I think my interest here has run its course.
Impressions:
As this too veers more and more into “yay idols,” and bafflingly poor understanding of music production and internet traffic metrics despite that being its core concept, my interest wanes. The especially weird part to me was the third or so of the episode centered on the idol group she used to belong to. They’re just… trucking along, being a soulless corporate idol group, but you’re not really supposed to think the soulless part. The manic pixie girl’s mother is their producer, which is I guess the drama of the episode? That it meant pressure, and everybody understand what it means to be stressed, so hugs all around. That’s it? That’s really all? We’re not going to be doing anything with this behind the scenes look at these idols? Just using them to fill in the time? …Great.
But let’s take a moment to examine the bizarreness of the production. I’m not even sure what day it is, but she wants to get their new song out by “next Wednesday” to compete-but-not-compete with the idol group, which everybody says is impossible, but if we pull an all-nighter, it’s possible to have it done by early morning tomorrow. Noodle on that for a moment, ignoring that they’re teenagers and unless the youths have truly become soft, pulling all-nighters playing video games… or drinking… was hardly a shocking thing. Then they take a six hour nap and wake up to their video being a viral sensation. You can tell by how they yell that and all go “EEEEEHHHHH!?” How do we know this? Because their first video got 10k hits, and who can even tell if that’s good or not? Certainly doesn’t seem exciting. But the second? That got 16k. EEEEHHHHHHH!? And it’s just as generic JPop as the first; just a three frame loop of a girl walking with subtitles and after-effects blasted over the screen. Just look at that creativity on display. It really is… exactly like the corporate idols they hate but want so desperately to be.
