In today's post, Chris goes out of his way to underscore Ani-nouto's influence, which I work so hard to disclaim, because responsibility is too heavy. Fortunately, he's staying impervious to the charms of Idolm@ster, so we're good here. There's also a judgement on the topic:

However, within its genre I think that IS is average. What brings it down to average is most of the characters, who are decidedly ordinary and even stereotypical (some of them almost painfully literally so, such as the pushy childhood friend). The best shows of the genre have always had quirky, interesting characters injected into their relatively stock situation (who could forget Tenchi Muyo's Ryoko and Ayeka, for example). IS has, well, Charlotte and an honorable mention in Laura.

I would say that Ichika is far from stereotypical in the way harem leads usually are not. If they are not doormats, they are assholes, and there's nothing else. I noticed that right away because I usually watch harems by sizing them for myself and in IS threre was painfully little that I could improve, even now, and what I remember of myself being Ichika's age was not even at his level. Most of the time I feel rather superior, but not in this case.

It is also curious how our psychopath haremette gets points from Chris. My tastes lay, or actually run at full speed, in the opposite direction.

UPDATE: [more].