IDOLISH7: Second Beat! – 01 & 02 [First Impression]

Episode 01: A New Door

Eva’s First Impression

AT LONG LAST~ Idolish7 is back and didn’t a miss a beat! This episode had me screaming from the top of my lungs on a number of occasions from various things I remember from the first season.

Idolish7 is off to the races with securing their very own TV program called Lovely Night With You! Tsumugi had carefully sought out sponsors that would be out of the reach of Sogo’s family influence, and hopefully it will stay that way. She really had a funny way of bringing up the news since it looked like she was upset about thing, when in reality she was really just excited about it. And the best part about it?

This program became a reality thanks to Mitsuki’s talent as a MC.
OUR BEST I7 BOI IS FINALLY BEING RECOGNIZED FOR THE STAR HE IS!!!!!!

Ever since I have watched Vibrato, much like Ryu had (who has now taken over the #1 Ranking, sorry Gaku), this boy has shot-up in my rankings to #3 and I have been stanning him harder than ever. Right off the bat is finally getting the love and acknowledgement he deserves! At long last, Mitsuki is being recognized for his talent in talk-shows. I legit cried when he got emotional about it because it’s been so hard for him. You can see that how everyone could hear him bawling from the bathroom.

But At the same time it makes me anxious because I hope he doesn’t push himself too hard to the point he will beat himself up if he were to screw up somewhere down the line. Similarly to how Iori had a meltdown when he messed up in the middle of their performance back in Season 1. It was also wonderful to hear his story of how he met Zero, it was charming and heartwarming to listen to. I dare say even swoon-worthy with how he tried to mimic his tone eloquent. 

Then we have Riku, who I am definitely the most concerned about this season. The beginning of the episode gave us a hint of the storm to come, with the announcement of Idolish7’s “new form” with Iori replacing Riku as center. It appears Riku’s health is turning for the worse, and we are already getting a glimpse of that by Riku was seen coughing on two different occasions. In the beginning of the episode, and the during the shoot with RE:VALE that prompted them to call for a break to get some rest. I do wonder if the reason for this is because of the spike of their activities. They have been doing a ton of promotions right now, so I wouldn’t be surprised if it were taking a toll on his health.

I also wonder how this is going to complicate Iori’s original plans. When he and Tsumugi were discussing matters about the group’s balance and their appeal, he mentioned what they need in this age are lovable and charming stars like Zero, and Riku is the one he believes can fulfill that role. Nevertheless, when the time comes where they have no choice but to make that decision it’s going to be gut-wrenching.

And then there’s Yamato… Oh boy, they were making snappy allusions how Yamato might have history with Yuki. By the look of things, it doesn’t look like he necessarily tied to Momo. One of the key things I have noticed there was a lot of references to the discussion Tsumugi, Yamato and Nagi had about the historical show with the actor Chiba Shizuo back in episode 9 of the first season. When it was brought up again, this time by Mitsuki, we learned that Yuki had co-starred with in him that drama. Additionally, of all the members, Yamato was the only one who was not fazed by their act. In fact the moment he stepped in, he seems to be familiar with their antics or at least expected it. Had it been anyone else, I don’t think he would have reacted in that way. Right now, it seems Nagi (as per usual) is the only one who has noticed something is amiss. I suspect he will probably be the one to press him to open up if or when things escalates.

Needless to say, it will be interesting to see whether RE:VALE as a unit or Yuki is actually related to Yamato’s revenge (which was frequently mentioned in the first season), or he has a history with Yuki that is unrelated to that. Either way, I’m very excited to see things come to light because Yamato is full of secrets! (And Nagi too! They are the two most secretive boys of the bunch!)

Speaking of not being subtle by the slightest: The attention to detail with Banri. The guy didn’t have much of a role in the first season, but man that’s all about to change. Like with Yamato, they made it pretty obvious that there’s something up. They were hardly subtle with the whole cropping off the face to hide his expression and how he too is a fan of RE:VALE. You might as well plant a flashing neon sign with, “CONNECTED TO RE:VALE”. I’m not sure if this is something that will be addressed in the mainline series, I hope it will, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we were to learn more about him and RE:VALE in a separate series like TRIGGER had with Vibrato.

