You know, when I first got hooked on Idol Master XENOGLOSSIA, I was at a loss to explain why the show appealed to me as much as it did. So, it was with some trepidation that I continued watching, expecting it to eventually morph into something not at all to my liking. I was waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Except, it never happened. And, even though I still can’t explain why the show pushes all the right buttons, I can at least breath a sigh of relief, seeing as it has indeed turned out to be as enjoyable as I hoped it would be, if not more so. If you put me on the spot, however, and asked, “What gives? How can you be so enamored with a show everyone and their brother likes to rag on?”, I’d have to say this…
It makes no pretensions.
And that could very well be why the show hasn’t been particularly well-received. Anime fans have a tendency to expect more than simple entertainment from the shows they watch. So far, however, Xenoglossia has offered its viewers little more than simple entertainment. Hence, it’s rubbish. Right? Obviously, I don’t think so, but I’ve spent enough time within the fan community to know that this sort of sentiment is common among anime fans of all stripes. Even I’m guilty at times, I’m sure.
However, seeing as Xenoglossia is neither a blockbuster or widely adored title, should it be elevated to “hidden treasure” status? Beats me. It seems like an odd way to describe a heavily marketed Sunrise series loosely based on a ridiculously popular video game that swept Japan by storm. And, seeing as the show makes no pretensions, I feel like I should do the same. Although, I will admit that, when I read negative comments about Xenoglossia on blogs and message boards, I usually just chuckle and roll my eyes. Ah, conventional wisdom, what would we do without you?
But, at the same time, I don’t see any reason to defend the show. I enjoy it, and that’s good enough. And I have friends who enjoy it, so I at least know I’m not suffering from some sort of brain injury. I can fanboy about Xenoglossia all day long and still sleep at night. I do wonder, however, how the show would have been received had it not been preceded by Mai-HiME and Mai-Otome - two shows that, while having their legions of fans, have not necessarily aged well.
Is Xenoglossia suffering undeserved backlash as a result? Perhaps. The funny thing is, in my opinion, Xenoglossia is better than its two predecessors. It’s clearly less absurd. And it’s far more deliberately paced. Whereas the pacing in Mai-HiME and Mai-Otome left me with whiplash, the pacing in Xenoglossia is surprisingly natural. The writers have planted the seeds, and now it’s time to watch them grow.
And I’m happy to do just that. In fact, for all the cries of, “more action, dammit!”, I wouldn’t mind some filler episodes right about now. There’s a great ensemble cast lurking in Haruka’s shadow at the moment, and nothing brings out side characters like simple, entertaining fluff. So, I’m hoping Xenoglossia will do its best to piss off its detractors even more in future episodes.
Well, having not seen Hime or Otome, I still find this show to awfully dull. So far it just seems like a moe-styled copy off Evangelion more than anything. It’s been getting better, I’ll admit, but it’s taken too long to do that. It’s not horrible, though, as I haven’t dropped it, but I don’t think it’s exploiting its full potential. I don’t want more action so much as I want more substance. Also, less cliche crap. Please.
I like simple entertainment, but I prefer it in the form of Hidamari Sketch or Azumanga Daioh. I do think I’m guilty of being a pretentious fan. My favourite anime of all time is Evangelion, after all.
Also props for that Gundam reference in the topic title.
I haven’t seen any “negative comments … on blogs and message boards” or at least I cannot recall any. I can offer a few, starting with cockpit visibility being so poor that it’s completely crazy for Haruka to strain her eyes when Imbel’s sensor array should’ve been at work. And man, that love factor is, shall we say… OK, I don’t even know what to say. It started with just kissing the key and talking around Yayoi, and now special mission panties come to the scene. I’m afraid to watch, are we going to see any joystick action soon (which they call “grip”, uh-huh)? And then there’s the reciprocity which Haruka receives.
But yeah, I’m staying with Xenoglossia for now, at least as long as I can pretend to be in denial about the creators being complete pervs.
Oh, another reason I’m watching is, I am curious if the sleepyhead gets to drive and if yes, what. Just good old suspense.
I just keep watching it with the belief firmly in mind that the creators obviously planted their tongues in their cheeks when writing this show.
Then again, I’m pretty much the only member of my forum following this thing, as far as I can tell. So go figure?
It must be because of Haruka - shes gorgeous.
I think you hit the nail on the head. Try as I might, I couldn’t come up with any “real” reasons that this show should be good. As you said, this could simply be a case of “well, it’s just entertaining” - and, considering that to entertain the viewer is the entire purpose of the medium, shouldn’t that be enough?
