Jellyfish Can’t Swim in the Night – 02 – Friends with My Idol

This week we get a sumptuously well-produced OP that spoils the fact that Mahiru and Kano are only half of the eventual JELEE artistic group. The third member is introduced first as a rabid fangirl of Kano’s Sunflower Dolls persona, Tachibana Nonoka, AKA Nono-tan. Just when Mahiru and Kano are wondering how the heck they’ll fund this project, this girl throws down over $1,600 to help their cause.

But this girl isn’t a fan of Kano, but Nono-tan, and wants her to go back to being the SunDolls idol she loved. Kano, establishing her resolve to move beyond her idol past, curtly refuses the money and sends the girl on her way. She almost immediately regrets this, not just because JELEE could use the seed money, but because both she and the girl have identical bags—an incredibly rare bag she designed when she was in SunDolls.

Swapping bags with your favorite idol has to be some kind of dream come true, and indeed one of the first things the girls does is give Kano’s jacket a good sniff. Meanwhile, her bag has her student ID—her name is Takanashi Mei Kim Anouk—and also an audio recorder that contains not only a piano arrangement of “Colorful Moonlight”, but other pieces that Kano and Mahiru really dig.

When they meet Mei at her school to exchange the bags, Mei is clearly chuffed by how much her idol seems to like the songs she composed. But when Kano asks if she’ll compose a song for Kano to sing—as the Yamanouchi Kano she is and always was, not Nono-tan, whom Kano insists is gone and never returning, Mei respectfully declines the offer and takes her leave.

It isn’t until Kano looks at Mei’s student ID stained with sauce from Mahiru’s lunch that she realizes she’s met her before, back when she had bright orange hair. We dive into Mei’s past as she is pushed to be great by adults and made fun of her classmates. Her music seems less “fun” and more simply fulfilling the potential assigned to her from outside.

In any case, Mei is not in a great place emotionally when she suddenly spots Tachibana Nonoka at a live meet-up. Struck by her “Cleopatra” like looks, she gets in line to meet her, but having been made fun of for her name Kim, says her name is Kimura instead. While the Nono-tan who initially interacts with her is the idol, when Mei tells her what’s troubling her, the real Kano comes out, bearing her heart in turn.

As Nano-tan, Kano did what all idols should strive to do: make their fans lives a little brighter, and give them the courage to keep moving forward. There was no artifice to her words; she comes right out and tells Mei she’s not really friends with her group-mates, and suffered similar social isolation during her training.

Kano becomes Mei’s lodestar, which makes Nano-tan’s abrupt fall from grace devastating.  With all of this context, it’s understandable that Mei would feel like she was being abandoned by Kano for abandoning Nano-tan, and that she’d have to be alone again. It’s a horrible state to be in on the verge of what looks like a recital with big stakes.

But whether she has black or blonde hair, Kano is still Nano-tan and Nano-tan is Kano. Back when they first met, Nano-tan promised she’d watch Mei perform, and she fulfills that promise by entering the recital room with Mahiru. When she sees that her beloved idol is there to see her perform, she’s filled with joy and confidence and knocks her piano performance out of the park.

When it’s done and Kano gives her a standing O, Mei can’t help but run crying into her arms. Realizing she’s not alone, she agrees to join JELEE after all and write songs for Kano. She’s decided to support both Nono-tan and Kano—the “whole package.” Even so, while they’re shopping for equipment, Mei is surprised when Mahiru says it’s awesome she got to be friends with her idol.

But that’s exactly what happened! Sure, Mei had a borderline obsessive parasocial relationship with Nano-tan for a while, now that she realizes the real Kano—who again, was the person she met from the start—is just as awesome, if not more so, and now she gets to write music for her. Doubtless her love of Nano-tan and Kano will rekindle her love for music. It no longer needs to be simply her grim duty. It can be a delight … just as this episode was!

Hokkaido Gals Are Super Adorable! – 08 – Their Best Selves

With Tsubasa no longer in danger of being shipped back to Tokyo, I figured the drama would shift to the romantic, as Rena seems to be making a hard play on our boy. But no, no drama! When Minami hears Tsubasa is on a date, not only does she rush to the mall to watch from afar, but invites Sayuri to watch with her! Minami is too busy swooning at the sight of Rena in a kimono to be concerned about Tsubasa being swept off his feet.

