It's a confession of love!
What They Say:
The idols from 346 Production's "Cinderella Project" are back, and this time they have more work than ever! Following the success of the summer idol festival, the girls have gained an incredible boost in popularity. Their first group album has even launched. There's just one problem though -- the new executive at 346 Pro, Mishiro. This mysterious new boss is now planning on dismantling all of the company's idol-projects. ALL OF THEM. What could possibly be in store for our beloved Cinderella girls now?!
The Review:
Content: (Please note that the content portion of the review may contain spoilers)
The second season to The iDOLM@STER's "Cinderella Girls" series starts off on the right foot. Any time a series relaunches after a relatively long break, a recap (Or something of that nature) is most definitely in order. In this scenario, we get to see what the lives of the girls have been like in the few months that we've been away. Each unit has skyrocketed: Love Laika is busy with radio interviews, New Generations is performing show after show, and Rosenberg Engel is still...Ranko. This quick montage serves as a heartwarming welcome back to the series that we've all been patiently awaiting since the first cours ended back in early-April.
This is where things start getting a little odd though. A mysterious dark-haired woman arrives at the 346 Pro headquarters early on in the episode and is basically oozing an obvious "I'm important" aura. Just moments after, we find out that she is the new head of the company. Us viewers, as well as the girls, just shrug it off and say, "Okay, whatever. Lets get on with the episode now," and things progress onward to a sort of mystery that has been following the girls for a day or two. Each unit is constantly spotting a shadow while doing whatever it is that idol units do. Being teenage-girls, this obviously gets a little creepy and they notify the Producer (Who's name I capitalized for good reason -- he is the man) and he takes things into his own hands.
From that point on, Producer and the girls start to play detective as they look for whatever shadowy figure keeps appearing wherever they go, meeting up with various, underrated side-characters along the way. Natsuki Kimura, Koume Shirasaka, and Mayu Sakuma all make appearances as A1-Pictures eases us back into the series. After all, what fun would it be if we were to just jump back into the girl's side-stories? Actually, don't answer that. It would be fun regardless. But doing things this way just makes is just going to make things a lot more fun in the long run.
Best/Favorite Part:
Considering Mika Jougasaki is the best girl in this series, I'm going to have to highlight her cameo as my favorite part of the episode. In addition to my biased, Mika-loving outlook however, I was also quite elated to see Riina practicing guitar. Plus, the way her eyes lit up when Natsuki walked over and randomly busted out a ridiculous solo...priceless. Don't worry Riina, that will be you one day.
In Summary:
This lighthearted first episode back is a good way to start off what is hopefully going to be a strong ending to the Cinderella Girls series. By now, it is apparent that this show is most likely going to be nowhere near as great as the regular iM@S (No, not Xenoglossia), but I have high hopes that it is going to pick up and at least make it into my top-three for the season. After all, with a cast as great as this one, it's going to be hard for it to get left in the dust.
Grade: B
Streamed By: Daisuki/Hulu
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