The iDOLM@STER Shiny Colors

An ambitious producer who works for 283 Production aims to guide his idol units to fame and victory at the Wonder Idol Nova Grand Prix (WING)—a prestigious competition for rookie idols. Although he is already in charge of multiple units, a fateful encounter with the skilled songstress Mano Sakuragi leads him to create a new promising group: illumination STARS.

Now an aspiring idol, Mano pursues her dream with the support of her fellow members Hiori Kazano and Meguru Hachimiya. At the same time, the producer seeks to increase the visibility of his other units, aligning with his true goal of helping them grow as professionals and understand what makes them shine the most. Indeed, only those who know themselves have a chance to become the new rising stars of the industry.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Sakuragi, Mano Main

Sekine, Hitomi Japanese

Producer Main

Natsume, Kyouhei Japanese

Shirase, Sakuya Supporting

Yamaki, Anna Japanese

Kazano, Hiori Supporting

Kondou, Reina Japanese

Morino, Rinze Supporting

Maruoka, Wakana Japanese

Tanaka, Mamimi Supporting

Suganuma, Chisa Japanese

Kuwayama, Chiyuki Supporting

Shibasaki, Noriko Japanese

Arisugawa, Natsuha Supporting

Suzumoto, Akiho Japanese

Yukoku, Kiriko Supporting

Yuina, Mizuki Japanese

Tsukioka, Kogane Supporting

Isobe, Karin Japanese

Mankyuu Director

Yagihashi, Masazumi Sound Director

Katou, Youichi Script, Series Composition

Kouji Storyboard

Reviews

Jun 23, 2024

Ryxan

Recommended

The iDOLM@STER anime franchise has been improving with each series that has come out and I would say Shiny Colors is the best yet. The past series have struggled to properly introduce characters with enough screen time before jumping around constantly. Shiny Colors improved greatly on this by feeling more like a standalone story that can be started and understood without previous knowledge of the series. Each subunit in Shiny Colors was given dedicated time to understand what they are about and how each of the idols relate to each other. By the end of the season you feel like you really understand each of ... the girls and want to cheer them on.

During the first few minutes of watching I was a bit disappointed with them using a CG animation style, but after some time it grew on me and the quality particularly shines during the live music scenes. I was very impressed with how many live MVs this series had, whereas in the previous iDOLM@STER series they seemed to skip over the actual music performances most of the time. The final episode of this season was very impressive with multiple full songs animated like an actual live idol performance. The quality and variety of songs in Shiny Colors has also been my favorite of any iDOLM@STER series. I am very much looking forward to the 2nd season!

Pros:
- Characters and seiyuus
- Many live song performances
- Good pacing and screen time for characters and subunits
- Amazing songs

Cons:
- The story can be slow if you aren't a fan of slice of life
- If you aren't a big idol fan, or dislike the typical "love, hope, and dreams" plot, you probably won't like it

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Dec 27, 2024

MidniteAndBeyond

Mixed Feelings

Despite my undying love for THE iDOLM@STER, I don't know if I can sugar coat this one.... this show was rough. Its been very disappointing to see the iDOLM@STER anime series become progressively lower and lower in quality. The 765Pro anime is near perfection and I'll always stand by that. But as time went on, the shows became shorter and more rushed and the other branches are just too big to get any actual screen time or character development. And this one was by far the worst offender of that. I was a bit hopeful since this branch is rather small in comparison to the ... others, but it was honestly SO unbelievably rushed. So much time just felt wasted. I felt like I was watching the same episode 4 different times, 12 times in a row, because they'd just have everyone in their own respective units having the same conversations on the exact same topic, only in different locations. They spent almost no time together or with characters outside of their units and that was incredibly disappointing. The song choices were very underwhelming, as every single one of them was one that was used for the debut of Song For Prism. Which, I know, this show is meant to be a big advertisement for that game. But iM@S anime series used to be MORE than that and could stand on their own, so its frustrating to see them backpedal so badly, all for the sake of saving money.

