IDOLiSH7

IDOLiSH7: More than just some pretty faces I'm going to start off by saying I am absolutely not this show's intended audience. Not only am I a guy, but I have never watched an idol anime. I do realize the good-looking anime boys are at least the initial draw for a lot of its fans, but I wanted to try to answer the question: is it worth watching even if you have no such interest in the show's eye candy? The short answer? Yes. The long answer? Well, I'll get to it. Story: 8 The premise is relatively straight-forward. You have 7, for the most part, strangers throwntogether to create the next big boy band, IDOLiSH7. If you think that sounds generic, you wouldn't be totally wrong, but the beauty is in the details. The band's attempt at glory is not a story of instant-success by any means. At one point they literally perform in front of a crowd of single digits. You can feel their struggle as they reach for their collective goal. And as they do start to gain some bit of traction, you can see their fanbase slowly growing and taking this ride with them. Throughout the show, a young fan is shown watching them on TV every chance she gets. She tries to explain the appeal to her family and is clearly emotionally invested in the success of the group. It's these little things that make the journey a little more special. It's not just about them, but their fans as well. Art: 7 Now moving on to the art. It's a very colorful show, that for the most part I found aesthetically pleasing. And I'm not the person to ask, but I think female fans will be satisfied with guys in the show. Obviously being idols, they're all easy on the eyes. There is a fair amount of CGI scenes, which are rarely great, and while it wasn't bad by CGI-standards, the character movements never look as natural. Sound: 10 The sound was really outstanding. The voice acting was quite good, both in the comedic and more serious scenes. And obviously, with it being an idol show, the music is very catchy and will probably get stuck in your head at some point. Character: 8 Not only do all 7 have their own unique personalities, but each has their own specific reason for wanting to become an idol. For the most part, their reasons are fairly compelling, and certainly not as shallow as "I want money and fame". The show does a good job at setting the stakes for each individual, making it much easier to root for them. It also helps they are a likable, and often colorful, bunch. Personally, my favorite was Nagi Rokuya. He was consistently entertaining. (Shocking, I like the giant anime nerd right?) The main female character, their manager Tsumugi Takanashi, I thought was a decent character, even if she rarely stole the scenes she appeared in. She's clearly a newbie that was still trying to prove herself, but she also provided a positive presence to the show and you really felt like she cared about the band members as people. And of course along the way, you have the "rival" band. In this case it is Trigger, the trio that has already made it big so to speak. What strikes me is when they're first introduced, I was pretty sure I was supposed to dislike them, but as the show progressed, we got to see more of them and realized they weren't really the villains of the story. They were just human beings that happened to be where IDOLiSH7 wants to be someday. The head of their talent agency is another story. This show has a lot of likable characters, but he was not one of them. He plays a bigger role in the season's latter stages. I don't want to spoil anything, but he was a history with the head of IDOLiSH7's talent agency. My only small complaint might be regarding the characters is there was a little too many for my taste. It's just a personal preference, really. I'd rather have a smaller cast that I get to know really well over the course of the show. And one minor observation regarding the cast; it was pretty obvious the male characters were made to appeal to female fans, but I don't think their characters were as one-dimensional as you see when it is reversed, like in a lot of these harem and/or "waifu-bait" shows directed at guys. The IDOLiSH7 boys were treated as actual human beings, not simply eye candy meant to sell merchandise. Enjoyment: 8 I did enjoy the show. Maybe I didn't get emotionally attached to any one character, but it was a fun bunch. The music was good, and the story was simple but effective. I do think you'll probably enjoy it more if you're crushing on the male characters, but it's certainly a good enough show to enjoy if that's not the case. Overall: 8 IDOLish7 was a pleasant surprise. I have very few bad things to say about it. Like I said, I know I'm not the target audience, but I wanted to provide another perspective and share my thoughts and feelings with you guys. Thanks for reading.

