idol – Anime QandA

Caged Rage – ‘Zombie Land Saga’ Episode 2 Review

Caged Rage – An Anime QandA Review of ‘Zombie Land Saga’ Episode 2

What’s the show? Zombie Land Saga, Episode 2.

So, uh, you weren’t too fond of last week’s first episode of this, are things any better this week? First of all I just want to say I thought about it a lot and I know exactly why I had such a negative reaction to last week’s episode. I was legitimately shocked by the opening death scene and not in a good-way. And I liken it to this hypothetical, imagine you’re meeting someone for the first time and rather than greeting you like normal they decide to scare you by jumping out when you least expect it—that’s forever your first impression of this person now. That they’re just the kind of person who likes to shock for the sole purpose of getting a rise out of someone. That’s Zombie Land Saga for me.

People aren’t anime though? Well I have no irl friends so anime is my only friend and I don’t like this friend—it’s no friend at all!

(So we’re still going with this analogy) Okay then, so what can your “friend” do to make up for this faux pas of a first meeting? It’s not that simple, I still resent the first encounter so everything for this anime is an up-hill battle, I sat watching this with my arms crossed not enjoying it in the slightest because I was still so worked up over it. And honestly, I don’t think this is a case of ‘time heals all wounds’ if you want to call me being angry at anime a ‘wound’. I think I’m just not into this anime, it can try and win me back all it wants but I’m just not ~feeling it~ in any way, shape or form.

Sounds to me like you didn’t even want to give it a second chance. Any truth in that? Tch. Maybe… But whatever, who cares about the extenuating circumstances, if I’m not enjoying something that that’s all there is to it! I don’t like the jokes, I don’t like the music, I don’t like the characters—even the one bright spot I had last week, weird manager guy, was grating on me this entire episode. And what’s more this whole premise is kind of sexist and problematic—a guy is basically holding a bunch of girls (some of them children) hostage and forcing them to perform to further his agenda, berating them if they disagree or dissent and keeping them imprisoned like animals. What just because they’re dead we shouldn’t be seeing them as human any more? If ‘Monster Musume’ taught me anything it’s that Monster Girls deserve to be treated with respect like everyone else in this society.

Imagine this man shouting at non-undead girls with such demeaning language, not so funny anymore is it?

B-but, what about the cop who tries to shoot the girls again (and who shot the main girl last week)? You want me to solve all this show’s issues easily, here: have them where make-up whenever they’re outside and let them live normal lives. Done. You want another, more permanent fix? Hold a press conference to the world, say zombie’s exist, say zombie’s aren’t a threat to anyone once they ‘wake-up’ from being their brain dead versions, give them rights like the rest of people. Done. Maybe this show will acknowledge them as zombies and turn into a Monster Girl positive anime, but as it is now, it’s just creepy and wrong. I don’t see any comedy in this scenario and the more I think about it the more I want to never watch it again!

Calm down. Nope, I’m done with this review and I’m done with this show.

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Cute Girls Doing Dead Things – ‘Zombie Land Saga’ Episode 1 Review

Cute Girls Doing Dead Things – An Anime QandA Review of ‘Zombie Land Saga’ Episode 1

What’s the show? Zombie Land Saga, Episode 1.

And what’s it about? Sakura Minamoto is a normal high school girl who dreams about being an idol, when on her way to an audition she is struck by a passing car and killed. 10 years later she is resurrected, along with other girls from various eras by a man named Kotaro Tatsumi who intends for them to become an all-zombie idol group to help save the flagging interests of Saga prefecture.

Well… that’s certainly an interesting premise! Did you enjoy the episode? Not really. Well, not at as a whole.

Oh, well that’s a rather ~vague~ answer do you want to elaborate on why exactly? Well I guess it makes sense to start from the beginning. So we see Sakura getting ready for her day, she steps out into the street and is hit by a small truck, her body begins cartwheeling through the air, which we have to watch for a minute and a half as the opening credits play—now already they’ve got me off base, this is the kind of edgy bullshit that I loathe. Added to that I watch anime to see cute girls doing cute things, not cute girls being killed.