It’s not like this show is nothing but shallow fanservicey entertainment, either; it’s got some decent characterization (ignoring the strange girlmecha thing going on) and a steady (though admittedly bordering on slow and boring at times) pace, along with its fairly high production values. Those really awkward innuendotastic parts that nobody seems to know what to think about are probably what set this show apart, though.
Joke about the similarities with Evangelion all you want, but can you really make a non-Gundam mecha show without having those comparisons made anymore?
>”So, I’m hoping Xenoglossia will do its best to piss off its detractors even more in future episodes.”
I echo that sentiment. I wouldn’t mind a episode featuring nothing but Ritsuko going around messing with everyone, or following Yayoi around for the day (if only to put a bit more relevance to all those silly costumes she has).
>”I haven’t seen any “negative comments … on blogs and message boards” or at least I cannot recall any.”
I’ve seen a few - Omni seems to sway wildly between liking the show and being hugely disappointed on a week by week status - but largely I don’t see many comments of any kind, negative or otherwise. Most the people on the forums I read either aren’t watching the show or don’t care enough to comment on it, with those who do post largely saying that the show is average beyond belief, or that they wish Sunrise hadn’t turned it into a mecha show. Generally, though, people just don’t seem to care.
You’re not alone, I completely agree with your post–I keep waiting for Idolmaster to go off the rails like I felt Mai-Hime and Otome did, but so far it hasn’t disappointed me. Normally I avoid mecha like I avoid pulling out my own teeth, but it’s been a lot of fun watching this. No matter what flak it gets from people who hoped it would be something else, it’s keeping me entertained so based on that it’s good in my book.
I’m sliding towards the “wildly crazy about this show” status, m’self. It’s just fun stuff(though the flower in the latest episode was kinda overdone)… and we all need fun these days. Is it High Art?
Nope. More like High Fred, Art’s younger brother.
Hehe, well, if nothing has gone wrong within 7 episodes, it seems like a good bet that things should be remaining at at least decent levels for a while.
I’ll keep watching it too anyway, it’s entertainment, after all…
I first downloaded Xenoglossia after reading about your first post about it, and how you just couldnt help but like it. When I looked it up, I thought “yeah, but im not exactly looking for a mecha anime” (i may have also attached ” from sunrise”… ) After watching some, I have found myself quite hooked to it too. All over, it just seems a good show to just watch. As you mentioned, it can sometimes feel like simple entertainment - and personally, I like that sometimes.
Also, I took a read back on that “Conventional Wisdom” article you linked…. I actually just finished watching Amaenaideyo!! and Amaenaideyo!! Katsu last month (on my own), and found it interesting. I think I may have to follow your anime schedule a bit closer, as it appears to line up with mine well :D
The first episode was quite good and I also agree that it reminds me of NGE. I mean, one of the women looks exactly like Misato Katsuragi. After the first though, the show seems rather generic for the Mecha x Moe genre. There’s little to be excited or offended about. If the production values weren’t so high, I probably wouldn’t bother either. I expect that it will be a show that you can watch without regrets but you’re not missing anything if you don’t. I guess at some point it’ll become more dramatic and maybe dark.
I think I’d actually enjoy some filler episodes too, especially if it means passing on the rather dull ‘action’ scenes. Even now that we have plot, I think it’s too late to save this from mediocrity, especially with what has been revealed so far, but we will see.
More Yayoi please.
I think you mean more Yukiho tits
Actually there’s a perfect expression to describe the show: “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts”.
Indeed each part taken individually is good (or very good) but never outstanding: the character design is good but not very original, the animation is good but not necessarily flamboyant, the music is good but not particularly memorable, etc… And yet the way all these parts are tied, are glued, together makes the whole much more enjoyable than expected.
Personally I think the pacing is to be thanked for that. This is an aspect often overlooked in reviews, and yet it has been so many times decisive in my enjoying of an anime (or movie for that matter). One thing I like about the pacing of this show is that, so far, no situation has been dragged too long. Nothing feels too fast or too slow, there’s a very good balance. Most of the situations depicted have been shown again and again in other shows, but by spending just the right amount of time on each, none feels as a rehash. In short we don’t get bored. Take for instance the friendship between Haruka and “Big Forehead”: we all knew the antipathy wouldn’t last. And how long did it take to make the two best pals? Only one episode.
Another key element is “context”. So far it has been a very light-hearted and dare I say refreshing show. And yet it’s a mecha show. How odd. How many mecha shows can you cite with that kind of overall mood? Where is the angst of Gundam Seed, the suffering of Evangelion, the grandiloquence of Heroic Age? We have here a mecha show that doesn’t take itself too seriously: isn’t it refreshing for a once? Especially in regards of the current “big” shows (Death Note, Code Geass, Darker than Black, etc…) that are all very serious and dark with lots of killing and anti-heroes or villain heroes (see http://www.riuva.com/?p=622). I for one couldn’t care less of what happens to the characters in those shows, but I’m definitely rooting for Haruka.
