I am SO glad we finally got a breakthrough to Yamato. He already hit rock bottom last episode so there was no were else to go but up. I was getting progressively more upset with Yamato and his attitude and if he didn’t turn it around this episode, he probably would have sunk to the bottom of my i7 rankings. It’s also interesting how it’s Re:vale to lead the charge in helping pick up the pieces that Idolish7 found themselves in. And while Yuki made a grave mistake last episode, he did MUCH better handling Yamato this episode.
Idolish7 gathers for their first job together since the fallout and it is awkward and tense as heck. At least the group hug when Mitsuki and Iori came in was wholesome as heck and Sogo becoming Nervana tickled me greatly lol. It was cute how Sogo’s hug was the most pure with both Izumi bros blushing and smiling. It’s nice to get a hug from mom~ However, the pure atmosphere couldn’t last when Mitsuki and Yamato face each other since the fight. While Nagi tried to get them to see that they are incredibly compatible friends, Yamato and Mitsuki just weren’t in a good place to reconcile yet. While it seemed their conversation was cheerful, it came across as forced and fake. Which was incredibly sad to see, especially when it shows that Yamato was searching for permanent place to live away from the others.
And man, their TV show performance was incredibly awkward for everyone. Mitsuki was picking on Yamato a lot during the broadcast and while they seemed to be hitting it off, it was fairly obvious that there were lots of underlying arguments under what they were saying. Yamato seemed to be pushing the notion that he was better off alone while Mitsuki was trying to tell him that he can lean on them for help if he was troubled. And I absolutely love the visual of them drifting further and further a part even if it hurt. The back and forth of these conflicting beliefs made not only the other i7 boys uncomfortable, but even the fans watching them noticed something was off.
Poor Sogo though. He’s trying so hard to keep things together and be the adult in this situation. However, I don’t think Sogo is well equipped socially to be able to try and patch things up on his own. He’s trying his best, but this situation depends solely on Yamato since Mitsuki is waiting for his timing. The ball in his court and only he can choose to move it in any direction. It honestly must have hurt Sogo to see Mitsuki and Yamato on the same wavelength of each other without meaning to as both gave him methods to provide food for the kids. I felt my heart break a little for Sogo when he tried to reach out and talk to them, especially when both ended up rejecting his offer to go out for drinks with them. Despite this though, I think this is also a big step for Sogo character-wise. He’s actually taking initiative to try and work things out with the two conflicting parties rather than just kind of mulling it over without actually doing anything. And while in the end, he couldn’t do anything, for him to try and be outspoken about how he’s feeling while also taking responsibility, that’s just awesome growth for him. It’s just sad when he tried leaning on Yamato for help, Yamato just kept avoiding the situation and probably didn’t have the emotional capacity to offer any help in this moment.
Yamato’s flippant attitude was wearing my patience very thin for him. I understand the guy is just gonig through A LOT of issues and to an extent, I do feel bad for him. However, that does not justify how he’s been treating his friends and just overall being too stubborn over continuing to run away from his problems. When Yamato glared over at Momo I was like: YOU BETTER NOT HURT HIM TOO. It was pretty obvious that Yamato was completely on edge even before Momo entered the elevator. And the longer the conversation went, the more irritable Yamato despite Momo trying to offer some advice to him. So it really was no surprise when Yamato snapped at him and just said SO MANY hurtful things and accusations at Momo. If Yamato hadn’t immediately turned around and apologized after realizing the severity of what he said, he honestly would’ve been dead to me. That whole scene just put me extremely on edge and I could feel myself furrowing my brow the more Yamato just drove into Momo. I’m glad that Yamato realized what he said was terrible and part of it wasn’t even true as Momo didn’t even know Banri was at Takanashi Productions. And I have to hand it to Momo that he handled Yamato’s outburst fairly well despite being hurt.
Momo was definitely the right person to finally break down Yamato’s defenses. Not only did he not lash out when Yamato hurt him, but he understood that Yamato wasn’t being “his normal self” and ended up giving him grace. Despite needing to go to his next job, he still took the time to listen to Yamato’s troubles. Momo kind of struck a balance between Mitsuki and Yuki’s attempts to help Yamato as he came from a place of understanding, comfort but didn’t stray away from telling him what he was doing was wrong.
