“Overlapping Colors”
What They Say:
Nijigasaki High School is known for its diverse subjects and the freedom they give to students. Second-year student Yu Takasaki has been turned on to the charms of school idols, so she knocks on the door of the School Idol Club with her friend, Ayumu Uehara. Sometimes friends, sometimes rivals, the members of this club each contribute their own thoughts and motivations to the group.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
The School Idol Club is busy getting ready for the second School Idol Festival. There’s still a lot of work to be done! Many more idols are going to participate this time around. Speaking of which, one of Emma’s idol friends from another school wants to have a joint concert. The girls decide to meet up with Y.G. International’s Idol Club. Oh hey, it’s Jennifer and Rakshata! I remember them from the Love Live! mobile game…which I still play to this day. Let’s not talk about that. But it’s nice to see all of those N girls being included in the Nijigasaki anime. Jennifer and Rakshata were inspired after watching Lanzhu’s performance. They’d love for her to join their concert. Oof! It’s a shame she isn’t part of the School Idol Club. Emma decides to ask her anyway. As you can probably imagine, Lanzhu declines. At least they tried.
No time to fret! The girls still need to prepare for the School Idol Festival. Emma looks like she isn’t ready to accept defeat though. I respect that. Elsewhere, Yu is taking a quiz for her music course. Mia shows up late but finishes the quiz in like a minute. And then she leaves. By the way, she aced that quiz. She must be a musical genius. It makes sense then why she skipped a whole bunch of grades. A bit later, Yu and Ai run into Mia playing with a cat. Adorable. They discover that Mia was the one who composed Lanzhu’s song. I guess that means they’re friends. Actually, they’re not. Then why did she compose that song for Lanzhu? She simply wants her songs to get more attention. If Lanzhu wants to sing them, that’s fine. As long as people acknowledge her talent.
Emma, Kanata, Kasumi, and Rina want to catch one of Lanzhu’s surprise concerts. Wait a minute! Did this just become a QU4RTZ episode!? I think it did! Anyway, how will they find out where Lanzhu will perform? Well, the girls don’t have to think too hard about that because they conveniently spot Lanzhu walking ahead of them. If they want to see her surprise concert, all they have to do is follow her. Good plan, good plan. Of course, they need disguises! It’d be embarrassing if Lanzhu spotted them. A face mask and sunglasses should do, right? The girls follow Lanzhu around but all she’s doing is having a fun time. Is she really having a surprise concert today? In a funny scene, Lanzhu buys merchandise of the Nijigasaki School Idol Club and it moves Kasumi’s to tears. Eventually, Lanzhu does have that surprise concert and it turns out great. I’m sad that we didn’t get to hear Lanzhu sing though.
After the concert, Lanzhu spots the girls and invites them to her fancy condo. Lanzhu reaffirms that she wants to reach the top solo. Emma isn’t so sure though. Does she really want to do this alone? Regardless, she still doesn’t plan to join the School Idol Club. Tsundere, am I right? Once the girls leave, they have a conversation in a nearby park. They don’t think Lanzhu is telling them the truth. They won’t force her to join the School Idol Club, but they’d sure love it if she joined. The girls are determined to get Lanzhu to reveal the truth and join them! And the best way to convince her is with a concert. Emma, Kanata, Kasumi, and Rina decide to perform as a group at the concert. And thus, QU4RTZ is born!
In Summary:
The first season was all about solo performances. It seems like the second season may be focusing on group performances and I’m all for it! While the solo songs are good, the sub-unit songs are always my favorite. Speaking of songs, I was bummed we didn’t get a performance this episode. I guess we can’t always be that lucky. But I am excited at the thought of getting sub-unit performances in future episodes! And the first sub-unit performance looks to be QU4RTZ. Hopefully, we’ll get to see that performance in the next episode. I’m looking forward to it!
Grade: B
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
