Lately I've been trying a new strategy for anime which is I watch EVERYTHING.
And by sheer coincidence two "Become a Popstar" animes popped up at once. Both incredibly boring... But there is one thing I like about both of them
1) The Female one (Idolmaster Cinderella Girls): Just has an intriguing character, that I honestly can't get away from. The Producer is the only reason I bothered to watch past the third episode. He is entirely stoic yet seems to have genuine skills as a talent scout to the point where he can just pick people off the street. Yet he REALLY isn't the sort of person you would think could do that. As well he almost always gives canned responses so you often wonder what he is really thinking. Too bad he is a side character.
-Bonus points for the description of this anime being a LIE! AND the opening skit being a LIE! Not that the description would have drawn me in.
2) The Male One (I forgot actually): Is it gets into the inherent fakeness of the industry, every person there is given a fake personality, lines they have to rehearse, they have to practice intricate movements at all times. Heck in one scene they had mock interviews where they had to basically read their responses and would sometimes comment on how it wasn't true. Honestly if the series was about a group of guys who wanted to become a boy band, and in doing so they had to lose their identities and become a product devoid of even the most basic humanity, it would be amazing! Yet this anime seems to skirt REALLY REALLY dang close to addressing this aspect before going into "Yeah being a boy band is wonderful!".
-Or rather, this anime is not self-aware of what it is doing. It hits these issues full force on about loss of identity and the general fakeness of stardom, but it just assumes that being a popstar is great so the framing never moves past "it is wonderful!".
--Oddly enough this is the one that broke me. It was too boring for even me to muster any amount of care.
Note: Don't bother watching them... They are both bad and rather uninteresting, I just have the ability to find something to watch in even the worst TV show. I was hoping they would AT LEAST have good music... but no >_<
And what is odd is I SWEAR I recently say a third "becoming a idol" series... but these shows are so bad I forgot.
Also my strategy isn't working... most anime is just valueless schlock... I need to refine my filters.
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Don't get me wrong... I've seen two "Becoming a singer" series before these ones and I likes them.
One was REALLY cheesy "reverse Harem" (I dislike that term) about this girl who went to a school that turns its students into music stars. Which is both better then it seems and worse then it seems (It is both delightfully cheesy and painfully cheesy). It was REALLY clear this anime started off as a Dating Sim. What with one of the possible love interests being a Disney Prince.
And the other was obviously Full Moon Wo Sagashite... And we all know how much I like that series.