Lovely Happiness Idol

(tags anime, season 2006/10)

I was impressed with Happiness episode 1, not for the predictable story or the panty shots, oniichan, valentine chocolate, cross-dressing kawaii shonen, magic girls in capes, talking weapons at the ready even in school. No, I was impressed with the artistic non-voiced transitions with music. There's a quiet piece where Haruhi and Anri go to their next class while the Yuuma and company contemplate the fantasy of school with cute magic girls across the way.

Similarly at the end of the episode when the two finally meet in the same class and their surprise turns quietly into shared smiles, the voices stop and music takes over. Very artistic. Or maybe I'm annoyed by voices and the quiet is comforting? Here words say less than the visuals, really.

Mainly PC-ecchi game seiyuu and singer Yui Sakakibara (榊原ゆい) lends her talent here competently as lead heroine Haruhi. I notice she voices some heaves and sighs, which is kind of annoying. Is this supposed to make the 2d characters more alive or pensive? Takashi Ohara (大原 崇) as Yuuma has the enviable nice guy voice here. I keep thinking back to To Heart Remember My Memories' male lead's voice and experience nightmares. Finally Hitomi/Hokuto Minami (ひと美/北都南) is here in a supporting role, this time as sexy older teacher voice. Heh, must see, must hear.

I've been wanting to buy the original game for a while, but maybe the anime will tide me over.

I ruined my morning first though with Lovely Idol. On many levels (story, plot, music, action) this show blows chunks crudely, but I can't fault the character design and art at all. Character designer Aoi Nishimata (西又葵) 2d designs in Magikyu Magazine and the Lovely Idol PlayStation 2 game are suprisingly faithfully translated to the anime unlike Final Approach and Shuffle (both were great but they don't make you think "Nishimata animated"). When is the quality going to drop? Actually, the opening sequence is a little bland, so maybe we can expect a quality drop sometime during the series? The camera though, hovers at risque positions, but never a panty shot, thankfully. On one hand, the first third of the show is a rehash or recycle of the PS2 game's contents. On the other, crowds of glow-stick waving, chorus-singing otaku at Comiket are rendered here.

Sakura Nogawa (野川さくら) comes back to female lead spotlight here. Though I am probably the only person that likes Hina Ichigo best out of all the Rozen Maiden dolls, Sakura Nogawa makes her push outside high and carefree role into a deeper voiced, mysterious Mizuki. As an aside, I picked up Nogawa's live action DVDs at some bargain bin in the Books Lashinbang. I'm not sure how bright her star or how sucessful is, but she's been trying to branch out into singing and acting. I noticed recently she had a couple of DVD sets of live concerts. Hm.

I actually have the PS2 game (unopened) and the opening music CD I got for half off at a unpopular Joshin. I doubted that this world would continue. But I'm pretty happy with both of these series. At least I won't have to play the original games anymore.

(edit: added comparison to Final Approach and Shuffle)