The List
6 Idols that Fandom Forgot
by Lynzee Loveridge,
The popularity and success of the idol genre is undeniable; Love Live continues its almost unbelievable hold on Japanese otaku, and shows like Idolmaster: Cinderella Girls burn up the bluray sales charts. Unfortunately, not every idol anime can be a success as the genre becomes increasingly crowded with bright-haired, singing teens. This week's list looks at the unfortunate idols that failed to win over the fandom.
6. Kirarin Revolution Kirarin Revolution starts the improbably talented yet gluttonous Kirari who, after establishing a crush on a male idol, decides to follow him into the world of entertainment. Unlike it's more mature sister series, Skip Beat!, Kirarin Revolution's immediately gets her big breakthrough when she's trips on stage in the first episode and causes a sensation. The show ended up having little staying power, likely because of its young target demographic. Children's shows are regularly replaced by the next, only slightly varied, thing. This would ultimately be the void Aikatsu would fill.
5. Chance Pop Session Once upon a time, you couldn't walk into a GameStop without finding a stray DVD volume of Chance Pop Session (Piano, Risky Safety, and Sugar: A Little Snow Fairy had the same fate). The drama follows three girls who enroll in a music school after they're inspired by an idol named Reika. The trio are immediately recognized for their potential and put in a special class. This gets them closer to achieving their dreams but also garners the ire of other students jealous of their success. The show straddles that unique early oughts time period where the animation wasn't exactly...pretty while the female-centric drama story failed to entice fans.
4. Lemon Angel Project Lemon Angel Project is a Love Live! prototype that missed the wave by being eight years too soon. Admittedly, the character designs don't have quite the same charm either but much of the same elements that makes Love Live! popular are present in Lemon Angel Project. The story starts when a music producer wants to revive the popular Lemon Angel idol group by recruiting new members. Every-girl Tomo tries out for the part and ends up cast with veteran talent. Personalities initially clash until the girls figure out how to work together. The show has an earworm of an opening song and the strange honor of being a part of the Cream Lemon franchise despite having no hentai elements.
3. Million Doll The adaptation of Ai's manga about an idol-otaku and her attempt propel a favorite into stardom was fraught with problems. The series premiered earlier this year but only managed to garner attention for its poor CG sequences. Fans noticed that the director's name mysteriously disappeared from the show's credits. After the anime wrapped up, Ai admitted to suffering from mental and physical exhaustion and put the manga on indefinite hiatus with plans to review the series as a whole. According to her Twitter account, the manga will return next week.
2. Venus Project: Climax Venus Project: Climax was a unique multimedia response to Symphogear with battling idols. The show also hoped to serve as a launching pad for its singing talent by alternating its six animated episodes with live-action segments and a tie-in PlayStation Vita game. Its lead actresses haven't appeared in any anime roles since while the free-to-play idol game will shut down after less than a year.
1. Lovedol ~Lovely Idol~ Lovedol ~Lovely Idol~ is an example of a show failing despite potential. Navel (Shuffle!, We Without Wings, Soul Link) visual novel character designers created the aesthetic while voice actresses Halko Momoi, Mai Nakahara, Minori Chihara, Sakura Nogawa, and Yuko Goto rounded out the cast. The premise was pretty general. The third incarnation of a popular idol group are lacking that certain "something" and their manager is tasked with figuring out what it is. Despite the talent involved, the show only hangs on to mediocrity. The series spends most of its airtime focused on Mizuki, the one member who has that "something," while the rest of group is relegated to the background.
The new poll: What Winter 2016 anime are you anticipating the most?
The old poll: What's your favorite season of Digimon?
- Digimon Adventure 42.0%
- Digimon Tamers 26.2%
- Digimon Adventure 02 10.2%
- Digimon Frontier 8.9%
- Digimon Adventure tri. 3.1%
- Digimon Savers 2.0%
- Digimon Xros Wars 0.8%
- Digimon Xros Wars: The Young Hunters Who Leapt Through Time 0.3%
- No Answer 6.5%
When she isn't compiling lists of tropes, topics, and characters, Lynzee works as the Interest Editor for Anime News Network and posts pictures of her son on Twitter @ANN_Lynzee.
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