TINGS is back and their anniversary live is just around the corner! This was such a fantastic episode to come back to after a two week break, I feel like I went through every possible emotion for these girls and there’s still more to come.
We pick up where we left off – the girls just finished their first performance with Haru performing to her true authentic abilities and TINGS popularity starts to grow. At this point it seems like their tickets for the Nakano Sun Plaza are going to see out in no time. Well… turns out things aren’t that easy and there is a bit of work that needs to happen before they can sell the remaining half of their tickets. I wish we would have had more interactions between the girls, but I think this episode did a really good job of showing us how much they’ve grown. Kyouka is more confident in interacting with people and having fun and Rio is able to eat green peppers on camera without crying! That’s a win!
The first half of this episode was just so incredibly fun. I loved seeing all of the girls in their elements whether that was just filming ‘linktoks’ or hanging out with vtubers. It really started to seem like TINGS was getting into their stride. And then of course when all of the fans were supporting them? I teared up. I’m just so proud of these girls. Seeing all the fans write about them on the bird app about how much they enjoyed TINGS? Gah! My heart! And then during the last sprint, watching all of them interact with all the people close to them was just a cherry on top! Whether it was just helping hand out fliers or buying a whole set of tickets on their own, it was just so sweet to see them thrive. I’m proud of them for selling out their tickets!!
But of course, this is only episode 10 and we are going to have another roadblock in our path. After only a few moments of celebration HY:RAIN, or more specifically, Ren, makes an appearance to take Haru back. I know that Ren has probably just been hyper focused on Haru since she left the agency, but it was such a funny interaction. Imagine this person who you haven’t spoken to for a year and have avoided in the hall shows up out of nowhere and tries to drag you back to the old agency because they are the only group worthy enough to help you shine. I mean, good on Ren for being that dedicated, but uh,,,,, maybe this was not the best way to go about it. It certainly wasn’t a good idea to call the rest of TINGS “backup dancers” and then immediately target the thing that they are most insecure about. I don’t know how the other girls are feeling, but I know Kyouka took it to heart. It’s incredible how much a single interaction can undo so much progress. But, I do think that it’s funny when the rest of the girls show up and are just like “Haha classic Ren. She’s so silly :)”. Even if they agree with Ren’s thoughts, at least they kept those thoughts to themselves.
Still, that does leave us with a big problem. Their performance at Nakano Sun Plaza will decide whether or not Haru stays with TINGS. In my personal opinion, even if they don’t hold up to HY:RAIN’s standards, Haru is fully within her right to say that she wants to say and not return to her old group. That being said, I’m interested in seeing how this all plays out. I’m sure TINGS will absolutely knock their performance out of the park, but at the end of the day I just want everyone to be happy and enjoy being idols. ; v;
