I am not one to listen to podcasts: too much time is wasted listening what otherwise can be read. But seeing how Behind the Nihon Review promised a discussion of IM@S, I went through it.

It was fun in some ways. The way the talk is delivered is radically different from what I get on blogs except very, very few. They seem to shoot naturally for a more enlightened conversation than is typical in animeblogging, including The Behind's own. It sounded more like Beta-Waffle or 2DT being in the zone.

However, the density of the talk is still low, and tells me more about the panelists than about the topics. There guy with a heavy accent is the straight man, endlessly trying to contribute. The moderator loves politicizing and mad overreach, like with the suggestion how "the idol industry exploits fans" and the IM@S TV anime being a "sacred conduit". The remote guy is too smart for the group, but he liked Yozora (of Haganai). By the way, it takes a massive habit to identify the participants by mere voices.

One particularly annoying part about podcast is how difficult it is to have a conversation with opinions floated therein. For example, they talked about Homura being a candidate for the character of the year. Evirus dealt with Homura's candidacy, but can I add anything? If I quote "indefatigable dedication" and link, can they amend the podcast? No, at best they can address that in the "readers' letters" section in front of the next podcast, and that is a sucky model that drags down the print media.

I had a half of a mind to poke holes in their model of Idolm@ster character construction, since it is a fact that I do not have a favourite idol, and they appear not to allow it, but it's just daruiiii. Meh.