lpfManiak said: To me, the characterisation is abysmal. The size of the cast is the main reason behind that, although having fewer characters wouldn't mean the writers would have been able to be better. So as to differentiate the many characters, every aspect is cliché and exaggerated.
The script is. The characters constantly remind the viewer a single trait of characterisation, to the point of no longer being realistic. Miki is sleepy, Yukiho dislikes men, Takane is pretentious, Yayoi is poor, repeat ad nauseam.
The storyboard is. Even by their postures, the characters are exaggerated. The one with a phobia of men (which can make us wonder why she was part of the group in the first place) just has to look extremely scared, the 'watakushi' one has a ridiculously bold posture, the bimbo can't help but always put her hand on her cheek, and Miki is sleeping in virtually every shot, yet another unrealistic overdone trait of characterisation.
The acting is. The seiyuu act conspicuously following a given archetype, with no subtlety, using a necessary exaggeration to differentiate the characters. If nothing else, the chosen acting archetypes fit the characters' already thin personality, but because they fit so much, they only accentuate the cliché.
As for episode 3, I was really disappointed by this character development. There was nearly no tangible trigger apart from a dialogue which had absolutely no merit. And the characterisation was so poorly executed and overdone its evolution had few chances of being interesting.
Idolm@ster's earlier episodes definitely are quite weak in comparison to some of the later one's, and this is mainly due to two main issues with the format of the show. The first being, as you mentioned, that it had to find a way to introduce 13 girls and differentiate them within a short period of time. As such, the easiest way to accomplish this was to reinforce their specific character trait so that the viewer remembers them for this. The second issue directly influences the first but is more tied into plot structure of IM@S. The format has a bit of a "snowball effect" where the latter girl's stories benefit from the more focused plot direction, whereas the earlier girl's arcs suffer from a lack of content and prior build up.
Unfortunately, Yukiho probably received the full front of this as her story suffered from a lack of any real build up to the event and the fact that not enough time was given to flesh out her character beforehand. Her phobia of men was portrayed in a far too over the top manner to actually feel believable, and coupled with her constant scared look, made it hard to not be a bit annoyed by this episode. The actual resolution to her conflict was handled nicely, but there was little build up to this moment, effectively weakening its impact.
Though Yukiho has one of my favourite singing voices in the games, I will freely admit that this was one of the show's weakest episodes (along with Hibiki's). Glancing through some of the replies while this show was airing, it seems like this may have been the episode which caused people to drop the show or assign it a lower rating. For those that are currently watching, I'd still suggest continuing along as the improved plot structure does allow for some stronger content later on.
As for lpf, I'd suggest watching a bit more before you make any definite calls on the characters. Though they are going to always be bound by their archetype, the development some of them receive is handled quite well. Make no mistake, it will never amount to anything deep or life changing, but for what it is, it's quite an achievement in my mind. In any event, the next episode is a definite step up from this one as it focuses on the character with the strongest story and receives some nice backing from the nature of the idol industry. |