Shadow’s Impression
Out of all the episodes so far this season, this one was probably the weakest in terms of pacing and storytelling. There was a lot of build up to what I am assuming will be quite the cliffhanger for next week’s episode. Especially since we’re gonna have to wait until February to see the rest of this part of the season. Idolish7 sure knows how to keep us on our toes, huh? In any case, this episode had quite a bit of talking and discussing on how to prepare for a counterattack against Ryo’s schemes.
I appreciate the fact that they at least KNOW that Ryo is most likely going to try and pull something during Friends Day instead of going in blindly. After all of the theories of what he could pull (thanks i7), it’s going to be hard to combat everything that could possibly go wrong, but we’ll just have to see how they are able to combat these things. After everything that happened in the past few seasons, I feel like the guys in i7 are better equipped with handling unfortunate situations now considering everything they went through. I just hope they manage to be able to do damage control to the best of their ability so that Friends Day will still be a success. Especially since if they’re able to escape Ryo’s sabotage scheme mostly unscathed and their image still intact, that will probably land a big hit against him. And with Trigger slowly making their names known again outside of the city where Ryo’s influence doesn’t reach due to the help of Re:vale’s old producer, it’ll be interesting to see what exactly lands the finishing blow against Ryo. Especially since our group of idols have been doing pretty well in their counterattacks so far. I just worry if Ryo will do something even more drastic to tip the scales again. And judging from the CG’s from the game… they tell me absolutely nothing at how anything plays out lol.
It’s also interesting to note that the jobs Trigger are working were not jobs they would have normally taken when part of Yaotome Productions. It feels as if taking these jobs are helping to loosen them up a bit and getting them to be more flexible instead of just type casting them. Definitely a good way to help diversify what they can do and not strictly abide by the images the production company placed on them. It’s a good experience for them to have and I’m glad that they seem to be enjoying it.
Aside from countermeasures being made, this episode basically just reflects on what has happened so far in this season. Which, I guess it’s kind of nice to get a refresher, but also felt a little unnecessary. Especially when it just devolves into characters kind of making fun of the situations. Which I wasn’t really a fan of since those were some pretty hard hitting moments. But that’s just me and I suppose it just shows the amount of progress the guys have went through to be able to make light of the things that had weighed on them for so long. Though there were some parts that were pretty hilarious, such as when Mitsuki admits that he can’t have a serious chat with Iori, leaving Iori dumbfounded and heartbroken XDDDDD. Which honestly made me laugh at his expense. And then lost it when Sogo had a breakdown over Tamaki not believing they ever had a serious conversation. To which, that’s just Tamaki being dumb, don’t take his words to heart Sogo XD. Yuki is also just a delight as usual with his usual teasings and just being way too laid back about things for his own good. He’s so good XD.
It was also interesting just how Momo ended up getting involved with Ryo considering how psychotic the guy is. Seems like it just kind of happened a bit randomly as the reason wasn’t too clear. And because Momo couldn’t bring himself to cut ties with him sooner, felt as if he had dragged everyone into this mess. However, there was still good that came out of it such as if Momo hadn’t gotten wind of Ryo’s plan, he wouldn’t have been there to help Yamato when he was at his lowest and was able to make sure the Chiba Salon wasn’t exposed. And honestly, if Momo hadn’t “dragged” them all into this mess, I’m sure the mess would find a way to drag them in anyway. So it’s better to be allied with people they can trust rather than getting blind-sided by a sudden attack.
I do like how Momo brings up the fact to not criticize the people who don’t do anything about the Trigger incident. There is a time and place to fight back and he sees it as them just biding their time before they can strike. Kinda like in Attack on Titan where someone instructed his cadets to fall into the enemy ranks until the right time for them to fight back comes while also making sure they don’t lose their way. Sometimes nothing good will come from fighting back immediately, especially when people they care about could get affected by the crossfire. The best thing to do is wait for an opportunity, which Re:vale has been doing and so far have been succeeding in helping Trigger rise back up, much to Ryo’s chagrin.
Without a coordinated attack by many, individual efforts can be snuffed out. As much as we would have liked everyone to defend Trigger immediately, I believe that it was wise for them to wait before striking back especially since they’re going against someone like Ryo. Which makes me hope that it won’t just be i7 and Re:vale fighting against Ryo’s efforts, but also the people who support them and also the people who have laid low so far and don’t agree with how Ryo does things. From what we’ve seen so far, it does seem that Re:vale has slowly been gathering forces. Not to mention we’ve also seen a few people do their part to help with the Trigger situation, such as the head of the Mezzo radio show and the guy leading i7’s show. Even Mr. Shimooka is trying to his best to get Trigger’s name out there in the best way that he can right now. Small parts are moving right now and I hope we get to see a mighty wave be formed from all of it.
We then get treated to a scene where all past and present Re:vale members having a drink, which could only go well lol. Momo is that character that I both appreciate and find kind of annoying at times. I like him a lot when he’s acting as the older brother for the younger members since he does have a lot of wisdom. However, I do find him grating when he’s being super clingy and jealous towards Yuki. I understand that he has a lot of insecurities when it comes to his place in Re:vale, but it does get frustrating when he lets it take over his better judgement. And I appreciate it that Banri is trying to help build his confidence as the true Re:vale. However, it was Yuki who ultimately helps him by listing out Momo’s strengths, strengths Momo probably didn’t even realize himself. And boy did I get emotional that they brought back the Season 2 Re:vale ending just for this episode. STEP ASIDE ZOOL, MAKE WAY FOR THE KINGS. I also love how the scene ends with a shot of three ice cubes together in a cup, symbolizing that the three of them will always be connected even if not all of them work together.
This episode was pretty slow, especially with the amount of flashback scenes. However, I feel like it was also meant to show how far all the boys have come and that those past situations will come to help them deal with the upcoming attacks Ryo will probably pull on them. Though it is concerning that we literally didn’t see anything Ryo or ZOOL was doing in the meantime. Things are definitely going to go down next episode, let’s just hope that our boys can take whatever comes their way and spin it to their advantage somehow.