And boy howdy is Rena a lovely date. She emanates purity like light, and everyone around them seems to be in awe of her ethereal beauty. When she sees a crane game full of local mascots (like a melon bear or a tiny mint … squirrel?), Tsubasa gives it his all to try to win her the former, but gets the latter as consolation. Sayuri is so frustrated with his crane skills she almost blows her cover to assist!

After going to see a character drama film, during which Rena cried in the middle, she clarifies that she almost never cries like that, but she really related to the main character. She works so hard to be perfect at everything, that greatness was expected of her, and praise receded to the point there have been times she’s wondered what it’s all for, and if she’s worth anything.

Tsubasa assures her there’s nothing wrong with working hard to earn praise, as it’s a common practice with most people. But in Rena he sees someone who’s actually followed through, finishes what she starts, and he’s certain that when people see her, it inspires them to try to be their best selves.

Rena is glad to have met someone just next store who seems to understand her better than most, and when he says he wants to learn more about her, she asks if he has a girlfriend. He doesn’t, and she asks if he’s lonely. He’s not, because he’s made some special friends in Hokkaido who accept him for who he is.

Right on cue, Minami rises from her and Sayuri’s hiding spot to reveal they’ve been watching. It doesn’t take Rena long watching Tsubasa’s interactions with the other two to understand their dynamic. Minami is finally able to introduce herself to Rena and hold  her hand, and Rena can tell why Tsubasa values them so much.

Minami’s mom shows up and treats everyone to yakiniku, and every first piece of delicious grilled meat they eat is described with great detail. Naturally, food tastes better when you’re in the company of such great people. Yes, Minami, Sayuri, and Rena are adorable as all get-out, but more importantly, they’re beautiful on the inside, like Tsubasa.

When Minami’s mom praises Sayuri and Rena, Sayuri thinks Rena might belong in a class of her own as she’s the product of some pretty good genes. Minami corrects her, saying she’s watched Rena enough to know she works hella hard at both her appearance and her studies. Nothing was given to her. When Minami says seeing Rena makes her want to be her best self, it reinforces precisely what Tsubasa was telling her earlier.

After the feast, Minami takes Tsubasa aside and asks him if he’s going out with Rena. When he says he isn’t, and that their date was due to circumstances he’d rather not get into at the moment, she gets up real close and tells him that in that case, “she’s next” when it comes to going on dates with him.

Then she runs up to the others and proposes they have a barbecue together when Spring arrives. There were just warm feel-good vibes all round this week, which is what I come to this show looking for—not serious love polygons!

Heroines Run the Show – 12 (Fin) – Feeling the Love

A little while after punching Hiyori, Chizuru starts eating alone. The feelings that led to her taking photos and causing a scandal have subsided, but she feels both her relationship to Hiyori and LIPxLIP have been irreparably shattered. But Juri knows Chizuru still cares, because she was genuinely worried about Hiyori after the punch.

Despite what she did, Chizuru is still deserving of redemption, but knows she has to change. The boys, meanwhile, are prepping for their Countdown Live performance, but when Uchida gives them comp tickets, they hesitate to give them to their former manager-in-training, and settle for their respective brothers.

In the midst of kicking her LIP fandom entirely, Chizuru is surprised when Hiyori pops by her place with the ticket Chizuru had bought and then left with Juri. Chizuru maintains she doesn’t deserve to be a fan anymore, and in any case won’t listen to Hiyori and promptly kicks her out.

Things seem grim, until Uchida does what the boys couldn’t and stop by her place to personally deliver not just a comp ticket, but an all-areas staff pass: they won’t admit it, but they need her to be their manager-in-training for this one. Now that both she and Chizuru have he means to go, Hiyori returns to Chizuru’s house, reveals she knows she’s Chutan, and finally tells her the truth about being their manager-in-training.

Chizuru accepts this truth, and understands why Hiyori had to keep it secret. With that, Hiyori leads the two on a mad dash to make the concert on time. Yuujirou and Aizou scold Hiyori for being late but are clearly glad she’s here, while Chizuru finds her seat among all their other classmates and their friends/dates also in attendance.

Invigorated by the sounds of their awaiting Julietas, Yuujirou and Aizou put all the pieces together and deliver perhaps their best performance, one that’s not about advancing to the top of the idol mountain, but performing for the fans and showing their love for them.

