When the pressure is on, these young women have to step up and find a way to achieve their dreams.
What They Say:
When the idol group TiNgS is summoned to their company president’s office, they’re shocked to learn that they’re going to be disbanded unless they can sell out a major concert in one month! However, to help reach that goal, they’re getting a new personal manager to help turn their attendance around. Except…their new manager doesn’t know this yet and doesn’t even want to manage Idol groups anymore!
But are Tamaki, Nabatame, and Seibu going to go down without a fight? Nope, not even if it means exploring other options like selling tickets at competitors’ concerts. Meanwhile, their new manager has a secret special talent of his own that might just save the day!
Contains episodes 1-12.
The Review:
Audio:
The audio presentation for this release brings us the show in its original Japanese language only where we get that track in stereo encoded using the lossless DTS-HD MA codec. The property is essentially all about the dialogue and music with a couple of bigger takes here and that but nothing serious in terms of action to give it a workout. The dialogue aspect of it is handled pretty well since we often have a decent-sized cast to work with on-screen as it all flows from person to person without a problem. The music helps to give everything a little more of a boost but that doesn’t take it to another level or anything. Placement is decent throughout where needed and the show as a whole hits all the right notes with what it wants to do. We didn’t have any issues with dropouts or distortions during regular playback.
Video:
Originally airing in 2022, the transfer for this TV series is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.78:1 in 1080p using the AVC codec. The twelve-episode series is spread across two discs in a nine/three format that gives it plenty of room to work with. Animated by Studio Kai, the show has a pretty good visual design about it and it comes through well throughout the run with its color design that has some fun and appropriate pop while also working the darker and earth tones well. I really like the color design for the background for a lot of it and there’s a distinctive enough feeling overall without it being wildly done. This all comes together without any noise or breakup, allowing it to flow well during both the quieter scenes and the busier action pieces. There’s a decent bit of detail in general to both backgrounds and designs and it all has a smooth and clean look that’s a big positive for its overall presentation.
Packaging:
The packaging design for this release is kept to a standard-sized single Blu-ray case that holds both discs against their interior walls. The front cover works with the familiar imagery of the expansive cast as they are all together on the stage – albeit with empty seats behind them – with bright smiles and a sense of fun about it. It’s a very light and kind of subdued cover but it has just enough of a twinkle to make you take a second look at it. The back cover is a bit busy with its layout as we get a few different spots for shots from the show along with all the usual elements. Mixed between them is the breakdown of the premise itself which works well and an amusing tagline. The episode and disc count are laid out clearly as are the extras included in the set. The remainder is the standard production credits and a clean and accurate technical grid. No show-related inserts are included nor is there a reversible cover.
Menu:
The menu design for the release definitely plays up the color well but that’s a given with the red white and blue outfits that the main cast wears. With them spread across the menu, we get a full shot that puts the navigation along the bottom – something we don’t see for a lot of Sentai releases. The top two-thirds looks great with a very strong concert feeling even for a static piece as the music plays out. The bottom with the navigation ties in the colors well but also stakes out its own ground with some black and yellow shades to help give it some flow. With it being a monolingual release, it’s pretty easy to navigate with episodes listed at the top level and extras and trailers on the second disc. It works well both as a main menu and as a pop-up menu during playback.
Extras:
The only extras included with this set are the clean versions of the opening and closing sequences.
Mixed media projects can be interesting to see how they unfold as each element can lean into its own thing in good ways. With Shinepost, we get a project that has seen a few things come out with a good bit of merchandising and music along the way as well. The light novel series has been rolling along since the fall of 2021 and it saw a manga launch not long after that. And with a mobile game out there as well, it appeals to different segments of the idol market. Of course, you also want an anime component and that landed in the summer of 2022 with Studio Kai handling the production. The team behind the mixed media overall handled the concept and composition for the show with Kei Oikawa directing it. It’s a series that has a familiar look to a lot of shows in this genre but also some really nice designs and color work that gave it the pop that I like. And while it largely focuses on these high school idols, it also does well by the adults even if they can get a little too morose at times.
