What in the heck?

For me, as someone who enjoyed The Idolmaster Cinderella Girls back in 2015 but found this borderline-unwatchable, the big problem is just the production aspect feels soulless, like no passion was put into its production at all compared to past entries in the series.

It had me in the beginning of the episode with the gorgeous environmental shots and atmospheric opening monologue. But then once the characters interacted and the plot started I lost interest very fast.

The dialog to me sounded forced and generic. And the biggest sin that kept taking me out of the show over and over again is that the voice actors had no chemistry. There were weird pauses between what was supposed to feel like were interjections and reactions, to the point that it constantly broke my suspension of disbelief because of how inorganic it felt. Also, one of the things that made Cinderella Girls work for me was how it did not idealize the idolmaking process, it showed that it's uprooting your life and having to trust a corporation for the hope of having a good debut. Here, everything is treated too uncritically. It had no meat on its bones, it was just idealized escapist fantasy. (Also, the character animation was VERY stiff and non-expressive.)

I'm sure those who are more invested in the series and more invested in idol shows will like it just fine, but as a generic anime watcher with no particular affection for the genre, who is just looking for good stories with good characters and good acting regardless of where the story fits in the genre web, this one fell short for me in terms of hooking me on the world and the characters.

No judgment on anyone who likes it. I'm glad you were able to enjoy it more than I did.

For me, as someone who enjoyed The Idolmaster Cinderella Girls back in 2015 but found this borderline-unwatchable, the big problem is just the production aspect feels soulless, like no passion was put into its production at all compared to past entries in the series.

It had me in the beginning of the episode with the gorgeous environmental shots and atmospheric opening monologue. But then once the characters interacted and the plot started I lost interest very fast.

The dialog to me sounded forced and generic. And the biggest sin that kept taking me out of the show over and over again is that the voice actors had no chemistry. There were weird pauses between what was supposed to feel like were interjections and reactions, to the point that it constantly broke my suspension of disbelief because of how inorganic it felt. Also, one of the things that made Cinderella Girls work for me was how it did not idealize the idolmaking process, it showed that it's uprooting your life and having to trust a corporation for the hope of having a good debut. Here, everything is treated too uncritically. It had no meat on its bones, it was just idealized escapist fantasy. (Also, the character animation was VERY stiff and non-expressive.)

I'm sure those who are more invested in the series and more invested in idol shows will like it just fine, but as a generic anime watcher with no particular affection for the genre, who is just looking for good stories with good characters and good acting regardless of where the story fits in the genre web, this one fell short for me in terms of hooking me on the world and the characters.

No judgment on anyone who likes it. I'm glad you were able to enjoy it more than I did.

@Mai_of_the_Fire So, as far as I understand, this couldn't reach the heights of past IMAS anime?

@RobertBobert Even I could say it doesn't. I'd the original, Cinderella Girls and U149 were the best.