There’s a new idol anime airing this season, Idolmaster Million Live! I took an immediate interest since I’ve always been a fan of the OG Idolmaster girls. Let’s see if the show is worth your time!
How I Approach a New Idol Anime
As I wrote in my blog post about BanG Dream! It’s my GO!!!!!, I can be quite picky when it comes to idol anime. My internal thought process works something like this:
- Will it bring something unique to the table, other than just the usual story arcs about which girl is threatening to quit the band this week? I really liked Idoly Pride for its fresh approach to telling an idol story.
- Will it have such a high budget that it would be a crime to miss it, like Idolmaster Cinderella Girls? Or will it use unnatural CGI for all animation, like BanG Dream?
- If the show is part of an ongoing series, like the many Love Live! idol anime offerings, will I have trouble getting into it if I don’t know the other series? If it’s tied to a mobile game (they always are these days), will I have trouble getting into the characters without knowing the game?
- Will the music be so good that it can carry the entire show? That’s always a plus, if so.
- Is there a “gateway waifu” who’s so irresistibly cute that she pulls us into the rest of the story, like You Watanabe from Love Live! Sunshine!! or Madoka Higuchi from Idolmaster Shiny Colors?
- Finally, is there a “Rule 34” element to the characters we can enjoy? Some IPs become defined by their ero fanart, like the Princess Connect! series, while other fandoms keep things relatively pure.
How Idolmaster Million Live! Won Me Over
I was on the fence when we were first introduced to the three main heroines — genki girl Mirai Kasu, aloof Shizuka Mogami and confident Tsubasa Ibuki. But the moment the original Idolmaster girls exploded onto the stage, I knew I’d be continuing with this anime.
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And best of all, the original girls show up in the episodes. So not only do we get a bunch of fun new idols, but we get the original generation back, too! I didn’t expect Christmas to come in October!
Yes, Idolmaster Million Live! Uses CGI Animation
It’s a good sign that computer-based animation is getting better when it takes me half an episode to tell that it’s there. Unfortunately for old-school purists like me, the animation in Idolmaster Million Live! is 100% CGI, which is less pleasant to watch than traditional hand-drawn and digitally-painted animation.
However, the animation in this series does look significantly better than a lot of shows out there. Also, since the Idolmaster series got its start as an arcade game and then an Xbox exclusive, it feels a bit more “natural” that these idols should be computer-animated, as the games have always been.
Thanks for reading this blog post about the Idolmaster Million Live! idol anime! Which idol anime are you a fan of, and who was your “gateway waifu” who pulled you in? Tell us in the comments below!
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