★Saori Press Vol.7★ Saori’s recommendations, Idol Anime!

★Saori Press Vol.7★ Saori’s recommendations, Idol Anime!

 

 

We featured ‘Slice of life Anime!’ which was related with season of spring during　The one before last Press!

 

I worked on this anime because it’s all about typical Japanese culture and I think it would be good for people overseas to read since they might not be familiar with our culture.

 

Wait!  Now I remember there’s one more anime which is quite original and related only with Japan!

 

 

 

It’s ‘Idol Anime’ (σ´∪｀σ)!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Idol?  What’s it all about?  Many people might wonder like this...

Even I, a Japanese person, feel that there are some vague parts about the definition of ‘idol’.

 

 

So, here we go!  Let’s learn a little bit about ‘Idol Anime’ together (σ´∪｀σ)!!!

 

 

★A difference between ‘idol’ in Japan and the one overseas

 

 

In fact, it doesn’t seem that foreigners even recognize Japanese idols in their cultures(。-`ω-).

 

 

“I don’t know why Japanese people get this crazy about idols.”

“I can accept anime but not idol because it’s just too intense.”

 

 

Why is it...? (´･ω･)  I thought about it...

I searched for that reason and I finally found out that there are different ways of recognizing the ‘idol’, which leads to differences in degrees of interest, I guess.

 

 

For instance, let’s have a look at the difference between America and Europe VS Japan! (σ´∪｀σ)

 

 

→In the case of idols in America and Europe: They’re more like singers than Japanese idols.

→In the case of idols in Japan: Most of the time, they’re required to be multi-talented rather than to have an individual skill, such as a singer.  This is especially true in modern Japan.

 

 

To make it short, the definition of ‘idol’ in America and Europe should be ‘a singer’, and the one in Japan should be ‘an entertainer(。-`ω-)’.

 

 

Japanese people tend to accept new faces, especially young generations, even if they’re not great yet, because the Japanese way of cultural thinking is that they are only taking root and will get so much better.

 

 

But on the other hand, people in other parts of the world always think of new faces as perfect figures as stars.  Their image of entertainment always equals to ‘professional’.

 

 

Have you heard of the American TV program called ‘American Idol’?  It’s continually televised as 'a program in which professional singers judge and produce new faces as idols’.

Here, the first thing they evaluate is whether they’re talented singers or not.  Other elements like a skill of arranging songs or uniqueness come after that.  A valuation basis differs depends on those qualities.

 

 

★Talents that are required to Japanese idols

 

 

Let’s take a look at talents that are required to Japanese idols(*>ω<). 

These are all I can think of.

 

 

・Appearance

・Singing skill

・Dancing

・Individuality

 

 

(。-`ω-) I think I could get....

 

 

・Appearance                   3

・Singing skill                   2

・Dancing                       2

・Individuality                  3

 

 

A ratio of each element can be differed depending on what kind of people they want like this (σ´∪｀σ), specifically on what the music market is lacking at the specific time of trials.

Above all, they tend to regard how young idols are as extremely important.

The Japanese idol group, ‘AKB48’ is very typical, and their audition has an age limit from 11 to 18 years old.

 

 

Σヽ(ﾟДﾟ; )ﾉ  Wwwwhat!?

 

｡゜:(つд⊂):゜I can still go take the audition!!

 

(((( ;ﾟдﾟ))) Th..that’s just so easy for me to take that kind of audition!!!

 

(´･ω･`;)……

 

(´；ω；｀)　Sorry... I can’t, to tell you the truth... I lied...

 

 

Just like this, if you really want to be an idol, you have to start when you are still young.

Then, why do they have to be young to start?

 

 

★In short..., what’s ‘idol’ or ‘Idol Anime’?

 

 

‘Idole Anime’ is a story about a ‘process’ where an ‘amateur’ becomes a ‘professional’.

 

In that story, you can see how the young children ‘grow’ overcoming a ‘quarrel’ or a ‘hardship’ they experience.

A child (one of the characters) who first appears in the story finally overcomes and finds the way out of her worries in the last episode of the story.

But on the other hand, the other characters who also want to be an idol, and also her rivals, always do everything ‘perfectly’.  Here, you can see the comparison of her being ‘unskilled’.