How Yamato feels in incredibly relatable as I’m sure a lot if not everyone has felt the way he does at one point in their lives. It makes me wonder if Yamato is suffering from depression. Though considering how he views himself and what he’s been thinking and going through all this time, that most likely is the case. It’s honestly really hard to love oneself sometimes, especially when you’re just at a low point. And I love that Momo is the one to tell him that constantly rejecting himself only makes it harder on himself and that we all should give ourselves some grace. What Yamato was doing is incredibly unhealthy and if he was allowed to continue to stew in that mindset, he most likely would have ended up in a worse situation. We can be our own greatest enemies and I do think it takes another person to remind you that you’re not alone and that there are people who care for you. It was honestly really sweet that Momo took it upon himself to be Yamato’s confidant and pat him on the head as if telling him, “it’s okay, you’re not a terrible person.” That act of kindness is probably what Yamato needed the most at this point and would have ended up crying if he hadn’t moved away.
This was truly the first time that Yamato finally opened up about how he feels about himself. And I’m glad that he acknowledges what he did was wrong and that his words and actions would end up hurting his friends. It’s a good first step. And while Yuki went about things with Yamato HORRIBLY last episode, Yamato still acknowledges what he said was the truth. Sometimes people do need to be hit with the truth in order to move forward, though how Yuki did it was a bit insensitive and escalated the situation unnecessarily.
However, after that ordeal, it seems like Yuki tried doing things differently in his second encounter with Yamato. It seems as if Yamato’s pleads of wanting him to be nice to him hit a cord with Yuki as he definitely was A LOT nicer to him this episode. Not to mention he didn’t worry Yamato over the fact that he tried to strangle him despite how blunt Yuki typically is. However, he seems to finally understand that Yamato isn’t in a good place and he needs to try and be more sensitive and gentle with him in his current mental state. And that definitely shined through in this episode. The biggest difference in how their conversation started was saying “we have time” instead of “I’ll wait 10 seconds.” He wasn’t pushing or putting stress on Yamato this time and Yamato responded a lot better and actually opened up to him.
Yamato brings up the time where Yuki was washing his dad’s car and that he was actually envious of how hard Yuki could work for someone. Something Yamato wanted but held himself back by not doing anything about it. I’m obsessed with the concept of the Seven Deadly sins and Yamato definitely fits into the category of sloth. He wants to be loved, but never puts in any effort to get it. He would much rather just let things be and take it easy without doing anything about them. He knew his attitude and actions were wrong, but did nothing to try and correct them. However, being part of Idolish7 and seeing passionate guys up close and personal made him realize that what he was doing wasn’t right. If Yamato had gone ahead with his revenge, he would have essentially robbed the other guys of all the work they put into being idols. He started admiring their passion and actually ended up caring so much for them that he was deathly afraid of them finding out about his initial reasons for becoming an idol. He didn’t want to lose what he unintentionally built with them.
Yuki seemed to take a page out of Momo’s book on how to deal with people and instead of rubbing things into Yamato’s face like last time, while still blunt with how he speaks, he’s taking a more gentle approach and instead giving him encouragement. Yuki was so much more supportive, even praising him for working so hard for his friends and they’ll understand. And when Yamato hesitated, Yuki gently told him it was okay. It was honestly a really sweet moment between the two. Not only did Yuki able to spur Yamato to action, but he also seemed to have some development on his own to try and understand where people are coming from and when to be gentle with them.
The significance to Yamato calling Mitsuki was big. This situation couldn’t be resolved by Mitsuki trying to reach out to Yamato, it had to be Yamato to be the one to do it. Yamato had to be the one to make the effort to repair the things he broke. After EPISODES of avoiding the situation, he faced it head on for the first time and is finally willing to confront himself and the others. As much as I wanted to punch Yamato through out this season, it is incredibly satisfying to see how far he’s come that he is now willing to put in effort for the others and stop acting so selfishly. And I couldn’t help but see Yamato as a little kid in this situation, especially when he meekly went and called Mitsuki. It’s kind of sad to see that despite how mature he presents himself to be, he’s still incredibly immature but is now taking steps in the right direction to be a better person. And we seem to be on the road to reconciliation, FINALLY.
