The Idol M@ster Cinderella Girls

Episode 6

Unrealistic expectations are to be, well, expected, especially when you're working with teenagers. The major plot point of this episode, which doesn't come until the end, is handled with The Idolm@aster Cinderella Girls' usual impressive subtlety so that until Mio has her breakdown after a perfectly respectable debut concert, you don't even realize that it's brewing. The issue? Mio had managed to convince herself that the girls' debut song would be greeted by an audience of the same proportions and enthusiasm as the Mika-chan show she performed in as a backup dancer. The rest of us, with the comfort of distance, can see that that outcome is unlikely – after all, she and the other girls are unknowns holding a small concert in a shopping mall for their first single. They simply don't have the star power of an established idol like Mika. Mio, however, has stars in her eyes, and maybe has indulged in a few too many idol shows.

That's part of Cinderella Girls' continued selling point, at least for me: there is no instant gratification. New Generations isn't Creamy Mami or even μ's; there's no instant, overnight success. These girls are just starting out in a difficult, highly competitive business, and the storyline reflects that. Uzuki has a combination she just can't dance right, Rin for the life of her can't remember to smile, and the look of stark fear on Minami's face at all times shows her own internal turmoil. There is no instant success for these budding songstresses, and some of them are probably going to fail. That Mio takes the sparse attendance (in her eyes) at her debut concert as that failure speaks to the unrealistic expectations that she has formed and that no one realized she was harboring.

If we look back, we can see them. Her worries about the concert disrupting shopping, which I at first took as a more economic concern, was actually about her anticipating a huge audience. The same goes for her worries about how many friends she invited and people being able to see the stage, both of which are more obvious but still easy to overlook. In part this is because of misdirection on the part of the episode, which puts more focus on Uzuki's dance troubles than on the fantasy of success Mio is busy building. It's quite clever, and it also keeps the story from being too much about any one of the girls as opposed to all three. A nice contrast is also made between the slightly older Minami and Anya and the main trio – while the Love Laika girls are nervous, they are able to pull themselves together at the crucial moment and to enjoy their small success. The differences between their performance and New Generations' is marked – smooth versus stiff, smiles versus looks of nervous consternation. It helps that Love Laika's dancing is gorgeously animated. The flow of the arm movements and subtle hip and torso shivers makes you wonder if you're watching real dancers or animation of them. In a show that has been above average all along, this is absolutely my favorite sequence.

Cinderella Girls proves with its sixth episode that it goes where other idol shows only hint at. Success isn't assured and tempers and egos flare, and a perfect performance to an appreciative audience is by no means a guarantee. Granted, it would really help if the producer had even half a clue as to how to talk to teenage girls (or how their minds work), but really, as this episode shows, that's all part of the appeal in a world where dancing in glass slippers can sometimes break the skin.

Rating: A-

The IDOLM@STER Cinderella Girls is currently streaming on Daisuki.

Rebecca Silverman is ANN's senior manga critic.