Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: The Idol M@ster Cinderella Girls
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garlogan78
Posts: 171 |
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u's didn't have instant gratification at all. Their first live had less of a turn out than New Generations. But they weren't spoiled brats about it.
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Princess_Irene
ANN Reviewer
 Posts: 2619 Location: The castle beyond the Goblin City |
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So my discussion about this (with someone whose name is escaping me; sorry!) was a casualty of the site attack, but long story short, while Mio and Rin's reactions were bratty and immature, I think they were also pretty realistic for teenage girls with visions of stardom - especially since they didn't realize (being teenage girls with visions of stardom) that the audience of the last concert was there for Mika-chan, not them. That's what I like about this episode and their reactions: they feel more real than we sometimes see.
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garlogan78
Posts: 171 |
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From that viewpoint I can understand their reactions, but I still can't really condone them. There is just such a lack of the professionalism there that I think is probably vital to succeeding in the industry. But then again, the producer literally has no social skills. So I can't completely blame the trio for getting their hopes up when the Producer never gave them a realistic expectation for the concert. |
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minamikaze
Posts: 221 |
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Well, μ's first live was self-produced and held in their school auditorium. This was a professionally produced event promoting a CD release. Also considering Mio's only other experience was what she had seen at Mika's concert, which was produced by the same company, and her overly-optimistic personality, it isn't all that surprising that her expectations for her first live were unrealistic. As Rebecca said in her review, the signs of Mio's unrealistic expectations were there all along, even in the first interview at the start of the show.
Rin's reaction was not the same as Mio's. Mio was disappointed by the audience not even coming close to being what she expected. She was also embarrassed by how much she had hyped the show to her friends that she invited. Rin, on the other hand, was (understandably) angry at the producer for, once again, making a sensitive situation worse by not communicating clearly. Mio, incorrectly interpreted his reply that the audience turnout was to be expected, as an evaluation of her potential as a idol. Just a few extra words by the producer would have made a lot of difference: e.g. "the turnout was to be expected for a first live event for an idol group. Everyone starts out like this." Had the producer said something like that, I doubt it would have immediately made Mio feel better. However I do not think she would have run off like she did, and Rin would not have gotten angry with him. Ideally, the producer would have seen the signs of Mio's unrealistic expectations, and talked to her about managing them. However to be fair, no one else picked up on them either. That such a socially inept person like the producer missed them isn't a surprise at all. |
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garlogan78
Posts: 171 |
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That is all true. The reviewer just implied that u's became instantly famous, which isn't the case. (School idols aren't even a thing so discussing realism in Love Live is kind of a moot point, but they did not gain real popularity until they performed after ARISE in S2). |
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Princess_Irene
ANN Reviewer
Posts: 2619 Location: The castle beyond the Goblin City |
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You're right - I was thinking of the second season, where things move much more quickly. As far as Rin's behavior, I agree that she was upset with the producer for his insensitivity, I just saw it as more of a solidarity thing. Mio was upset, he made the situation worse, therefore she was on Mio's side, no matter how unrealistic Mio's expectations were. So still a little bratty, but totally understandable. |
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Yttrbio
 Posts: 3653 |
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I've got to be frank... if I was a socially-awkward adult male dealing with teenage girl problems, and other teenage girls offered to go deal with the problem for me, I really doubt I would say "no."
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HitokiriShadow
 Posts: 6251 |
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That's nice but as far as I can tell the show isn't about you, so I'm not sure what your point is. |
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Yttrbio
Posts: 3653 |
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That it's weird that he was so insistent on solving the problem himself, going out of his way to prevent the other girls from going instead.
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maximilianjenus
Posts: 2872 |
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I'll try not to sound offensvie, but for how long have you worked ?
it's his job, of course he is gonna do it himself, making the girls do his job it's about as good as quitting. |
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Yttrbio
Posts: 3653 |
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Long enough to know when someone is better-equipped than me to handle a problem, even if it's "my job." It wouldn't be "making the girls do his job," it would be "letting" them, and it isn't until he talks to Uzuki that he actually feels the commitment to make sure it gets done, as opposed to simply going through the motions. Would it really have been so strange of him to hand off responsibility to the girls so early on that merely mentioning that it seems odd, in the hopes of hearing a bit of discussion about his character, is worth this response from you people?
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HitokiriShadow
Posts: 6251 |
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Because it's his job to take care of them and, more importantly, he lost some girls before and that still bothers him and he doesn't want to lose tyem again and he wants to ensure that himself. And to be honest, it would be a little weird for an adult in this situation to want to leave this to teenagers to fix for them. This isn't an issue she's having with her parents or her friends or something else outside of work, it's all about the job and him struggling to communicate with them effectively. There's also hardly any guarantee Uzuki or Rin would have made it better. Leaving it to Mika would have made a bit more sense but we never saw her offer to do this and he still had personal motivations to do it himself. |
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minamikaze
Posts: 221 |
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Sorry, I have to disagree with your characterization of Rin's actions in your review again. At the end of the previous episode, while I still think Rin's anger at the producer was due to her frustration about not handling the situation well, I do agree with you that Rin was also siding with Mio because she was her friend. However in either case, I have difficulty with your describing Rin's actions as bratty. I know I'm quibbling, but the word bratty has a negative connotation of willfulness that just does not seem appropriate when describing her. Rin gets angry because she cares, not because she's trying to be obnoxious.
