Idolish7 Episode 15 Review: Closing Doors

Hello and welcome to this review of Idolish7 episode 15!
This will be the last episode for a while, as the final two episodes will actually be airing together on 19 May. I recommend watching all the music videos on the official YouTube channel while you wait!

In this episode, the boys are struggling to hold together as a group. But, how can this be? They are best buds…right? Let’s take a look at what happened.

Japanese title: 閉じられる扉

If you feel no happiness when what you’ve been striving for is within reach, then it’s no longer your dream.

Story

From the twisting of words in articles to the publication of rumors, there is a lot of confusion going on in IDOLiSH7. Instead of just talking to each other, the boys get in their own heads and start to believe the articles and look at each other with suspicion. Tsumugi and Banri of course notice that the articles are falsifying information, but they realise that each member is so busy that they have no time to talk things out. Poor Tsumugi starts to blame herself… The only member of the group who truly is unaffected by these things is Nagi, but his desperate calls to get the boys to be friends are falling on deaf ears.

TRIGGER’s Gaku then calls by to kidnap Tsumugi, who mistakes him for the soba guy (she really believes they are two separate people…) and they head to a cafe. Gaku confesses that he heard their fathers’ conversation and he says that Sosuke was likely in love with Tsumugi’s late mother. They continue flirting (although I don’t think Tsumugi realises Gaku is flirting with her…) until TsumTsum accidentally mentions Okinawa. Gaku finds this suspicious and our friendly neighbourhood Riku jumps in and blabs about TRIGGER stealing Natsu Shiyouze. Gaku is shocked and Tsumugi is angelic (“it’s not your fault!”)

Later, Tamaki is invited to record his reunion programme. The family member they have invited is NOT his sister Aya but is in fact their father… Well, Tamaki is LIVID! He goes crazy, punching his father in the face and hurting Mr Shimooka in the process. Mr Shimooka is a good man. He says the programme may have been at fault, but at the end of the day they are professional idols and that their behavior is unacceptable. We then get the great news that IDOLiSH7 have been nominated for JIMA, but there is no celebration here…

Meanwhile, Gaku is all “Hold me beer, I’m about to punch my Dad” and the other members stop him, asking what his deal is. He comes clean about Natsu Shiyouze.With more emotion in his expression and words than he has shown in the rest of the series put together, Tenn admits that he knew this but kept quiet because he was afraid of hurting them. TRIGGER are not ‘business partners’. They are friends, even if they have only just realised.

In the post-credits scene, everybody is gloomy AF despite the party for the JIMA nomination. Otoharu is having none of their attitude and tells them that it’s time for MEZZO and IDOLiSH7 to disband…

Highlights

The look on Tsumugi’s beautiful face as she was thinking about her mother, and the way that Gaku was staring at her. Is this the way Sosuke used to look at Musubi?
I loved Tsumugi’s proud pose as she held her license!
The whole scene with Tamaki’s father was spectacularly done. This scene was very painful to read in the original game and I was curious as to how they would be adapting it. I’m happy to say the anime version was just as difficult to watch. The strange camera angles and close-ups made it disorientating and the look of pure rage was shocking to see. I think they made a very good choice to not portray his father’s face, but they just showed enough to see his self-satisfied smirk and the fact that he shares Tamaki’s blue-grey hair. Tamaki is a 17-year old boy with a broken home and the determination to find his sister so he can send her to school. Although he seems very immature at times, it’s impossible to deny that he has had to grow up too fast.
When talking about the Tamaki scene, the fact that Sogo is the one who holds him and calms him down is quite noteworthy.

Trivia

When Tsumugi is showing off her driver’s license, you may have noticed a green and yellow mark on the front of the mini-van. This mark indicates that the driver has only recently passed their test. The mark is also commonly seen in games and on textbooks to indicator beginner levels.
After Riku busts in on Gaku and Tsumugi in the cafe, there is a close-up shot of Gaku picking up a piece of paper from the table. This is actually the bill, and is showing that Gaku is going to pay for Tsumugi’s share. What a gentleman.
You may have noticed sad Riku at the end of the opening animation. If you look closely in this episode’s opening, you will also see that the airport worker is not dancing as usual 🙁

“Let’s Harmony…”

In this episode we got to see just how damaging the media can be. Of course it is not ENTIRELY the media and Sosuke’s influence to blame, as we can see that IDOLiSH7 do not have it as together as they had thought. I’m also happy to see that it is finally clear that TRIGGER are not the bad guys at all, and that they are surprisingly a much tighter group than the one over at Takanashi Pro. Do you think Otoharu is right to disband the group at this point? I really can’t wait until the finale episode in May!