The Idolm@ster, Episode 2: Nothing says idol better than maturity.

Correction, the maturity only applies to how one thinks, not how one’s body is presented.

Maturity, you are doing it wrong.

So after that blunder of a post on Memo-chou I did last night, hopefully Thursday night blogging will turn out to be much more successful.

Lets have a recap of what happened in last week’s episode of The Idolm@ster. Well, we got to meet all the characters, know a little bit about them, and most important of all, got to see the producer’s face. Quite a handsome lad I have to add in.

Anyways, if any of you guys recalled what I wrote in my first impressions post, you should have remembered something about me saying that Idolm@ster isn’t really a “blog-able” show.  Although that may be true, I did see some fine points about this week’s Idolm@ster that made me choose it over Mayo Chiki!.

On the topic about Mayo Chiki!, I ended up not choosing it because of how everyone will be blogging about it and talking about how “moe” it is etc. However, that’s not the type of blogger I am. I try to set out from conventions in both blogging, anime tastes (just ask RP, he’ll confirm this), and music tastes. Thus, instead of conforming with the majority of the animu blogosphere, I’ve ultimately decided to blog about Idolm@ster, despite it being the current disappointment of the season (according to Sankaku Complex & 2ch).

It's that FAG we all hate from Jupiter!

Back on track. So in this week’s episode, the producer decides that, because none of 765’s idols are being “accepted” at auditions, the group will have to retake their “idol” photos. Although this is seemingly an awkward solution to the lack of audition approvals, it is clearly shown when the present “idol” photos are all so queer and inappropriate (no, I don’t mean ero).

Simple right? Actually, not when most of your idols are confused about what “individualism” really means. Especially when they’re mislead by a  dumb tsundere known as Iori. Yes. I know. I memorized her name. That’s how much she annoyed me. I’m still so surprised I’ve actually managed to memorize some of the girls’ names. Now let’s see….there’s Chihaya, Azusa, Mami, Ami, Iori, Hibiki, and Miki. Wow! I think I’m doing really well in terms of getting to know the huge character list!

Okay, so since most of you guys can tell from my Memo-chou post last night, I’m kind of changing up my blogging style. This means, I will just do a general summary of what happens in the episode (like above), yet I won’t go into too much details of the mayhem or drama  that occurs. It just feels like I’m writing a spoiler post when I do it that way.

Anyways, as you can expect, there really wasn’t much to say about this episode. It was just like last week’s, where there was quite a bit of moderated moe-ness and some kawaii bishoujos, but still, it won’t cut. The show seems to lack a firm “climax” so far, because I can see the dearth of any form of suspense, which is crucial to maintaining a watcher’s interest.

The truth hurts Iori, but still, Miki-chan is too cute for me to feel like she's being mean

Perhaps once the idols get their first show going, Idolm@ster itself will become much more interesting. However, at this stage, I can only say that its quality is only a little better than mediocre. It’s not that I expect the oh-so-good from Idolm@ster like most of the otakus and weeaboos on the net, but I did expect this to be an amusing experience. Despite my lower expectations, it only MINIMALLY meets what I originally sought, and thus even as a non-crazed Idolm@ster fanboy, I’m somewhat disappointed too.

To me, Idolm@ster seems to be lacking that “air” and the atmosphere that K-ON! so famously had. It was so crucial to K-ON!’s success, thus you would think that The Idolm@ster would strive for the same effect as well. However, just by a simple contrast of songs, K-ON!’s ending “Don’t say Lazy” is easily 10000X more addicting than Idolm@ster’s ending (Yes I listen to “Don’t say Lazy” everyday). Although Idolm@ster’s ending isn’t bad, it just lacks that catchy “cool” tune from K-ON!.

I know Idolm@ster definitely has some hit tracks that everybody will like, but the fact that it isn’t presented early on is certainly hurting the expectations of its crazed fans. Anyways, although I was somewhat pleased with this episode, it definitely wasn’t up to standards for most of the otakus, thus I think Idolm@ster is in a really tight pinch and needs to step it up in episode 3.

Speaking of episode 3, Doki just came out with the subs. Ah who cares, I’ll blog about that episode tomorrow 😀

*Lunatic fanboy gaze* Azusa, you're the only "idol" to me in Idolm@ster.