The ever exciting but nerve-wracking part of being an idol has arrived – the popularity ranking. As well as a birthday and a sports festival for some reason. I guess underground idols do pretty much anything, even if it sucks. Also yeah, why did they even make a photo of Reo’s broken legs? How the hell did she even break both of them?
There’s some competition among the girls, but again I love how kind and friendly they are to each other. While Eripiyo and Kumasa kind of freak over about the popularity voting, the girls of Cham Jam try to remain calm. Yumeri is worried that she’ll take Maki’s spot and it’ll mess with their relationship, since she’s not too far behind in popularity. But the thing that stood out to me in this scene was what Reo said to Maina. Man, I really like Reo! She knows what it’s like to be in Maina’s position. Before she was in another idol group called Melty and she had no one in line to shake her hand, just like Maina. Well, except for Kumasa who promised that he would work his hardest to make her number 1 in the group. Unfortunately the group disbanded not too long after that, but luckily Reo is surrounded with fans and popularity this time with Cham Jam. But thankfully this success and love didn’t go to her head. She and Sorane already showed concern and care for Maina before, but Reo did once again. She simply tells Maina to believe in her fans, just like she did with Kumasa. And thankfully this piece of advice helps out slowly progress Eripiyo’s and Maina’s relationship, even if it was just a little bit. A little is better than nothing. The words are short, the scene was short, but it held a lot of weight to them because of Reo’s experience and her genuine care for the girls. She knows what it’s like to be on the bottom so she steps up. And…it’s great, Reo is great.
Cham Jam does a sports festival event and it’s self explanatory. They do the usual things you see in any other sports festival in anime like the relay, scavenger hunt, etc. It was cute and pretty funny, Aya had my laughing a lot being unconscious throughout most of the event, only to get crushed by giant balls and the girls. Which is a huge mood by the way. It was pretty entertaining and it ended well with Maina thanking Eripiyo for all that she does. So it was nice! Hmm, I wonder what Yumeri and Maki did afterwards. There’s so much sexual tension between them. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
The second half of the episode focused on Kumasa planning for Reo’s birthday celebration, with the popularity voting coming closer. This show…I’m not sure what it’s trying to say? I like seeing Cham Jam, I like seeing the fandom side of things, but then I realize that hardcore otakus are…something else. Eripiyo complains that she’s broke and that she won’t have enough money to buy enough Maina CDs. So, on top of the part-time job that she has already, she grabs two other part times. Because…she needs money! And with each paycheck she gets, she adds up the money to the equivalent of how many Maina CDs she can buy. And even though Eripiyo can barely stand and is obviously putting herself in a bad spot in terms of health, it’s okay because Maina. Okay, so, I don’t mind otakus spending money on merch. I do that too, but the difference is that I don’t buy that much. Buying stuff is fine but then the obsession is obviously bad if it’s self destructive. Eripiyo takes on three jobs for more money, only to spend all that money on Maina CDs only to be broke all over again. This is probably temporary because she did this to help Maina get up in the ranks, which worked because Maina jumped up to third place. But still! It’s not normal behavior. The show made it to be funny since this is a comedy show, but it’s a little worrying? Am I overreacting? I don’t think I am. Kumasa even says that the reason he dropped his better-paying office job was because they don’t give much days off. People can live whatever lives they want, but maaaybe this is a little much? Well, at least in Eripiyo’s case, and there’s definitely people like her in real life, that’s taking it too far.
But hey, Maina is third. Yaaaay…
