The iDOLM@STER SideM: Episode 00 [First Impression] JUPITER IS BACK!

The iDOLM@STER Prologue SideM: Episode of Jupiter

/SCREAMING

AHHHHHHHHHHHH MY EMOTIONS! I WAITED SIX LONG YEARS FOR THIS! MY BOYS ARE BACK!!!!! For those who don’t know, it was no secret that I was a huge fan of Jupiter when Vantage and I covered The Idolm@ster (We were such young writers back then! *Note: As for January 2016, the screencaps between 2010 – 2012 were removed exist due to have to remove them in order to make more space for our storage*) Ever since I had hoped for them to get their own show. Lo and behold, seven years later, it finally happened, and it was so nostalgic to watch. I haven’t had the chance marathon The idolm@aster, something I typically do when it’s been over four years since the last show or season has aired.  I will be sure to do it – in fact I intend to re-watch it as soon as I finish this entry so I can enter this series with a fresh memories of the deeply conflicts rooted conflicts that took place.

Those who have not watched The idolm@ster and are tuning in for these fabulous boys, here’s what you need to know about them: Jupiter consists three members, Touma, Shouta and Hokuto. They were formerly affiliated with 961 Productions, and quit the agency after being dragged into the mess of President Kuroi’s underhand tactics of trying to sabotage 765 Productions.

Now a year has passed, and the boys have been running free to perform what they want, and took it upon themselves to of manage their own shows. Despite the endless waves of offers from scouts looking to recruit them to their own respective agencies, Jupiter continues to decline all offers, that is until the President of 315 Productions shows up. After the crap they been through with 961 Productions Jupiter – or rather Touma in particular has a very difficult time trusting agencies. He does not want to be used as a tool again. 315 Productions President is hilariously persistent – always showing up everywhere like a shadow, but then one day he decides to get serious, and tells the boys they have reached their celing. They cannot be true professionals on their own because they are missing something important. Turns out he was talking about their fans, who have been unfortunately getting the short end of the stick every since they went rogue. Due to performing at smaller venues, they are not able to accommodate their loyal fans who can’t get in, and have been lacking the resources to get the message out to their fans who wait outside to a chance to see their faces. It was heart-wrenching to watch them realize just difficult it is among the three of them to do everything on their own. But after meeting the (who I believe will be this series’) Producer, Touma eventually comes around and accepts 315 Productions President’s offer to join his new agency. It was sweet to see how despite the fact Shouta and Houkoto had already accepted the offer in their hearts early on, but chose to patiently wait for Touma since they understand how difficult it is for him to take that leap of faith.

For those who don’t know, Touma is my bias. I love this guy, and I also happen to ship him with ship him with Haruka (I squealed just simply seeing the two interact again). He really the type who wears his heart on his sleeve, and gets riled up easily when people poke his wounds or short-comings. He does what he can to leading the team, but he carries a lot of weight on his shoulders and we can definitely see just how difficult is it for him to come around and trust new people. I look forward to seeing him interact with the new characters, especially with the president considering these two end up bickering like children – it’s quite hilarious.

Shouta is adorable, but I’d be lying if I said I don’t remember much about him (same goes to Hokuto who didn’t have that much of a presence in the original series either). But today his character showed us how as the youngest member of the group, he is fun, bubbly, perspective and learned that nobody don’t want to be the one to wake him up from naps. I look forward to learning more about him!

Hokuto is the eldest of the group, also the one who takes charge of most of the management and dealing with the never ending waves of scouts. We didn’t learn too much about him this episode, in fact for most of the episode I found he kind of blended into the background. Hopefully he will get the chance to have more presence as the series goes on since he’s a cool guy with a good heart too.

Although they haven’t been bothered by President Kuroi since they had left him, now that they have joined a new agency, there is little doubt in my mind he is going to let them reemerge to pursue their dream as Top Idols. I am sure he will be back to stomp on them in any way he can with is new boy group.

Overall, The Episode of Jupiter was a great way to kick off The iDOLM@STER Side M. It was great to see few familiar faces, such as the good reporter and Haruka from 765 Productions. I will say though I was quite sad that we didn’t get to see 765 Production Pro perform at the arena. It was great that the boys received tickets to attend their performance. It was bittersweet though because as Touma said, they have fallen behind in the race of becoming Top Idols, and 765 Productions Pro is full speed ahead.

Of course let’s not forget about the songs and dance! I LOVE THEIR SONGS, ESPECIALLY THEIR NEW ONE. <3 <3 <3  And I am super psyched to see they are continuing to stick to the 2D dancing sequences, only occasionally using CGI (which I gotta say was pretty good looking – from behind!)

By the end of the episode, we were given a quick glimpse at some of the other boys we will be meeting in this series (who are supposed to be their seniors because they joined 315 Productions earlier- but have yet to debut! (Goodness this president is a crafty one!)). Their characters are already appealing to me so I absolutely cannot wait to meet the rest of them. Things are looking good already, and I am anticipating a great journey ahead!

Possibility of Blogging: Guaranteed – There’s no way I am passing up on this.