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| Overall | Art | Animation | Character Design | Music | Series Story | Episode Story | Reviewer | |
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| Unevaluated |
 Stretch
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[series:4500#628] | ||||||
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(Five episodes watched): Well, this show has an amusing premise. Somehow Niyodo can see Asahi, even though she's a ghost and is invisible to most living humans (she was killed in an auto accident a year ago). And somehow she can take control of his body and use it to give exciting, professional performances. This seems like a win-win as she can give the performances she craves while he can enjoy the money, which is all he ever cared about. Somehow Niyodo has three fervent fans even though his performances have been half-assed up 'til now. Kazuki Yoshino is his partner in the group known as ZINGS. The only question was whether this amusing premise would be able to grow and expand and remain 'fresh' for twelve episodes or so. I had no idea how that might be done, but episode one just sets up the basic premise. In episode two a confusing reset of attitudes takes place: Asahi decides she shouldn't be using Niyodo's body after all, even if he's perfectly OK with it. Does she feel she's encouraging his laziness and irresponsibility? Meanwhile, Niyodo decides he had better put some serious effort into his performances. Is he doing this to keep Asahi from bailing? Neither was clear, and I got a bad feeling that rather than any sort of unconventional look at Idols, this might be a very conventional one. That is, one which idolizes Idols and does not allow any criticism of them or their culture. That would be a major disappointment. Episode three involved an effort by Niyodo and Asahi to synchronize their personalities, since people are noticing how mercurial he is--brilliant some days, pathetic on others. It was amusing but not terribly funny and I hope some sort of interesting plot comes together since the humor is not all that special. Even when he's at his worst, Just as he had wished, Niyodo's small cell of fanatic fans adore him, because he's so handsome (though this is difficult to depict in anime). They scrutinize every action he takes and attempt to devine the secret meaning behind it. This too was sort of amusing, but I wish it had been taken even farther. A potentially interesting twist comes in episode five, when a member of another Idol group somehow senses that Niyodo has some sort of connection to the late Asami Mogami. But I felt the plot was not taking the bizarre premise nearly far enough and had lost interest. Last updated Thursday, November 03 2022. Created Monday, July 04 2022. | ||||||||