I wasn't crazy about the Million Live anime using 3D animation, and somehow this show looks even worse than that. The art cards of Shiny Colors have some of the most unbelievably breathtaking illustrations I've ever seen in my life. Which only makes it that much more apparent how bad this show looks, in comparison. This branch deserved SO much better. Everything about this show just screams "cheap". From the constant montage shots of every single character for the sake of filling the time slot, to the fact that the credits of every episode have no new songs or illustrations like all the other shows did. It was just... rough... They did announce a second season for this one, which is shocking. And odd, considering how it doesn't seem like it'll be adding ALL of the missing idols from this branch. Will there be a third season, afterwards!? Why would they spend so much time on this anime when they very clearly didn't care about putting any effort into the first season? I don't have much hope for it, but of course I'll be tuning in. I love these characters and liked getting to spend time with them, as I always do. But Shiny Colors is one of the richest branches in terms of story and visuals. And this show just absolutely failed in both of those departments. I absolutely can't recommend it as your gateway to Shiny Colors or to iM@S as a whole.

5/10, and thats being incredibly generous.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Jun 21, 2024

davidralph

Not Recommended

Well-written

Watching Shiny Colors is like eating a sandwich you hastily put together, forgetting to put any substance in it. That's not to say there's nothing here - there definitely is, it's just incredibly bland.

The main problem with this show is it tries to deviate from the tried and tested formula of the IDOLM@STER anime series. The magic of the industry: the drama, perils, laughter, and sorrow, is swapped for a slice-of-life story featuring a new cast preparing for an event. There are no stakes here, as this production agency seems to be rather prosperous (much like Bandai Namco after releasing this).

Now, a slice of ... life has the opportunity to be something new and different, but the staff have managed to fumble it. Instead of focusing on a small group of characters; it showcases multiple units of them at once. Being only 12 episodes long, and having far more than 12 characters, they can't flesh the characters out sufficiently. This results in a lot of flat characters and boring interactions. Each episode consists of jumpcuts to various groups, throwing you out of the immersion. No girl is properly introduced, and the constant need to show their name cards in the corner of the screen hints at how forgettable they are.

A mediocre scenario isn't helped by the studio blatantly insulting you for your time by offering a "climax" in the form of 48 minutes of performances. I hope you enjoy "Tsubasa Gravity", as you'll be hearing that almost enough to make you mute it. If you're at all familiar with the music channels, you'll feel right at home with Shiny Colors. You'd be better off using it as background music while you do something else (perhaps making a better sandwich).

On the topic of background music, the actual soundtrack of the anime is forgettable. I can't even remember it as I'm writing this. There's an opening which sounds quite good, but the studio forgot to animate any endings. In later episodes, they completely forgot to put an ending song in, which results in you getting depressing piano tracks accompanied by low-budget default credit effects. It feels incredibly lazy and that a lot of corners were cut in producing it.

In the animation department, not much was cooked up. The majority of character designs are unappealing and the background environments are generic. It looked incredibly disappointing compared to the previous 3DCG IM@S anime with vibrant movements. A lot of scenes in Shiny Colors were replaced with montages consisting of static shots or reused animation.

This may seem all doom and gloom, but if you note my rating there isn't all bad with this show. After all, an idol anime enjoyer is here for the idols and their music, right? Rest assured you will have your fill of IDOLM@STER idolness. The songs are as good as ever, and if you're a fan of the characters (I sadly only recognised 2-3 of them), you'll be more at home with it. However if you're not a fan, I can't possibly recommend this to you. I believe that, much like myself, you'll be bored to tears.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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	The CGI in this is much worse than the CGI in Million Live. wildsmoking - Nov 29, 2024	3 replies	by bukanmuzza »» Dec 4, 2024 5:53 AM
	Poll: The iDOLM@STER Shiny Colors Episode 12 Discussion AkeZZZ - Jun 21, 2024	7 replies	by Magito »» Aug 19, 2024 7:44 AM
	Something about this adaptation..... BonBonToro - Jul 11, 2024	2 replies	by amlg »» Jul 20, 2024 3:04 PM
	Poll: The iDOLM@STER Shiny Colors Episode 11 Discussion CocoaGalaxy - Jun 14, 2024	5 replies	by davidralph »» Jun 21, 2024 3:37 PM
	Poll: The iDOLM@STER Shiny Colors Episode 10 Discussion AkeZZZ - Jun 8, 2024	1 replies	by CocoaGalaxy »» Jun 8, 2024 10:54 AM