Being Maina is suffering. 🙁
The episode went into the usual antics of our otakus supporting their girls, but the episode also went into something pretty interesting when it comes to idols and their popularity. Eripiyo and Kumasa decided to go to the Okayama Girls Festa, which is like a fashion show, because certain members of Cham Jam are going to be special guests there. Eripiyo isn’t too crazy on going because: One, she doesn’t really have any other clothes. And two, Maina most likely won’t even be there. Well, they end up going anyway and their guesses on which girls were chosen was true, but they all got a huge surprise when they saw Maina walking down the runway. And her tears of joy when Maina saw Eripiyo were so sweet.
It seems with Cham Jam, they have a top three. They consist of Reo, Sorane, and Maki and they’re the ones that consistently make special appearances. The other four girls seem to appear sporadically, or not at all. Which, in Maina’s case, she’s not popular at all and I imagine that the Girls Festa was the only real event she was ever invited to. Eripiyo thinks its the agency doing this on purpose, putting the Top Three on a special pedestal and creating a rift among the group. They prioritize certain girls while ignoring others. I’m not too informed on idol groups, but I imagine this is a legit problem with certain idol groups. In a business perspective, I guess it would be a smart thing. Find out which girls are popular, focus on them and send them out to special events so the fans gather and you gain more of a profit. However, it’s a dick move. It’s not fair to the other girls that work just as hard, but they end up getting the short end of the stick. In this case, Maina is the worst of it because she literally doesn’t have any fan except for Eripiyo. Her line for the meet and greet is always empty if Eripiyo isn’t there, and if she does get people, it’s most likely because of pity. Or Kumasa thanking her and wishing for her to continue to be kind to Eripiyo. Aww, thanks Kumasa. Though I wish he had also said that he was cheering for her too, so she’d probably feel even better.
With all this attention to the top three, it doesn’t seem like their agency even focuses on Maina. With her only having one fan and never getting invited to events, you’d think they would try to help her out. Also upon learning of the popularity differences, I was afraid that there would be infighting amongst the girls. But I’m so glad there isn’t! Because she’s the most popular, I thought Reo would be catty but instead she was so supportive when Maina came back crying after walking down the runway. And it was so sweet that Reo and Sorane continued to show support when Maina mentioned wanting a fan letter. They went out of their way to make her feel okay, and to also come up with a way to make it obvious that Maina would love some fan letters. Sorane did what she said she would on stage, but Maina went about it a little differently because she didn’t want to trouble Eripiyo to go too crazy with her fan letter, so she said haiku strips. But of course Eripiyo went crazy with it anyway.
The ending is so annoying though. The staff member dropped Eripiyo’s sheets out the window when a rat ran around their room, and all the papers flew away without Maina ever seeing them. I hope we don’t get a stupid misunderstanding thing and the staff takes responsibility and explains the situation to Maina, or else I’m going to be really annoyed. I hate misunderstandings like this, and I hope the show won’t get into too much of that. I’m enjoying the show so far, even though Eripiyo is…kind of creepy with her love of Maina. Also, Maina dropped a big hint that she’s totally into Eripiyo when she asked the girls if they ever fell for one of their fans. Maki and Yumeri also seem to be a thing too.
This was a nice little episode. It’s still fun and cute, and I’m liking the little looks into the fandom side of things, as well as the industry. There’s some interesting tidbits here and there along with the silliness so I like that. Cham Jam’s friendship is sweet as well. Also, I totally understand you, Yuka. Fuck off, bugs.
