I swear, this anime tries to do way too much. They don't have the time to stir up drama about technical issues with the performance or live cancellations. They literally don't have the time to have drama. If the anime wants to have its performance, I want it to just go all out and dedicate all the time it has available to performing. Also, if people wanted to see these songs animated, they could have just watched the game MVs. I want the anime to show me things I can't see, such as new camera views, perspectives from the audience seats, insights from the characters, stories surrounding the performance, just anything.
I'm really not sure what else the anime could have done differently. To try and better focus the anime, instead of trying to balance the whole cast, a possible alternative could be following the main trio only with everyone else as background characters. However, that would only work if there was some expectation of future additional seasons. As of now, it really tried to do a little bit of everything, but without actually doing much of anything, while also trying to celebrate itself for doing so little. For the person who has known this franchise for years, this anime doesn't seem to give as much as it could have. For the person who knows nothing coming in, the anime doesn't seem to provide much to introduce each idol beyond their base gimmicks, if that. I don't think Tomoka had gotten more than 20 lines of dialogue, for instance. Miya barely has any screentime, and I don't think she's even gotten to highlight her cat gimmick. There was no explanation why Sayoko takes her glasses off before performances, nor anything about Elena's ethnicity. I'm sad that Emily never got a chance to weeb out over Tsumugi or Takane. It sucks that Ayumu never got to be in the same room as Makoto, or even say a single word to her.
Maybe it's because I wanted the Million Live anime to also be as grandiose as the anime seems to want. There's definitely a lot of ambition and love put into the franchise, but perhaps its announcement and preparations were too unfortunately timed with the beginning of covid. I still remember being there when the anime was first announced during on July 4th, 2020 live stream for Theater Days' 3rd anniversary. I still remember that incredible pop off and how social media exploded for a bit. I still remember how stifled it felt, as unfortunately the world was on lockdown, yet that moment, I saw everyone screaming in unison in joyous celebration. 3 years later, with a lot of memes and doomposting, the anime was finally airing. I don't begrudge its existence, nor do I particularly lament on things I wish it had, but I just wish that it could have been all the things I think it wanted to be.
Though, it's also possible that in retrospect, it's moments like the screenshot below that gets the the most sore. The anime knows there's so much more that could be done and shown, but it just can't get to them. It just really, really sucks. Where's the anime version of the Charlotte・Charlotte drama, or EScape? Where's ghost Reika, or time travelling idols? Where's Hanabi-dan or Star Elements? The greatest strength of Million Live, I feel, was their penchant for theater performances that led into songs built on the themes of the story. You'd have seiyuu voice acting characters, who are acting as other characters. We had shades of this during episode 8, and I wish there was more of that in the anime. I certainly had a wishlist of things I wanted, but I'm fine for what the anime is. I just really wish it could have been more than it was.
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