Director- Matsui Daigo.This is the third work I have seen of his.The film revolves around the journey of the protagonist Hayano Shiori, played by Hashimoto Ai. She excels with what she has to work with.The film offers us a view into the idol industry and what issues one faces if they are not from a famous agency.We can see that the protagonist has to come online every day to gain more fans as well as maintain the ones she already has. From their comments, we can see that a few people are just following her to push her towards gravure. She also has a blog page where people can leave messages for her. Her relationship is also shown not to be fulfilling, and she has nothing going on in her life. In the film, we are introduced to a fan of hers who always wrote large messages for her on the blog. We are shown that she tries to imitate the protagonist in how she dresses and what accessories she uses.Her boyfriend is shown to be part of a play and is trying to make it reach more people. He is shown to have a good heart as he allows the protagonist's fan to move in with them after she ditches her house.The issue I have with this film is its wasted potential. Matsui had a great chance of showing more depravity through the use of the fan and the protagonist's relationship, but he fumbled it.The relationship between the fan and the protagonist isn't shown with enough depth, and the nature of it isn't tackled.The breakdown of the protagonist feels random and nonsensical, showing her as someone driven by impulse and someone who doesn't think things through. It isn't shown to have any impact on the plot.The film tries to offer a meta commentary on the nature of the protagonist's job in scenes such as when the protagonist goes to tell her manager that she has decided to quit the business, seeing that her manager is signing on another girl, but they are too far and in between.The ending has an open-ended feel to it, which connects to the previously shown schizophrenia of the fan.Overall, this is a decent watch.
Director- Matsui Daigo.This is the third work I have seen of his.The film revolves around the journey of the protagonist Hayano Shiori, played by Hashimoto Ai. She excels with what she has to work with.The film offers us a view into the idol industry and what issues one faces if they are not from a famous agency.We can see that the protagonist has to come online every day to gain more fans as well as maintain the ones she already has. From their comments, we can see that a few people are just following her to push her towards gravure. She also has a blog page where people can leave messages for her. Her relationship is also shown not to be fulfilling, and she has nothing going on in her life. In the film, we are introduced to a fan of hers who always wrote large messages for her on the blog. We are shown that she tries to imitate the protagonist in how she dresses and what accessories she uses.Her boyfriend is shown to be part of a play and is trying to make it reach more people. He is shown to have a good heart as he allows the protagonist's fan to move in with them after she ditches her house.The issue I have with this film is its wasted potential. Matsui had a great chance of showing more depravity through the use of the fan and the protagonist's relationship, but he fumbled it.The relationship between the fan and the protagonist isn't shown with enough depth, and the nature of it isn't tackled.The breakdown of the protagonist feels random and nonsensical, showing her as someone driven by impulse and someone who doesn't think things through. It isn't shown to have any impact on the plot.The film tries to offer a meta commentary on the nature of the protagonist's job in scenes such as when the protagonist goes to tell her manager that she has decided to quit the business, seeing that her manager is signing on another girl, but they are too far and in between.The ending has an open-ended feel to it, which connects to the previously shown schizophrenia of the fan.Overall, this is a decent watch.
