I've been a huge fan of the SideM series since 2016. Of course, I was very excited when this anime was announced, even though my favorite characters from the game weren't featured in it. However, I wouldn't recommend this anime to anyone who is 1) unfamilar with SideM already, or 2) hasn't watched THE iDOLM@STER (2011) and its film. This review will consider Episode of Jupiter as part of this anime.
Story (6/10) - Fair
There's two points I'd like to focus on. First, I think it's important to watch THE iDOLM@STER (2011) and its film prior to watch Episode of Jupiter and the SideM anime. EoJ
...
explicitly has a scene from the movie and while it's not really considered a spoiler, new watchers would probably feel nothing for EoJ if they hadn't yet experienced Jupiter's story through the original anime. Although I'm a big Jupiter fan and EoJ was my favorite episode, I've already met multiple people who disliked Jupiter because of the 'suddenness' of their story in EoJ; they don't really get a good introduction in comparison to the others.
Secondly, the episodes themselves. There was an overarching plot... I think? But it's not memorable to me, so I don't think it was anything significant. SideM has a pretty lax and chill atmosphere, it's just a bunch of dudes trying to become idols. It almost has a slice-of-life feel in that it's mainly made of self-contained episodes. One of the latter episodes has some drama, but it gets cleared up quite quickly. Most episodes focus on one or two idol units. The episodes themselves are fine for what they are, cute and short stories. However, there ARE 19 characters in a 13 episode anime, so while they do a good job at introducing the characters on a base level, they aren't able to go into the characters very deeply (even for aspects that may be a major part of their character in the games). More on this later.
Basically, it's fine if you like more light-hearted stories that don't have much of a serious plot. Usually, I'd like this sort of story, but I also feel like SideM doesn't handle it the best what with all of the characters.
Art (8/10) - Very Good
Art and animation is very nice, appealing and easy on the eyes. Heaps of wonderfully hand-animated dance scenes with just a little bit of CG that's barely noticeable. My only con is that some character design features were softened in order to fit the art style, but I don't really mind that either. Might make characters look a bit same-facey.
Sound (10/10) - Outstanding
Nothing to complain about here! As usual, the voice actors suit their characters perfectly and are all distinguishable except maybe the twins, but they ARE twins, even if they're voiced by different people. Many new songs were created especially for the anime and they all sound great!
Character (7/10) - Good
I'm biased, having read a lot of the in-game material, so I think all of these characters are already great. The units chosen for the anime are definitely the less gimmicky and niche ones, so they should be able to appeal to more people in general. However, due to the units only having one or two episodes to themselves, more interesting aspects of their character easily get overlooked. This makes them seem boring in comparison to their portrayal in-game. For example, the anime does not mention Minori's ex-delinquent or dead uncle past at all despite it being a large part of his character. Sure, there was one minor reference to this in a gag, but without mentioning it directly he simply seems like a normal soft anime boy. For that reason, I think that the cast should've been cut down further, perhaps to just Jupiter and DRAMATIC STARS. Not only would it allow them to dive deeper into their characters, but a more serious plot could also work with a smaller cast.
Enjoyment (4/10) - Decent
Not going to lie, after EoJ it was kinda a slog to get through the rest. I don't enjoy watching anime in general, so there's that. But I also felt like it was pretty boring. Not just because my favorite characters were only shown for 5 seconds. Maybe it is the lack of strong overarching plot afterall; iM@S 2011 had a similar episodic format yet I still found it enjoyable because there were clear storylines running throughout it. This could be because of what the anime was adapted from, though-- there's no 'main story' in the SideM games for the anime to follow. Maybe if it were longer, they could go deeper into the characters and have some interesting plot lines.
Overall (7/10) - Good
Ultimately, SideM is good, maybe even great if you enjoy soft and light-hearted anime with good music. I would treat it as a sequel and watch iM@S 2011 first for full enjoyment of EoJ. It's OK as an introduction for these six units from SideM, but don't expect to learn a lot about them and anything about the others. If you want to know more about the characters, I would suggest looking at the dozens of translated SideM game content (just google "SideM English TL Archive"). A lot of the characters have a ton of translated manga that talk about their backstory and personality, which is how I'd personally recommend one 'gets into' SideM. But if you prefer anime, this show isn't bad either.
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Feb 21, 2021
The iDOLM@STER SideM
(Anime)
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I've been a huge fan of the SideM series since 2016. Of course, I was very excited when this anime was announced, even though my favorite characters from the game weren't featured in it. However, I wouldn't recommend this anime to anyone who is 1) unfamilar with SideM already, or 2) hasn't watched THE iDOLM@STER (2011) and its film. This review will consider Episode of Jupiter as part of this anime.
Story (6/10) - Fair There's two points I'd like to focus on. First, I think it's important to watch THE iDOLM@STER (2011) and its film prior to watch Episode of Jupiter and the SideM anime. EoJ ... |
