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What They Say:
The idols from 346 Production’s “Cinderella Project” are back, and this time they have more work than ever! Following the success of the summer idol festival, the girls have gained an incredible boost in popularity. Their first group album has even launched. There’s just one problem though — the new executive at 346 Pro, Mishiro. This mysterious new boss is now planning on dismantling all of the company’s idol-projects. ALL OF THEM. What could possibly be in store for our beloved Cinderella girls now?!
The Review:
Content: (Please note that the content portion of the review may contain spoilers)
This week’s episode of Cinderella Girls starts off the same way all of the other episodes this season have — with Mishiro having some annoying plan to distance the idols from everything they love. This week, her victims happen to be Rin Shibuya and Anastastia, two characters that we’ve barely seen interact with each other thus far. The two girls have been chosen as potential idols for Mishiro’s new “Project Krone” which is said to be the new focus of 346 Productions as a whole. The thing is, the performance of this project will go on to determine whether or not the Cinderella Project will even get to perform at their Winter ball. So this, of course, becomes a huge burden for Rin and Anastasia, who must now figure out how to/whether they even want to become a part of this new idea of Mishiro’s. They also need to figure out how this will impact their preexisting groups. Drama incoming.
I understand where Mishiro’s selection of is Rin coming from after seeing her perform with Karen and Nao, so we’ll cover this part of the episode first. Rin is given the opportunity to take on a role in the new trio “Primus” with the two girls she has been getting chummy with over the past several episodes. Karen and Nao are obviously a bit more excited about this than Rin is, seeing as this is the only project they will be a part of. The problem for Rin is whether or not she will even be able to handle the burden of being in two groups at once (Which is completely understandable because come on). So after a bit of persuasion over a value-meal at a fast food chain, Rin decides that she might as well just go for it. Now the only problem is breaking the news to Uzuki and Mio, which…doesn’t go over that well.
Anya’s problem is a little bit different from Rin’s seeing as she won’t be moving into a new trio, but instead working as a solo artist alongside a group of girls she hasn’t even heard of until recently. This is just as hard though, considering until this point she hasn’t even been faced with a decision she had to make on her own. Minami has always been there to help her. So now Anastasia has this huge inner struggle in determining where she belongs. But this isn’t anything that our trusty Producer won’t be able to help with. He and Anya then have a nice long talk about whether or not she can take on this new path with a smile. And of course she can because she’s Anya. So eventually she winds up talking to a surprised, but accepting, Minami Nitta about it. Problem is solved — episode over.
Oh yeah, then Mio declares that she is a solo artist now. Plot twist.
Best/Favorite Part:
In all seriousness though, who saw this coming? Nobody. It doesn’t even make sense. I can see where next week’s episode is going.
In Summary:
Though the plot was a little heavier in this episode than the others so far, something about it still fell short for me. I wouldn’t say it had anything to do with the characters, considering Rin and Anya are two of my favorites. The thing is, I just felt like a decision of this level should have taken more than have an episode to resolve. Mishiro is essentially telling these teenage girls that they need to work sixty hours a week and barely have any time left to spend with their friend(s) and it only takes them approximately fifteen minutes to decide on their answer. I don’t know guys, I feel like this one wasn’t executed the way it should have been. That turn of events at the end though was a well-needed recovery from mostly everything that happened before it though.
Grade: C-
Streamed By: Daisuki/Hulu