So you didn’t like it because it was dark? No I didn’t appreciate it because it felt like it was trying too hard to be shocking but the biggest problem isn’t even that, while yes it was shocking and I’ll admit it ~triggered~ me, there’s a way to recover from that. And that’s by being tonally consistent, which it did for a little bit, Sakura escaping the “haunted house” full of other zombie girls, stumbling into the rain-drenched streets only to find a police officer who straight up shoots her in the chest because she’s a zombie and she didn’t even realise it at the start. That’s dramatic material and it was well paced and tense and then he shows up…

Who is this “he” you’re referring to? That’d be Kotaro, who bursts in like a fifty-ton freight train of energy and derails all dramatic potential this show once had and instead turns this into a zombie version of last season’s Music Girls only with more head banging. Seriously, the tonal whiplash from the first third of the episode to the last two-thirds is enough to break my neck.

So you don’t like the main guy? No, he’s great, he’s played by Mamoru Miyano—who voices Okabe from Steins;Gate (and Steins;Gate 0) and he’s in full Hyouin Kyouma mode with the ridiculous laugh and exaggerated poses. It’s a whole lot of fun and contrasts perfectly with Sakura’s kind of deadpan delivery and total “not having any of this” attitude. What I don’t think it contrasts with is the first part of the episode. It starts off as one kind of show and more-or-less sells what it’s trying to achieve and then pretty much abandons it in favour of a slice of life, cute girls doing cute things series just with the fact that they’re zombies being the only major change to the formula. And the second part is good too, I mean it’s pretty predictable but that’s what CGDCT shows are so it sells that too.

So let me get this straight, you ended up liking the first “darker, more intense” part then you ended up liking the “lighter, more tropey” part too but you still somehow have a problem with this show? I can’t say I have a problem with a whole show after a single episode—but I do think its something of a failed combination. I’ll keep watching to see if it sticks to how the show felt in it’s latter half or if it continues to flub it by flip flopping between the ‘edgy’ stuff and the ‘lighter’ stuff or maybe even if it just learns to integrate the two sides better.

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Music Girls – Full Season QandA Rundown

What’s the important information? Music Girls is a Summer 2018 anime that ran 12 episodes through June to September. It is an original anime based on a 2015 anime short film produced by Studio Deen for the ‘Young Animator Training Project’.

What’s it about? Hanako has just returned to Japan after living in the United States with her musician parents, while at the airport she comes across the “Music Girls” an obscure eleven-member idol group with precisely 26 die-hard fans. Their manager Ikehashi, immediately finds Hanako’s look and personality to be ideal for their group, that is until she starts singing and find out she’s awful at it. Committed to helping the ‘Music Girls’ become the best they can be she joins them as their ‘secretary’ and helps out behind the scenes instead.

Why did you watch it? Initially this show wasn’t even on my Summer 2018 watch list, but after I dropped a couple of shows I decided to give a chance on the show, ordinarily I don’t bother with idol anime but something about this show seemed different. And ~boy~ was I right with that assumption!

Did you enjoy the show? No other show this season offered this level of unpredictable and undefinable joy, it’s not a ~great~ show, at times it hardly even a show, but is stupidly fun and endearingly so. At times it feels like a parody, while other times it feels like a student film—sometimes its heavy on the idol-shtick, whereas other times it leans into loose comedy while other times it comes across as sincere slice of life but never does it commit to one wholly. In any other this kind of lack-of-focus would be a negative but somehow here it just works—or maybe that’s just me…

What was your favourite episode? It’s hard to pick just one as the duality of this show means sincere episodes can be just as interesting as ~silly~ episodes. But the one that struck the balance perfectly and actually had some interesting and deep things to say while remaining simultaneously ridiculous is Episode 6 “Meat and Idols” which gave us the very progressive message that people should identify with message intended for anybody regardless of age, gender or social status while also tying it into an entire plot point about who keeps buying all the fried chicken at one of the idol’s favourite street-side eateries.

What were your most favourite things about the show? Aside from everything I’ve mentioned above, I did love the gratuitous bath scenes, which got so frequent that I realised this show spent more time in baths than ‘Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs’ an anime actually set in a bathhouse!

