The Winter 2015 Anime Preview Guide

The Idol M@ster Cinderella Girls

Theron Martin

Rating: 2.5 (of 5)

Review: The Idolmaster is a mega-popular game franchise which has been around in various forms (arcade, console, and social media) in Japan since 2005. Cinderella Girls, released late in 2011, marks the franchise's entry into the social media realm. Unlike previous installments in the series, it is operated off of smart phone apps and uses a card battle system to help advance characters, much like the concurrently-airing Kan Colle. The game has been immensely profitable (it was reportedly earning 1 billion yen per month at one point in 2012) and (also like Kan Colle) has spawned a tremendous amount of doujinshi, so it finally getting an anime adaptation was practically a given.

Though probably technically a sequel to the 2011 anime The IDOLM@STER, Cinderella Girls looks like it will mostly be a standalone project which will focus on a new set of girls, presumably with the possibility of some cross-over to the original. Certainly one does not need to have any foreknowledge of the franchise to easily follow what is going on in the first episode. A Producer, who has no name (because he's the stand-in for the player of the game) but does at least have a face this time, is seeking to fill three opening in the idol group Cinderella Girls. The first girl he approaches, the chipper Uzuki, is passionate about becoming an idol and has tried out before but missed the cut, so she happily takes up Producer's offer. Far more resistant to the prospect is his second target, the more sedate and standoffish Rin, who does not seem to have an idea of what she wants and rejects the Producer multiple times until Uzuki helps to convince her. A closing scene shows the likely candidate for the third spot at an audition.

And that's it for plot. The running joke is that Producer is a man of few words and a rather intimidating-looking individual by nature (though not by disposition), which naturally causes complications at times and calls into question how effective he will be at his job; in fact, he is strongly reminiscent of an older version of the title character from Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun, though played more seriously. This is otherwise pretty standard-feeling idol group fare, which means that the appeal of the series heavily depends on the girls it focuses on. Fortunately Uzuki is a winner in that regard. She's hardly fresh as a character, but she's just so damned cute and perky and lovable that it's hard not to root for her. Rin, contrarily, falls more into the “Mio from K-ON!” archetype, and while she couldn't carry the series like Uzuki could, she looks to make a nice complement.

The production effort by A-1 Pictures is a bit erratic, as at times the episode looks relatively sharp but at others (especially towards the end) it drops off significantly, especially in the character rendering. Backgrounds by Studio Easter assure that it will at least be a visual stand-out in that regard. It also avoids any hint of fan service, which suggests that it was not made with just the otaku audience in mind. The songs shown so far are, well, idol songs; if that's not normally your thing then nothing here is likely to change your mind. In fact, that can pretty much be said about the whole episode. As someone who isn't a fan of the franchise or idol-focused series in general, I found it to be a hard sell, but I see nothing here that should turn off those who do fall into one or both of those categories.

IDOLM@STER: Cinderella Girls currently streaming on Daisuki.net.

Nick Creamer

Rating: 3.5

As my only experience with the sprawling Idolmaster franchise, Cinderella Girls left me with a pretty charming first impression. This first episode's plot was fairly simple - instead of introducing the audience to a massive group of established idols, it instead focused on the beginning stages of forming a new three-idol unit, starting with the energetic Uzuki and reserved Rin. The episode begins with Uzuki receiving an offer to become an idol from the awkward, oversized Producer, who then spends the rest of the episode “convincing” Rin to become an idol as well. This mainly involves him hanging out by her school and continuously telling her to become an idol, which almost gets him arrested, but ultimately concludes with Uzuki's enthusiasm convincing Rin to join the team.

There was a lot to like in this first episode, starting with the writing and characters. The whole show seems to have a natural sense of humor that generally avoids the need for actual jokes - characters just act naturally silly or awkward, the humor is understated and comedic timing generally graceful, and the end result is a bunch of scenes that come off as inherently charming. This effect is aided greatly by the characters, in particular the winningly awkward Producer. The show initially plays up how intimidating his size and natural scowl are, but basically every scene of the episode has him being adorably bad at both the job he's trying to do and just being a person in general. There's a great sense of physicality to his awkwardness, expressed in stuff like the way the camera displays him looming over people, him banging on tables as he attempts to leave his seat, and even little gestures like his tendency to fiddle with his hands when he's not sure what to say. It's strange to say that the breakout character in an idol show is actually the Producer, but he did a lot of work to make this episode fun.

The aesthetics were also a strong notch in Cinderella Girls’ favor. The only idol performance of this first episode appeared in the introduction, but that sequence featured solid animation and very minimal use of CG models. And the episode proper featured lovely backgrounds, great expression work, and a lively soundtrack making great use of a diverse spread of instruments and inventive percussion. Rin's expressions in particular deserve mention - she's clearly not much of a talker, but the subtlety of her eye movements conveyed a great deal of personality regardless. Overall, Cinderella Girls’ first episode elevates a tried-and-true premise through great personality and excellent execution, offering a very warm introduction to its world.

The Idolmaster - Cinderella Girls is available streaming on Daisuki.