AT4 praises them for this, as they finally seem to “get” what being an idol on stage is about. Chizuru is moved to tears by their passion, and Hiyori also feels that this concert hit different, likely because she’s happy to be back by their side as manager-in-training.

After the show, the managers offer Hiyori her old job back, which she accepts with her usual enthusiasm. After AT4 counts down the new year, things go back to normal with Hiyori both on the track, with her two besties, and back at work with LIPxLIP. Presumably Hiyori also told Juri about her job, while Chizuru openly shares her Chutan persona with her friends.

Whether LIPxLIP could actually get away with having Hiyori fill in as a backup dancer with absolutely no training is a little doubtful, but it’s fun to finally see the Heroine take the stage, if only under a mascot costume. No doubt the boys wanted to share with their future full manager what it felt like up there, to be cheered and adored by the masses.

Is this also a bit of a neat and tidy conclusion, what with Hiyori and Chizuru mostly making up off-camera? Are a lot of the issues about parasocial relationships, stalking, and other obsessive behavior mostly tabled in favor of Chizuru’s personal redemption story? Perhaps, but on the other side, I never liked Hiyori’s decision to quit, and I’m glad she’s back on the job. In the end, she really did run the show.

Heroines Run the Show – 11 – The Mask Falls

Our episode opens on someone we haven’t met before: an extremely enthusiastic café maid adding her love to her customer’s omurice. When she removes her wig and puts on those distinctive glasses, we discover it’s Chizuru, who it would seem we still haven’t met…not for real, at least.

Chizuru doesn’t seem to like working her ass off at this job, but she apparently needs to so she can keep making money to send…to LIPxLIP, and Aizou in particular, with whom she is particularly smitten. She has hidden that intense infatuation from both the boys and her friends…but one day she’s sloppy, and Yuujirou hears her phone when she snaps multi-burst shots of them playing basketball.

Back at work and as popular as ever, and with the scandal well behind them, the boys have a new problem: Hiyori isn’t around anymore. Their new old manager mixes up their drinks. It’s a little thing, but after Hiyori made that mistake she never made it again; it speaks to what a dedicated, detail-oriented hard worker she was, and what a void she leaves. Hiyori has done her best to forget about her old job and focuses on track, but her times are slower and she’s clearly eating more at lunchtime.

When Juri notes that the harassment of her has mercifully ceased, Hiyori says she’s most sorry about “hurting the fans”, and as Chizuru is one of them, she has to quickly excuse herself so she can drop the friend facade, whip out one of the photos she took of Hiyori with LIPxLIP, and curse her as she blots her out with a Sharpie. Yuujirou witnesses the entire tirade.

Juri invites herself and Chizuru over to Hiyori’s for a pizza sleepover, but the discussion becomes awkward when Chizuru answers that yes, she does have a crush. That’s when Yuujirou strategically side-checks her in such a way that her bag goes flying…and the incriminating photos fly out too.

Juri’s cavalier reaction—almost as if a part of her she expected something like this, is contrasted by Hiyori’s sheer bewilderment. She’s genuinely unsure of what’s going on, until Chizuru makes it nice and sparkling clear: she fucking hates her guts!

The sleepover obviously cancelled due to the death of good vibes, Hiyori instead runs all night, only to replenish all the calories she burned with another crepe sesh with Mona-chan. Mona draws from her own experience “hating” her sister to tell Hiyori that “hate” is often just an easy label for more complex feelings buried beneath all the bluster.

Hiyori is all aboard with the idea of reaching out to Chizuru and asking her how she really feels, but Chizuru doesn’t want to talk, and avoids her at every turn the next day. I thought at first Hiyori’s superior speed would have the advantage in the ensuing cat-and-mouse, but lest we forget, Chizuru snapped those photos while remaining totally undetected. It’s like trying to corner a ninja!

When Hiyori finally does tackle Chizuru, none of Chizuru’s hostility has dissipated. If anything, she’s even more annoyed that Hiyori won’t leave her the ef alone. But when pressed, Chizuru maintains that she did nothing wrong, and that it’s the “nobody” Hiyori’s fault for getting so close to the idols and not “knowing her place” like Chizuru.

In the rancor she dispenses, Hayami Saori brings back shades of Hatoko’s Rant and demonstrates once more why she’s among the best in the business. When given dramatic meat, she leaves nothing on the bone. The tussling gets more and more physical until the two are literally throwing right crosses at one another, but only Chizuru’s lands, knocking Hiyori clean out with a fountain of blood.