What were your least favourite things about the show? I never like to complain about animation quality, considering the short turn around time many anime have between animating and release and while a lot of the ‘shortcomings’ in this series are probably more to do with Studio Deen being a studio that’s ~loose~ with animation in general. But there were times during this season where I wondered if a work experience kid was put on a scene as occasionally animation felt below-amateurish. If it was intended then fantastic, but if not… well that’s a negative in my book. Also the songs that the Music Girls perform aren’t actually that good, which, you know is kind of a big deal for a series with ‘Music’ in the title!

Who was your favourite character? Sasame is amazing—she exists almost outside of the rest of the cast by being a character who would probably never actually be an idol in real life but is absolutely an essential character if we’re looking at this as a comedy/CGDCT show.

Thoughts on the OP (opening) and ED (ending) and the soundtrack in general? The OP, “Eien Shonen” by Yui Ogura is fantastic—not only is it an awesome and catchy song but it fits ~perfectly~ with the visuals, evoking a sort of 90’s sitcom aesthetic, what with the names of every character appearing on screen as they do. The ED is “Shining Peace” by the cast and it’s a competent if kind of generic piece by the cast—funnily enough though it’s better than any of the Insert songs in the show itself!

What’s something unique about this show? This whole show is unique, it feels like a rare and endangered species that needs to be protected—but at the same time—exploited and put on show for all to see just how ~weird~ this show is!

What other anime are most like it for the sake of comparison? Funnily enough this series’ silliness to sincerity ratio reminds me of another show with ‘Girls’ in the title. Comic Girls shares at least a passing similarity with this show, even if the aforementioned is much more polished and competent.

Who would you recommend it to? Anyone who doesn’t take anime too seriously and can enjoy something light-hearted and silly! There is a ~genuine~ attempt at making an anime underneath all the amateurish decisions, both creatively and technically but it’s hard not to get swept up by the nonsense, as often is the case!

Sum up the season in one sentence: ‘To an outsider an idol may seem silly and facile, even stupid, but dig beneath and you might find something more meaningful—even human.’

Final score? 77 out of 100.

Previous Music Girls Reviews:

Idol Anime At Its Peak – Episode 1 & 2 Review
The Sound of One Hand Clapping – Episode 3 Review
An Idol Without Makeup – Episode 4 Review
Starving Artists – Episode 5 Review
There’s A 17 Year Old Girl In All Of Us – Episode 6 Review
Bikinis, Baths and Brotherly Love – Episode 7 Review
Disbanding Together – Episode 8 Review
Variety Is The Slice Of Life – Episode 9 Review
Outclassed – Episode 10 Review
A Roller Coaster Of Emotions – Episode 11 Review
Stage Fight – Episode 12 Review

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Stage Fight – ‘Music Girls’ Episode 12 (Finale) Review

Stage Fight – An Anime QandA Review of ‘Music Girls’ Episode 12

What’s the show? Music Girls, Episode 12.

So the finale huh, what happens in this episode? The Music Girls perform at the music festival and it’s make or break for them—if they don’t attract a crowd of 10,000 people the president of their record label will disband their group.

Why are their eyes glowing… it’s creepy!

Uh-huh, perfectly logical plot point… so do they make the target? Well the number of people watching slowly rises as the Music Girls perform the same 3 songs they’ve been performing all season and then there’s a power outage at their stage and so people begin to leave. Hanako, our committed protagonist decides there’s only one thing she can do—she comes on the darkened stage and using the minimal amount of reserve power that powers the microphones decides to belt out a song.

If this were a realistic anime someone would have shouted “show us your tits!” or maybe that’s just what an Australian audience would do…

But isn’t she a terrible singer? Absolutely she is, and so people start mocking and laughing and filming her with their phones only for the Music Girls to come back out and stop her. They realise what she’s doing, she’s trying to make herself a spectacle so people will stay but they don’t want her to embarrass herself on their behalf. The crowd misconstrues their passionate words of support to Hanako as ‘fighting’ and even more people start filming to the point where it goes viral. Then in a move that I’m pretty sure I predicted in the first episode—Hanako is made a member of the Music Girls, with her own outfit prepared and everything! The power comes on, we have a 3D dance sequence and they aren’t disbanded because them going viral is more important than reaching an arbitrary number of attendees at a music festival.

