|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Nido Yuya and Yoshino Kazuki are the idol duo ZINGS who are trying to gain popularity… kinda. While Yoshino is a passionate, hard-working idol, Niyodo doesn’t care and gives the least amount of work he can get away with in order to get paid. Everyone is desperate for him, but things are about to change: One day Niyodo starts talking to a girl he sees backstage who turns out to be the ghost of idol Asahi Mogami. Asahi can’t give up her love for her idol, so she and Niyodo make a deal: she’ll take over his body and keep performing, while he’s just getting a ride. Absolutely can’t go wrong, no one will notice a thing… right? |
|
Review:
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Niyodo Yuya and Yoshino Kazuki are the idol group ZINGS, which has become popular all the way…a bit. While Yoshino is a passionate, hard-working idol, Niyodo doesn’t care and gives the least amount of work he can get away with in order to get paid. Everyone is desperate for him, but things are about to change: One day Niyodo starts talking to a girl he sees backstage who turns out to be the ghost of idol Asahi Mogami. Asahi can’t give up her love for her idol, so she and Niyodo make a deal: she’ll take over his body and keep performing, while he’s just getting a ride. Absolutely can’t go wrong, no one will notice a thing… right?
291 With only ten short episodes, this is a show that knows not to be overly popular. You’d think that’s a good thing, allowing for tighter writing and a lack of unnecessary fluff, and in some ways, it’s true – every zany idol activity the protagonist has to engage in is kept to a manageable level Bizarrely, jokes don’t really stand a chance of being more popular than they are. But that makes the series’ most unfortunate decision even more baffling: Why would the anime choose to expand the role played by Niyodo’s fangirl with such a limited number of episodes? On the other hand, if you hate their presence in the anime, it’s perfectly safe to pick up the manga; the anime has adapted volumes 1 and 2 fairly closely (currently six volumes; the series is at this writing) still in progress), in addition to adding a ton of fangirl scenes. Their appearance in the two adapted volumes is limited to a one-and-a-half-length extra comic in the first volume, which equates to a total of four pages in the second volume. Their role in the story presumably serves to remind us that even though Ren-yeon is a terrible icon by most standards, he still piques the interest of some fans. But the story is not true about They, their parts don’t need expansion, which is the biggest flaw of the anime. By giving them space, we lost the opportunity to understand how Asahi and Niyodo formed the team and formed the basis of ZINGS’ growing appeal, and they also took time that could have been used to show us the impact of Asahi’s (alive) career One of the top male idols of the series, Hikaru Setouchi. Instead, we’re stuck with stereotypical characters that are obviously funny but (at least to me) very out of place. Luckily there are other elements of the show that work well. The switching between Niyodo and Asahi-in-Niyodo’s-Body is well done, especially when we add Imai Fumiya Performance. His voice is flexible enough to make them sound like two completely different characters, and he simultaneously points out Niyodo’s death delivery and Asahi’s intense liveliness. Again, the visual distinction between the two characters is good, with Asahi Nido having a soft wash, while Nido’s regular body language emphasizes his slightly darker color. Yoshino plays Niyodo and Asahi’s straight guy for the most part, but it helps to highlight how he truly cares about his idol while also relying on him. We’ve been told that Yoshino does a lot of solo gigs (presumably after everyone realized signing Niyodo was a mistake), but he’s too shy to go on stage alone. He needs Niyodo to make him feel safe, even if Niyodo seems like a heavy burden to others, holding Yoshino back from being a true star. this relationship, and the final episode of Niyodo and Asahi, which is ZINGS’s 2nd anniversary concert. Although I’m not sure if we need to look at all concert, which felt a little dragged, although it showed us that Niyodo can actually hold his own, it did end on a high note, and Niyodo recognized ZINGS It’s not just him and Yoshino anymore. Asahi may not have lit a fire under his lazy ass, but she’s shown him the value of this work, and the ending does feel very poignant, mostly for Asahi. All good ghost stories need a tragic element to really succeed, because the key factor in a person being a ghost is their death. While Asahi is largely portrayed as driven, lively, and enthusiastic, it’s also important to remember that she died in her teens, when her career was just getting started. In making her a part of his life and career, Niyodo admits that she still has a lot of life to do and is bittersweet about the things that work well. This is also part of the endorsement of Hikaru’s character, who was inspired by Asahi’s performance to both shake off the shell of anxiety and become an idol himself. As Asahi’s number one fan, he was the first (and only) to figure out the difference between the two modes of Niyodo, and in his determination, he became a casual fan of both ZINGS and Niyodo. His storyline is a good mix of humor and something darker, as he still truly mourns Asahi’s death. But in seeing him become an active fan of Niyodo, we see him pick up and move on, finding other things to love (or at least obsess over) in a way that creates a good emotional thread for the character (while also It’s funny because he got the nickname “Head Wrap Guy”, ZINGS’ number one fan). of the visuals for this series is a very nice and somewhat awkward unsettling mix, the main problem being dancing. While the choreography of each ZINGS number looks basically the same, the bigger problem is that the animation is like a time machine that takes us back to the early days 189553s. It’s not quite as terrifying as the earliest, but it still has something revoltingly uncanny about it, though that’s not enough to distract us from the horrific costume ZINGS wears on stage. Hopefully the fur collars on hoodies and blazers are already bad; all I can think about is how hot these poor guys must be. is not a terrible show, at the end of the day. Its final minutes are effective, its music is catchy in a silly pop way, and it has some great dubs throughout. But it’s hampered by the presence of a growing number of fang-girls whose obnoxiousness drags the whole thing down, and the visual shortcuts in the dance. In this case, I’d recommend choosing the manga instead.
|
|
|
|
