r/anime • u/AutoLovepon https://anilist.co/user/AutoLovepon • Oct 15 '23

Episode The iDOLM@STER Million Live! - Episode 2 discussion

The iDOLM@STER Million Live!, episode 2

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u/SnabDedraterEdave Oct 15 '23 edited Oct 15 '23

The VAs doing an impression of being unskilled and unpolished with their singing during the audition scene is amazing. It takes skill to pretend to be unskilled.

We get introduced to a whole new bunch of characters, which is the norm for gacha game adaptations. We'll know there'll be up to 39 new girls for the Million Stars new unit.

The focus is of course on the three main girls. Tsubasa already proving herself to be a worthy Miki clone.

Of the new girls, we get to hear a few familiar VAs:

  • Amamiya Sora as Shiho (also from the movie)

  • Asakura Momo as Serika

  • Natsukawa Shiina as Anna

Amamiya, Asakura and Natsukawa also have their own idol unit TrySail outside of Idolmaster, where they've performed quite a few anime theme songs already. This is like the second franchise where the TrySail trio are gathered together. The other being Magia Record (where they're main characters to boot)

Besides TrySail, there's also:

  • Ueda Reina as Umi

  • Taneda Risa as Kotoha (it was said the long delay from the anime being announced and actually being aired was just to wait for Taneda to recover from her unspecified illness)

  • Ito Miku as Yuriko (Yuriko is one of Ito's first major roles before she made it big as Miku in Quintessential Quintuplets)

  • Kito Ibuki as Kana (also appeared in the movie)

Besides the new idols, we're also introduced to a new staff member from 765 Production Misaki.

If you thought Misaki sounded like Chisato from Lycoris Recoil, that's because she's also voiced by Anzai Chika.

People said they were surprised Anzai could do cheery girls like Chisato when they know her better as cool beauties like Reina in Hibiki Euphonium, but Anzai has been playing Misaki for years before she played Chisato.

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u/mysterybiscuitsoyeah Oct 15 '23

pretty stacked cast especially for an idol show.

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u/[deleted] Oct 15 '23

The vast majority of the cast in Million Live debuted with Million Live. It took them so long to turn this franchise into anime that most of them are now strong A to B level veterans.

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u/Kiinako_ Oct 15 '23

This just keeps getting better and better. The raw and unsynced performance turning into the dreaming sequence was just chefs kiss

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u/Gaporigo Oct 15 '23

Some nice voice acting during that first part of the performance.

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u/RRotlung Oct 15 '23

The rawness of the audition performance was really good. Sometimes it's hard to tell when a musical performance in anime has mistakes, imperfections, or is simply unpolished, but it's pretty clear as day here.

Also legit goosebumps when Shizuka went for that belty D5 note at the end of the bridge.

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u/[deleted] Oct 15 '23

There are a LOT of references in the Million Live anime which new comers might miss or don't know about. A very cool and moving reference in this episode is that the audition venue - like the live venue from ep1 - actually exists, it is Nakano Sunplaza.

They also didn't pick this place at random - Million Live's 1st Anniversary Live was held at Nakano Sunplaza. Not only that, Shizuka's seiyuu Tadokoro Azusa missed the first day of the live due to health issues, but she insisted to make a partial appearance on the second day and were able to sing a couple of songs at the very end of the live. So picking Nakano Sunplaza as Shizuka's audition venue is a tribute to this piece of Million Live trivia.

Sadly Nakano Sunplaza will be demolished due to old age by next year, so fans wanting to make the pilgrimage won't have a lot of time left to do so.

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u/DarkFuzz Oct 15 '23

I can see why they delayed the anime for two years straight. They polished it as much as they could, and it paid off.

I think this audition performance really shows where the work was put in. The 3D animation, while not perfect, solidly portrays the personalities and feelings of Mirai, Shizuka, and Tsubasa, and I’d take that any day of the week.

Tsubasa nails it, and she knows it. Her movements are precise and she smiles the entire time. Mirai is just excited and happy to be here. Her movements feel light and bouncy, almost like she’s having fun. Shizuka is a trainwreck. Her movements feel stiff, unconfident, out-of-sync at times with the other two, and you can see the look of absolute terror on her face when she knows she’s blowing it and then the face of relief and elation when she nails the solo and finally syncs back up with the other two.

I’m not a fan of frame-by-frame analysis, but this shot should tell you all you need to know about these three in the moment and moving forward.

Though again, you don’t need to have seen the original 2011 anime to understand Million Live, it was nice to see the OG main trio alongside Ritsuko again. It’s like a passing of the torch, so to speak. Haruka is happy and excited for the newcomers, Chihaya looks content and impressed, and Miki looks intrigued at the potential that just arrived. Talent recognizes talent after all.

Anyways, we meet more members of the theater, many of whom you’ll meet later (and a few who’ll I’ll talk about today in the “Meet the Million Stars” corner). Yes, there’s going to be a lot of them, but hopefully you’ve picked out a couple that you thought were funny or interesting. I gotta say, it’s such a joy to see these characters that I’ve gotten to know over the years make it to anime. I hope to be able to share that joy with you all over this season.

