Episode 24 –
Well, considering how heavy in atmosphere last week’s episode was, it’s no surprise that this one was also mostly devoid of a light-hearted atmosphere. Rather, this episode explicitly focused in on Haruka’s feelings about everything that’s happened to the group. As successful the idol group has been, they are pretty much a perfect example of the adage “victim of your own success”. Everybody no longer has the time to be with each other due to their busy schedules as successful idols, and as a result, the group bonds that were so important to everybody was being strained. For someone like Haruka, who thrived on these group bonds, such a change up has really hit her hard. Her emotional turmoil was quite obvious when we saw her pouring out her feelings during her role in the play; her performance was riveting in some ways, which Miki acknowledged. Seeing Haruka going through a lot of emotional hurdles was heartbreaking, or at least, pulled at the heartstrings.
That all being said, this episode was less about shock value (the Producer didn’t die), and more about exploring the character relationships that are being strained. Haruka might’ve been going through emotional hurdles, but her setback also had a big impact on the overall idol group. While it was especially noticeable for Chihaya, and to some degree Miki, it also affected everybody from Iori to Mami.
What made all this a bit surreal, though, was how Haruka was comforted by an imaginary toddler version of herself, only for that mini-Haruka to suddenly grow up into an idol version of Haruka, and comfort her. While the illusion obviously holds a lot of emotional significance, I also feel it was a cheap way for the producers of this show to resolve her conflict. But hey, in the end this arc did a good job at developing the cast. Was the episode disappointing? In some ways, yes. The production crew for Idolm@ster took the easy way out in solving the conflict. But was it emotionally moving? Yes, I’d say it was quite good.
Screenshots are later in the post.
Distant Paradise 