Go For Your Dreams: Minako Becomes an Idol
So in this episode, Minako enters a competition to become an idol with an immediate contract and a song written by a bigtime music producer.
It's nice seeing Usagi and the others encourage her to go after her dream. Kind of silly that she needed so much encouragement, though... I mean, this is the same team that was once content to let Mercury completely leave and go to another continent! (Or is Mercury just that unimportant to the team in R...?)
Yaten promptly becomes a pain in the butt. I have to say, the Starlights are very feudal in their behavior. Nothing comes before their master, whether it means their lives, their freedom, their joy... Well, that's fine for them, but I hate seeing it pushed on Minako. Yaten has zero right to lecture her on anything when the Starlights refuse to cooperate with the planetary senshi. Also how DARE THEY kabedon her OMG.
So is this where Route Venus comes from, or was it recorded beforehand and then used in this episode later? I'll give the episode some points for it, but even once Minako finds her confidence, her voice is a bit painful to listen to. I much prefer the studio version where the VA was allowed to use her naturally deeper range.
It's nice to see Venus Love and Beauty Shock not miss, but it landed with like... zero impact. I'm not sure she actually did anything to the enemy, to be honest.
Yaten comes around by the end, so I guess I'll give them credit for that.
dumbass
So Minako wins the entire competition, is granted the right to the song... and just... doesn't. Ugh. Not a fan of that ending. I get that she's saying it proves she has the talent, but it's a competitive field and she's not getting any younger (as gross as that sounds). She should have gone with it. All the more reason it's neat that they actually made her a wildly successful idol in PGSM, I suppose.
Episode score: 8.5/10. Extra point for Route Venus.