 

That’s the highlight part about ‘Idol Anime’ where we can see how a variety of characters grow and finally see how they overcome their hardships during the last episodes on TV!! (　；∀；)

 

So.. don’t ever say they’re not ‘unskilled’ or ‘uncompleted’...

 

The ‘unskilled’ and ‘uncompleted’ characters which they show at first can be an essence that makes each character more attractive!

 

 

 

★Introduction about anime whose materials are about idols

 

 

 

Now, I’m going to introduce to you some various animes, some of which are now being televised(σゝ∀・)σ!

 

 

 

・THE IDOLM@STER

 

 

If we could pick one of the Japanese idol animes, we would definitely pick this! (●´∀｀)σ

It used to be a game but it became an anime in 2011 and also a movie in 2014.  Yes, it’s such a popular anime. 

I used to watch this anime, and I noticed that the characters which belonged to the 756 production were drawn better than the ones in the game.

 

I liked the character; ‘Kisaragi Chihaya’.

Even though she had a great sense of singing like a professional, she was anti-social and didn’t have any emotions.

Why was she addicted to singing?

Why did she try to stay away from people?

But she finally started smiling a lot and communicating with Amami Haruka and other members of her production.

 

But in Episode 20, she lost her voice due to an incident and ended up not being able to sing.

All the members of her production encouraged and supported her, who had been staying at home since the incident.

 

Thanks to their support, she overcame and decided to stand on the stage and could finally sing.

As soon as she finished singing, she smiled while crying.

The smile was ‘the best one’ from her heart, which she definitely never had before.

I bet you would have the same smile as her on your face after you watch the anime.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

・Uta no Prince-sama

 

This anime is all about idols too but it’s not that popular, even though the characters’ aims are to be idols too!

 

The anime ‘THE IDOLM@STER’ or ‘Love Live’ focus on only ‘Singing and Dancing’ but Uta no Prince-sama focus not only on them but also the careers that they have to make in order to make their dreams come true!

 

For instance, Jinguji Ren works as a model, Hijirikawa Masato works as a musical actor and Kurusu Shou works on TV as a drama actor... like this, ST☆RISH members try to work on their careers too.

 

At the first semester, they were all trainees but at the second semester, they finally made a debut and were drawn as professionals.

What is a difference between a ‘trainee’ and ‘professional’?

What’s missing about myself?

They grow with each other seeking for the answers to these questions!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

・Love Live

 

This is such a popular ‘Idol Anime’ which is now being televised!  It’s ‘Love Live’!

 

The difference between ‘Love Live’ and the former two animes is that there are no adults around in ‘Love Live’.

For example, there are producers who support idols in ‘THE IDOLM@STER’ and there are professional trainers who give advice to idols in ‘Uta no Prince-sama’.

 

The characters are all students and they all try so hard to participate in the idol event ‘Love Live’ (which is also this anime’s title), working on their original lyrics, composition, costumes and even creating dance all by themselves.

 

I think ‘Love Live’ especially focuses on such a process to complete their work completely.

Not just saying, “We’ll have a live concert!” or “Ok! We’ll do a live concert!”!

 

“We’ll hold a live concert soon!”

“Ok!  Let’s make a composition!”

“Let’s make a song!”

“Let’s pick the costume!”

“Since we picked up the costume, now let’s make it!”

“We created the song and dancing!  Let’s practice!”

“Ok - Let’s do a live concert!”

 

I feel that it’s well organized with these processes.

Furthermore, since their grades at school are all different and they all have complicated relationships in their families, they can rarely meet up together!

 

But still!  Their hope is ‘to be a great idol’!

Since their goals are the same, sometimes their opinions get split and they have quarrels from that.

But, since they have the same goals, they can understand each other and try harder to go up to the stage!

 

Now, the ‘Love Live’ is on air, so let’s cheer them up by watching their anime!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Beside what I recommended, here are more animes related with idols!

 

・Wake Up, Girls!

 

 

 

・Aikatsu!

 

 

・AKB0048

 

・Pretty Rhythm

 

 

 

There’s no one who is perfect from the beginning!

But if you’re eager to be a professional, you’re required to be ‘perfect’!

 

Why don’t you check out and enjoy the ‘growing’ story aiming at ‘being perfect’?!

 

 

＜＜ ★Saori Press Vol.6★ Saori’s recommendations, PC and mobile game!
                                                                                         
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