Asayake wa Koganeiro: The Idolm@ster

It is impossible to hate this manga if you are familiar with the original Idolm@ster. The story is about everyone's favorite secretary, Kotori Otonashi and how she got into 765 Production. Though she has received some lore bits over the many years, I'd say this is an essential read for anyone who wants to know more about her and 765 Pro. I believe that this is an modestly interesting read for anyone, but I highly recommend at least watching the 2011 anime to gain context and the full experience. The story revolves around Kotori's introduction and exploration into the idol business, which herlate mother was a part of. It's a story that puts a twist on the cliché story, and simultaneously carries the innocence and subtle maturity rarely seen from this type of multi-media franchise. We also get to see another side of important characters from the series like Kuroi Takao and Takagi Junjirou. The manga also makes happy references to other characters and productions in the Idolm@ster series which is a happy thing to see for long time fans. It is tough for me to write this review with as little bias as possible. It was hard to me to see if this manga could really stand on its own for newcomers to the series on the off-chance they come across this manga first. Re-reading it has assured me that it can. Characters that appear in the story are not just there for the sake of reference and actually serve a purpose for the most part and the manga also has a number of original characters which allows the story to stand on its own. Despite how short is, I believe that this manga is probably the most ideal prequel to the original Idolm@ster story we could get despite how short it is. In terms of quality both story and art and very high. The writing is done by Tatsuya Takahashi, who is an industry veteran and has been involved with the series for a long time. The same can be said for art is by Mana who has drawn album covers for the franchise. Both did a wonderful job in delivering this story to new and longtime fans of the series.