So as a person who has been evading idol related series all her life, I was convinced that I wouldn't enjoy this one. A friend recommended it to me a while ago, so I told myself why not? At least there are hot guys! But how wrong I was. Idolish7 is a lot more than that. Story: 8/10 The story isn't anything complex. Basically a group of 7 guys reunite to form an idol group from scratch. But don't think that things will come easy for these guys, actually it's all the opposite. We get to see a quite realistic story in which fame doesn't come aseasy as you'd like. Our lovely group must face different situations that will complicate their path to glory. There's even an episode in which they perform in front of just 9 persons and other in which fake rumors about them are spread once they start getting some fame. However, the dramatic or negative moments help the characters to grow and are well balanced along with comedy and heart warming moments. The only complaint I have is that the last episodes felt a bit rushed, but overall the story is nicely done. Art: 8/10 What can I say about this? The art is simply gorgeous! All the characters look really handsome, and everything's so colorful and vivid. A real delight for the sight, no doubt. Also, the show constantly makes use of CCG, more specifically during the song performances. I'm not an expert in CCG stuff, but at least I can say that it wasn't great nor bad. It was ok for its purpose. Finally, there's also a lot of chibi moments. They are cute as you can expect from chibis, and contribute a lot to the comedic moments. Sound: 9/10 Now let's go with one of my favorite aspects from this show... the sound. The voice actors made an excellent job in this one since each voice fits the character's personality perfectly. I also liked how each group portrayed their own style in each song. The songs by Idolish7 are more catchy and suitable to dance and have fun, while the songs by Trigger are more elegant and serious, but equally enjoyable. Character: 8/10 What I like about this anime the most is that despite presenting a huge cast of characters, it gives some development to everyone. We get to see what motivates each guy to become an idol and how each one of them deals with their fame as individuals and as part of a group. There are many character interactions that allow us to appreciate how each member feels and how they get along with the other members. And let's not forget about the rival group, Trigger. This group is already famous and basically our main characters aspire to reach the level of fame they have. The three members of Trigger are really charismatic. I really enjoyed their performances and their interactions with the main characters. At the end I decided that my favorite character from this series was one of the members of Trigger, so no doubt I enjoyed their existence on here. Enjoyment: 9/10 Did I enjoy this? Of course I did! I'd rewatch it without hesitation. The characters are interesting, the comedy is good, the music is great...yeah, I did enjoy this more than I expected from an idols show. Overall: 8/10 I'd definitely recommend this to anyone, even to guys. There isn't unnecessary fanservice that'd bother them and the story flows really well. And most important of all, the characters aren't unidimensional, they grow and so does your interest in them. So if you're looking for something simple but well done, don't look anywhere else!

I started watching this anime on a tiresome day when I badly needed something to cheer me up. At first I assumed this would be one of those cringy, badly-written idol animes with perfect , bland characters ,created solely for fanservice and I wanted to watch this for the laughs. But it ended up being something completely different and by the end.. I was in love. Now I shall tell everyone, what did I like about this anime so much that I ended up rewatching it twice? *very slight spoilers ahead* So first of all , the story. (9/10) It starts by introducing us to the characters and givingus an idea about their role in the unit , as well as giving a peek about their future struggles (for example Mitsuki and his numerous failures).And keep those struggles in mind because boy, will things be rough. I think the equilibrum between tragedy and happiness was well done - enough bad things to keep you on the edge of your seat , but not too much to become too depressing.Also none of the tragedy is there for the sake of tasteless drama , it all leads to character development or moves the plot forward. I think the build-up from the beginning to the end was very satisfying , and by this I mean it had me crying. It felt very well-deserved after such a long journey, and it wasn't necessarily predictable. I also like that it is indeed pretty realistic - not all the boys get along , success doesn't come easy. Art ( 8/10) The art was pretty good , nothing extraordinary , but i can't recall a second where it felt off or sloppy. The CG was..alright for CG standards , not too good but not so bad it was distracting either. I admit sometimes the boys were drawn so pretty it had me fangirling , but maybe that is a bit too subjective. Sound (10/10) I love the soundtrack , and the songs are BOMB. Monster Generation was stuck in my mind for WEEKS and I was astonished by how elegant Trigger's music was.You'll definitely look up on youtube others songs by them , they are definitely worth listening to even outside the anime. The voice acting is outstanding as well, I have no complaints about it.The voices suit the characters perfectly and they deliver the lines flawlessly. Character (10/10) At first there were some boys I disliked , but the anime does such a great job developing all of them (every single characters gets at least a bit of backstory) , I couldn't help but fall in love with them all. Unlike in other idol anime , where they all start talented and handsome , some of these boys have difficulties either singing or dancing, or have some terrible backstory that gets in the way of them giving their best performances. Everyone is unique and couldn't be replaced. If you took out a single member from the unit everything would fall apart. For me the characters felt very human and likeable as well as relatable , despite being "idols". Enjoyment (10/10) I come up every so often to rewatch I just love it so much. I want to see the boys again , I want to hear them , I want to be part of their world again and again. Overall: 9.5/10 Definitely outstanding for a male idol anime , and arguably the best in its genre as of now.If you are into pretty boys which aren't just eye-candy but flawed and human , great music and being drowned in feelings , I suggest you give this anime a try.

Well, that was certainly better than expected. While I can't say that the first impression of many was wrong - another anime for female audience with focus on bishounens, it's better than most of similar titles. There isn't too much focus on a fanservice and as a pleasant surprise it does actually have a story. Not a story I would call great, but certainly not a story I would call bad either. The characters indeed have personalities beyond just being a pretty face, so right from the start there's one of the biggest flaws of bishounen-focused anime gone. Considering that even I who's not even closeto the target audience enjoyed this series to an extent, I'd say it did a pretty good job within its genre. The animation isn't exactly unique and it's visually the weakest work by TROYCA so far. That said it's still an okay animation without any jarring defects or mistakes. I can't say much about the music - if I heard only the sound, I wouldn't be able to distinguish it from other jpop boy bands. It didn't make me cringe so that's good enough for me as it's not my preferred genre. Fans of boybands will most likely enjoy the songs. Overall, if you like male idols, there is a high chance you will like this anime. If you don't, you might give this a try anyway, keeping at least with the three episodes rule. While you might not love it, it might still turn out to be not so bad.

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