Sure as you say it’s mecha show with teenage (girl) pilots based on a popular video game. And yet so far it has been a very light-hearted and relaxing show.
How odd.
I’m one of the negative comment posters I suppose XD I just found it to be extremely boring, and that’s not because I don’t like slice of life/no action-series … but the characters just seemed so uninteresting and stereotypical. And well, since I was deeply disappointed by Mai Otome already, I don’t have faith in this one either, eventhough it probably can’t really be worse than Otome … only if they continue with the Hentai-Mecha, eww oO;;
But well, I don’t belong into the target audience of these kind of series anyway … while I found Amaenaideyo to be pretty entertaining at the beginning, the fanservice was just too much later on.
Perhaps it’s just me, but I’m not seeing the whole “Haruka x Imber” thing. Or, rather, I’m not seeing it the way some of the rest of your are seeing it. I suppose it goes beyond, say, Noa’s love for Alphonse in Patlabor, but if the iDOLs do indeed have some sort of heart or soul, is Haruka’s “love” for Imber really all that hard to swallow? It’s fun to joke about the innuendo, but I don’t know if it’s worth focusing on all that much. I haven’t raised an eyebrow, at least.
I’m also perplexed by the comparisons to Evangelion. I suppose the command structure of Mondenkind is similar to that of NERV, and there’s the obvious “teenagers saving the world” angle, but… well, as JRoxas points out, doesn’t that describe half of the modern mecha shows in existence? Evangelion is not the first mecha show to use these narrative devices. Nor is it the last. And, of course, the tone of Xenoglossia is nothing like Evangelion.
In fact, it’s kind of refreshing how quickly Haruka bounces back from her failures. The angst has been kept to a minimum. It’s not quite, “DO YOUR BEST, DESHO!”, but it’s getting there. Could you say the same for Evangelion?
The similarities to Eva are mostly superficial. Such as the robot cage/launch site, the command center, the various types of characters in said command center (which I guess applies to most mech shows)…
…also in the last episode they had some guy talking to bits of modern art, which isn’t all to different from Ikari’s discussions with the Seele monoliths.
Jeff, you’re forgetting that you were able to see through (or past) the mecha powered by pure lesbian energy. Of course a small thing like that wouldn’t be an issue for you. I just brought it up in comments, you know, to reflect on it and simulate some of that supposed negativity that I can’t find anywhere.
It’s a great show in some strange way, because I’d love to fly one of those things. I didn’t think such thoughts since Stratos 4. Naturally, we’d form a mature, manly bond, wink wink wink.
I can keep it to my blog, if this angle is an issue.
Comparisons, I think, are inevitable in our business. I saw Lucky Star compared with Azumanga, PPD, Excel Saga, and the two recent Kyoto Ani’s blockbusters. Apparently it’s just the way some of us like to think. To what the comparison is made probanly indicates more about the reviewer’s coordinate system. And Evangelion was big.
Some shows Jeff watch totally suck. Some shows Jeff watch totally rocks. At least he makes his bad choices really obvious.
Actually, I thought the same thing about the “talking” paintings, Wildarmsheero.
As for your point, Pete… I don’t know if I saw through “the mecha powered by pure lesbian energy” as much as I realized that the “mecha powered by pure lesbian energy” was basically a non-starter in the grand scheme of things. I mean, it’s not like they stripped down and steamed up the cockpit windows or anything. Honestly, I think it’s sophomoric to focus excessively on innuendo and fanservice when discussing a show when said innuendo and fanservice isn’t all that prevalent in the show to begin with. We’re not in junior high anymore. Sometimes, though, it sure feels like it.
Just a little frustration on my part, I guess. Either that, or I’m just getting old.
As for the “supposed” negativity… just because you’re not finding it anywhere doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. I’m not projecting here. The reader comments here are overflowing with negativity, for example. And, in the circles I run in, the show took a pretty good beating when it first began. You don’t hear much about the show now, but I suspect that’s because so few people are watching it.
I find it so funny that people *hate* it. It’s not a bad show. It’s just not very good, either.
I mean, it’s not like Soul Link or anything.
I find Xenoglossia to be pure entertainment in the same way something like Lucky Star is. As Jeff says it makes no pretensions of greatness, but sets out to be fun and succeeds.
Unlike some people at least I have the show a chance. Im glad I did despite the certain stuff that that happend that I found hard to swallow or handle. I should thank sunrise for that.
sorry that was my bad I meant to say gave the show a chance instead of had.