In one word: Vibrant
Good for: Light-hearted fun, colorful pretty art, watching to unwind and relax
Other notes: De-stressing, motivating, makes you smile! Cute girls and personalities :D
Full Review:
With a name like IDOLM@STER, I confess I really didn't expect much out of this anime when I first started. But after watching a few episodes, I was really really taken by the vibrant art and the colorful characters. To me, watching IDOLM@STER is like eating colorful fruit candy-- it's just so vibrant and sweet and there's nothing unpleasant about it at all!
The story of IM@S isn't much to be honest, 12 girls striving to become celebrities (Idols) in Japan. They start out very unpopular/not well known in a Production Agency, and this anime chronicles their rise to fame. The story is rather predictable in many ways, but gives you a solidly feel-good type of vibe, as they start out as underdogs and gradually work their way up.
One of the lower points of the anime features an arc with a really really stereotypical "bad guy" rival production company, and to be honest, the whole "evil, greedy production mastermind" came off as really really cheesy. The story of that arc was pretty meh.
But I find their best episodes to be the ones where there's not so much of a driving plot, but more of a observation episode of what happens to a group of characters on a given day. And this is because the characters in Idolmaster are absolutely outstanding. They're fun, vibrant, colorful-- the voice acting is superb and the songs are enjoyable and catchy~ One girl in particular, Miki, has really really great charisma as a character and her VA has done a great job. You can't help but like her and everything she does, because she does it all so well!
It's been a while since I've found an anime that's just so darn FUN and adorable to watch. There's no real drama or angst (Or is there, in Episode 23?!), not really enough to make a viewer/watcher feel stressed or anxious or sad. It's a really fun, vibrant and light-hearted anime, and will definitely cheer up or add a bit of pep to any day~
