When you know you know. I was pretty sure by the first episode this would be a great anime, but with this second episode which was just as good it's become irrefutable. It's actually kinda frustrating. I wish this weren't a great anime! Or at least not so clearly great so soon! Because to make room for Idoly Pride in my rankings, I had to kick out the much longer Ika Musume, which lowers my total episode count back below 9,000 again.
That's right, it's no longer over 9,000! But I promise it will be in a few weeks again so we can fudge the celebration numbers for a little while right? Right?
Ika Musume, in the end, is merely a comedy. I hoped it would become a little more serious as time passed, but the plot never progressed. I'd rather cry than laugh, and I'd rather be touched or moved than humored. Ika Musume only offered cheap gags to the end, which really isn't enough to be in the top 200 anime. Plus the manga wasn't even fully covered, whereas Idoly Pride will tell its story to the end, which is always the better plan.
Why is Idoly Pride so very good, so much better than Lapis Re:Lights or Gekidol or any of the other idol shows? I think it's clearly because of Mana's death. Mana's death lends a significance and seriousness to this show that none of the others had. It suddenly stopped being fun and games and became about life. Life in general. If you're the little sister of someone who died and the last thing you said to her was to get into a fight, how does that feel? How do you overcome that? That's a story only in Idoly Pride. If you were her classmate and manager but never found the courage to confess your love to her, how does that feel? You won't find it in these other sugary sweet shows. Mana being a ghost and watching over her little sister trying to fulfill Mana's dream is perfect. It's such a great story. But neither Mana nor Kotono is my favorite character in the story, though they do have the best plot. My favorite character is the awkward but confident Sakura. She's so girly, and femininity is really the whole point of idols. They try to be as feminine and appealing as possible in the way only girls can be, and Sakura fits that role to a T. She's got twintails. She smiles all the time. She acts on emotion. She's a healing, cheerful presence around others even when they aren't exactly friendly to her. She's easily frightened. I can't help falling for her more and more.
The music and dance visuals are fantastic, which is what you'd expect from an idol show, but many idol shows don't actually manage that -- Ochikobure Fruit Tart for instance simply didn't have the budget to perform. Idoly Pride does. There are serious people behind this show who aren't afraid to step up to the plate and make a product as daring and good as Love Live! In such a crowded field they dare to win.
In keeping with tradition, '100 Waifus' now also includes a character from Idoly Pride, Sakura. Even though this is the 7th Sakura in the book, she's too qualified to ignore. It had to be her. To make room I cut Youko, an unnecessary third character from 12 Kingdoms which already has two great representatives, Shushou and Shoukei. Youko's name also overlaps with Yoko's (from Gurrenn Lagann), so by cutting Youko in favor of Sakura the actual original name count goes up, despite this being the 7th Sakura.
Hopefully I won't need to edit the book again any time soon, as this was the only winter series left that had a chance of making my rankings. This is also the only great series to have begun in 2021. The year is off to a fine start.
I'd like to include characters from Tales of Arise in my fictional character hall of fame embedded within '100 Waifus,' but who knows when that will actually be released. That's the only change I ever wanted to make. I don't actually plan on editing the book so often, it just keeps happening against my will. >.<.
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