You might be wondering, did Suzune finally wake up from their slumber? Did the girls reach 2 million yells, we’ll find out their fate soon enough?
From last time, Suzune finally meets Akari in her dream. She eventually became her child self as she talks to Akari. Akari asks why she is here and her reason to sing. Eventually, Suzune shares her ultimate reason why she wanted to sing. It’s because Akari cheered her on. This makes dream Akari happy. Suzune also shares her feelings about singing, but afraid of overworking herself in trying to make up for it. This is when Akari mentions the support she received from her fans helped kept her going. She also reminds Suzune that she will always be with her.
Meanwhile, Rena is hoping that Akari hasn’t given up on Suzune. Sunny eventually reveals that Akari never gave up on singing despite the pressure of being alone on stage. It’s thanks to the fan letters she receives that helped her make it through the tough times. After all, she doesn’t want to let down her fans. Yes, including her number one cheerer, which is obvious who it is.
Eventually, Suzune finally wakes up and mentions that she saw Akari in her dream and that she will always with her. With Suzune finally recovered, after all the suspense, Suzune and Rena finally performed. With that, they received almost enough yells. Their final group performance of the opening theme song, Glorious Days finally allowed them to reach their goal.
A few months has passed, and all 9 girls say their goodbyes as they head to Tokyo. Yes, for their debut as actual idols. They find out that Sunny is the CEO of Production Select and realizing she was the dorm mom. Jun is their manager, who plays Sumipanda. As expected, everyone is surprised that Sunny was the CEO, except for Rena and Suzune who already knew for obvious reasons. They saw the recording of their journey, which is the final live stage of the competition. As expected, their performance of Glorious Days was great. Either way, the girls seem so happy that they made it together.
Final Impressions
Selection Project is an interesting take off the idol genre since it’s a reality show contest. You would expect that there will be some eliminations, but not really. Despite being a competition, the girls develop their bonds that they became friends. Before they knew it, all the girls make it to the next round without any issue. That is until the girls are forced to eliminate someone, thus they simply refused. Against all odds, they manage to pass the first two rounds and even the last round after receiving a second chance.
I must admit that the characters are enjoyable. Sure, Rena came off as being cold and had the rival mentality. Of course, thanks to Suzune, she can defrost Rena who entered the contest to find answers of how it was like for her sister to become an idol. In the story, Rena finds out where Akari’s heart ended up with Suzune. Sure, she didn’t know how to react, but this revelation allowed her to become even closer to Suzune and even become soulmates.
While the heart transplant story reminded some viewers of another certain idol anime that aired this year, I felt this show handled it better. Yes, it allowed Rena to develop even further to come to terms with her older sister while growing her bonds with Suzune. After finding out, it’s obvious that they became more than best friends. They are also what keeps the group together through their bonds. Sure, some viewers find the heart transplant thing to be silly and unrealistic given the huge disadvantages in real life, it worked out in the end. It allowed Suzune to realize her dream and continue Akari’s, which who is unable to due to an unfortunate event.
Overall, Selection Project is an enjoyable idol anime. This is not too surprising since Doga Kobo worked on this production known for creating schoolgirl anime. Also, I enjoyed most of the songs this show had to offer. For fans of idol anime, most will enjoy this show.
I knew Jahy was personal smash hit I did not expect Selection Project to be another favorite.
The ending felt cathartic in the best way. So happy for 9-tie. Well deserved victory.
SuzuRena eventually won me over after the sadness of losing SeiZu. Fit X Thicc = love and I wish all the best for Hiromi and her girlfriend.
Not too surprising since as I mentioned, Doga Kobo is good at making school girl anime, which can explain the show is enjoyable. Still, it’s nice to see the girls have a good ending. SuzuRena is good.
Here’s something interesting for Butterfly Bright
If you watch episode 3’s version and then episode 13’s version, they look quite similar to each other. However, the moment where Suzune and Rena face and circle each other contain two notable differences. For starters, in the earlier performance, Rena frowns at Suzune, but in the later performance, the former smiles at the latter. Secondly, in the episode 3 B.B. Suzune hovers her hand over Rena’s hand. However, both of them physically hold hands in the episode 13 version.
To me, both of these changes are reflective of Rena’s Character Development, in which she went from an aloof and distant girl who treated Suzune with harsh coldness, to a person who genuinely cared for Suzune and saw her as a friend.
Interesting observation as most people would think the performance look the same, but it shows how much Rena has defrosted compared to the beginning of the show.