Out of the most recent episodes we have seen so far, I would say this is one of the slightly stronger episodes. There was a conflict and tension within the group that had to be solved. The girls are presently at a Summer Training Camp, where they are all preparing for their performance at the Idol Festival. The Producer has to leave them by themselves for a day so he puts Minami in charge as the supervisor and despite the short notice. reveals he has plans to have them perform as a full group for the festival. This puts everyone on the edge because they are all caught up with trying to perfection their individual units’ performance. It certainly doesn’t help the fact up until the last weeks’ episode, the girls were rivals amongst each other, where some able to debut earlier than others- such as Miku and Riina who had only formed last week and was agreed upon as a last resort for the sake of pursuing their dreams.
So with everyone divided up, it became difficult to shift priorities and encourage them to want to work together as one big group. Patience was wearing thin as their practices went on, seemingly going no-where. They had lots of difficulty synchronizing with each other and there would be talks of “forget it”, “why bother?”, but out of all the girls, Ranko in particular felt the most pressure since she felt she was the one at fault due to being the only solo unit. When practice grew more sour, Minami who was anxious herself about her role as the supervisor steps up to the plate and changes the pace. Minami chooses to set up a Special Program exercise, by setting up activities such as Relays, Three-Legged Race, group Skip Rope- all these things contributed to helping get in sync with each other and be united like their hearts are one. I liked how she set Miku and Riina up with what they are good at together, being MCs (which I enjoy seeing). She assigned them to that position for most of the exercise to guide and boost everyone’s spirits, and with their dynamic flare, they sure know how to deliver.
But what stood out the most was that these girls have an awkward relationship with one another. They were almost like strangers when they were told to work altogether. They didn’t know what to say to one another, didn’t feel obliged to encourage one another, it was awkward. You can see that awkwardness when they hesitated for a moment to cheer Ranko, Anya and Minami to the finish line after tumbling. Thankfully, Minami was able to succeed making a breakthrough and managed to get everyone onto the same page. As result of her effort and success, when the Producer asks them to choose a leader for when they are all as one group, Minami is immediately nominated for the job.
Next week will be the first half of the series’ finale until the Summer Season. Here’s to hoping they will go out with a big bang AKA make it their best episode to date.
