Still perky despite it all.

As in the first season, of Puchimas! Petit iDOLM@STER, I like the Puchimas!! Petit Petit iDOLM@STER Hibiki more than the Hibiki from the regular iDOLM@STER anime. This is mostly because in the regular anime Hibiki is sort of a gag character with pretty broadly drawn defining characteristics, and they never quite worked for me in that context. Frankly, I find Hibiki's pet alligator harder to accept than believing Takane might be from the moon. (Speaking of which, Takane from The iDOLM@STER TV is eccentric and mysterious. Puchimas! Takane is a nutjob.) Hibiki is a gag character in Puchimas! as well, but every character in Puchimas! is a gag character. Curiously, Hibiki's defining role as a gag character in a non-canonical gag anime is not her canonical gag from the canonical non-gag anime. (This is my way of saying that "has a lot of animals" is not Hibiki's primary attribute in Puchimas!!. Rather, Hibiki takes the role of the beleaguered straight man, constantly vacillating between moments of incredulous Takane-inspired despair and regular moments of more conventional low-level suffering. Hibiki's affectations are influential enough that I've caught myself mimicking her exasperated sigh during darker moments of comically bad fortune, to tell you the truth.

WHO RUN BARTERTOWN?!

So what about Hibiki from the games? I can't give this question a straight answer because I don't actually know all that much about Hibiki from the games. In fact, I'm only familiar with game-type Hibiki from Shiny Festa and Internet videos. Regarding the former, my lack of rhythm prevents me from advancing too far in the game. With regard to the latter, I've only seen a few game-play clips from the proper games; mostly I've just watched all-singing, all-dancing performance clips. As far as those are concerned, Hibiki, Takane, and Miki are all equally valuable to me as members of Project Fairy. That really is a well-balanced and nicely harmonized trio. Best project. Best fairy.

So far so good.

A while back, it was about a year ago, I think it was, I decided to check out more of THE iDOLM@STER's action, right, figure out what Million Live! had going on that I didn't have going. Although I was a (secondary) fan of the "real" iDOM@STER and knew of Cinderella Girls from its anime adaptation, Million Live! I only knew from the various cards people would upload to the Danbooru.

I'm guessing Umi smokes this girl.

Well, it turned out there were quite a few Million Live! characters (and a shit ton of Cinderella Girls). At a whim, I decided to start burning through all the bios to see if perhaps there was one I'd be likely to favor best. I even started a a spreadsheet compiling the official data. (This spreadsheet has since grown out of control.) It sort of felt like shopping for a mail-order waifu from a catalog since I was at least semi-consciously intent on determining which Million Live! was best Million Live!.

I don't actually know anything about this event.

Coincidentally, this was also about the time I lost my previous disinterest in anime figures. I reasoned that as my anime-type hobby didn't seem to be going away, it probably wasn't just a phase, and perhaps that made it all right to spend some money on anime tchotchkes. And maybe a display box of some sort. But not a display case, that's going too far. After all, I would only be getting one. (Heard this one before, have you?) I just had to figure out which one. Preferably not one which would cost me like two hundred damn dollars only to melt during a relentless Southern California summer.

I can't tell if this is an exhibition or a competition.

Also coincidentally, this was about the time I learned of the Rookie Seiyuu Awards. Ueda Reina won that year for Hanayamata, so I watched that (it turns out it's really good) and a bunch of other shows with Ueda Reina roles, even token ones. (It turns out Ueda Reina is really good too.) Anyway, those of you who happen to be Ueda Reina fans probably already know where I'm going with this, as will anyone who is an actual fan of THE iDOLMASTER: Million Live! itself rather than just a fan of the idea of THE iDOLM@STER: Million Live! like me.

Ueda Reina, center, with some of her fellow Hanayamata seiyuu.

It turns out Kousaka Umi is the not-quite-anime-character perfect storm. Some of you already know that—in the absence of any other key indicators—I start my character ranking determinations based on the various candidates' hair. Kousaka Umi's extraneous twin braids immediately put her in towards the top of the list, because I love me some twin braids. The top of the list, incidentally, included such company as Kitazawa Shiho whom I liked from the iDOLM@STER movie because she was such a bitch to everyone for no reason, and Nanao Yuriko (whom I also liked for her hair, even though she wasn't a bitch to anyone in the iDOM@STER movie). I'm also partial to enthusiastic Top Fuel Genki characters in general. Add in some real-deal athleticism, and I'm basically sold. Wait, there are also random ballet-themed references and non sequiturs? Someone's been reading my old journals. I'm totally in favor of a ballet-trained idol even if it means she is probably really bendy.

Actually, she is really bendy.

At this point, I was tracking Kousaka Umi as the likely best Million Live! idol, but she didn't have any anime presence to speak of. Was she in anything else besides the game? Thanks to my aforementioned serendipitous curiosity about anime figures, I decided to see if possibly a Kousaka Umi figure existed. And yes, it turned out one did. This was somewhat perplexing, as she was also the only Million Live character who had an anime figure of any sort at the time. It's still not clear to me why; if there was only going to be one, I would have expected one of the characters from the movie. Anyway, finding out a Kousaka Umi figure did exist and that it did not cost two hundred damn dollars worked out pretty well. Especially since this way I could claim my lone anime figurine was somewhat esoteric despite being part of a well-known franchise.

This Kousaka Umi anime figure came with an extra face.

You know what's next, right? As I understand it, most (or at least many) Cinderella Girls characters are not yet voiced, but every Million Live! character is voiced. Kousaka Umi, you've surely already guessed, is voiced by Ueda Reina.

"ココロ☆エクササイズ" is quite catchy.

Well, shit. Umimi not only cruises through all the checkpoints (at least on paper), she has an anime figure which was apparently under-appreciated even when it was the only game in town as far as Million Live! figures went, AND she's voiced by my favorite newbie voice actress. So there you have it. This was a no-brainer. Also, if you're reading this on August 10th, then it means I managed to get this written in time for her designated birthday. Happy 16th birthday again, Umimi. You're my THE iDOLM@STER: Million Live! Best Girl.

What, another year already?

Okay, this is getting out of hand.

Well, it's been another year.

Close enough, eh.

It's already been five years.

The Million Live! anime sure is taking its sweet time.