User reviews

The 2011 anime is so amazing that it has always been difficult for Idolmaster's adaptations to match its quality. I've always been a big fan of quality over quantity, and the 2011 anime does a great job of making the most of its running time by giving each of its girls (and Producer, who is very important) a spotlight episode and developing their characters in a way that makes them interesting to non-gamers. Its later spinoffs, Side:M (too many idols, Producer is a non-entity) and Cinderella Girls (lack of focus on both the core trio and the entire cast), are clearly unable to live up to the 2011 show.

Particularly, MiliLive acquired SideM's and Cinderella Girls' drawbacks. You have an absurdly big cast of girls, none of whom receive any meaningful attention to develop their unique identities, alienating non-gamers, and a producer who is a complete nonentity. You know, one of the main features of Idolmaster is that the Producer isn't just some self-insert; he's a main character just like any of the girls, and in some episodes, his initiative sets him apart from the typical "token male character in an all-female show" that you see in other shows. The Producer of MiliLive can be removed with ease, and it won't change anything.

To be honest, it's possible that the adjustment came too late. Even though the 2014 film primarily focuses on Kana, that was as excellent of an adaptation of MiliLive as it was going to get, considering that the platform was at its peak around that time. However, it did have a magnificent ending and was at least directed for someone. I felt nothing after MiliLive's 2023 adaption ended, and I dread to think how the Shinymas adaptation is gonna be like. Providing the ladies with mechas to combat asteroids at this time could have been a wiser course of action.