I really enjoyed it, but I do think there’s some inconsistency of tone that makes me kind of wonder what the show is trying to say. At some points (Ai’s fate, Kana’s difficulty finding work as a former child actress, Akane’s experience with cyberbullying), it feels like the show is trying to expose the dark side of the entertainment industry in almost a Black Mirror episodic kind of fashion. Then the long arc of Aqua’s revenge and finding out what really happened to his mother - maybe even looping in Akane’s almost preternatural understanding of Ai - is another thread that could provide a lot of momentum to the narrative.

These threads are much more interesting to me than the story of Ruby starting an idol group, but it seems like the serious and interesting subject matter takes a back seat to a side of the show that’s fun, but sort of frivolous. I think you could do a show about the hardships young performers face in the entertainment industry, or a supernatural murder mystery about Aqua finding what happened to his mother, or even both put together with episodic bits within a series arc. But doing both of those and an idol show all at the same time makes it feel a little bit unfocused, or even like the idol portion is a little bit undermining the seriousness of the first two topics.

I’ll still watch the second season and I’m interested to see where it goes from here - but in 11 episodes, it felt like there wasn’t as much progress I’d hoped on the more interesting sides of the story.

Quick work! Well done.

I’d love to see this community grow, and having automatic places for discussion would certainly help it along.