This was the anime that was the hardest to pick up after I got backlogged, and that just made it harder to sit down and watch these episodes today. I can't believe this did well in BD sales.
This batch finished up the plot point of who Nanami would be "paired" with and then began a new plot point of Tokiya's troubles. Neither of these two episodes were particularly emotional for me, although there was obviously plenty of emotion thrown in constantly. Eventually, all of the idols decided to share Nanami (although the anime is
still gearing up for Tokiya's eventual win) and thus the idol group was born. There was also some stuff about Tokiya having problems with his management company that's probably not finished yet, leading to the next (and final) batch.
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| He's so stupid sometimes. |
Ep10 was one of the most boring and try-hard episodes so far. As I had predicted, the issue created in ep09 was solved and in exactly the manner that I had thought it would be. I mean, the 6 idols are a group in the ED, so I was pretty sure that would be the "twist". Essentially, Haruka thought about all the boys that had chosen her and felt stressed that she had to choose just one. I question the logic behind the rule that if Haruka doesn't pick one, she and all of the 6 boys will be disqualified. I understand that it enforces the fact that you should talk to a person before deciding them as your partner, but isn't that still a little harsh? Sometimes I feel like the rules of this school were arbitrarily made, as if to push some sort of plot device forward.
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| Getting squeezed by giant hearts usually makes people happy, yes. Of course. |
Haruka stayed up all night to compose a song and then presented it to all of them. Otoya and Sho decided to go with her idea, while the other four were not so pleased (especially Tokiya, who insinuated that he couldn't lie about his feelings). It didn't matter, as the principal showed up and laughingly announced that he wouldn't allow such a thing and that he would disqualify Nanami if she didn't pick one. The scenes following were the individuals thinking about what to do; it culminated in Otoya, Sho, Masato and Natsuki going to Nanami to agree with her idea of a group (because they loved the song they saw). As they chased down the principal on the helipad (so much drama...), Ren and Tokiya showed up and the group sang with passion (I assume). Unsurprisingly, the principal was very moved and titled the song Maji Love 1000%, clearly approving of the group's formation. Thus ended the story arc of who Nanami's partner would be.
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| The principal seems extra-interested in Nanami these days. Another love interest? |
The end of ep10 set up the new plot point of Tokiya's management company finding out about his involvement with Saotome Academy and, effectively, another agency. So ep11 began with his manager working him hard, thus causing him to arrive consistently late to his meetings with the rest of the idols and Nanami. I was actually surprised to see that no one but Nanami knew that he was Hayato; I thought the episode where she found out was also the episode where the rest of the people found out, but I guess that's not the case at all. Anyway, it turned out that the other idols were becoming pretty annoyed with Tokiya and his "part-time job" that took up so much of his time, setting the stage for more forced drama in this episode.
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| He was dying for the entire conversation. Why wasn't an ambulance called earlier? |
Eventually, Tokiya collapsed from the hard work (in front of his manager on a rainy day) and for some reason woke up semi-naked in a bed. The house is either his or the president's, the same old guy that waltzed in. The conversation that ensued was ridiculous; the president (of Hayato's agency) took some pills, drank some alcohol, and smoked heavily while berating Tokiya for planning on leaving the agency as soon as his contract was over. As he began struggling to speak (something that Tokiya either didn't notice or didn't care about), he pressed that a guy like Tokiya could do anything and he was getting too greedy. I don't even understand what that means. If he can't sing, then he can't do everything. If he can sing, then you're just not managing him right and he
should leave. Either way, the scene ended with the president collapsing and Tokiya getting caught up in taking him to the hospital.
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| Ha, "Hard Bank" instead of the real company "Softbank". Cute. |
With the other idols falling apart due to Tokiya's absences, Ren got especially annoyed that Nanami was sticking up for Tokiya so much and Natsuki began to muse that she knew something more than what they did. Tokiya had a heart-to-heart with the president at the hospital, and it seems that, for now, he'll be able to leave without a problem. (There's a chance that there will be more shifty things happening with his management company; with the many, many cliches being thrown in without proper development, I just don't know or care anymore.) As he attempted to get to Saotome Academy, his phone battery died and his taxi got stuck in a super traffic jam that meant he wouldn't get there before morning. Oh, no, the cliffhanger!
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| Disturbing. |
I don't know if the story just actually became this bad, or if it's only hitting me harder because I haven't seen this anime in a while. Either way, I'm counting the minutes before I can be done with this series. But I really can't marathon this. Let's take a break for a few hours first.
~Aaro
PS. I just noticed that, some ways through the post, I swapped from "Haruka" to "Nanami". Fighting my OCD-related tendencies, I've decided to keep it. It shows how crazy this anime made me.
