The iDOLM@STER Million Live! Episode 8 Discussion

@StallionXD Considering the overall animation quality, I don't think just taking a live straight from the game would be too out of place.

I don't know what people are smoking or what standard they are using, but go get your eyes check or watch on a better monitor if you think Miriani CGI is somehow bad and is just comparable to the game.

Mirishita Official Twitter even made a side by side comparison of Star Impression from the anime vs the game, and you can tell the level and quality is completely different which you can clearly see in the use of lighting, shadows and reflections which isn't possible to do on a phone, plus the texture detail is also far higher in the anime. And that's not even taking into consideration the model art style is completely different.
https://x.com/imasml_theater/status/1723512433916973476?s=20

@nanaholic Well, I never said the CGI was bad, @RodIshiCi did it lol, I just said that it is hard because CGI animation is just as hard as 2D animation.
I really love the CGI they are using, I think it's one of the best out there (for anime), that's exactly why I want them to show us more lives instead of powerpoint presentations 😥
The live for Team1st in ep6 was 10/10

@StallionXD Sorry I didn't remove the mention from the quote so you got dragged in. But yes my comment is in reply to @RodIshiCi.

Miriani easily has some of, if not the best full CGI of a television series to date. The only full CGI anime that is better I've seen recently that manages to successfully pull off the 2D cell shading look is The First Slam Dunk which is a theatrical anime so that's hardly a valid comparison. I don't know why people is constantly putting Miriani down when it comes to the animation department when that part is the most industry and fandom acknowledge portion of the show in Japan right now for finally getting to the point where CGI can look almost like 2D art when other shows, especially other full CGI anime idol shows before Miriani can't do it. There are many little details like in ep3 when Yuriko "melts" after training or in this episode as Nao puts her face on the table and their cheek deforms to show the softness of their cheek, there are lots of these little details they animate into the CGI to achieve the hand-drawn look which other CGI shows won't do but is overlooked by people.

Also don't worry about the live parts too much, it's just the quiet before the storm, as you can already see from the preview that we are entering the last stretch at full speed.....

@nanaholic I understand you may be unhappy due many comments dissing the animation quality, but, please, don't try to elect a single person to vent out all at once.
Strictly speaking about animation itself (motion), the game is better even on the comparison video due more frames, so it's more fluid. 2D animation feels different at 12fps because they're planned for that. Anime certainly is better in terms of texture and illumination.

I don't see harm in getting a live from Mirishita. I'd would help to advertise the game even more and, again, it wouldn't feel too out of place.

Of course, if they want to update textures and put some work in light, great. But even without that I'd rather have an animated live than slideshow.

Plus, there are some tricks to make 3D animation look good while trying to emulate 2D. Model and texture wise they nail it. Pick any still frame, and it isn't obvious that's 3D. But the motion with that low frame rate just scream 3D.

I loved this episode, Konomi is too precious ❤️
But while I loved Team4th I wanted to see team5th, I wanted to see an episode with Serika as main 😭

btw it's kinda lame that we ain't getting lives, I hate when idol animes just do the PowerPoint-like presentation with the song in the background lol They are using CGI in this, I understand it is still hard but c'mon, they are idols, we want to see them dance!

Anyways, I CAN'T WAIT FOR THE NEXT EPISODE, IT WILL HAVE A LOT OF 765PRO ALLSTARS!
HARUKA-SAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!!! 🥰

@RodIshiCi You are the one who says putting the game PV into the anime wouldn't look out of place, so replying to you is the correct action. If you can't take the heat, then don't make such a baseless comment.

Using framerate as the only standard of "better" is a simplistic and naive assessment of CG animation. Also you are incorrect that CGI don't factor framerates when rendering - it is something they absolutely do because only full feature CG films with budget of Pixar or Disney can work CGI in full 24FPS because - news flash - rendering at 24FPS costs a LOT of money (CPU time, disk space etc), so every Japanese CGI anime working with less budget thus then plan their keyframes just like how they do it with 2D. Modeling, texture, lighting all counts as well. So even when you acknowledge that lighting and texture is better in the anime, there only leaves framerate as the area which the game is "better", while the other parts the anime leaves the game in the dust.

Including the Mirishita PV which obviously looks VERY different to the anime doesn't promote the game, and it absolutely looks out of place.

Finally low motion of anime is a staple, most anime aren't even drawn at more than 10FPS due to budget constraints. It's only your brain tricking you to make it seems smooth. With Mirishita's 2d style, even the low frame rate is not as obvious as those which actually looks like polygon models eg Bang Dram 3D. Again, the CGI part of Miriani is easily the best and most objectively acknowledge part of the show by industry and fans in Japan right now, you are just focusing on frame rates to dismiss the entire thing is being needlessly critical.

@nanaholic You're ignoring things that are the same, like rigging.
Overall, both lives have the same movements. There's no extra movement for hair, fingers, eyes or anything like that.
And rendering that amount of poly count isn't that costly. Take a look at Macross, their PV for songs features lives from the game (now defunct).

Just like you said the only advantage from the game is fps, the only advantage for anime (in this case) is texture and lighting.

And you seem to misinterpret me as a hater of Animas, I'm not. Heck, it's the 8th ep and I play the game, I usually speak about how the game excels in many areas, including its live animations. Of course, it's not without flaws, and you seem to agree since you spoke about higher frame rate like it being desirable, but out of reach, probably due costs constrains , which may or not be true since we're in an era where 1080p 24fps isn't that costly anymore, nor in computing power nor in disk space, an entire cour in a bitrate way higher than necessary, like 100mbps would fit in any media with a negligible cost.
I wouldn't discard the choice being aesthetics reasons, since 2D anime runs in low fps and going smoother than that may feel off for many.