That sounds kinda lame… Yeah, but I mean what do you expect at this point? This show’s ~pretty~ dumb but entertaining as heck and this finale continues that trend. There’s even a moment, where in unison, all the Music Girls slap their own faces as if to admonish their actions. I don’t think I’ve seen anything quite as absurd been portrayed so matter-of-factly!

Aww, she’s a member of the Music Girls now! Doesn’t change the fact she still can’t sing…

So your final thoughts on the series finale of Music Girls? The artificially created drama of this final premise really didn’t sell itself, like I never actually felt like the Music Girls were ever going to disband. But if, like me, you were only here for CGDCT with an idol veneer, added to that this series’ trademark quirky sense of humour and that Studio Deen ‘looseness’ to the animation then this series finale delivers exactly that—nothing more, nothing less.

And I’ll never forget this anime… ’til next week!

Previous Music Girls Reviews:

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A Roller Coaster Of Emotions – ‘Music Girls’ Episode 11 Review

A Roller Coaster Of Emotions – An Anime QandA Review of ‘Music Girls’ Episode 11

What’s the show? Music Girls, Episode 11.

What happens this episode? I seem to recall you being none-to pleased about the quality of the previous episode? That’s an accurate assessment. It was a little rough around the edges and that’s saying something considering the show we’re watching.

Is this episode an improvement? Surprisingly yes, and I say surprisingly because it’s usually the case with these kinds of things that once the wheels start falling off a crash is inevitable, but nope somehow a spare tire got fitted while the car was still moving—to continues this awkward analogy…

Well that’s good I suppose, what’s the episode about? Uori, while still doing photo shoots and appearances for the Music Girls is still intent on quitting after the “overdramatics” of last week. She’s still under the impression that the Music Girls would be better off without her, so much so that she decides to run away while the group is doing a shoot at an amusement park. And by run away I mean she has an emo ride of the Ferris Wheel while taking photos of the clear blue sky and musing that “it’s as empty as me”. Seriously hilarious stuff—unintentionally of course, but this show doesn’t have the benefit of being choosey.

It’s so Japanese of her to actually present a ticket even though she was barging on anyway, don’t want to break the rules!

And then what happens? Well the other girls are out looking for Uori but Hanako’s having to multitask because she’s also dealing with her chat forum friend who’s in a dark place too, except a chat forum friend is Uori it’s just the two didn’t know each others real identities until now! Hanako barges onto the Ferris Wheel as Uori’s about to get off and the two go around again—Hanako intent on convincing her that she’s not only needed but is “the ultimate idol!”

I’m sure there’s some people who’d say otherwise but who am I to argue?!

This all sounds kinda silly— oh it gets sillier. Hanako then decides it’ll be a good idea to sing one of H*E*S’ songs to her which has appropriately affecting lyrics and through the power of music (and Hanako’s dreadful singing voice which Uori never fails to make fun of) she comes round, well not before some messy crying too.

So everything’s fixed then? I’m glossing over a lot of small details, like a storm rolling in and them getting trapped on the Ferris Wheel and flashbacks and talking about Uori sister, but yeah more or less fixed. I don’t hate what they did here, in fact it was kind of endearing and even a bit emotional—if awkwardly handled but then again that’s Music Girls in a nutshell really, ‘awkwardly endearing’.

It’s okay, there won’t be a second season anyway.

Anything else you wanted to add? Another episode another bath scene, this time with every girl sharing the bath at the same time (you see they were out in the rain and don’t want to catch a cold, so they have to bathe together). And I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many girls in the one bath tub, surely it’d be more girl than water in there! Consistently though, this show delivers adequate feels while also being dorky and dumb and fun—this show is the best worst thing this season and gosh darn it I’m going to miss it once it’s over!

