#I ACCIDENTALLY SWIPED TUMBLR AWAY BUT TUMBLR FINALLY HAS THIS AUTO SAVE FUNCTION OMFG

[laeteria]

IDOLiSH7: Third Beat! Part 2: Episode 1

I've watched the first episode of the new season of IDOLiSH7 finally! I've decided to write down my thoughts on every episode when I've watched, so it won't be too much in depth since I'm writing this after watching it only one time. I will try to connect things as the anime progresses though!

Okay, I basically know what will happen, but the first episode was so intense…!? I already knew that part 2 will show the nasty side of the connections in the idol industry, but wow… I applaud TROYCA once again for another masterpiece of an episode.

I wanted to say that not a lot has happened this episode and that it was all introductory, but in reality, a lot has happened this episode alone. Continuing with the TRIGGER drama from part 1, we see the result of the scandal in a more noticeable way. The fans are unsure, but so are TRIGGER and Yaotome Production. Like they often said in the episode, they need to hold their head up high, otherwise they will be taken more advantage of.

Even though Yaotome papa knows he's walking straight into Tsukumo's trap by visiting Hanamaki Sumire at the hotel, he still puts another person's life above his own reputation. You will see that he isn't actually a bad person and that he actually cares a lot. I mean… Gaku sure resembles his dad. Maybe also that part with the popularity of the ladies, right? 🥴

Jokes aside, Yaotome puts his people above everything else, even if it's damaging to his own reputation of a label. You will see more of this later in story, but I won't go too much into it right now.

After that scene, we jump to a scene with Kujo and Tenn, which I think is really neat (and iconic tbh). While Yaotome says nothing is worth risking a person's life, Kujo is someone to actually play with the life of people and Tenn confronts him about it. These two scenes are the opposite of each other and that's what makes the scenes more powerful.

Tenn who's acquainted with Kujo and Yaotome, works with two different views. I already explained last season that Tenn has to make a choice at one point and this scene brings that kind of to the front again. He has to choose something. He can't choose both, since they are basically the opposite of each other. Anyway, this scene was good.

Also, kudos to this scene because I nearly teared up and for what… The voice acting, the soundtrack, the whole composition of this part… I had to watch it again, but maybe I'm saying that as a Momorin oshi. Momo will have his time to shine (quite literally hehe) this season as well, so let's look forward to that together, shall we? ;)

ABOUT THE ENDING SONG…

The ending song is an absolute BANGER btw. Not too fond of the opening, since I'm not a fan of Ayase's music (the MV is cute tho, but I won't ever analyse the MV because of the song itself). I already said that I expected ZOOL to take the ending song, since TRIGGER had the ending song in part 1 and since TRIGGER is getting pushed out of the picture, we are getting ZOOL.

It's very interesting to see how all members rather seem very disconnected from the idol world, except Minami who had been working in the industry since he was small, so I guess you can say he knows how to catch the attention of people.

Compared to PLACES, this ending shows how ZOOL is not a group yet. PLACES showed how tight TRIGGER actually is and how they look out for each other, but ZOOL? They don't look at each other nor do they actually look straight at the camera until the last part of the ending. Even if they look at the camera, most of the time they are covered by these chains or bars, so you can say that they are behind bars/chained up. They are not free just yet. Everything is directed and their own feelings have not been taken under consideration.

Especially this sequence above shows how they don't care and that they are still looking for the group/person they want to be. Haruka is noticeable in the dark compared to the rest of the members and I think it's because Haruka is not ready to face his issues… He's a frail boy after all.

OKAY, TIME TO WRAP IT UP. I will see you guys hopefully next week again.