spoiler

Not bad, I might watch this regularly on the side.

Rated TV-14DL for Uramichi's return-fire dick jokes being even crasser than in the subs ("Dick Semen", anyone?), Usahara claiming Uramichi's personality isn't doing him any favors getting laid, and a single use of "shit".

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...