The iDOLM@STER Cinderella Girls Episode 7: Once Upon a Time

…there was a certain Broducer.

Impression

Today, I will be taking a rare break from flooding my panties over Shiburin every episode. I want to start off with Uzuki instead.

Thank you, Uzuki. Thank you so much. Your enduring optimism has made me feel a little better about this show. She told Producer that she too had regrets about the mini-live, but it was because she didn’t think she smiled all the way through. That even though she finally made her debut, she didn’t smile as much as she could have. Uzuki really cherished the chance to even perform, and realized just how precious that was instead of spending her time counting heads. She’s really happy with all the events she’s taken part in despite being a greenhorn idol – from being a backup dancer to making a CD debut and speaking on a radio show. This is the attitude to be taking, instead of being a little bitch over why New Generations didn’t find fame and glory overnight after dancing behind Mika. Poor Mika, she spent the episode feeling uncomfortable. I actually feel quite good about Uzuki now. I mean, she’s been a ganbarimasu bot in recent episodes, but clearly she says good things as well, and her heart’s in the right place. Uzuki was one of the stars of the episode, alongside good ol’ Producer.

Of course, that’s not to say that Rin’s concerns are not valid. They are, and in her position it seems like Producer is either not acting at all or not telling her anything, and amidst all this turbulence she’s not feeling it any more. I get her. She doesn’t have the boundless optimism Uzuki has, and to her it looks like everything’s falling apart and Producer is just sitting there without confronting Mio properly. But you know, in those scenes I felt for Producer the most. He has probably been on edge this entire time, and he looked so hurt at so many points this episode – because this has happened before. This is not the first time he’s alienated idols from him, and he probably did the exact opposite and intervened too much – and was even more straightforward with them. In a way, it must have broken him slightly, which led to his current quiet and stoic persona. Whatever he did, I must say that I support Producer’s approach. I like the way he does things, and the irony is that we seem to have had more character development for Producer than any of the idols. He’s a bro – that’d make him a Broducer! Honey from 765 Pro never had this sort of development at all, and I’ve realized that my outlook on this Producer has changed completely – he was strange and a little bit creepy back at the start of the series, but now I really like him. He’s a great guy. If Shiburin wasn’t around, then Producer would probably be best girl. Yes, the rest of the girls can’t even compare. Also, I’m glad her nasty glare at the end of last episode seemed like momentary anger instead of utter distaste for him, he doesn’t deserve it at all. Although Shiburin is pretty even when she’s scowling, hehe.

Okay, as for Mio… I know she’s apologized and all, but I can’t say I like her very much. I’ve said enough about her actions in the comments section last week. It still does irritate me that she’s still talking about being the leader, because holy shit there is no-one less qualified than her. In fact, the only one who didn’t lose their way in New Generations was Uzuki, and I honestly thought this little arc would have paved the way for Uzuki to take over as leader of the trio – I mean, she’s happy and energetic, and great for publicity and all. I vote for Uzuki. Mio was still very stubborn for most of the episode – as Producer said, it’s not an issue that affects her alone. It affects literally everyone else. Producer and Shiburin were feeling depressed, Mika was feeling guilty, and all the other girls were sitting there going: “well, what the fuck are we supposed to do now?” To be honest, I wouldn’t have minded Miku ripping Mio a new one, but you know… pot calling kettle black, right? To her credit, I suppose she did acknowledge that she had messed up, and that she’d caused problems for a lot of other people. But it’ll take me some time to get over it.

So what happens now? We’ve had seven episodes on our main trio, and nothing on everyone else. They need to start making us care about the rest of them, because right now I want the Cinderella Project to succeed for Producer’s sake instead of that of the girls – it is definitely not good if I’m thinking like that. Also, does anyone know the reason Cinderella Girls is up online later and later each week? At the start of the season it turned up when advertised, but this episode was missing for over half a day!