16 March 2015: Idols need boats, idols need boats, idols idols idols idols idols idols idols need boats
Ayako Boat needs more lines.
I enjoy both Kantai Collection and The iDOLM@STER Cinderella Girls, and I still look forward to the new episodes each week, but neither show is particularly successful at getting me invested in the characters. This is surely because both shows are adaptations of already popular games and are intended to cater to established fans. However, this means cramming both shows with simply too many characters that never get developed. They end up existing simply as catchphrase-spouting bits of scenery.
Poi all day, poi poi poi all night.
At the same time, there are arguably not enough characters on these shows. Because both games have such huge rosters, inevitably there are disappointed fans gnashing their teeth at these omissions. In fact, they'd probably be less irate if the casts were smaller, because then they could appreciate that it was necessary to omit their beloved obscure idol in order to improve the show as a whole. With casts that are too large to adequately develop all the characters, yet too small to avoid semi-significant omissions, you end up with the present case. I bet you there are outraged Amatsukaze fans who are still angry Kantai Collection included "that double-gloved slut Shimakaze" instead of their smoky "waifu."
Miku is actually pretty great when she isn't doing her catgirl shtick.
In this regard, Cinderella Girls is less guilty of this practice, but there still are way too many idols. The actual number isn't too different from that of the previous iDOLM@STER anime, but the last anime regularly devoted entire episodes to puffing up the girls individually. I guess Cinderella Girls has had its Ranko episode and sort of had a Mio episode, but I'm not sure how successful it will be over the split-cours song and dance. The most recent episode focused on my current three least-favorite characters, so maybe it will stack main characters into token episodes this way to double or triple-up later on ones I actually find interesting.
