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It's no secret that I have a happy penchant toward the brilliance of all things moe, especially idols. so earlier this year I made a promise to myself to watch all the current idol anime (Idol Defense Hummingbird) and re-watch a few of the old favourites like Full Moon. Who knows I may even brave the Marcoss series with Dr Boyfriend and watch him relive childhood dreams!
Prepare yourself for an onslaught of uplifting, cute plot with enough CD merchandise to build a small, yet comfortable house out of!
Prepare yourself for an onslaught of uplifting, cute plot with enough CD merchandise to build a small, yet comfortable house out of!
Lovely Idol is a well-founded idol group that is really popular and it's manager is getting candidates for a third generation ready to debut. Just as the third generation is about to go on stage for their anticipated moment, the company president cancels the event, stating to Tomohiro Fujisawa (aka Manager-san) that the girls are lacking something and he needs to find out what that is or they cannot debut and become officially part of Lovely Idol. The girls pour their souls into getting better... when Manager-san happens across a street performer..
As far as I'm aware this was a niche but far-reaching franchise in Japan; getting it's humble beginnings as a serialisation of short stories in Magical Cute magazine and building up to written prose, radio shows, drama CDs, visual novel game, and what we'll be talking about today- the anime.
Plot:
To sum it up; Manager-san is obviously a very capable manager who has raised 2 generations of idols to become very popular professionals but is constantly attacked, berated and snubbed by the company's producer (whose motives never be made clear, she must just be super tsundere).
At first the issue is the girls don't have an outstanding quality, they gain two members, and the issue becomes "the girls are still boring, but the one good one will hold them back". It's a constant issue of threats and ultimatums from Producers, which I guess is maybe how it is in the idol management world. Luckily the girls have their celebrity sempai to help them out along the way, overseeing, mentoring, drumming up ticket sales, there's almost no need for the manager as he's constantly deferring to his previous idols.
The group have to learn to reach their audience on a fundamental level while Mizuki needs to confront her issues with singing that spawned from her mother abandoning her.
At first the issue is the girls don't have an outstanding quality, they gain two members, and the issue becomes "the girls are still boring, but the one good one will hold them back". It's a constant issue of threats and ultimatums from Producers, which I guess is maybe how it is in the idol management world. Luckily the girls have their celebrity sempai to help them out along the way, overseeing, mentoring, drumming up ticket sales, there's almost no need for the manager as he's constantly deferring to his previous idols.
The group have to learn to reach their audience on a fundamental level while Mizuki needs to confront her issues with singing that spawned from her mother abandoning her.
Mizuki Sakaki:
I have to admit, I liked Mizuki a lot more at the very start when her personality was more cold and stand-offish. She gave the perfect image of someone who had been heartbroken in her past, then suddenly she became nearly exactly the same as the other 3rd generation girls- bar from the unique minor weakness and strengths that all the girls have (and are their only unique feature).
Kotoha Kiryu:
To be honest, this character made little to no impact on me through the entire series, she's so softly spoken that she was almost drowned out among the personalities and sub-plots of the other idols.
Mai Nonomiya:
Knowing the voice actor was Momoi Haruko, I was surprised to see this cute, tiny (in all aspects) character be so firm, strict and full of pride- a polar opposite to the usual typecast. Don't get me wrong, I was pleasantly surprised! While at times she can appear conceited and show a superiority complex, even to her seniors, because of her previous acting career, she still has a very likeable side to her. This is the result of "8 years of acting cute" (quite like what happened to Akira Kogami of Lucky Star). I find her to be the most easy to relate to out of the characters as she has a very pragmatic outlook throughout.
Miu Nekoya: I'm a sucker for cat-girls, so to have a character who is cat-like, even down to the name is perfect! She's overtly energetic and a pro at dancing, she'll often be seen with curled cat-style lips and often finishes sentences with "nyuu". I would class her as being the comic relief. In the latter of the series the cat-eyes/face/sounds can be a bit overdone.
Hina Hojo:
She seems to live in her sister's shadow; all of her life, aims, aspirations, things to talk about or refer to, all come down to her sisters (the 1st generation Chocolat Twins). For some reason her quirk is that no matter what she tries to cook, she will make it violently explode and it takes people to physically hold her back from cooking- even though the end result doesn't change. This character in my opinion remains very one-sided.
Ruri Fujisawa:
A dedicated younger sister, somewhat of an otaku who loves to voice act, she sets out initially to become a manager like her brother. I appreciate this character as she pursues in her brother's footsteps until she comes to the realisation that she can make her own dreams to follow.
Tomohiro Fujisawa: Quite a sad thing about Manager-san is how many of the other generation's idols have quite deep affections for him, but his career-drive makes him seem utterly unaware, thus slightly crushing the girl's emotions. This can be seen in pretty much every episode. It's almost as if he nurtures the girls before passing them to other managers and only when he needs help with NEW girls, does he ever contact his former trainees. Not much is said of his absent mother, who he supposedly becomes a manager to follow.
I have to admit, I liked Mizuki a lot more at the very start when her personality was more cold and stand-offish. She gave the perfect image of someone who had been heartbroken in her past, then suddenly she became nearly exactly the same as the other 3rd generation girls- bar from the unique minor weakness and strengths that all the girls have (and are their only unique feature).
To be honest, this character made little to no impact on me through the entire series, she's so softly spoken that she was almost drowned out among the personalities and sub-plots of the other idols.
