Forum - View topicThe Intoxicating Lure of Idol Anime
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Angel M Cazares
 Posts: 5501 Location: Iscandar |
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I am disappointed but not terrible surprised that there is no mention of Wake Up, Girls! WUG is an idol anime worth checking that contrasts with the general cheesiness of Love-Live!
Last edited by Angel M Cazares on Wed Sep 23, 2015 9:51 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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omoikane
Posts: 494 |
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Here's a total hypo. What is really happening with the recent idol boom are two fold:
What's commonly considered idol anime has been around since the 90s, and I don't mean the likes of Macross but the likes of Hummingbird. What is different today is that real idol (not cartoon) has pivoted in the 00s from the traditional entertainer to the "reality television" version of the entertainer. Fans are invited to participate and invest (mostly emotionally) in the development of idols; everyone is an underdog; an idol can just be a girl/boy next door. As translated to anime/manga/etc, the stories have now moved from just seeing someone dazzle on stage, to narratives about development and actual underdog stories (in which the concept of School Idol from LL embodies). The audience sees their day-to-day life and the kind of charm that some world-saving idol-hero is not going to readily display. There's a lot to look at in terms of the idol persona and how traditional japanese culture particularly make that natural, but in this day and age things are just more complicated. Second, the anime media mix biz has evolved to include live events as another arm of the business method. To do that you kind of have to have these idol elements. And as the IDOLM@STER franchise proved, this could mean years/decades of cycles of events, new songs, new IP, and ways for fans to engage the material (and spend). It's a powerful concept especially for original IPs that are not tied to some publication. Sure, anime tie-in events and the like has always happened, but now it can be a repeatable and reliable aspect of the revenue stream. In order for this to happen a lot of stuff had to come together over the years, but it has. The seiyuu idol industry also has gone through a few cycles from the likes of Tokyo Policewoman Duo to Aquors. In other words, for someone outside of Japan's perpetual bombardment of its idol marketing, in order to stay cynical you have to either honestly engage the material and criticize it, as it is ever changing; or avoid it and rely on strawmen. We can go back and look at stories like Key or Perfect Blue as media criticism but in a lot of ways things are very different now. (On that note, some things are still the same and those two titles are pretty educational even now.) |
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Saffire
 Posts: 1256 Location: Iowa, USA |
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I can sympathize with Nick. I resisted the idea of watching Idolm@ster for quite a while when it was originally airing because it was obviously "dumb moe", but one of my friends talked me into it and three episodes later my resistance was gone. Weeks later I was trying to help said friend play the game and looking for ways to acquire the music. I liked Love Live but it never quite struck me the way Idolm@ster did. Actually most idol stuff kinda feels dull in comparison, which is probably more about how much of an impact Im@s had on me than the actual relative quality of the other shows. Symphogear is ridiculous and I love watching it but it's kinda in the Xenoglossia boat; yeah there's idols but it's a pretty different animal. |
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VORTIA
 SubscriberPosts: 943 |
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Congratulations on your conversion, Nick! Welcome to the mad house!
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Random 21
 Posts: 198 Location: Nottingham, United Kingdom |
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I'm also definitely a big Wake Up Girls! guy. Loved the original movie, and the TV show was awesome too, I just find it a lot more grounded than Love Live! altogether. It's got it's faults, but overall I really liked it. I wish there was some way for me to watch the two new movies besides fansubs (although tbh that might even be too hard given the show's popularity), but I don't expect that to happen, really wish it was more popular.
I attempted Shounen Hollywood but never really got into it, although hearing about how melancholy it can be really gets me interested again, maybe I should give it another shot. |
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WashuTakahashi
 Posts: 415 Location: Chicago, IL |
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For anyone interested in idol animes who may have already tried the ones mentioned: definitely watch AKB0048. It's especially good for getting guys interested in the genre. I had a few male friend who were completely against idols in the first place, but grew to love them through AKB0048. It's practically a Gundam show but with cute singing girls doing the fighting xD
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vonPeterhof
Posts: 729 |
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I've also sorta found myself sucked into the world of idol anime through Love Live. Although it's not that I've ever thought them "beneath me" - as someone who once sung the school anthem from K-On! in his cousin's wedding limo, I don't think I'm in any position to be casting stones
 Rather, I was hesitant about getting into Idolm@ster and the like because I've always been somewhat disturbed by the actual Japanese idol industry and it was hard to shake off the associations. It just so happened that the first season of Love Live! started airing around the time I took up watching ongoing anime seasonally. I would check out pretty much all first episodes and see what would stick, and Love Live! stuck. It helped that the show makes it clear that its characters are getting into a world of idoldom that is entirely fictitious and has next to none of the baggage of the real life industry. Then the characters and the musical numbers ended up growing on me and the rest was history. My screening of the movie wasn't as lively as Nick's, but it was still a fun experience in spite of the little ways the movie disappointed me.
