Spring 2024 Anime: The iDOLM@STER: Shiny Colors

Synopsis

We knew that if we could reach out our hands,
we could soar high into the skies──.

Four newly created units.
Their individual quirks go hand-in-hand with one another.
These new idols, united by their bonds,
take their first steps toward the “light”.

The miracle of encounters interweaves with one another, shining with a variety of brilliant colours.
Under the endlessly connected sky, new wings begin to spread.

(Source: Official Website, translated by project-imas wiki)

Comments

Alif Naufal H. (The Indonesian Anime Times)

As one of the branches of the ever-popular The iDOLM@STER franchise, and due to the popularity of its characters on social media, The iDOLM@STER Shiny Colors’ anime adaptation is something that has been long awaited by fans and newcomers alike. As a fan of The iDOLM@STER Shiny Colors, its characters, and the game’s writing as a whole, naturally, the same thing also applies to me. Even if I didn’t like the animation that Polygon Pictures showed via the trailers and promotional videos at first, I was still pretty optimistic that other aspects of this adaptation would meet my expectations.

The first episode opens in a really promising way; As Mano Sakuragi, the main girl of Shiny Colors, monologues about the future that’s about to come, the anime introduces each of the characters, all the while showing scenes in likeness to the artworks from the early years of the game to invoke a sense of nostalgia from players of the game. What stands out to me especially is Mano’s monologue itself; It’s very reminiscent of the style of Shiny Colors’ writing in the game. A prose that’s poetic and invokes a lot of feelings to its reader:

I was looking up at the sky, alone.
I knew nothing back then.
Not about the miracle that was about to occur.
Not about myself.
But still, I wanted to reach for something.
Surely, I was gently clasping my very own feather without even realizing it.
Searching for a place I didn’t know yet as I looked at the sky.
A sky for one. A single feather.
I–, We didn’t know yet.
That we could take flight into skies that shine with our own colours.

Maybe it’s due to my attachment to the game since the beginning, but this opening made me teared up a little bit. Even more so when a piano arrangement of Spread the Wings, the first song from Shiny Colors plays. It managed to make me feel a rush of nostalgia just from hearing it.

The first episode is full of this nostalgic feeling, as it tells the story of how Mano got recruited into 283 Production and formed illumination STARS alongside two other idols in the agency, Hiori Kazano and Meguru Hachimiya. It really reminds me of their story in the game, albeit a little bit simplified. They didn’t forget to show the other units from the game as well; Osaki twins and Chiyuki of Alstroemeria hanging out at a cafe after practice, Houkago Climax Girls‘ energetic (but also hell-ish) training session, and the girls from L’Antica doing dance practice, as they all anticipate the upcoming WING auditions.

Sadly, that’s… all there is to it. It obviously invoked a lot of feelings for someone such as me who has previous attachments to the characters, but as I try to see it from a newcomer’s perspective, there’s… not much that the anime does to make you care about the characters. This is partly due to the anime splitting a lot of screentime to all characters and making sure they all have something to say to the viewer, which sacrifices the depth that each of the characters has. I personally think that it would be much better if, say, the anime gives more focus on the girls from illumination STARS instead as the protagonists and sets the other units aside as a supporting role.

This problem is unfortunately much more apparent in the second episode, which focuses on a different unit: L’Antica. The anime seems like it wants to commit an episode each to focus on one group and introduce them during the episode, but it weirdly inserts unrelated scenes of other units doing things that don’t matter or have any thematic relevance at all to the main topic of the episode. This disappointed me, as the stories in Shiny Colors‘ game tend to connect two seemingly unrelated story moments using its themes sometimes, and seeing the anime fail to do that feels… off.

All of this, coupled with the anime’s stilted 3D animation, makes for a really disappointing experience for an anime that I have been waiting for quite a while. I don’t want to comment much on the animation, but in a season where a 3D anime with great quality like Girls Band Cry airs, Shiny Colors‘ animation pales in comparison to it. It focuses a lot on showcasing a single still frame like how 2D animation often does and shows no interest in making the 3D models move outside of the dance scenes.

There is a sequence in the anime’s opening where they swap each character’s models while they do the same dance move in the center position. I get that this is supposed to show the idea that “every girl is special”, as it is one of the main themes throughout Shiny Colors‘ story, but due to the similar body types of the model and how all of the girls wear the same costume, it just looks like them swapping heads on the same body. It felt lifeless.

I think the example above perfectly describes this anime’s problem for me; With deliberate direction choices such as that, it definitely tries to have as much heart and earnestness as the game’s stories, but it ultimately fails during its execution. If you’re a fan of The iDOLM@STER Shiny Colors already, this anime is nice to watch just to see your favourite girl, but if you’re someone who’s looking to get into it using this anime as an entry point… I really recommend to just play or read the game’s stories instead. You’ll get much more out of it than from watching this anime, I promise.

 Facts and Figures

Screenshots and Trailer

The Indonesian Anime Times