Part of MAGES' multimedia "Idol Jihen" project.
The anime takes place in a parallel-world Japan, where idols stand up against a corrupt government as
"idol Diet members," and then work to bring back the smiles of the Japanese people through song and
dance. The idol Diet members belong to seven different political parties, including the Heroine Party,
the SOS Party, the Subculture New Party, the BishÅjo Party, the Wakaba Party, the Starlight Party, and
the Sanrai Party.
(Source: Anime News Network)
Oh boy, where do I even start with this one? This series is a mess; realistically, it deserves lower than a 5, definitely a 4 and maybe even a 3. The concept of the series is a joke, one that could have been entertaining: in Japan, there is something known as an 'idol dietwoman,' who serves both as a politician and an idol. It's certainly unique, but at the same time, I can't really think of anything that would have made it better than it was. Let's start with the things to its credit, and why it earns a 5 despite being notably worse. The characters, while nothing extraordinary, are at least pretty fun. The main character, Natsuki, gives off genki vibes, but she has just as many moments of airheadedness or clear flaws. She's not exceedingly happy in all situations, which, especially in idol series, usually just builds up to one breakdown that hits 'hard' because we're used to the complete opposite. On top of that, some of the episodes were pretty entertaining. The opposing party to the Idol Dietwomen, the Rougai Party, continuously comes up with these random, crazy plots to try and discredit the idols. The show doesn't have any cohesive plot, for the most part showing the idols solving regular politican problems through the power of music. The songs are pretty good, and while there isn't anything necessarily memorable about them, they were at the very least a joy to listen to. As for the bad...well, pretty much everything else. The animation is nothing to write home about, and while it isn't necessarily horrible, it's not really good, either. The characters can go from being gorgeous in one scene to looking jank or even 'stretched out' in the next. The plot, when the show tries to have one, is all over the place. In the latter half, they ramp up the "opposing party" thing, with the Rougai party kicking up their tactics to the next level and veritably trying to shut down the idols rather than simply discredit them. Except that it really falls apart when it tries. There's no logical conclusion; the things that they do in the end should have been the things they did in the beginning. The series should have started near where it ended, and built the rest of the series off of that, rather than "have 8 episodes of completely unrelated stuff. Oh, wait, we have a story now." The series has too many characters and doesn't really give the time to build any of them up...and, sadly, this ends up afflicting the main cast, as well. There's very little in the way of development for the main characters, which makes the progression even less believable. Overall, the series is a chaotic mess. It might appeal to people who don't value a cohesive plot as much as I do, but even then, the individual episodes don't really give as much satisfaction as other plotless shows might. I wouldn't really call it a complete waste of time to invest the time into watching it, as it does have some good moments here and there. I just feel like that time would also really be better spent on something else. [The ED is pretty lit, though.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSgDRsjLnes)