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REVIEW: IDOLiSH7 Second Beat!




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wolf10



Joined: 23 Jan 2016
Posts: 895
PostPosted: Sun Jan 17, 2021 7:27 pm Reply with quote
I think what makes I7 stand out from the crowd is that it's not actually an "idol series." It's a team sports melodrama that happens to be about male idols.

This season was an amazing improvement over the source material. It's not so much that the plot or script was changed, just that the direction and storyboard completely disregarded that they were adapting a visual novel, and the result is fantastic. There are also lots of little calls-forward to persons and events in later arcs. This was true for the first season as well, so I encourage everyone who hasn't already to go rewatch it with what you know now. (Lots of fun "oh" moments. Or "OHH!" moments if you're Nagi.)

This season's best anime-original material:
-"Dancing Beat feat. Tenn" Soma Saito was, by his own admission, the vocal weak-link in TRIGGER back when the game first started recording, so hearing him actually bust out the vocal dynamite was very satisfying. This moment was entirely narration in the game, not to mention "Dancing Beat" is a new song that was created for the first anime season.
-"Last Dimension" a capella Another "narration only" moment in the game. This was the point in-game where you unlocked Last Dimension, so naturally you only experienced the studio version. Hearing it for real gave me goosebumps.
-"Last Dimension" live at the Zero Arena The actual plot of the musical "Last Dimension" is never discussed in-game (though it might have been in an event I missed). Turns out it's a CLAMP-esque, deeply homoerotic story about a war between heaven and hell. Because of course it is. The TRIGGER x TRIGGER music video for "Crescent Rise" shows scenes from another in-universe musical by the same in-universe producer.
-The entire three-day concert It was discussed, but never depicted. The unit mix-up songs were unlocked earlier with no real framing device besides "those characters had focus in this chapter." The Re:vale tribute cover was also new for the anime.
-"Dis one." This song was in game, but it wasn't actually confirmed to be a Zero cover until late into arc 3 (which was probably when the writers realized they never said it out loud). Here they outright introduce the song by name, and its circumstances, well before it's actually performed. That the lyrics just happen to describe Momo's character arc after the duo chose to cover it is just part of the magic of musical theater.

I'm glad the weakest storyline got a B+ adaptation. Hopefully it won't be another two years before season 3, which will hopefully be the season that has people flipping out on a weekly basis.

EDIT: Apparently I was mistaken? My brain is going soft...


Last edited by wolf10 on Sun Jan 17, 2021 10:15 pm; edited 3 times in total
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#920110



Joined: 17 Jan 2021
Posts: 1
PostPosted: Sun Jan 17, 2021 8:18 pm Reply with quote
In sumary, watch and support the Idolish7 project, because it has an amazing story and the way they adapt the story of the game to the anime is flawless, it's the idol franchise that everyone can admire, feel identified with, whether you are a man or a woman, whoever you are, wheter you like idol genre or not, you will surely end up appreciating the great work that the team do with this anime (they already confirmed a 3rd season btw)
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NinjAngel



Joined: 20 Apr 2011
Posts: 7
PostPosted: Sun Jan 17, 2021 8:49 pm Reply with quote
wolf10 wrote:
(Ayumi Sekine is the lead writer and lyricist for the game as well)


Just a slight correction, but the lead writer for the game is Tsushimi Bunta, and there are a handful of regular lyricists that Bamco uses for the songs.

I was constantly floored by how TROYCA decided to approach some things in the adaptation, though, to be sure. There was an early interview before season 1 started that talked about how they were nervous about adapting an idol series because they didn't know if they could really do fanservice properly, but the game producer explicitly told them to ignore all that and treat is as a sports show, so the "sports melodrama" comment is exactly right.

I'm excited for season 3 (which I hope means a season 4 is in the bag; you can't really separate those parts), but it'll be interesting to see how people react to ZOOL.
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capt_bunny



Joined: 31 May 2015
Posts: 364
PostPosted: Sun Jan 17, 2021 8:59 pm Reply with quote
All of the characters have their own arcs in each parts. Part 1 is the set up for them all. Part 2 is about Tamaki, re:vale, and kinda Mitsuki. I think you'll see that Vibrato talks more about the "older TRIGGER guys" and their past.

