22/7 (Nanabun no Nijyuuni) – Episodes 4-6 – Sakura in the Rain, Team Building, and the Beach Photoshoot

Now with Miu’s shyness out of the way, I know everyone is anticipating that beach episode. Of course, we learn about some things that Sakura is hiding about.

It’s obvious that something is up with Sakura. At the end of the last episode, she was hesitant to reveal it to Miu. Apparently, she is calling her parents when the wall gives another order. It instructs the girls to take a photoshoot at a certain place. That place is at Hitome Senbonzakura. Still, I wonder how the wall pick the place that Sakura knew about? Does the wall have some kind of artificial intelligence or deep learning technologies that read into the girls’ minds? That remains a mystery.

Of course, Sakura becomes a bit pensive on the train. It’s not too surprising since Sakura’s grandmother mentioned by her grandmother in the flashbacks. Miu eventually notices Sakura spacing out while on the train. Eventually the train faced some delays, thus causing them to arrive late at their destination. When they got there, Sakura ran off to look at the cherry blossom trees. However, it started raining, thus jeopardizing the photoshoot.

I have to admit that Sakura’s past was pretty sad. Since her parents work a lot and can’t be with her, her grandmother looked after her. Sakura takes her to that cherry blossom tree on the hill during spring. During her teenaged years on a rainy day, her grandmother suffered a fall and went to the hospital. Sakura becomes worried about her. Eventually, Sakura made a promise with her grandmother to see the cherry blossom tree once she gets better. Sadly, she couldn’t fulfill that wish as she passed away shortly after.

I have to admit that Sakura’s story kind of hits home since just like her, my mother’s grandmother looked after me and my little sister during my childhood. She eventually passed away in 2016 early spring. I think January or February was the last time I saw her before that happened. Nevertheless, I understand how hard it is for Sakura to lose a loved one.

Shortly after her grandmother passed away, Sakura shows her desire to move to Japan. It’s starting to sound somewhat similar to another character Sally voices, Ashley Taylor. While Sakura eventually convinced her parents to move to Japan after receiving that letter, her parents allow her to do it under one condition. Yes, it has to do something about the 1-year thing. My guess is that she has to show that the idol group has to be successful or something. In contrast, Ashley becomes a magical girl to force her father to allow her to study abroad.

In the end, the photos came out great. Yes, Sakura encourages the girls to start taking pictures while it’s raining. While they got wet, the end result actually looks good.

With that, the next person that is up is Kono Miyako. The wall commands them to participate in an idol competition, Idol Tokyo Festival. However, the group is having issues answering the questions on stage with a lack of unity. This is not too surprising since 22/7 is comprised of girls that the wall picked. This can explain why they haven’t really got any bonding time together.

Miyako find the right opportunity to fix that. Yes, they had an Okonomiyaki party at Miyako’s apartment with the girls helping out with the food preparation. It works out in the end and there were a lot of cute moments too. Not only that, the group huddled up before their interview and performance. It was a success.

As for Miyako’s past, she is apparently the oldest sister and the most resourceful. This is not so surprising to see her be this cheerful and helpful. After all, she looked after 6 other siblings. Yes, Miyako’s mother had children from different fathers. This makes me wonder if she had children out of wed lock or she divorced several times.

Still, Miyako’s has a desire of finding her husband that went missing that her mother has. She eventually receives a letter to become an idol. She stared at it thinking about it while continuing her search for her dad. Her mother eventually allows her to do it and gives her the life savings to make it happen. On the bright side, at least Miyako will earn money by being an idol that she can use to help out her family.

Lastly, this is the moment we are waiting for. At the end of the 5^th episode, the wall started printing out orders like crazy. They are specific jobs assigned to the girls to do, which the talent company is about to approve. One of the orders that surprises everyone is that Reika will lead them. This role is apparently different from Miu being the center for the whole group.

One of the tasks the girls have to do is take a photoshoot on a beach wearing swimsuits on the beach. Yep, the beach episode is finally here as the girls have fun doing beach activities while having pictures taken. They also have some individual photo sessions as well.

Apparently, Reika despite being the most diligent member of the group besides Akane makes a fuss over the whole thing. This is not like her since Reika prides herself at being good at everything while sacrificing her social life. Thankfully, it took Akane convincing her that if she doesn’t do the photoshoot, she would jeopardize the future of the group. In a way, Akane is basically telling Reika to “just do it” like a strong leader would. The end results were good.

As for Reika’s backstory, it’s kind of sad in a way. Her mother sacrificed her life to bring her daughter into this world. Her father tried his best to raise the best daughter his wife would become proud of. When Reika received that letter, her father encourages her to do it. It’s her chance to make her mother proud and of course, there is the paycheck behind it too.

Besides that, there are some really nice moments, especially with Sakura and Miu. While I had mixed feelings about Miu since she whined a lot. She definitely turned a new leaf into a rather enjoyable character that is becoming a bit more open. I guess this couldn’t happen without Sakura of course. From the looks of it, I think they are the one true pairing.