First things first: Is Idolls! a bad series? Well yes, but actually no. It is bad, for obvious reasons. It is a full-CG show, which is not very good, the characters are incredibly simple and idealized, the plot is not very engaging and too stupid at times… in other words, as for the individual parts, there is no reason to watch this show at all.
So, why do I say it is actually not so bad? Well, because although all the elements of his anime are bad, all of them are equally bad and, more importantly, bad in the same way. Let me explain myself. If you are watching, for example, a fantasy show with a very serious plot but suddenly the worst animated CG dragon appeared, it would be a huge turn off, because there would be a clear quality inconsistency in the show, thus the bad parts would highlight a lot. In Idolls! every element is equally bad, so there is not any moment in which you feel an inconsistency in the show, but there is a thing more important than that.
It is not only that every element is equally bad, but also that all the elements are going in the same direction. By this I mean that everything in the show is creating the same kind of tone and aesthetic, so the series is not a mess of bad-made things, it is coherent within itself. It feels like a finished product, not a really good one, but also not a broken series. This is very important because it lets you immerse in the series and be able to enjoy it in some way, as you are not being disrupted by something that feels like it shouldn't have been there. The stupid plot and characters don’t make any sense compared to normal reality, but they make sense within the show because the show is coherent within itself, thus letting the viewer accept the tone of the series and just watch it without worring about inconsistencies.
I have previously stated that the CG was not very good, but having this in mind it works pretty well, it is not incredible (by far), but it is good enough to look at. As for the plot and characters, their simplessness and idealized nature just work great with this kind of show whose only purpose is to entertain.
Another one of the most important things that complement this is the episode duration: just 8 minutes. It is very short, but perfect. It gives time for the (necessary, as we are in an idol show) opening and ending (which I greatly enjoyed), and uses the other 5 minutes for the actual show. And 5 minutes an episode is enough. This show cannot hold an entire 20 minute episode, but the simple plot and small gags can make it entertaining for 5 minutes, making every episode feel like a completed unit, although not being very substantial.
Also, I wanted to remark that this anime was made by only 4 people (plus the 4 voice actresses), which is very low; so, having that in mind, I think the quality of the CG and the general direction of this anime show that they did a really good job.
In conclusion, Idolls! feels like a completed, coherent show; maybe not one with the right amount of quality, but one that feels correctly made.
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