When Hiyori wakes up in the nurse’s, Yuujirou and Aizou are with her…and so is Chizuru, asleep by her bed, clutching her hand, her eyes raw from tears. Seeing her there, one can’t help but forgive her, because she wouldn’t be there if she didn’t actually care about Hiyori. Perhaps she can ditch the easy, safe hatred and explore the true feelings beneath, but the episode wisely doesn’t wake her, leaving us to wonder until next week.

A Couple of Cuckoos – 05 – Shrine Stamp Maiden

Nagi is loathing returning to school, not sure he can face Segawa Hiro after she rejected him because she was already engaged. However, once he actually goes, he finds he’s the only one making this weird. Hiro has been “researching” him, and learned that he studies alone in the library an hour before school starts, and so decided to join him for a morning study session.

While Nagi is again initially hopeless, preoccupied with whether Hiro wants to steal her from her fiancé or is simply friendzoning him, eventually the two find common ground in their shared love of collecting shrine stamps. Sure, she has over four times more stamps, but he has a couple of rare ones she doesn’t. Oh, and she arrived at school earlier than him. Looks like Nagi’s in for a high school life of cozy study sessions and competing with the girl he likes in all things…

Then things go all Cuckoo and Erika not only transfers to Nagi’s school, but end sup in his and Hiro’s class. No doubt that was not an accident on the part of Erika’s parents. Turns out she was expelled from her fancy girls school when she accidentally posted the picture of them looking like a natural couple. Since such relationships are forbidden, she got the heave-ho. Nagi can’t fathom why her friends would be such “sticklers for the rules”, and Erika quietly muttered that they weren’t friends.

Erika doesn’t let that linger, and Nagi doesn’t press, but he remembers those words when he sees hordes of people surrounding Erika (though keeping a semi-respectful distance), and Erika looking thoroughly uncomfortable and lonely. Erika told him that their engagement has to remain a secret from everyone at school, so Nagi hesitates to approach her. That’s when Class Rep Segawa Hiro approaches her and breaks the ice.

Nagi isn’t surprised by Hiro’s kindness—it’s a big part why he likes her so much—while the other classmates go absolutely apeshit over sharing the air of two higher forms of life. Honestly, you’d think especially a prestigious school like this would have rules and such in place against this kind of behavior which too often feels like harassment rather than the harmless admiration the episode makes it out to be. And Nagi takes part in it!…though not for the same reasons as everyone else.

As soon as Erika and Hiro started hitting it off, Nagi imagined a metaphorical guillotine blade hanging over his head should Erika find out he confessed to Hiro and Hiro find out he’s engaged to Erika. While he’s trying to find the right time to approach Erika, it ends up being a day of stalking instead. This is the first episode of Cuckoos where I just wasn’t a fan of Nagi whatsoever…he was too cartoonish with a side of creepy (the less said about the shot of Nagi and Erika unbuttoning their shirts the better).

Nagi finally breaks the stalemate when he witnesses Hiro suddenly crouch to the ground and start sobbing. He rushes out of his hiding spot to tell Hiro that whatever Erika said or did, she didn’t mean it, she’s just nervous and is actually a good person. But Erika didn’t say anything; Hiro’s tears are of joy, because she just might be Erika’s biggest fangirl.

She just couldn’t hold it in anymore, ya know? And while I’m sure Erika is flattered, my heart sunk a little now knowing Hiro isn’t above the drooling masses wigging out over their new classmate being a big deal online. I laughed at Hiro’s threatening face after Erika tells her that Nagi is “another one of her fans”, but the flimsiness of that lie will certainly present a problem down the road.

What I did like was Erika being genuinely touched by Nagi came to her defense and called her a good person (which she is), even if he misunderstood what was happening. She blushes and tells him she’s “not half bad”, definitely a compliment coming from his reluctant fiancée. I also liked learning that Erika takes after her biological mom’s athleticism. Neither she nor Hiro are just pretty faces.

The idea of the three having morning study sessions should prove a font of comedy and drama. But between Nagi’s aggressive stalking the school losing their mind over a minor celebrity, and how Erika often comes off as traumatized because of it, this outing had its share of blemishes. Fortunately, that’s far more forgivable for a two-cour show—we’ve got a long way to go.