Guess who’s back to get Haru to join her old group again? That’s right! Ren is absolutely not giving up bringing back Haru to HY:RAIN and it’s all thanks to one of those pesky childhood promises. It’s almost impressive how obsessed she has been with getting Haru to rejoin the group, but at the same time I want to shake her by the shoulders and tell her that “Haru has found her place and you have found yours!! You can both be idols together and still be in a different group!!
It hasn’t been that long since Ren showed up out of nowhere demanding that Haru comes back to HY:RAIN and even though we’re shown that Ren has been at multiple performances, she hasn’t actually kept in contact with Haru. I mean, I too would be taken back if someone who I thought was my friend stopped talking to me and then tried to get me to go back to doing something that hurt them. I fully support Haru in not going back. Not because I don’t like HY:RAIN, I just feel like they’ve made their name without her and they are already succeeding. Also, she’s found her home with TINGS. I get that the other girls might not be on her level, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that she should leave! All of them have their place and have grown significantly since the start of this series. It won’t be TINGS without Haru, but HY:RAIN does not change whether or not she is in it.
Full transparency here – I was not the biggest fan of this episode. It was good to get the background on Haru and Ren (and Homare), but it feels really late in the series to bring it up. Why are we so focused on Haru leaving when Homare didn’t even bother to audition? Generally, she’s been more a good friend in this whole series than Ren has been. I get that Ren is only focused on Haru, but the rest of HY:RAIN really doesn’t seem to care whether or not Haru comes back… and personally, I think that’s okay!! They put in the work themself and they are doing really well!! At this point, Ren is the odd one out in her desire to get Haru back. That being said, it’s not like the other girls don’t like Haru. They spoke very casually with her when they all first met and since then haven’t really said anything bad about her. She’s just not their primary focus. They were a group together, she left and then they restarted and found success. They are looking forward while Ren is only looking at the past.
And it just makes things messy! Things were going so well for TINGS, but now you’re showing off how good your group is and really targeting insecurities of her new group. Things are awkward for TINGS because they feel like they need to prove themselves to be able to keep her (and at this point Haru has outright said she’s not coming back) and now Kyouka has lost all confidence in herself as being a unique idol. I want her to be happy and successful, but it really bums me out how quickly she got down on herself after her episode of growth. We could have had most of this episode without this element. Now does it just boil down to Kyouka having to prove herself? If that is the case… I don’t know how I will feel because this has been a journey for all of TINGS, her included. I just really hope they don’t minimize this growth in the final episode.
So while this wasn’t the best episode or really one of my favorites, I am looking forward to seeing how everything will wrap up next week. I hope we can prove that TINGS is a force to be reckoned with and can stand on their own against HY:RAIN!