And finally RE:VALE! They were certain to remind us that they were the Overall Champions of Black & White. They are definitely doing their part as seniors, stepping in to lend a hand to help ease the nerves, recognizing when a break is needed and offering some great advice. Yuki noticed Tamaki was struggling and felt down when the director had told him to smile more. He is a bit touchy, but what he said was important: it’s okay not to smile (or rather to force yourself to smile), just try to entertain yourself to make it so things aren’t boring. As for Momo, he has been incredibly enthusiastic about helping everyone out, and even offered Mitsuki a chance to show off his talent as a MC.

I love Momo’s bubbly and energetic nature. It’s feels like just the right balance of not super overwhelming, but contagiously positive. I can understand it being too much for some, but considering how stressed out I am at the moment, I actually found it comforting and helped me relaxed – which was no doubt the intent as he was doing his part to help Idolish7 quash their nerves.

In between the wait between the two seasons I definitely had been listening to a lot of Idolish7, TRIGGER and even RE:VALE’s music. The song performed today happens to be one of my favourite of their collection. The dance sequence however, was disappointing. I thought looked really stiff to the point felt like watching marionettes. Hopefully things will look better in future episode because I definitely felt they could have been better.

RE:VALE also extended an invitation to recommend Idolish7 to perform Day 2 at the Zero Arena inaugural concert (TRIGGER will also be there to perform on Day 1). Idolish7 is given another big opportunity by their rivals and seniors of the industry because they are recognized for their talents. It will be up to them to properly take ahold of the opportunities presented to them. But as the beginning of the episode had told us, there will be dramatic and likely difficult changes. It will be interesting to see how the change from Riku to Iori as center will impact them as a group. He definitely talented to the point you could say he is almost OP, he is super charming, a tsundere, loves cute things, and is a hella smooth talker, but we also know he can be rather inflexible in chaotic situations. The ability to wing it, and adapt to whatever goes on is something Riku had done well by nature due to his endearing and innocent personality is what, besides his remarkable talents as a singer and danger is what made him such a solid center.

There is nothing more refreshing than just diving straight into the story. Idolish7 apart from other shows. They didn’t miss a beat. This time round this season will have fifteen episodes instead of seventeen. With that in mind, so as along as everything sticks to schedule, we shouldn’t have to worry about that.

A fantastic start to a new season and I couldn’t be happier to be covering this all over again.

Possibility of Blogging: Guaranteed

PS: Riku is absolutely a: naive spoiled boy with a brother complex off-stage. But he’s so adorable. Also Riku, your crush on Tsumugi is showing.

Episode 02: Wavering Feelings

HELLO PAIN. WE MEET AGAIN. EVERYTHING HURTS RIGHT NOW.

FFFFFFFFF!!!!!!! I AM NOT OKAY. I AM NOT OKAY! I AM NOT OKAY! I KNEW SOMETHING WAS GONNA GO WRONG AT THIS CONCERT! AND I KNEW IT WAS GOING TO BE RIKU! UGH MY HEART, IT’S ONLY THE SECOND EPISODE AND MY EMOTIONS! RIKU PLEASE! SWEETIE! I understand you really want to perform and do well in front of Zero Arena’s Manager, but all their efforts would be in vain if you were to collapse on stage! It was so painful to watch him struggle and breakdown over it, but I am glad Tsumugi put her foot down and threatened to take him to the emergency room if he didn’t comply. What’s frustrating about this is that his stubbornness could have killed him because this was the worst we have seen Riku look after a performance in a long time. That was no time to be refusing to use the nebulizer. As result they actually had to restrain him to do it, which was no doubt hard on everyone because of his distress.