Previous Music Girls Reviews:

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Outclassed – ‘Music Girls’ Episode 10 Review

Outclassed – An Anime QandA Review of ‘Music Girls’ Episode 10

What’s the show? Music Girls, Episode 10.

And what happens in this episode? I never like saying negative things about an anime’s production—it’s tough for animators to meet their deadlines, the anime industry is notorious for over-working its staff and the fact they do as much as they do on the schedule they have is a testament to their hard-working attitudes and love for their profession. That said this episode is pretty rough—and not just from an animation standpoint but also the pacing of scenes, the direction, the audio—nearly all of it feels very rushed. That’s not to say it’s unsalvageable, just that it probably should have spent a couple more days being polished up, that’s all.

Oh dear, so not a good episode then… I mean from a certain standpoint that’s true but I still enjoyed it—even if it was for the wrong reasons!

Hanako’s face… should not look like that…

So what’s the episode about? Well the Music Girls are preparing for their big outdoor concert, meanwhile Uori is still feeling sorry for herself for losing her voice before the television performance last week. Meanwhile, Sasame’s pet lobster Antonio Gonzales Almadovar or Var-chan for short has escaped and has made friends with a lonely elementary school girl. Man talk about sentences I never thought would exist!

I mean, not *terrible* advice, but you’re telling this to an 8-year-old, someone that young *needs* actual human friends.

And that’s relevant to them preparing for the big show because? Well initially I thought the show was just stalling to make 12 episodes and there’s a little of that, but it’s so the girls can throw the world’s most awkward concert ever committed to anime as the Music Girls perform the little girls elementary class because she’s depressed about not having any friends because her family is always moving—except I’m not sure how this helps the girl because it was her last day anyway so having a concert isn’t going to win her friends at wherever her new school is! But that’s not important, this was all a part of Hanako’s plan to inspire the Music Girls—because if they can reach the heart of a sad 8-year-old then they can do anything—or some such nonsense…

I thought you said I enjoyed it? Yes, this was gloriously bad and I loved every awkward minute of it—but it gets better! There’s a post-credit scene, that’s at least passingly more well-animated and paced but is wildly over-dramatic and edgy. Uori, still feeling emo about her place in the band is skulking around the streets, then she goes to an aquarium and gets angst-y at a fish(?) walks around some more, stares at train tracks, monologues some more then goes to where she was meeting the others and announces she’s quitting the band! Boom!

I half expected her to follow that up with “BUT SHE’S DEAD NOW” *that’s* how edgy this scene felt.

Sounds like you really enjoyed this train-wreck… Oh I wouldn’t call it an outright “train-wreck” more like a train that’s skipped the rail but only caused minor damage and injuries. There’s a salvageable story amongst the production issues—tighten that story up, improve the animation (especially during the elementary school performance) and maybe make Uori’s departure from the band feel less edgy and you’ve got yourself… well something on par with the rest of the show. As it stands it’s not the best addition to the series although inherently watchable for reasons it probably didn’t intend. Also, the obligatory bath scene was probably the most consistently animated part of the episode, so kudos for getting your priorities in order!

This show actually has more bath scenes than Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs a show *literally* set at a bath house! Not that I’m complaining…

Previous Music Girls Reviews:

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Variety Is The Slice Of Life – ‘Music Girls’ Episode 9 Review

Variety Is The Slice Of Life – An Anime QandA Review of ‘Music Girls’ Episode 9

What’s the show? Music Girls, Episode 9.

Another episode of ~this~ huh? So yeah, Music Girls—kinda like this season’s ‘Last Period’ in that nobody else seems to be watching this show—least not anyone on the reviewing side of things! If anybody is still watching this show leave a comment, I’m curious!

Yeah, that’ll work… Quiet, you.

So what happens this episode? Well the Music Girls appear on a variety type-show for idols to participate in and—well if you’ve ever seen a real life show called ‘VS. Arashi’ you’ll pretty much know what’s going on here.