Despite how awesome Momo was in comforting Yamato, I couldn’t help but feel slightly apprehensive throughout the entire thing. It’s been made clear that Momo is working with Ryo to get information from Yamato about the Chiba Salon and while I do think he was genuine in his talk with Yamato, there was still this underlying betrayal kind of hanging over him. Especially with that shot of Momo saying “he wants to hear what you have to say” with him while his eyes were cut off. Momo, please, I want you to be good. And while I have read Part 3 of the game, I don’t remember all the details since it’s been a while. So I’m actually not sure how all of this will play out. Though I’m getting a tad nervous at what Momo is planning since he went to Yaotome Sr to “sell an interesting story” to him. At first glance, that is EXTREMELY BAD since Yaotome Sr took gossip stories to try and crush Idolish7 from the inside out before in season 1. And while he had promised Trigger he wouldn’t pull something like that again, I wouldn’t put it past him to try it again if it meant crushing a prominent rival, especially if it’s Takanashi papa. However, I’m honestly not certain what Momo is thinking. He hit a road block when Yamato is on his way to reconcile with his group, allowing the Izumi bros to return back to the dorms. So I’m unsure if this is a Plan B of his or something. Either way, I AM NERVOUS. Momo, please don’t betray your kohai like this…
The conversation between Yuki and Banri also felt like there were some foreboding undertones. Especially when Banri says that if something happens to Re:vale, he can’t come and save them. And something tells me that something WILL happen considering who Momo is affiliated with at this time. I doubt Re:vale will fall a part because of it since Trigger is already taking part of that plot point but I’m sure it will be a cause of tension between Yuki and Momo. It has been established that Yuki dislikes Ryo and if he finds out that Momo is working with him to protect him, he is NOT going to be happy.
On a lighter note, I find it hilarious how Yuki is literally the only one that Banri is borderline mean to. Especially with his Mt. Everest comparison lol.
I am so thankful that the Yamato drama is finally being resolved. After all of the tension and frustration over the situation, things are starting to look up. Though we know that’s not going to last with everything that’s happening but let’s not dwell on that for now. I never hated Yamato, but he was really pushing it in these past few episodes. I’m glad that both Momo and eventually Yuki became the perfect people to help Yamato emotionally and nudge him in the right direction. And after last week’s terrible confrontation with Yuki, I’m glad he was able to make a change in how he did things that were a lot more helpful. The build up to Yamato finally letting his walls down was incredibly satisfying where I just couldn’t help but go: Ah, there we go. It’s probably a great relief to Yamato as well even if he’s still a little scared to confess to the others. But I’m sure, once he tells the others about who he truly is, he will finally be set free.
I also want to take a moment to talk about the symbolism in this episode. Through out this season, Yamato has constantly been shown in the shadows, just showing us how he views himself and doesn’t believe he deserves to be out in the light with the others. At the start of the scene where Yamato finally starts opening up, he’s entirely covered in Momo’s shadow. However, when Momo bends down to talk to him, it allows some light to touch Yamato for the first time. And I love how Momo’s front is facing the shadow that has engulfed Yamato as if he’s willing to look at the true Yamato despite how “dark” it is. And then when he was opening up to Yuki, he was still in the shadow of an umbrella. There was also a very obvious divide between the two with the umbrella. However, Yuki crossed over to him and into the shadows to meet him where he was. It felt so meaningful for Yamato to finally cross over onto Yuki’s side and into the light for the first time. And that shot of Yamato standing in the sunlight surrounded by beautiful scenery was just had so much significance. He’s finally being set free from the restrictions he put on himself and showing himself some grace by allowing the others back into his life. Troyca, you’re killing it with the symbolism this season.
My only nitpick I’d have to say about this whole situation was that Tsumugi didn’t do very much or was hardly involved in the matter. Yes the situation revolved around Yamato and Mitsuki, but I felt like after talks about her protecting the hearts of her idols and would go across the world to find them if they ever went astray made the fact she didn’t do anything kind of disappointing. I don’t believe she had to be heavily involved, but just a tad more concerned and a little more proactive…But like I said, it’s only a small nitpick as the situation still unfolded and resolved very well.
This episode was FANTASTIC in execution and I’m eager to see Yamato finally reconcile with the others. I’m sure it will end well for him because we all know the others love him so much and they’ll happily accept him.