So it comes as no surprise why they are being forced to re-arrange their line-up and remove Riku from the center position. This could be temporary until they sort out a way to balance Riku’s role, or permanent change, either way this is not an easy decision. This is going to be extremely hard on him, and in ways puts pressure of his replacement (as we know, will eventually be Iori) to do as well, if not better than he had. Another concern I have is the increased frequency of these attacks. As I mentioned above in the first episode, I don’t know whether this is a sign of an even graver health condition that threatens to end his career as an idol, or deteriorating because of how jammed packed their schedule has been since their popularity had exploded. We’re only on the second episode, and I am already extremely stressed out about Riku and how this change is going to impact him.

Before the storm caught up to us, this episode covered a lot of grounds on taking the steps to dig deeper in a series of secrets that have been on our minds since the first season! Starting with Yamato, as suspected, he and Yuki in fact know each other, but what’s interesting is that they have known each other for a long time. The first time they’ve met, Yamato was in a school uniform.

At this point based on the dynamics between them, I don’t feel any particular animosity between them. So I don’t believe Yamato’s revenge is directly tied to Yuki. For all we know he might just be someone who is involved with the party he is targeting, or as I mentioned in the above, potentially an unrelated acquaintance. Nevertheless, he knows him well enough that he describes him to be an a ball of misanthropy, and appears to be understanding and patient enough to let Yamato be when had refused the invitation to talk after they finished their job. On the other-hand, everyone those the entire time had witnessed this play out, Nagi is the only one who had the guts to ask him about his relationship with Yuki. Even though Sogo and Tamaki had stopped him because they knew it would tick Yamato off, it’s clear that Nagi has no intentions of letting this slide. That said, he really has no room to talk when he holds just as many, if not more secrets of his own.

Next were finally properly introduced to Kujo! He is an interesting guy who can be quite mellow until the subject of idols and Stage Direction comes into play. When that happens, he goes into full-blown theatric mode as his passion takes the wheel. We learned he used to train idols and work as  stage director, so that probably shed some light on the matter as to why he taken Tenn under his wing. Hopefully this means the brothers will finally have a proper talk about why Tenn chose to leave his family behind very soon, after-all he did promise Riku he would finally give him an explanation for it! If they do talk, Riku should brace himself because Tenn is probably going to call him out for missing his encore. He isn’t the type to coddle him, but instead is going to give him a reality-check of the things he will need to take into consideration for the team going forward.

Tsumugi also was a character that was given some development time today, and I am absolutely elated about it. It is wonderful to see Tsumugi’s character evolving beyond the role as a Manager. We are now seeing her study up on serving as Idolish7’s Stage Director. It was sweet of Mitsuki to lend her his DVD collection for her to watch! She got a lot of inspiration from Zero’s stages and had hoped to learn more about Haw9, only to hear like Zero, they have disappeared without a trace. She was however was able to receive some general wisdom from Kujo, who told her when stage direction is done right, it can strengthen the audience’s connection with the performers. And the trick to draw that out, is to know the appeal of her idols so she can see the colors that makes them shine. I am very excited to see what kind of stages she comes up with for the group in the future! Ah you know, now that I think about it: Riku’s current condition is definitely something she is going to need to keep in mind going forward when it comes to arranging their stage sets. For all we know, finding the right balance for Riku is something Tsumugi is probably going to have to work harder on, because so along as he remains in poor condition he is in right now, after a long and rigorous activity like their concerts that goes on for hours, things can get dangerous real fast.

Another thing they did this episode was quietly draw the attention back to Banri. It is going to be his 5th year working with Takanashi Production and the president wants to throw a party for him. Apparently Tsumugi used to give him chocolate when she was in school, how adorable! I expect the anniversary event will shed a bit of light, or at least allude to how Banri became involved with Takanashi Production in the first place, so here is yet another thing to look forward to!

Last but not least, what the hell did they do to Iori’s hair in OP?!? It looks like they lathered it in gel to mold it that way. Yamato’s is also a weird, but otherwise everyone else are fine. I actually found it to be incredibly distracting, which annoyed me because one the song was really nice and the scenery was pretty but it wasn’t working for me. I am better off just listening to the song without any visuals. On the bright side, at least RE:VALE’s ED is GORGEOUS.

NEXT WEEK: PAINNNNNNNNNNNN!!!