The Series To Blame For My CG Anime Idol Addiction

For years now, I've been addicted to CG Idols. Which is funny because before the addiction happened my feelings on CG ranged from "this is too painful to watch" to "I can live with it" and on rare occasion "this is actually decent".   Plus I viewed CG as one of those things that should only be used for this and not for that. Often times the "that" I didn't want it used for was of course the humans.

LilPri is a series that was one part idol, one part fairy tale references, and had some fun aspects to it. However it also had some issues including the CG. It bothered me quite a bit. Yet despite how much I complained about the CG, I still kept watching it. Did I secretly like the CG? Did the show itself make up for it? Or was this another case of me loving bad shows? Either way I kept up with the show, feeling both positive and negative about the series after finishing the final episode of it.

Then came the series Pretty Rhythm Aurora Dream. This was a huge step up. For one, the story was far more interesting. Aira herself is a far more appealing lead than all three of the girls in LilPri put together. You also had the skating angle to the idol stuff. And I am not going to dance around the issue. She's rather pretty.

So even before getting to the CG, the show was already winning favor from me. I can't say the CG in the show has no issues, but at least for me it felt like a step up. I actually found myself interested in seeing how the performances of each episode would play it. And this time it wasn't for train wreck reasons like it had been before.

Then came the real break through. Now what we see here is the CG from the first episode when the show was at its weakest. However thanks to LilPri showing me the low and Pretty Rhythm showing me the potential, I wasn't about to write of Aikatsu just yet. Even more so because Ichigo as a character made a strong first impression on me and I wanted to experience more of her events.

You could even say she knew how to appeal. I'm sorry. As time went on, Aikatsu became one of my favorite long term series to watch.  Not just because of Ichigo, but because of several other idols introduced.  Their types and themes varied, but that was part of the fun. You had cute idols, sexy idols, cool idols, etc. 

Perhaps by far one of my favorite idols is Yurika the vampire themed idol. Her general theme of darkness was appealing. If there was any chance of me dropping Aikatsu, it was destroyed the second Yurika made her presence known. For the record, I like even idols far from the Yurika type such as Otome, but Yurika's type is super effective on me. See also Sumire (S3/S4), Lilie (Stars), Sakuya (Friends), Kaguya (Friends) and pretty much Goth Lolita themed idols with some form of darkness theme in general.

Aikatsu's CG for the most part has been getting better over time. That is one of the reasons why I'm glad to have witnessed the journey through the days of Ichigo, Akari, Yume and now Aine. Aine's performance in episode 34 of Aikatsu Friends was especially good for me. Helps that as a lead Aine is one of my favorites. It also helps that just like with previous series, Aine is surrounded by other idols that provide their own types of appeals to the series.

Aikatsu of course isn't the only series focused on idols that I'm into. A good strong contender for me is the Pretty series. I do miss the Skating days of "Rhythm", but Pri Para was still a strong series thanks to the quality of the characters in it. The Idol Time portion did worry me a bit.  Pri-Chan however has been a fun  ride or maybe I just like Anna too much. Ha, as if that's even possible.

Long Story Short, CG Idols have become something I look forward to. They're not the only reason, but definitely a reason I keep watching Aikatsu and other such series. That being said, they alone would not be enough reason for me to watch. Also just because I enjoy CG Idols doesn't mean I want anime to be 3D CG 24/7. There is still a huge need for traditional 2D Anime. Believe it or not wanting one thing doesn't mean you want the end of another. 

At the very least, I want to continue experiencing what we've been given in shows like Aikatsu. Speaking of part of the appeal is the fact the CG is used mainly for performances. This allows them to stand out as special events. In fact, given part of the premise of the show the performances being the way they are almost makes sense. You know if you ignore all the idols that get a quick 2D "pan shot" because they're not important enough to get an actual performance.

Such as the above for example. Granted other times it's because of the lack of a model or because they just want to save time in an episode. It's a blessing because it gives us 2D moments and can avoid what might have just been repeat performances. It's a curse because it means we can miss out on a unique/rarer performance.

I can't claim all CG is good, I still experience plenty of bad today.   However between legit enjoying some shows in part because of the CG and other shows in spite of the CG, I can no longer drop a show simply because it dares to be 3DCG. I crossed that line years ago. As such I will continue to look forward to some CG, tolerate other CG and of course enjoy the 2D stuff as well.