The premise behind all of this is simple enough in that we’re focusing on the idol group known as the TINGS. They’re a familiar kind of idol group with several members of distinctive personalities and naturally, they’re all a bit color coded as well at times. While this is a show about idols, it’s not in the tradition of a lot of the stuff that populated the genre for a lot of years. There’s a really enjoyable subgenre within it that is more of a character drama than an idol show and that’s something that the time spent with the adult characters early on makes clear. Though they’re involved and main characters, it’s about the idols themselves and their dreams but it’s not just setting up for a lot concert pieces and big showstoppers in order to move more goods. It does really want to tell a story and it spends the time fleshing out the characters so that we want to see them succeed. There are, admittedly, a lot of your basic tropes and cliches here, but that’s also just reality because these things are common in the industry and real life.
Within Brightest Entertainment, the TINGS are a group that’s been around for a bit but hasn’t managed to really break out in a significant way. They’ve got fans but as we see from the opening performance, there aren’t a lot of them. The team is putting in the time and effort – they’re not slacking their way through it – but that something special is missing. And admittedly, there are so many idol groups that never get noticed that I can appreciate the focus in this direction though you know they won’t truly fail in a way like so many do. But what we get here is the management making it clear that if they can’t pull off a major show quickly then they’re going to be dropped from the label. The management isn’t so cruel as to not try one more big push because they have invested a lot so far and that has them bringing in a new manager, a man named Naoki.
Now, Naoki is someone that’s interesting because he’s just worn out from the whole idol thing but he’s got the talent to figure it all out. There are those with that talent that you just can’t pin down but it also requires a certain kind of work to help move a group to what their potential is. Naoki doesn’t want to do this kind of thing but since he’s the cousin of the management’s president, she’s able to nudge him into it after he spends some time with the core trio. While they’re not “shining” to their full potential yet the fact that they aren’t is what appeals to him because he can see it and he can understand how to get them there. Now, the doing it in a month thing may be the kind of silliness that doesn’t work in the real world but it’s effective as a tight storytelling device. We’ve seen other shows do it but allow more time so it’s just a quibble at this point. For Naoki, it provides a shorter window to try and see if they can start to move in the right direction and that’s what drives it from an adult perspective and from someone who is trying to manage things. Just proving that there is growth to be had there and that they haven’t plateaued or hit the end of their run is important in itself.
What Shine Post does isn’t new or revelatory or anything. And I think most fans of idol group shows will admit that easily. What makes it work is the execution of it all and that even with the timeframe that they’re working with that it never feels like a constant mad dash. We see the characters move in and out of their time in the group to do normal things and we see the bonds that grow under the deadline and all that’s involved. And honestly, so often we get the manager character that is run roughshod over by the girls that they’re just a light voice of reason once in a while. Here, the manager is an integral part of things and the one that we get the inner monologue from. Yes, the girls are the draw, but he’s the main character when you get down to it as he manages the group – which I believe is how things are viewed through the game, for example. Watching how he manages all of this and the stress fo it is engaging but very well balanced by what the members have to do in order to succeed and all their performances.
In Summary:
Shinepost is the kind of show that’s aimed at the fans that may be lapsed idol fans in general and looking for something perhaps a little more serious. It has all the things that make an idol show what it is and it’s not reinventing the wheel here by any means, but it’s approaching it in a way with some real talent and execution so that it’s engaging. With it mostly from the manager’s perspective, we’re able to elevate it enough so that you’re drawn into the challenge but far more into the character drama and exploration as it wants to be more of that than just a lot of performances and high school silliness. It’s also elevated with an absolutely fantastic design when it comes to the characters. Just the stuff in the first couple of episodes with the main trio practicing and you get the hint of their sports tops through the white overshirt felt like I’d never seen it before. This was a lot of fun and Sentai’s encoding – especially with the lossless audio that makes it more worthwhile than streaming with the music – gives it everything it needs to shine.
Features:
Japanese DTS-HD MA 2.0 Language, English Subtitles, Clean Opening, Clean Closing
Content Grade: B+
Audio Grade: B+
Video Grade: A
Packaging Grade: B+
Menu Grade: B+
Extras Grade: B-
Released By: Sentai Filmworks
Release Date: August 8th, 2023
MSRP: $59.98
Running Time: 300 Minutes
Video Encoding: 1080p AVC
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Widescreen
Review Equipment:
Sony KDL70R550A 70″ LED 1080P HDTV, Sony PlayStation3 Blu-ray player via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