Wait, what’s that? I, from time to time watch a show called ‘VS. Arashi’ that is basically a Japanese variety show in which members of the boy band Arashi compete against other celebrity entertainers and sports people at various physical and skill based games. I’ve never listened to Arashi’s music before but I just love Japanese TV so much that the fact it airs on network TV in Australia means it’s a fun little diversion from anime. There’s probably a female idol version of this show that ‘Music Girls’ is more directly referencing but I don’t know of any so this was my closest comparison!

Right… and how’s that work out? Well it’s almost as interesting as watching a Japanese variety show—just with the added character interactions and introspective inner-monologues from Roro and Kiri who are the main focus of this episode and darned if they don’t do a good job of making these characters absolutely endearing despite the, ah…

The ‘what’? Don’t hold out on me now! Studio Deen at it’s ‘Deen-iest’, I feel like we need a term for really loose looking animation that isn’t necessarily a detriment to the action on screen but is still noticeably janky. I think “This animation is so DEENY” works well for me!

I prefer my Music Girls ‘free-range’ rather than ‘caged’.

…Yeah, sure it’ll catch on… So anything else you wanted to add? Aside from the dreaded make-up episode this episode is pretty underwhelming. Sure I said it was as entertaining as a variety show but guess what, turns out there’s a reason that there aren’t any wholly animated variety shows out there—it’s not actually as fun to see animated people do things that’d be only passably interesting for a real person to do! If they’d made things over-exaggerated in a Food Wars-esque way this could have been brilliant but as it stands it’s pretty mundane, also the host of the variety show is relentlessly annoying. Oh, but the episode ends on an absurdly forced cliffhanger as Uori—the leader of the Music Girls—who lost her voice just before their live TV performance, overhears fans saying the performance was “more interesting” because Uori wasn’t singing.

That’s gotta hurt. I mean yeah, maybe, but they were obviously meaning “more interesting” because it was ~different~ to the usual stuff they do. I mean this just screams drama for the sake of drama, but then again that’s kinda Uori’s whole character in a nutshell so I guess we’ll see what happens with that next episode!

Calling it now, she’s gonna break up the band next episode!

Previous Music Girls Reviews:

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Disbanding Together – ‘Music Girls’ Episode 8 Review

Disbanding Together – An Anime QandA Review of ‘Music Girls’ Episode 8

What’s the show? Music Girls, Episode 8.

So, last week ended on something of an unexpected cliff hanger, yes? Indeed. After Kotoko was photographed with a boy (who was actually her brother and not boyfriend as the tabloid claimed), enough of a furore erupted for the executives at ‘Queen Records’ to call for the disbandment of the ‘Music Girls’ idol group!

Seems a bit excessive. Maybe but, such is the life of idol-dom in Japan (apparently, I don’t actually know or care that much about real life idols). But strangely, for this seeming like a big deal, the episode takes maybe 3 minutes to spend on this drama before inventing a ~different~ drama entirely to take up the focus of the episode only for that “drama” to be swept away as quickly and easily as it came about.

Sounds stupid, what happens? Well, three of the girls in ‘Music Girls’ are also in a three-piece idol group called ‘H☆E☆S’ who are moderately more famous and successful than the Music Girls and it’s been decided that they’ll be playing at a music festival run by their record label—which I guess is a big deal, even though it’s run by their own record label and technically they could get anyone of their artists to perform without any fuss? I don’t maybe, it’s an idol thing again—maybe this record label has hundreds of artists signed to them and only a select few get to perform. Anyway, for ~reasons~ the H☆E☆S girls have a fight and now it looks like they are about to disband too!

Drama, drama, drama! Indeed. But as it turns out they always bicker about things and make-up after a couple of days so I guess the real drama was the friends we made along the way… or something, I don’t know, this episode kind of felt like pointless filler to elongate the whole ‘disbanding of Music Girls’ plot-line to last more than two episodes. Which I mean fair enough, it’s an actually interesting plot point—I mean for this show.

So what leeway is made on said plot point? In the two brief scenes which actually address it the idol’s Manager begs with the record executives to not disband the group—then Kotoko storms in and demands the group be allowed to go-on, the company president asks “what compensation do I get in return from your group” to which Kotoko replies, “we’ll perform a concert and get 10,000 people to attend” and then adds the stipulation that “if we do that, you’ll let us perform as the closing act of the festival!”

