Cinderella Girls S1 E1

## Plot

Three girls are narrating about how they dreamed of becoming idols, and how it seemed like a faraway dream until they had a fateful encounter. One girl is running up the steps when she runs into a staff member, who bumps into a girl carrying flowers. The staff member drops the box she was carrying and a glass slipper falls out. A man at the bottom of the stairs picks it up. After a montage of the idols, and other Cinderella girls if you look carefully, we cut to Tokyo Art School. A fifteen year old girl, Uzuki Shimamura, is looking at photos from the last idol concert when she's greeted by her trainer. They're the only ones there. Uzuki wants to be on stage too. She was really close during her last Cinderella audition. Even after all her classmates dropped out, she still tries to do her best. A tall, intimidating man comes in, scaring them both. The trainer tells him that if he has business here, he must see the receptionist. When Uzuki is training by herself, he comes back in and nearly scares the poor girl half to death. He just wanted to talk to her and give her his business card. He's a producer for the Cinderella Project, and he works at 346 Productions. They have three openings for the project. Uzuki can finally make her debut and become an idol. On her way home, she stops by a flower shop to buy herself flowers to celebrate. She doesn't know which ones to buy, and flowers are expensive. The girl working at the counter helps her pick some special ones out. They're called anemones. They mean anticipation and hope. Uzuki thanks her for her help and walks off with the flowers. The girl who works there is named Rin Shibuya. It's her family's flower shop. Until the producer can recruit two more girls, Uzuki will have to stand by and continue with her lessons. She has some questions, but all the producer says is that it's in the planning stage. However, she has one more question. She wants to know why the producer picked her. He says that he choose her for her smile. The girl from before, Rin, is watching a little boy who is crying because his toy broke. An officer comes up to her and starts asking her questions. The producer spots this and asks the officer to listen to Rin more. At the station, the whole thing is cleared up. The boy dropped a screw from his toy, and Rin was making sure that no one stepped on it. The producer apologizes for making the situation worse. Well, he *is* intimidating, but I think Rin would've ended up at the station either way. The producer offers her his card. He asks her if she's interested in becoming an idol. Rin isn't interested and says no. She learns the hard way that this man *will not* take no for an answer. ***Ever*.** Every day, the producer stops by to see Uzuki's lesson and offer Rin another chance to talk to him. He somehow found out how she gets to and from school. Also, dogs don't seem to like him, because they always bark when he's around. The other students start gossiping about him, and eventually he gets himself into trouble with the police. Rin interfering barely avoids him getting arrested, although she does finally agree to talk to him. He apologizes to her again. This time the apology makes more sense since he technically *was* stalking her, but hey, the guy's determined to get her to say yes. He tells her the same thing he told Uzuki: He choose her because of her smile. Except Rin hasn't smiled in front of him. **Yet.** He has a question for her: Is she enjoying her life right now? She still says no to his offer, but seems to be considering it this time. The producer goes to see Uzuki. He apologizes for keeping her waiting. When he mentions meeting Rin again, Uzuki asks to go with him. She recognizes the flower shop they go to. Rin is the person she bought flowers from. At a nearby park, Uzuki pets Hanako, Rin's Yorkie. After talking for a while, Rin sleeps on it and decides to try it. She's also fifteen years old. At the Cinderella auditions, the producer decides to recruit number four, Mio Honda.

## Review

This. Was. **AMAZING!!!** I admit, I never really liked anime *at all* until very recently. In fact, Power Rangers actually got me interested in it. Long story. I used to think that all animes were dark and disturbing, until I watched the HOPR Mystic Force review for the umpteenth time. Something about the throwaway line about the Rangers getting Sailor Moon staffs bugged me. I've heard a million references to Sailor Moon, but I never actually knew what it was until hearing this line for the fifth or so time caused me to finally look it up. I was hesitant when I found out it was an anime. The closest thing to an anime I had watched was Avatar: The Last Airbender and the Legend of Korra. Still, I decided to take a look. I'll admit, I only watched a few episodes that seemed plot relevant and not filler, but it wasn't terrible and not as dark as I thought all animes were. It didn't cause me to change my view on animes as a whole, but I thought if there were other animes out there like this, I might just change my mind. When looking up the film Cinderella, I noticed something called The iDOLM@STER Cinderella Girls. The original anime didn't interest me as much as its pseudo-sequel at first. I've loved anything that has to do with Cinderella for as long as I can remember. It's always been my favorite film/fairy tale. So I watched the first episode, was immediately hooked, and binge watched the whole first season and the first three season 2 episodes in less than 24 hours. At the time, I thought that this anime was so good, that it changed my views on anime as a whole. It's official. **I LOVE ANIME!!!** So, onto my actual review. I love Uzuki and Rin! Uzuki's catchphrase may as well be "I'll do my best!" since she says it A LOT. There's nothing wrong with that though. Rin is more… hesitant. It's not her dream to become an idol like Uzuki or Mio, she's just trying to find something she's passionate about. She's never had any formal training like Uzuki. Then again, neither has Mio, but at least she danced with friends. She does have a natural talent for singing and dancing though. Not to mention an adorable dog! The timeline is a bit difficult to make out. We saw a flashback to the idols' winter concert, and it's spring because the cherry blossoms have bloomed. The first season ends sometime in the summer, after the idols' summer concert. The producer is a bit stiff and formal with the girls. He has this thing where he touches the back of his neck sometimes. I believe that's called a character or verbal tic. It's kind of how he expresses emotions, since the guy is almost 100% stoic all the time. This show has a weird obsession with clocks, normally showing them during significant moments or at the beginning and end of episodes. I kind of get that, since it's called *Cinderella* Girls. The clock strikes midnight, the titles are references to Cinderella, etc. As someone whose favorite fairy tale was always Cinderella, I appreciate little references like that. My inner fan girl is very touched.