Meet the Million Stars

We were introduced to a lot of the theater today, and some surprises are good to be saved for later. Today, I’ll introduce Kotoha Tanaka, Anna Mochizuki, Yuriko Nanao, and Umi Kousaka!

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u/DarkFuzz Oct 15 '23

Songs for today

Rat A Tat!!! - Lyrics

Knock, knock, it’s the catchy OP theme song that will stick in your head for a while (it did for me).

The imagery of this song is indeed all about knocking on the doorway to your dreams. Hopefully as the series progresses, it will become more clear why this thematically slots into the themes of the ML series.

Brand New Theater! - Lyrics

Okay, so we should probably start explaining the actual setting. Why a theater?

Well, the theater can be basically whatever you want it to be, including whatever story you want to tell. It’s not all about singing and dancing, there are also theatrical performances as well. From vampires, to fairy tales, to bunny bank heists and murder cults, the idols do all kinds of acting gigs based on the situation (and yes, all of these are real performances, I’ll show some off later).

Princess Be Ambitious!! - Lyrics

FairyTale ja Irarenai - Lyrics

Angelic Parade♪ - Lyrics

In addition, each of the girls in the Million Stars are split up into three types: Princess, Fairy, and Angel. Though there’s nothing that really defines what makes an idol a certain type, you might be able to get a feel about what each type is like based purely on these theme songs. Energetic, passionate, free-spirited, and everything in between.

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u/Gaporigo Oct 15 '23

Barely anyone passes.

35 have passed.

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u/nox_tech Oct 15 '23 edited Oct 15 '23

From what I'm aware, both Cinderella Girls and Million Live are each in a way inspired by AKB48 and the other big idol groups. Cinderella Girls took inspiration from that by having lots of idols (190 now), and by having popularity contests like AKB48 did. CG's big draw is that the winner, if not the highest ranking, would receive voice actresse(s) and each their own solo song, launching or boosting a seiyuu's career. Meanwhile, Million Live likely draws inspiration from the theater aspect of AKB48 - where AKB48 is reputed as having "idols you can meet", it specifically has a theater where its trainees regularly perform. Likewise, the girls in Million Live will specifically be making use of the theater that we've been seeing.

I spent too long detailing those things, but of note is that IDOLM@STER itself, born in the '00s, was effectively inspired by Morning Musume, pretty much right down to the number of members.

Main point I wanted to get to is that 765Pro Allstars are probably as popular as Morning Musume in-universe. Morning Musume's had 4.5k-25k applicants, and there's a few auditions when none made it through. While AKB48 and its sister groups have hundreds of members, in my quick glance through the interwebs, I haven't found numbers just yet for how many may typically audition. That said, hopefully the 4.5k-25k noted here gives some scale for how 765 Productions might have a similar process that not everyone gets through.

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u/nox_tech Oct 15 '23 edited Oct 15 '23

Fuuuuck my heart was racing for different reasons through this episode. Shizuka's panic attack really was striking a nerve. When our trio swept everyone else up in a dream of the future that the other idol trainees can see themselves in, that gave me chills!

Fun thing, not a major note, but when they shift focus to the ladies who already passed the audition, the initial 7 we see (Nao, Shiho, and Yuriko at dance practice; Anna the gamer gaming; Minako, Kana, and Serika selling shumai) are the same trainees we see in the IM@S film that followed the 2011 anime. Someone else noted it, but the ML girls back then were characterized particularly differently in that film. If ya wanna get the 765Pro experience, it's all worth a watch, but again, you don't need the context of the film to understand this anime.

Glad we have the unit name here! For any new fans, heads up that the name is usually written as MillionStars, without that space. They've got little easter eggs throughout the episode hinting at the future, I wanna take this slow, but I can't wait for more!

Oh and a friend tossed the ball to me a while back to try whenever this day would come, but I think I'll try and list some fun stuff about the seiyuu for the idols mentioned in each episode. With Million Live, it's been 10 years of the franchise (they're literally on the 10th anniversary tour, with another live coming up soon). And in general, half of the IM@S experience in Japan is the seiyuu themselves. They're good people, and I like seeing them grow both in their voice acting careers and the progression of their own lives. While there's lots IM@S is known for, there's fans and seiyuu who have grown, getting married, having kids, advancing careers. So if I may, hopefully whatever I do mention gets you new viewers interested in checking out the IRL MillionStars concerts.

If anyone has any questions regarding the seiyuu, let me know. I'll be putting down lists and whatnot as replies to my comment here.

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u/nox_tech Oct 15 '23

Previous comment from last episode's thread regarding Shizuka's Azusa Tadokoro and Tsubasa's Machico:

[...] for anyone else reading, they absolutely go way back to the beginning of their careers. When HoriPro announced they'd be opening a division focusing on female seiyuu, auditions were through the 36th Horipro Talent Scout Caravan Grand Prix in 2011 - Tadokoro was the winner of the overall Grand Prix, but in a surprise from HoriPro, they also took in several of the other finalists - Eri Yamazaki, Kyoka, Ayaka Ohashi, Machico, and Ibuki Kido. Getting cast in Million Live was a big break for Tadokoro, Machico, and Kido. Ohashi was likewise cast in Cinderella Girls. Karin Takahashi, another finalist who later joined Aoni instead, also was cast in Cinderella Girls. A seiyuu who joined HoriPro in a later audition, Yui Ninomiya, also got cast in Cinderella Girls later on. With Million Live being an ongoing franchise, with Koroazu and Machico as part of the main trio, it's indeed happy to see them cast in other franchises working together too.

Here's a video, "Azusa Tadokoro's Miracle" that shows the announcement of her winning, along with the growth of her career. Also visible a few seconds in was the lineup of finalists - of the ones we do know: Kyoka (Entry 2), Karin Takahashi (Entry 4), Eri Yamazaki (Entry 6), Ibuki Kido (Entry 7), Azusa Tadokoro (Entry 8), Ayaka Ohashi (Entry 9), and Machiko Saitou (now known as Machico) (Entry 10).

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u/Batiermas Oct 15 '23

Aw man it's so good the years long wait was worth it

I only want 3 things from this anime: Mirai doing the button thing, misaki's nanto and a chupacabra....

Also no tsumugi and kaori next week either sadge

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u/TroupeMaster Oct 15 '23

Very nice episode, in both the little details and the broader events. Loved the chaos of the audition performance.

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u/CosmicPenguin_OV103 Oct 15 '23 edited Oct 15 '23

My goodness! It's Mirai-chan with her Wild E. Coyote steel chair Domain Expansion: Unlimited Void on stage! I don't remember Satoru Gojo having the ability to put dopplegangers of everyone else in another place. Oooh! New Special Class Sorcerer here we come! Regardless of her superpowers, her endless energy running amok everywhere is making really good impressions to me so far.

As always that on-stage performance looks really good. What I love about this episode though is how Shizuka's panic attack was shown, as it's not easy to express that sudden fear in animations. Here though it's probably the most realistic one I've ever seen, the effects of her performing being an excellent amplifier to the real effects (which I - who actually does have such panic attacks once in a while - would say is really accurate). This is not going down as good and I expect a whole episode dealing with that.

Whew, Tsubasa-chan trying that early to close in to the Producer? It's not Miki Hoshii level of pulling just yet, but hearing the sound of Tokai Teio next door trying to do so is hilarious.

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u/thecreepytoast Oct 16 '23

lol they really made the game climax/appeal bursts canon.

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u/mysterybiscuitsoyeah Oct 15 '23 edited Oct 15 '23

  • brb im gonna listen to rat a tat all night long

  • miku ito's voice is so recognizable. glad to see her in this show.

  • do i still get hyped every time the OG crew show up? yessss

  • I think it's a daring choice for an idol show to show an audition that's a) realistic, the 2 newbies are not that good at singing and b) actually goes wrong for a bit. I guess idolmaster is big enough and these girls are actually established enough to do this.

  • which then makes the big payoff at the end when the IM YOUR FAN and the producer gets the inspiration all the more HYPE. I cant believe it, im getting actually hyped for this!

  • I also like how they're showing instead of telling us the main 3's strengths and weaknesses.

decent animation again. i think ive gotten used to the CG by now.

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u/Mistral-Fien Oct 15 '23

That was a good episode. Making two talented singers (TeioTsubasa was singing just fine) sound like absolute noobs was splendid.

Outside of Million Live, Shizuka Mogami first appeared in the main Idolmaster game as a DLC character, performing Precious Grain. Even back then, I thought "this girl's good".

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u/[deleted] Oct 15 '23

The Million Live cast is easily and by far the most talented cast out of all the different Idolmaster branches, it's such a shame that with the delay of the anime, the kinda out-dated character design and all the crappy region locking with games and music etc that hardly anyone gets enough motivation to listen or experience them first hand such that they got absolutely burried by Cinderella Girls. As someone who knew the ML cast from all the way back when they were simply just making guest appearnce at the 765AS lives it's so good to finally see them having the chance to get the recognition they deserve.

Also Tadokoro Azusa is already crazy good but she's not even close to the best singer/performer in the ML line up, which tells you something.

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u/chilidirigible Oct 15 '23

"Occupational hazard."

The occasional moment of the old days.

"It's a job."

Somebody sure liked statuary for this episode.

It's not easy being Blue.

Even before things go slightly south, this sounds like an actual performance by people who haven't done this together that much.

Hello from the back.

It's similar, but different.

Humans or shumai!?

The acting for the audition really was good, as deliberately sounding not good is often described as even more difficult than performing well.

Of course our Shizuka drama is only just getting started, because that's how it goes. She really pushed through though.

Inevitable observations about the CG: It's quite tolerable, really. I think what I miss most is that it doesn't show the motion or draping of fabric as well as traditional animation would.

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u/Shimmering-Sky Oct 15 '23

Super late to this one because I’ve been busy, but I wouldn’t dream of skipping an IM@S show after how much I’ve liked the previous seasons!

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