Since then I've also watched Wake Up, Girls! and Cinderella Girls, while Nick's recent review convinced me to pick up the original Idolm@ster (I still can't listen to the opening without cringing - hard to overwrite the memories of at least three occasions where I had heard male otaku in their late twenties screaming "ARE YOU READY? I'M LADY!" in karaoke  ). I didn't watch Shonen Hollywood when it was airing originally, but now I'm interested - Nick's description of it sort of made it sound like a genderflipped WUG (hopefully without the budget issues).
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Alabaster Spectrum
Posts: 528 |
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Isn't this the same guy that absolutely raves about iDOLM@STER every chance he gets?
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navycherub
 Posts: 233 |
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I was in the same boat - the first bit of Shounen Hollywood didn't grab me, either. But believe me, if you liked Wake Up Girls for being grounded, Shounen Hollywood delivers on that premise probably even more, and it has some creatively ambitious episodes every once in a while too. In particular the last episode (of the second season) is a pretty unique experience that I haven't seen any other idol show really try. I still like Wake Up Girls more, but Shounen Hollywood really rewards you for sticking through. |
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relyat08
 Posts: 4125 Location: Northern Virginia |
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My descent into idol hell was similar to yours, Nick. I got around to Love Live only after being unable to escape it. I thought it was fine, but I didn't really feel the need to keep going. Cute girls doing cute things, as a whole, was sort of something that I didn't really get. It was boring. After going through some pretty intense stress in my life, though, I revisited Love Live, just because I wanted something that to relax to. It worked. It worked incredibly well. I've been unable to escape since. Watching Idol shows, for me, is like watching any other Iyashikei show. It makes me feel happy. It's easy to de-stress and enjoy the small things when you are watching a group of girls do their best to achieve a simple but admirable goal and to just make people happy. I don't think it is an overstatement to say that Idol anime played a part in getting my life back on track. And I will always love them for that.
My personal favorite is Wake Up, Girls!, just because of how real it feels, in contrast to other Idol shows. The one thing lacking from most other Idol shows, in my opinion, is that, sometimes, they seem soo idealized, that its hard to imagine them as real people. And therefore a little harder to get invested in them. Wake Up, Girls! had a lot more of an impact on me, because it addressed that issue. It put the girls through much tougher trials, but showed them overcoming them and coming out better for it. It is still heartwarming and triumphant, but not fake, or sugarcoated. |
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whiskeyii
 Posts: 2267 |
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AKB0048 was my first known foray into idol anime; Macross Frontier (followed closely by the original Macross SDF) were my true "firsts", though those seem much, much closer to normal pop artists that modern-day idols. I liked AKB0048 a lot, but I can't tell if it's just because of how it ran against the grain or because it felt more sci-fi than slice of life.
I liked what I saw of the first three episodes of Love Live!, but it was hard to stay interested for long; I feel like that's a "brain candy" series I'd want to sink into on a lazy afternoon. I did want to check out Wake Up, Girls! (but got a wee bit confused on which came first, the movie or the series), but I think I'll also take a look at Shounen Hollywood, which I initially passed off as a cheap Uta-Pri knock-off, sans the heroine. ^^; |
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ChrissyC
 Posts: 551 |
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Ah, yeah I see a lot of those still. The "pretentious" anime viewers who scold those who have no interest or how they are ignorant to not have watching: "Mononoke", "Mushishi", or "Tatami Galaxy". However, yes these are quite enriching productions that people should see. I`m sure we`ve all been there at a time.
"Love Live" is huge! I Can see you loved it as well, my brother is insane about that series. The directing, writing and characters are something special. The film was the first time I had actually experienced a "Love Live" viewing. I Could see what you and my brother spoke of. "Shonen Hollywood" wow, I never knew it actually delved into the problems of Idols. That is quite interesting, thank you. "Idolmaster" seems to be received greatly in terms of story & composition. You`re completely, right. Yes, I agree the "Love Live" film wasn`t amazing. I do think they could have crafted a brighter project for the ending. - Thank you for your writing of the Idols. |
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Hoppy800
 Posts: 3331 |
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A lot of the idol fanbase are corporate slaves, it's true, they are oblivious to the suffering their favorite idol may be going through, don't care, and in some cases defend it. It seems to be like the only industry where corporate slavery is encouraged and idols suffer because of it, even in gaming, the companies are getting fed up with the corporate slaves and plastic defenders on Youtube and elsewhere.
As for me watching idol anime, it's more for an nice, easy experience with very cute characters and good music for the most part. Now some of them aren't, like WUG which is social commentary on the horrors of the idol industry. |
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MiwaSatoshi
Old Regular
 Posts: 81 Location: Austin, Texas, USA |
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Anyone remember Idol Defense Force Hummingbird and Idol Project? Yep, the 90s had some of this too.
NicoMaki shipper, over here. 
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vonPeterhof
Posts: 729 |
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