The iDOLM@STER Cinderella Girls – Episode 7 – Admitting Past Failures and What it means to be an Idol

After Mio made a big scene in front of her peers that caused her to quit, how would the Producer convince her to come back?

It’s clear that Mio’s high expectations caused her to become really upset since there were not enough people. While it’s easy to blame her for that since caused everyone’s morale to drop, I felt that her outburst blown open an issue that the Producer has been dealing with. For a long time, he had trouble communicating with others and it shows as he distances himself from the girls instead of guiding them. There is no wonder why Miku got really upset to the point where she staged a protest over a debut.

While Mio quitting felt similar to Miki’s, the causes are different. For Miki’s case, the Producer just caused a small misunderstanding and he was simply incompetent. In comparison, the reasons Mio quit was a bit more depressing and it shows by the actions the Producer take from the aftermath. Instead of accepting his past failures as a producer that caused him to become distant, he chooses to run away like a coward instead. There is no wonder why Rin got angry with him. It’s because he isn’t making any effort to bring Mio back.

Suppose that he doesn’t fix this. Obviously the project is going to fall apart due to having a unit disband already. Also, how the fans that just watched New Generation’s performance are going to react after hearing that the unit already disbanded? No matter how you look at it, it doesn’t look good for the project nor the talent agency as a whole. Because of this, eventually the Producer has to accept his past failures and try to get Mio back no matter what.

Surprisingly, Uzuki managed to help steer the Producer in the right direction with her optimistic view on the future despite having a really bad cold. She admits that even though she didn’t smile during the mini-live, she would smile the whole way through in the next one. Because of this, I thought that she would be a better leader than Mio since she still believes that there is a blight future ahead despite the failures. Still, it’s also understandable why the Producer chose Mio instead. It’s because of her energetic personality. At the same time, she is emotionally unstable and it shows when she tried to push the Producer away until towards the end.

So, how did the Producer managed resolve the problem that led to a big misunderstanding? He basically explains to Mio that the concert was not a failure and said it was a success. He convinces her by showing pictures of people in the audience that were smiling and enjoying their performance. By showing them, it just shows how much trouble Mio has caused for everyone as she was focused on counting the amount of people in the audience instead of how they were enjoying the performance. While this makes her look like a loser, at least she admits that she was at fault and decides to come back. With that, she also helps Rin regain her trust in the Producer afterwards.

As a whole, I think that this episode was a nice resolution to not only Mio’s misunderstanding, but also resolving the problems in the Producer’s past that caused him to become stiff and distant from the girls. I admit that it was odd to see him not spend time with the girls and guide them along the way at first. In the main games, the Producer (the player) was always there when the girls do any type of work. Even in the main anime series, the Producer was always with the girls and they even treat him like a friend. At least now, we know the reason why he was so distant. Since that is resolved, I wonder how his interactions with the girls will improve as he spends more time with them. I can’t wait!

If you haven’t heard already, the next episode will air in March as they are doing some kind of special next week. Coverage for this show will resume two weeks from now.