The Set-Up
I won’t say I dislike idol anime. I can think of examples of solid shows from the genre: Zombieland Saga was amazing, IDOLiSH7 was a surprise, and the original Love Live is a staple. With that said, I’m not head-over-heels excited to watch these kinds of series when they come up in my queue.
Disregarding a few standouts, many idol anime tend to have the same feel – music, dancing, and the power of friendship.
So imagine my hesitation when something like Idolls comes along. Not only am I already underenthused, but I am also dealing with a short-form anime. How am I supposed to assume anything other than the bare minimum?
Still, that would have been an unfair attitude to have before going into this show. After all, who knows? Maybe this series would manage to pull something off.
With that said, remember, this is NOT a review post. The following are simply my impressions of Idolls.
Impressions
Suppose you can get past the somewhat nightmarish animation, occasionally questionable audio quality, and overall simplicity of Idolls. In that case, you might very well not hate this show.
This series always felt like a cheap cash-in. It wasn’t deep, complex, or original. It took the bare essentials of what constitutes an idol anime, ran it through a My-First-CGI-Animation program, and spat out an instantly forgettable live-concert song as the cherry on top.
Still, I have seen much, MUCH worse, and I can’t pretend disliked Idolls.
To this series’ credit, it made up for what it lacked in visuals and story with charming characters and a respectable sense of humor.
Having seen idol shows that have taken place in high school and at large studios, it was interesting to see a group legitimately struggling. The titular Idolls were not living the high life. They were scraping by to make ends meet, their accommodations were run down, and they only had three genuine fans.
The Idolls only put up with their situation for the sake of their dream – singing to a packed house.
There are plenty of things you can say about this show. The four main characters being unlikeable isn’t one of them.
This is where Idolls’ sense of humor came into play. True, the comedy wasn’t anything to write home about, but it did get a smile out of me, which was more than expected.
The way the girls bantered and dug at each other was fun. You could tell they were friends and extremely comfortable around one another. This group wasn’t a random collection of mismatched personalities. No, the Idolls were a team, and that is something commendable.
Unfortunately, you can guess this show’s ending from damn near the beginning. No curveballs are going to be thrown at you. Nevertheless, the finale remained quite disappointing because it didn’t come off as earned even though it wasn’t aiming for much.
Idolls made it a point to clearly state how many tickets were left to fill the girls’ upcoming hundred-seat venue. Going into episode ten, there were about eighty spots that were left unsold. Regardless, the day of the concert came, and, apparently within twenty-four hours, the girls went viral. They went from about fifteen Twitter followers to well over a couple hundred, and their show sold out.
Yes, I figured the Idolls would perform to a packed house. However, would it have killed this show to put just a bit more effort into getting there?
Overall, Idolls was more than I had guessed it would be, but then again, my expectations were not all that high.
As cash grabs go, this could have been a lot more broken.
You certainly don’t need to go out of your way to watch this series. And yet, there is also no need to flat-out avoid it either. If it’s there, and you have the time, Idolls isn’t going to kill you.
Final Thoughts
This was a short-form idol anime; you get what you pay for.
On a visual and narrative level, I don’t know who looked at this show and thought, “Yes, that looks fine, release it like that.”
To give this series the benefit of the doubt, though, maybe there were significant restraints. If that was the case, then Idolls was a definite A-for-effort.
But these were just my thoughts. What are yours? Have you seen this series? What were your impressions of Idolls? Leave a comment down below because I would love to hear what you have to say.
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For Anime Hajime, I’m LofZOdyssey, and I’ll see you next time.
