Idol Project Vol. #1: Starland Festival (of 2)

By: Chris Beveridge
Review Date: Friday, February 28, 2003
Release Date: Tuesday, February 25, 2003



What They Say
In a world ruled by idols, Yuri rose to the top. Her charm unified the world, and she became the elected President. Upon her retirement, she chose six Excellent Idols as her successors. Mimu is a high school girl who wants nothing more than to be like Yuri, and sing in Crystal Hall.

Her dream brings her together with the six Excellent Idols, and they embark on a quest into the Tropical Dimension. This world is in peril, and it can only be saved by swimsuit contests, obstacle courses, mud wrestling and, of course, idol singing!

The Review!
After a seeming eternity, Idol Project finally gets itself licensed and the world at large now gets to enjoy an over the top romp with lots of idols.

Audio:
With its enjoyable cast, we hit this show up in its original language of Japanese first. Being an older OVA show, it?s got a nice stereo mix though most of the dialogue is pretty much center channel based. When things like the opening song or other musical areas kick in though, it fills out the soundstage nicely. Dialogue is clean and clear throughout and we noticed no dropouts or distortions.

Video:
Originally released in 1995, Idol Project was one of those OVA releases that looked quite good and held up the standards of what an OVA should look like, but not at the upper end of the spectrum. By today?s standards, it looks very good though, with very fluid animation, lots of bright solid colors and a pretty much problem free transfer. The colors are nice and bright, but not of the CG brightness level we?re getting used to these days. Cross coloration is pretty much non-existent and there?s only some very slight aliasing during some of the busier panning sequences. There?s a slight softness to the picture overall, but the show has always looked that way, giving it some of its fantastical feel.

Packaging:
Idol Project manages to get things started off right with a great vibrant looking cover. Mimu takes up a good chunk of the real estate here in a pose mode while next to her we get the super deformed versions of the rest of the idols from the show set against some nice design work with light and eye-catching colors. The back cover provides more super deformed goodness of the characters and a brief summary of the show. The discs production and technical information is nice and clearly listed here as well. The insert has a mix of the cover artwork on one side with the chapter stops while the reverse side has boxart advertisements.


Menu:
The menu is a nice simple piece that has a static piece of artwork of Mimu in full pose while part of the opening song plays along. The layout of the menu is done in much the same color and style design as the cover which gives it a great feel. There?s hardly anything on the disc other than the show itself, so the menus are pretty minimal and quick to load and problem free.

Extras:
None.

Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Idol Project is an amusing show that I had seen some time not long after its initial release thanks to a friend and it?s been something that I?ve wished would come over for some time. In its own way, it?s a serious ?check your brain at the door? show, but it just has a life and energy that goes beyond a lot of the schlock that usually falls into that category.

The story set up is simple. Some years prior, the world found itself united under the song of Yuri, and she made things good. She has since created an island where she holds various events, such as the Starland Festival. After Yuri managed to unite the world, she retired from being world President and chose six idol singer successors to take over for her, and then she promptly disappeared for some time before eventually returning. She?s kept fairly quiet since then, but has been looking forward to this years Starland Festival.

The island where all this happens is a strange place with lots of excitement and energy as it?s pretty much filled with aspiring idol singers who want to join with the original six and sing with them. The competition is strong, but it?s all good natured. We end up following the tale of young Mimu as she tries to make her way through the first episode to the Crystal Hall so she can sing for Yuri and hopefully eventually with Yuri. Her journey is the bulk of the first episode, as it works that she ends up getting continually sidetracked by meeting all six of the successor idols in various ways.

All of this is setup of course, and even when Mimu finally reaches the Crystal Hall and gets ready to sing, things stop her from realizing her dream as some strange aliens burst in and capture all six of the successors as well as Mimu and then head off to their Tropical Dimension.

Yes, Tropical Dimension. This fascinating area of space is essentially filled with water and has an actual surface to it where there is a huge tropical resort. As it turns out, teams of idols from across the universe are brought here to compete against each other for the honor of singing the song that will bring a new sun to life after the old one dies out every few years. Earth?s idols have an unknown history in this event, which is what brings them to this years entry, but with a difference of Yuri not being included since Mimu got picked up instead.

Once Idol Project hits the second episode, the show looks and feels like an overly hyper variant episode of Urusei Yatsura with the weird creatures, the energetic settings, the races and competitions and the overall look of it. There?s a lot going on and a lot of internal quibbling among the Earth idols, as all of them are quite distinct and hilarious in their own ways. The Japanese track sports a few of my favorite actors/singers, which makes this show so very much enjoyable to me, especially when they all perform together. Having Aya Hisakawa, Kikuko Inoue and Ai Orikasa all play off of each other is great. Getting to hear them participate in as wacky of an end song as it is here is even better.

I really enjoy Idol Project, though I wish all four episodes were included here since this show is eight years old now as opposed to a two volume release. But to finally have such a great looking release that I?ll be able to enjoy for some years to come, I?ll keep that complaint to a minimum, especially since the price is lowered as much as it was. Media Blasters also went above and beyond some of their other recent releases by offering three subtitle tracks and providing a simple signs-only track for dub fans who don?t want to miss out on the signage. Extra kudos for that, with hopes of seeing it more regularly in the future.

Features
Japanese Language,English Language,English Subtitles

Review Equipment
Toshiba TW40X81 40" HDTV, Panasonic RP-82 Progressive Scan codefree DVD player, Sony STR-DE835 DD/DTS receiver, Monster component cable and Sony speakers.