![](\"piccytures\/cinderella\/cg_5_popup.jpg\"\/)
<\/center>\nI do wonder what the Japanese anime industries obsession with Pop-up Pirate variants is. I mean, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not quite<\/i> common enough a thing for me to consider starting up an entirely new blog segment for recording their appearances, but this is hardly the first time I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve seen such a game in anime, if maybe the first I’ve see with a cat involved.<\/p>\n
Anyway, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s somewhat hard, coming out of this weeks episode of Cinderella Girls, to not retrospectively feel that we were a little bit spoilt across the last two episodes of the show, at least where the animation production was concerned. I would say that it was, therefore, somewhat unavoidably disappointing to get something which was just kind of ordinary<\/i> after two episodes lead by particularly idiosyncratic and accomplished animation directors, but the fact is that there are even a handful of real continuity clunkers in this episode that really shouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have slipped through.
\n
\n
![](\"piccytures\/cinderella\/cg_5_catears_1.jpg\"\/)
\nNo ears to…<\/i><\/b>
\n
![](\"piccytures\/cinderella\/cg_5_catears_2.jpg\"\/)
\n…ears to…<\/i><\/b>
\n
![](\"piccytures\/cinderella\/cg_5_catears_3.jpg\"\/)
\n…no ears again. Whoops!<\/i><\/b><\/center>
\nWhich isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t to say that the episode is entirely without merit, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mostly things in the script, and mostly injokes, that really bolster this episode beyond humdrum, although there being things in the anime that are based upon cards from the game should hardly be much of a surprise to anyone at this point.<\/p>\n
Also, the animation still probably looks better than the broadcast version of that Hibiki episode from the original aniM@S TV show, so it does have that going for it!<\/p>\n
![](\"piccytures\/cinderella\/cg_5_frog.jpg\"\/)
\nHey, isn’t the frog-suit kind of Takane’s thing?<\/i><\/b><\/center><\/p>\n
I do find it amusing that the drama in this episode mostly<\/i> comes from the fact that, whilst not necessarily dense, the Producer is rather a little on the uncommunicative side simply from the fact that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a little too blunt about things. He doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t actually lie<\/i> or anything, but the fact that he repeatedly answers things in exactly the same fashion rather bites him in the arse when people stop believing them. I guess that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the frustration of never feeling like you are getting a straight answer out of folks, though.<\/p>\n
![](\"piccytures\/cinderella\/cg_5_apology.jpg\"\/)
\nThe most forgivable face in the world, right?<\/i><\/b><\/center><\/p>\n
Also, Producers apologetic face is even more terrifying than his normal one.<\/p>\n
![](\"piccytures\/cinderella\/cg_5_moo.jpg\"\/)
\nMoo?<\/i><\/b><\/center><\/p>\n
We do have a number of characters voiced for the first time in the franchise in this episode, no doubt paving the way for them to, in a weird twist of thematic synergy, make their<\/i> CD debuts sometime in one of the forthcoming waves of the endless Cinderella Girls character CD series. Perhaps weirdly, the most significant feeling amongst them to me is probably Oikawa Shizuku, now voiced by Yuri Noguchi, who looks to pretty much be a newbie in the industry. Oikawa was popular amongst\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 a certain kind of fan artist for a while, no doubt due to a combination of excessive bust-size and her habit of both making the sounds of and dressing up as a cow, much like in that infamous episode of Melody of Oblivion, one supposes. I guess Katagiri Sanae and Yamato Aki are newly voiced this episode too, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve not heard of those two before, so how important could they really be, eh?<\/p>\n
![](\"piccytures\/cinderella\/cg_5_names.jpg\"\/)
<\/center><\/p>\nDaisuki neglected to bother subtitling the barrage of names that Mio came up with (in the cuts in which the board didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t magically go blank mid-scene, at least), but needless to say, they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re mostly low-tier foodstuffs and drinks – I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m pretty sure Royal Blend is the brand of canned coffee you see several folks drinking in this actual episode – though there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a couple of oddities in there like Pretties<\/i> and Three Misters<\/i> (which, let’s face it, they should have went with, although now that I look at it, it’s more likely Three Sisters<\/i>. Bloody katakana…). It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not really worth translating the lot, because they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re exactly the kind of nonsense you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d expect Mio to be throwing out there, honestly – that they are nonsense is pretty much the takeaway you are supposed to get.<\/p>\n
The name they eventually go for, New Generations<\/i>, is their canonical unit name that they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve released tracks on Cinderella Girls CDs under already. Most the other girls significantly represented in the show have only had named group<\/i> songs released with non-Cinderella Project idols, so Love Laika<\/i> is new here, though I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d imagine we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d have to be getting Anzu and Kirari teaming up as AnKira<\/i> at some point given how often they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re being smushed together in the show.<\/p>\n
![](\"piccytures\/cinderella\/cg_5_mede.jpg\"\/)
\nMEEDEE MEEDEE MEEDEE MEMEMEME MEEDEE<\/b><\/i><\/center><\/p>\n
I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been pondering if there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s anything in here worth comparing to the previous iM@S TV anime – the immediate thought would be to go with episode 6, which immediately follows the establishment of Ryuuguu Komachi at the end of the previous episode. The difference in approach between the two is that, in aniM@S, the focus is rather on the fact that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the Producer who is feeling frustrated at being left behind, rather than the idols – he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s getting them all sorts of work, but little of it is fitting. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the other way around in Cinderella Girls, in that the Producer has a larger view of what is going on and where he needs to go, but the girls are starting to feel rather listless at the fact that those who came into the project after them have already started moving ahead. Part of the result is the same, in that there’s a feeling that the rest of the team are falling apart in light of several of them having been brought together, but the tone achieved is somewhat different. I daresent say that those who weren’t particularly fond of aniM@S’s Producer will find the Cinderella Girls approach somewhat more to their taste.<\/p>\n