In the same way, I have to disagree with your interpretation that Rin walked out in an attempt to punish the producer. Rin was angry and frustrated, but not spiteful. Your suggestion that she did it to force the producer to see the errors of his ways, does not seem likely to me. As Rin later explained in the park, she left because she just could not stand the situation anymore. As we saw in the first episode, unlike both Mio and Uzuki, becoming an idol was never Rin's dream: she actively resisted being recruited. The producer was only able to convince her with Uzuki's help. In this episode, Rin explained that she started, not knowing what becoming an idol would actually mean for her, and not only that, because her experience had been such a whirlwind, she still does not really know, and that uncertainty has been bothering her all along. She had been able to allay those worries through the camaraderie of her teammates and in the trust she had placed in the producer. However with the problem actually being Mio's quitting and with Uzuki being inopportunely absent due to illness, her only resource left was her trust in the producer, which was ultimately lost due to his inability to handle the situation. It was not surprising that Rin lost her faith in him. Consider that it is probably only been a few weeks since they met, he says very little, and most of what he does say has been either vague and/or noncommittal. Since Rin is admittedly ignorant about the idol business, it is not likely that he gets full credit for the things he has done well, namely the organizational work of promoting their career. Also, this wasn't the first difficult situation she saw the producer mishandle. Rin was not mistaken in her impression that the producer was mishandling it either, he really was at a loss at what to do, until again, Uzuki came to his rescue. That was a great scene though. He actually winces when Uzuki starts to say that she had regrets about the performance. From the department head's story we learned that the producer had problems dealing with his previous charges. No specifics were given, but considering the producer's subsequent strategy of focusing solely on the organizational business side of the job and keeping his emotional distance from the girls, a messy personality conflict or emotional attachment issue seems possible. However, as we have seen, this strategy ended up causing his current problems. By not talking with the girls, he did not realize that Mio's expectations were wildly unrealistic and in need of a grounding in reality. I previously had said that Mio had an overly optimistic personality, but that was not really correct. Rather, Mio is a person who gets caught up in her expectations, her enthusiasm and by her emotions in general, both positive and negative, and as a result she is carried away by them. As you mentioned, that trait is not rare in 15 year olds. That Uzuki is less easily discouraged and was actually appreciative of their experiences so far is not surprising given what we saw in the first episode. She had been training for a long time to be an idol and stuck with the pursuit of her dream in spite of failed auditions and seeing everyone else in her training group drop out one by one as time went on. Even though his talk with Uzuki helped him recover, it was obviously important for the producer to resolve the issue without her direct help this time. The girls can support each other in many ways, but none of them have the experience or authority necessary to help Rin understand what being an idol means or to help Mio manage her expectations. It would be irresponsible to assume that they will be able to manage all their problems themselves without any help or advice. The producer needs to be there for them. On a separate note, Uzuki's reactions are always great, and so is her hair. 
There is one thing that was never explained as far as I can tell. In the second episode, they decided that Uzuki would be the leader (for the very Japanese reason that she was the oldest among the three). However in this and the previous episode, Mio called herself the leader. I'm not sure when this changed. I was curious if perhaps the janken they did at the end had something to do with it - perhaps they decided to choose a new leader for each event? Otherwise, I'm not sure why they were playing janken there either. |
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Via_01
 Posts: 551 |
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I've been wondering that myself, actually. Uzuki also feels more leader-ish than the rest of the girls, so I don't know why is it that Mio ended up being in that position. In any case, I actually agree with your opinion there, in the sense that I don't believe that Rin walked out in an attempt to punish the producer. No, her reasons were obviously far more simple than that. It's hard for me to think that she actually did it with the actual intention of punishing him, because that'd require her to act knowing full well what she was doing, which is difficult, since she's clearly acting on impulse, in a rather immature fashion. And I think immature is the right word here. Not bratty, which has a rather negative connotation, but immature. She lacks experience, she lacks knowledge, she lacks the overall development to understand that there's much more going on and to see beyond her friend's needs to, say, notice that the producer is working really hard for them to shine as well, probably without even getting recognition for it outside his circle in the company. In any case, Uzuki is love. The only one not giving our dear producer a headache. |
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Princess_Irene
ANN Reviewer
Posts: 2619 Location: The castle beyond the Goblin City |
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I see what you're both saying about Rin, and I think you make good points. (And I love that this is a show about which we can have character discussions.
) I know that part of my interpretation of her character comes from both my non-anime work and my own teen years as a dancer, so in Rin I see some of the girls I know/knew, who saw refusing or disagreeing as some big rebellion or way to punish the teacher. Immature? Yes. But that doesn't take away her inner assertion that she's doing the right thing to make a point, even if it turns out to be cutting her nose to spite her face. I feel like that's what we see - she's come to enjoy being an idol, but she's convinced herself that working with the producer isn't worth it because she never wanted to do it anyway. She's backed herself into a corner, but since she put herself there, she needs to be given a way out.
Also, thank you - that's what was bugging me that I couldn't put my finger on - Uzuki was supposed to be the leader! Where did that Mio thing come from? 
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