This is just me but I like this part. Even if it does hit me with the feels (I like the twins a lot)...... Its just interesting how I find that the animation team made Aya look more like Tamaki than the game did. I do play the game and read all of the parts. Iori looking more "cuter" in the anime too. Haha. Soma Saito (Tenn's voice actor) has commented that the animator team or someone REALLY likes him because his voice acting and the scenes are more "cute" than him looking a bit "cool". It made Masuda (Iori's voice actor) agree too!
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Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 11290
PostPosted: Sun Jan 17, 2021 9:21 pm Reply with quote
The best part of the whole season for me was Nagi's press conference. I loved all the, "Who is this guy?" reactions from his friends. Very Happy

Is it just me, or are there an inordinate number of silver/white (or extremely pastel to the point of being nearly white)-haired characters in this franchise? Since hair color is key for me in trying to sort characters in these things, I often wasn't sure who was who. Smile
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wolf10



Joined: 23 Jan 2016
Posts: 895
PostPosted: Sun Jan 17, 2021 9:58 pm Reply with quote
capt_bunny wrote:
This is just me but I like this part. Even if it does hit me with the feels (I like the twins a lot)...... Its just interesting how I find that the animation team made Aya look more like Tamaki than the game did. I do play the game and read all of the parts. Iori looking more "cuter" in the anime too. Haha. Soma Saito (Tenn's voice actor) has commented that the animator team or someone REALLY likes him because his voice acting and the scenes are more "cute" than him looking a bit "cool". It made Masuda (Iori's voice actor) agree too!
If you''re responding to what I said earlier, I didn't mean it was bad. I meant what I said ironically. Like, the lowest I7 could possibly score is a B+.

Also, season 1 (plus a certain scene in part 3) is what finally sold me on Iori, the maybe actual true protagonist. Part 5 is going to hurt.
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capt_bunny



Joined: 31 May 2015
Posts: 364
PostPosted: Sun Jan 17, 2021 10:37 pm Reply with quote
wolf10 wrote:
If you''re responding to what I said earlier, I didn't mean it was bad. I meant what I said ironically. Like, the lowest I7 could possibly score is a B+.

Also, season 1 (plus a certain scene in part 3) is what finally sold me on Iori, the maybe actual true protagonist. Part 5 is going to hurt.[/quote]

????? O.o????? I didn't respond to any place you said bout the story on there. I was just saying but nothing about the store. Just saying the parts with what I liked about the animation did in the changes compared to the game.

As said before, I liked how the anime made the Yotsuba siblings look more alike than the game and funny how Iori had more cute looking moments which made his OWN voice actor comment about it. Soma Saito commented about it.

It says so here~.
https://saitosoma.kouhi.me/2020/03/19/interview-cut-2020-4-edition-idolish7-cast-interview-survey/
https://saitosoma.kouhi.me/2020/04/10/interview-pash-2020-5-edition-idolish7-second-beat-trigger-special-interview/
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Saezurigai



Joined: 18 Jan 2021
Posts: 8
Location: Belgium
PostPosted: Mon Jan 18, 2021 4:54 am Reply with quote
I'm usually not much of an idol show fan but I must agree that Idolish7 is pretty satisfying, although I found the Zero plot a bit over the top. The slightly more grounded character drama is perfect though. As an anime-only watcher I'm ready for season 3! Very Happy
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Peebs



Joined: 07 Dec 2005
Posts: 418
PostPosted: Tue Jan 19, 2021 9:04 pm Reply with quote
It brings tears to my eyes to read the glowing review and read y'all's comments.

I truly believe I7 has surpassed Utapri in the male idol department, even Idolmaster Side M is but a distant memory and I remember liking them a lot when it aired. The only things they have in common is boys (or men) and music.

I am looking forward to ZOOL. I keep seeing the official Twitter account talking about their single/album and I got curious and checked out the fan wiki. At first I was more like, ugh my babies don't need heels in their lives! But after listening to their music on Spotify (BTW, all of I7/TRIGGER/Re:vale music is on Spotify; try that with Utapri), I kinda started liking them. I can't wait to finally watch them.

I wish the game had been released in English. I feel that the stories are too far advanced and the amount of cards are too many to really try and port it now (unless they have a separate server for worldwide play; doubt it).

It makes me super happy to see how much other people love I7.
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wolf10



Joined: 23 Jan 2016
Posts: 895
PostPosted: Tue Jan 19, 2021 10:07 pm Reply with quote
Part 3 is where most if not all songs start doubling as musical numbers with highly plot-relevant lyrics, in the vein of Symphogear. I'm especially looking forward to seeing ZOOL in anime form because "Poisonous Gangster" is just such a perfect villain song, and at this point there's "No Doubt" the anime staff will just nail every aspect of the execution. We're in for a lot of suffering, and it's going to rock.
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