THE IDOLM@STER MASTERPIECE 01 Mahou o Kakete!

This is the very first album ever released in the Idolmaster series, exciting! This abum includes group versions of the unit HYR (Haruka, Yukiho, and Ritsuko) singing Ritsuko's image song 'Mahou o Kakete!' and the series theme song, 'THE IDOLM@STER'. There are also game-sized versions of some of the other image songs, but for toady, let's focus on the full-length songs (Early Imas calls these "M@STER VERSION"s).

魔法をかけて! - Mahou o Kakete!

This is a song that tells a little story of a young nerdy girl dreaming of love. A bookworm who only knows of love through fiction and fairy tales. She yearns for a heart pounding experience that she has only read about. Its interesting that there is no specific crush in mind, she only dreams of an ideal prince to sweep her away. In terms of relatability to the young nerdy arcade game players that would be the first fans of The Idolmaster and its music, it works well as an analog to a yearning for a hypothetical love with the idols of 765Pro. It was reported that Yukiho was the most popular of the original cast, probably due to her sweet and timid image.

Speaking of, I know this is Ritsuko's song, but Yukiho’s whispery voice in this fits very well to the image of the song very well. These three do sound very nice when singing all together in this song, HYR is a good lineup. Haruka also does good singing that quiet part at the beginning of the final verse. The “Can you hear me?” line is very iconic to me.

The choreography from the games is very cheesy corny, but there’s really no other way it could’ve been, (and I mean this positively) classic idol box steps and all. The very first move where the dancers swing their arms side to side looks just a tad bit awkward, like they are still getting warmed up, and honestly I think that fits this song well. I do think the finger wag at the first line of the chorus is very cute, too.

Overall, the music is very sweet and charming, and the synth drums are sooo cute. Listening to the instrumental, there are a lot of little random beats and pulses throughout that I think give the exceedingly pleasant song a bit of texture. The guitar solo in the bridge is a contrast as well, and I like that it makes a return at the end. A very good song for HYR to debut with, it fits their images perfectly!

THE IDOLM@STER (HYR VERSION)

The intro to this song feels like its thrumming with electric energy. With bright, futuristic feel for its 2005 release, this song really does feel like a good fit for the main theme to a series as cutting-edge as Idolm@ster was at the time. Its pop-ish, but still has a bit of hard edge to it, which also fits for the strong deceleration that starts off the first lines of this song:

“I'm over those depressing yesterdays
Today onwards is the beginning of my legend”

Strong and determined, the lyrics standout as the best part of this song to me. Its a mixed-bag of all the good and bad that comes with being an idol, and the “voice” in the writing of the lyrics is one of a girl who is just as human as any of the fans that she dreams of one day adoring her. This is someone who has big dreams, knows what obstacles stand in her way, and just exactly how she is going to tackle them. There is an undeniable “girl power” message in the lyrics too, the singer knows she’s looked down on for being a girl, but she won’t let that get her down.

“There are hardships that even men cannot endure
But women can because they're strong”

She is honest about what she dislikes about being an idol, like how little privacy she gets, or that her school life is no fun because of all the public expectations, or that she feels alone and hated on sometimes. I like that there are some subtle hints that this girl is a bit of a diva, with her demands presumably being cast to the producer/player, which is charming to me and adds a bit of extra character to the whole thing.

What really impresses me is that all these back and forth feelings about her life as an idol are what the series > The Idol Master < decided to use as it’s main theme song. There is a clear humanization of the idols of the series taking place, an appeal to show that its not just about singing and dancing cutely, there’s some real pain and struggle going on behind the scenes.

"I'm probably not suited for office work
Fetching tea and photocopying just isn't my thing"

I really like these lines and think about them often. I am no Japanese office worker myself, but from what I've seen from yuri manga about OLs, its typically the women of the office who do the tea fetching for the men. The fact that gendered work is brought up as a thing that the singer is escaping from, that being an idol is what's saving her from having to life a boring life she hates, makes me feel a bit emotional.

Dare I say, it makes me want to support the idols even more? To root for them and want to see them succeed? I feel like this song, for as much as it wonders into the territory of saying "being an idol and producing them is not all fun and games", is also just as strongly saying "but this struggle to reach our goals and to help others achieve their's is what pushes us to be better people".

The instrumental outro is one of my favorite sounds in Idolmaster history, the very first time I listened to it, it made me imagine a red/pink/orange sunset for some reason. That image stuck with me and I think of it everytime I hear the song, and I sometimes hear the song in my head when looking out at sunsets like that.