Knowing the voice actor was Momoi Haruko, I was surprised to see this cute, tiny (in all aspects) character be so firm, strict and full of pride- a polar opposite to the usual typecast. Don't get me wrong, I was pleasantly surprised! While at times she can appear conceited and show a superiority complex, even to her seniors, because of her previous acting career, she still has a very likeable side to her. This is the result of "8 years of acting cute" (quite like what happened to Akira Kogami of Lucky Star). I find her to be the most easy to relate to out of the characters as she has a very pragmatic outlook throughout.
She seems to live in her sister's shadow; all of her life, aims, aspirations, things to talk about or refer to, all come down to her sisters (the 1st generation Chocolat Twins). For some reason her quirk is that no matter what she tries to cook, she will make it violently explode and it takes people to physically hold her back from cooking- even though the end result doesn't change. This character in my opinion remains very one-sided.
A dedicated younger sister, somewhat of an otaku who loves to voice act, she sets out initially to become a manager like her brother. I appreciate this character as she pursues in her brother's footsteps until she comes to the realisation that she can make her own dreams to follow.
Animation/art:
At first glance the style is very typical of a visual novel, pastel variants of bright colours, very detailed hair, lots of cute accessories to maximise the feminine qualities of the girls. I had seen the still promotional art before watching as the style struck me as indicating high animation quality.
However at times the proportions can be almost hilariously wrong (see above image). I also take issue with how the eyes don't seem to reflect much emotion, they do in essence look like dolls.
However at times the proportions can be almost hilariously wrong (see above image). I also take issue with how the eyes don't seem to reflect much emotion, they do in essence look like dolls.
The concert scenes with dancing make me cringe and lack the enthusiasm and happiness of an actual idol performance, it seems the same animation bases are used and copy pasted with costume, hair and eye changes not to mention some really still, jarring movements.
Translation quality:
The release I watched was softsubbed by WinD. Softsubs were an easy to read font, just the right size also. I found no issue at all with timings and encoding, the slight colour changes for each character was a very nice touch. Translation was fairly accurate, with a few literal translations swapped in favour of sayings more relevant to English speakers.
BGM, Songs and SFX:
Being an anime around idols, as you'd expect there's at least one original song per episode. These follow a generic 80's idol feel of flowery, breezy, same-sounding cuteness with the occasional strong guitar hook to get a nice feel of bad-assery before a full-assault of mind-numbing moe. I'm a bit biased though as I'm used to a multitude of idol genres that perhaps didn't exist
Music composition is pretty on point, there are quite a lot of CDs based around the BGM and character songs. I have these and may do a review as they fall nicely into my interest for idol music. Just incase you're curious and want a listen, here's a list of CDs:Lovely Idol Song Best
Lovely Idol Original Soundtrack
Lovely Idol Vocal&Soundtrack Lovedoll Show Dai 1 Maku
Lovely Idol Vocal&Soundtrack Lovedoll Show Dai 2 Maku
Lovely Idol Gakuen Hen Drama CD
Lovely Idol Variety CD Lovely de Cute Nano Desu (Kotoha Hen)
Lovely Idol Variety CD Lovely de Cute Nano Desu (Mizuki Hen)
Lovely Idol Variety CD Lovely de Cute Nano Desu (Mai Hen)
Lovely Idol Variety CD Lovely de Cute Nano Nya (Mai Hen)
Lovely Idol Variety CD Lovely de Cute Nano Desu yo (Hina Hen)
Lovely Idol Variety CD Lovely de Cute Nano Desu (Ruri Hen)
Looking through the cast names, there are a lot of prolific and seasoned voice actors involved in this anime, ranging from type-cast dating simulation anime voices, Akihabara idols to adult game actresses. When listening, an untrained ear can make the mistake of everyone sounding like they're just talking but these are all actors of such high quality and they all hold each other up- there are no better or worse voices to make a contrast to!
Final Thought:
I'm not sure what it was about this anime that made it hard to watch, (it could be my concentration isn't the best these days), in the end I was disappointed at the amount of plot that was never explored; we never found out what Mizuki's mother's reasoning was or if they ever reconciled, Tomohiro's mother was mentioned once and never again and I'm not convinced Hina was actually related to the Chocolat twins, with there being no real interaction she seemed more like a scarily obsessed fan.
I imagine the games would have gone much more into each individual girl's background as is common with visual novels/dating simulations. That's why I love dating sim anime, you're almost guaranteed a well thought out story with numerous intertwined sub-plots to help create deep attachment to each character and you watch them grow. I definitely did not get a sense of that in this anime. Maybe I had my sights set too high?
At some point I will be reviewing at least the character singles for this franchise, maybe the lyrics there will hold some keys to unlocking some more personality to these aptly named "Lovedols".
Here's a list of the DVDs available currently if you find you want to be part of the Lovely Idol wota!
Lovely Idol Stage 1
Lovely Idol Stage 2
Lovely Idol Stage 3
Lovely Idol Stage 4
Lovely Idol Stage 5
Lovely Idol Stage 6
Lovely Idol Stage 7
Lovely Idol TV Soshu Hen
I imagine the games would have gone much more into each individual girl's background as is common with visual novels/dating simulations. That's why I love dating sim anime, you're almost guaranteed a well thought out story with numerous intertwined sub-plots to help create deep attachment to each character and you watch them grow. I definitely did not get a sense of that in this anime. Maybe I had my sights set too high?
At some point I will be reviewing at least the character singles for this franchise, maybe the lyrics there will hold some keys to unlocking some more personality to these aptly named "Lovedols".
Here's a list of the DVDs available currently if you find you want to be part of the Lovely Idol wota!
Lovely Idol Stage 1
Lovely Idol Stage 2
Lovely Idol Stage 3
Lovely Idol Stage 4
Lovely Idol Stage 5
Lovely Idol Stage 6
Lovely Idol Stage 7
Lovely Idol TV Soshu Hen
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