Manager looks concerned, and rightly so.

Bold claim. Too bold as it turns out, apparently that’s a ridiculous number for a group as ‘green’ as they are—but the girls rally together and say they’ll try their best to achieve their lofty (some may say “impossible”) goal!

So this episode sounds kind of… Messy? Ridiculous? Inane? Absolutely! And I’m still loving it, this show while ~occasionally~ genuinely good is better when it’s genuinely trash. Also we got Hanako (she’s the protagonist who can’t sing to save her life if you recall) belting out a delightfully off-key song in the middle of a busy intersection to try and ‘save’ H☆E☆S through the power of song—it fails miserably and is absolutely hilarious. There’s something almost self-aware about this show—it’s not frequent enough for me to call this a ‘parody’ of idol shows and may be just because it’s more of a comedy/CGDCT show but there is a certain something going on… Either that or it’s just wildly incompetent and I’m giving it too much credit—regardless of which it is though I am still having heaps of fun!

Singing in public is weird enough at the best of times but with someone as bad as Hanako it’s downright a spectacle!

Previous Music Girls Reviews:

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Bikinis, Baths and Brotherly Love – ‘Music Girls’ Episode 7 Review

Bikinis, Baths and Brotherly Love – An Anime QandA Review of ‘Music Girls’ Episode 7

What’s the show? Music Girls, Episode 7.

So what happened in th— So much bikini service, so much bath service, this is the best episode ever!

Tch! What?

You know there are more important things in life than anime girls in bikinis and bath scenes right? *blank expression* So anyway the girls find themselves on a deserted island and then assaulted by a giant octopus—

Stop! I know you’re annoyed at me but there’s no reason to lie about what happens… Oh I’m not lying.

What. The. Heck. So turns out they’re on the island for a photo shoot, except it’s like an episode of Survivor where they have to forage and hunt and fish for their own food and build shelter and start a fire and even source their own fresh water. But basically it’s an excuse to have a five-minute montage of still images of the girls in bikinis doing things and I am absolutely okay with that!

“Previously on Idol Survivor”. Wait, that’s a great idea for a show!

Of course you are. But what about the giant octopus?! I’m honestly not sure, just silliness really? It happens, it’s never explained and it’s never brought up again. But this is only a small part of the episode—while on the island the unofficial ‘leader’ of the Music Girls Kotoko runs into a boy working on the photo shoot and at first we think she’s having some sort of romantic liaison with him but we quickly discover that he’s her brother who left home some years ago to pursue a career in photography with their father.

Okay, so that’s something that isn’t complete perverted—see, you can talk about something other than fan service! It’s tougher than it looks, you know!

So where’s that storyline go? It breaks up the Music Girls.

HUH?! Well a paparazzi takes a photo of Kotoko (platonically) hugging her brother and publishes it in a trashy magazine saying that she’s betrayed the Music Girls for a secret lover. Now, I may not know much about Japanese idols but I know one thing is for sure—they aren’t allowed to have boyfriends. First Kotoko decides she needs to quit for the sake of the group—knowing the unwritten rules about idols and the damage a single photo can do to an idol’s reputation. But the others (and her brother) rally around her and say that can’t imagine the group without her and it’s a very sweet moment.

I was going to yell “but it’s her brother!” but then again this is anime…

Wait, you said it breaks them up, that doesn’t sound like the group has broken up? The episode ends with a sinister scene set in a skyscraper as thunder and lightning flashes outside, the Music Girls’ manager has been summoned to a board meeting full of (assumedly) music executives who tell him in no uncertain terms “the music girls are to be disbanded.” End credits!

Well… that’s certainly dramatic so where do you think it’ll go from there? Don’t know… so can we talk about the epic bath scene in this episode? It’s seriously amazing!

Nope. Nope! Knowing it exists is enough for me, no more detail is required! *shrugs* that’s not going to stop me from posting pictures though! Haha!

Previous Music Girls Reviews:

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