IDOLiSH7 Episode 3

It was only a few days ago when I heard IDOLISH7 would be picking up right where it left off. Thank god I already had the entry written up because I was totally caught off-guard! I am surprised they are doing this considering it’s been two months since Episode 1 & 2 had first aired (and I don’t know if they aired any repeats before today). But at the same time I’m happy because now we can pick up where we left off!

And holy shit, talk about cutting straight to the chase! This episode started off fluffy, appointing Riku as the Center of their group, but within the second half, not just one, but several bombs have been dropped.

Just within the first three episodes, IDOLISH7 succeeded in fulfilling something I have always felt was lacking in male idol shows, real drama. Each member has a story of their own, and some of them are quite shocking. Among the surprises, we learned that Tamaki is being raised at an orphanage, Iori became an idol in order to fulfill Mitsuki’s dream, Riku has a grudge against Trigger, and Sogo abandoning his family in order to chase his dream.

I suppose I will start off with Riku: I was not expecting him to drop a bomb like this. We learned he doesn’t know if he can ever bring himself to respect or forgive TRIGGER. Or rather, forgive his brother for abandoning their family.

Now I already had the feeling Riku had connection of a sort with TRIGGER. I even thought perhaps Ten and Riku were brothers, but had my doubts because they had different surname. However after watching this episode, I realized that what I didn’t consider at the time was perhaps Ten had abandoned his family’s name.

I will be honest with you, I never expected Riku to harbour such feelings towards his his brother, especially since there were times he spoke fondly of him. It’s in moments like those we know he clearly misses him. But it only makes me even more anxious when the two finally meet again. Actually perhaps the most dramatic part about their connection is how TRIGGER’s CEO is going to do everything he can to crush IDOLiSH7. That will be the cruelest event of all, pitting the two brothers against each other in a situation where only one can survive.

Iori and Mitsuki’s situation was something I was already concerned about in the premiere, but now there’s a whole lot more to it to be worried about. It turns out Iori was scouted and accepted under the condition he and his brother debut together. While it’s a beautiful thing to see Iori be so selfless and try and help his brother, I worry his good intentions will only end up hurting not only Mitsuki but their relationship. Does he know about it? If not, how will Mitsuki react when he finds out? It’s not a matter of if, it will happen, I am sure of it. What about his pride? And it isn’t because Mitsuki isn’t qualified, he may be an average singer and dancer, but he has ability of being able to energize those around him. Unfortunately for him, the industry doesn’t feel like that alone is enough.

However the silver-lining here is the fact Tsumugi was not aware of this deal. As far as we are concerned, she has chosen Mitsuki for his ability alone, so under these circumstances, yes, Mitsuki was able to achieve the first step to his dream. The only thing Iori ended up doing was paving a pathway for him to do so, which might help ease the potential tension should the secret come out.

And then we have Sogo. The soft guy who you do not want to get on his bad side (he can be quite frosty when he is angry). We learned he did the one thing Riku wasn’t sure whether or not he cannot forgive, abandon their family in order to chase their dream. As of right now, we don’t know anything about Sogo’s circumstances that led him to abandon his family to pursue his dream. Perhaps they didn’t support him, or there was already a rift between them, who knows. I do wonder if they will be following up on it within the next episode considering it was this week’s cliffhanger. I would imagine while Riku has been caught-off guard of Sogo’s ability to do something that he considers “so cruel”, perhaps he will want to try and learn where Sogo is coming from, and why he did it. However Sogo doesn’t look like he really wants to talk about it further, especially after disappointing Riku.

Besides learning a bit more about the boys’ and the secrets they hold, there was one thing that seriously may have been overlooked. That is Iori’s involvement with the management of the group. I am sure I wasn’t the only one who was caught off-guard with how warm and kind he was this week. In fact he has been incredibly charming, swoon-worthy, and helpful.

But perhaps a bit too helpful.

Now while I was internally screaming over Iori dropping lines like, “Spoil me sometime”, to which I respond, “OH MY GOD, YOU’RE STILL IN HIGHSCHOOl, STOP IT!”, I was quite troubled with how Tsumugi lost her authority as their manager. Although Iori offered to help her out, he really went above and beyond by putting together a comprehensive two year plan, and was the one to suggest they take a break because of the poor work ethic of some of the members (Tamaki and Nagi in particular, who I will get to in moment), it annoyed me to no end. This is because all Tsumugi did this week was was follow Iori’s orders. This is her job, and even though she is may be inexperienced, she is a grown woman who has been hired to be their manager and I would like to see her do more of that again.

And that isn’t the only thing I am worried about. I am also concerned how the members might take Iori’s participation in all of this the wrong way. Yamato is already suspicious of where these ideas are coming from. He is a sharp guy after-all.

After the first outdoor concert was a bust, the group has been focusing on promoting themselves by doing Street Performances. The reception has been quite good, but the lack of self-awareness on both Tamaki’s and Tamaki’s parts were quite troubling to say the least. There was an instance when the spectators encouraged an encore, but the two were completely distracted. I suppose one could say these two are bit of the troublemakers of the group, but they aren’t completely hopeless, they just need to be disciplined.

Nagi’s case was when he doesn’t now when to put work first and never really had any friends, so he mostly did things on his own. His obsession with Magical Kokona is his highest priority, and will miss practice just to watch it. Mitsuki however delivered one hell of a brutal wakeup call by barging into his room and started to trash all of his Magical Kokona merchandise. Luckily Nagi’s personality is the type who won’t flip out over someone trashing his treasures. Fortunately for him, Mitsuki let him keep everything and better yet, after learning he didn’t have any male friends, he and some of the boys all watched the show with him. It was so sweet to see!

We learned Tamaki wanted to become an idol for a simple reason, to be on TV. (But since we know he is an orphan, there’s probably more to it). He is an extremely talented dancer, but man this guy is hella lazy and stubborn and even a bit of a brat, especially when someone like Sogo calls him out on it. We don’t know what kind of guidance he has been given at the orphanage, but since they have all moved into the dorm, I trust his fellow members help him grow and help him get his act together by calling him out.

There was no preview, but damn IDOLiSH7 is having one heck of a strong start. Definitely one of the strongest I have seen for an idol show in a long time. A dramatic decision is made due to certain members not having their act together, forbidding everyone from performing until the TRIGGER’s concert. That means no dancing, no singing for at least twenty days. That is one heck of a risk to take. According to Iori, the purpose doing this is for external simulation, in order to light the fire in the hearts when they finally see TRIGGER perform, and realize this is what they are up against.

It was a very smart decision to skip the Opening entirely, and use the two minutes and thirty seconds of time to deliver the recap of Episode 1 & 2. The one thing I know I will have to suck up and get used to is the CGI dancing sequences, because there is no way in hell I am going to miss out on this gem!

If you haven’t read my First Impression of IDOLiSH7, you can read it here!