“If the company tells me if I can’t wear them, then I may not have a choice.”
Impression
I was surprised that Mishiro even allowed Producer to try out his ‘Power of Smile’ idea, but clearly she doesn’t have much hope for it if she’s going to continue heading in the exact opposite direction with her own plans. I guess she’s only doing it because she has nothing to lose – if Producer fails, she can use this as leverage to stamp out any more opposition, and if he succeeds then it’s good for the company anyway. Still have no idea what the event will all be about, though. How will it be any different from the Idol Festa, and how exactly do you measure whether it’ll be a ‘success’?
This episode was basically one focusing on the idea of characters, and how it forms part of their key image – like how Miku pretends she’s a cat all the time, or how Ranko acts all chuuni. It’s a different kind of approach from idols like Kaede, who I guess focuses on singing as her centerpiece like Chihaya from 765 Pro did. the idols are being told to shift their key image completely, reducing the variety show stuff they do and focusing on the singing and performing as aspects of their career. In essence, they’re being forced to change their personalities, which makes it totally opposite from the approach Producer wants to go forward with. The idols are of course not happy with this, and they reacted in different ways. In principle, it’s a great setting because these characters have, in the past, simply been one-trope personalities. Riina, for example, contributes to conversations by saying it’s either rockin’ or not rockin’, and that’s pretty much it – so it was a great opportunity for some character development.
The unfortunate part is that all the development went to a new character, Abe Nana, and someone like Miku only played a supporting role. I actually thought Nana was Yayoi from 765 Pro for a moment, but I quickly realized she was a different person when she started going on about being from the planet Usamin – her ‘thing’ is that she has these bunny ears, and plays the part of a genki alien idol. Miku, who wears a pair of (admittedly very cute, especially on the other idols) cat ears, looks up to her and admires how well she can rally a crowd, and wants as distinct a character as she has. I found the whole Usamin persona kind of cheesy, but I also thought it was really sad that Nana initially bowed completely to company policy and didn’t put on her bunny ears at all – she probably wanted to safeguard her career going forward, and decided that if they were starting to cancel all her segments because of Usamin, then she would discard Usamin to make sure she wasn’t cut completely.
I do think Miku did the right thing. I mean, her previous outbursts have been pretty annoying, and were usually done in the wrong place and at the wrong time, but this is about someone’s very vision as an idol. Her cat persona is part of who she is, and who she wants to be – it’s part of her continued reason to work as an idol. If these characters are all taken away by force, then there’s no way they’ll still have the motivation to work. Part of me actually wants to see Mishiro’s changes get implemented but all go horribly wrong, resulting in huge losses and her losing a vote of no confidence or something… but that’ll never happen. Instead, they’ll get through it with the power of smile!