Im sure Ive said this plenty of times before but as far as I know idol anime just arent good most of the time. Band anime are usually pretty good but idol anime... not so much. I7 however is an exception. While s1 might not necessarily be anything special at least not on a first watch thats just how a music anime works. S2 is where it really shines... and it really does. Music/performances: For pop music this is pretty good honestly. The music certainly has improved this season compared to last mostly through the new group Re:vale. Re:vale only has two inserts and the ending but the ending is a gorgeous song with a slightly melancholic feel to it despite the pretty cheerful/motivational lyrics which fits the show so well. And the inserts are... perhaps the most rocky poprock so far Especially the second one... The opening is fairly generic and most of the titular groups inserts are nothing special theyre generally quite typical pop especially Perfection Gimmick but the ep11 insert is really emotional... TRIGGER the main rival group has... surprisingly only one insert but it is absolutely beautiful at least the version used in the show... Overall the amount of nonbackground inserts is pretty low especially considering the length but considering this show does look at the wider entertainment industry as well and theres a lot to it besides the performances and even more general work... it shouldnt be too surprising. Except it is... I think they probably shouldve used a bit more 2D in the performance animations and... not done so many slideshow performance animations but thats a very minor complaint. Maybe the slightly eh animations for most of the performances was to save time/money/whatever for the final performance which is just absolutely stunning and the perfect 2D/3D balance Now onto the main part of the show and thus also this review the characters Characters: This show doesnt have a clear main character nor does it really have anyone with the generic music anime MC personality. There are two characters who have quite a lot of those traits one of whom even being the centre of the main group but theyre both far from that archetype and it shows quickly. Ill start off by talking about Riku Nanase the energetic cheerful and somewhat naive centre of the titular group. Though it does sound like I described any number of music anime protagonists Riku is a lot less overthetop and pushy than those ones tend to be. And hes cute. And at times he forgets what the professional thing to say is and... in general he might not be the most professional but he is beloved by many. Next is Iori Izumi a clever and responsible guy who basically never makes mistakes and with his calm and calculating personality helps his manager promote the group well. Though he definitely is a bit heavy handed with his advice at times... I get in the game Tsumugi is a player insert and so couldnt really have too much personality but they couldve at least changed it in the adaptation so that some of Ioris ideas were Tsumugis to start with just to make it feel a little... ah whats the word Im looking for... Ah sorry about that tangent. It actually more applies to one specific episode of s1 anyway. Tsumugi did decide something on her own this season and without Ioris consultation which... kinda makes up for that scene. I still do not really understand Yamato nor his personal problems that much. Though he was given a bit of focus in this season its not until s3 that hes at the forefront. Mitsuki Izumi is the other cheery and highenergy guy but like Riku hes still quite grounded and like his brother very responsible. But he also has somewhat low selfesteem pointing out his own shortcomings from time to time. And also... his arc in this season is so good even moreso than Rikus. But Ill get to that later. I may have added characterfocused drama into the character section in previous reviews but in a show like this where the drama is mostly character focused and the character section is long enough already... yeah it makes sense to save that... Tamaki Yotsuba says whatevers on his mind struggles with formality and is in general just very blunt with his words but though it doesnt come through for a while hes a really kind and sweet guy who just almost always acts based solely on his emotions. He was the first one who stood out to me out of everyone at the end of s1 and this season just made me love him more. Sogo Osaka is a very polite and reserved guy who rarely speaks up about what he wants and is very often worried about upsetting people always thinking carefully about everything. The complete opposite pretty much of Tamaki the other member of the only officiallynamed subunit MEZZO. The two naturally struggle to get along but they do try their best at least when prompted by someone usually Yamato and have a great dynamic in general. And on their own too are great and fun characters Nagi Rokuya is a flirt and anime fan with a weird accent. At first I thought he was more leaning into the smooth flirt type of character but on my rewatch I realised that is so not it and he is actually really really funny both through his flirt fails and in general eccentricities... And... despite or perhaps because of how eccentric and freespirited he is hes actually a really reliable person and hes... almost like a core pillar of the group. Now next Ill go over their rival groups members. 2/3 of TRIGGERs members seem to have vastly different stage personas to their real personalities which I find is pretty interesting. And probably quite true about a lot of people in the entertainment industry honestly. The centre of the group Tenn Kujo appears to be a kind and sweet and pure angel... but is really a blunt perfectionist who spares no harsh words for anyone who doesnt measure up in terms of professionalism. Despite that he can and does care for some people just it rarely comes through especially as his default mode of showing affection... seems to generally be overly harsh comments... Even upon realising that softer side to him hes still the one lighthaired ruthlessly blunt perfectionist Ive seen in music anime who I am not particularly a fan of.Perhaps thatll change should he get an arc focused more solely on him though... Gaku Yaotome is the one who doesnt really have a different persona onstage and I think thats a good part of what defines him. Hes an honest and straightforward guy who sticks to his values and is very outspoken... whether or not that gets him into fights... And he takes pride in who he is. Hes also got a stubborn streak sort of similar to that of Tenn which really highlights both where the two of them agree and where they disagree. Those two have such a good dynamic too... Ryuunosuke Tsunashi has the persona of a smooth ladies man when in reality hes a downtoearth and humble guy who is absolutely clueless around women. And he almost always ends up mediating any arguments that sprout up within the group... Lastly the two idols introduced in this season... They are a comedy duo That summarises their personalities well enough I feel Well there is more to them naturally. Momo the idiot of the pair is indeed another energetic and bubbly guy this time to an actually absurd extent and with the added bonus of being a tease but hes also a really kind guy who always puts others first and knows when to tone down his goofiness. Also his arc is just And while Yuki is serious and cool most of the time at times he struggles at expressing how he feels and is actually kinda silly himself even when not acting as Momos foil... Now I went over MEZZOs dynamic a bit earlier but really the dynamics between all of the cast are really great The reason they could get away with not doing any dedicated singlecharacter focus episodes at all I feel was because from the very start they were developing each character alongside each other along with their unique dynamics. And they really did write that well Especially the dynamics between everyone Rikus and Ioris was always a fun one to see When I was rewatching this I realised I think that if you abandon that safe route for a highdrama music anime plot structure you have to take great care to make sure the characters are still easy to connect to.The other shows Ive seen which threw aside that basic structure ended up with boring characters and consequentially boring drama. But this show really did manage to make it work Even when I first watched it and didnt connect too well with much of the cast in s1 this season... this season made me love almost everyone Story: Like most music anime even sequels the drama only truly kicks in in ep6. But the tight set up started from the first moments and the serious moments started from the end of ep2. Now as I mentioned this show handles its cast by developing the characters alongside each other and their relationships/dynamics. And that is indeed how the drama works. In this season there are five dramatic plotlines all woven alongside the base plot. Two focusing primarily on one character each both running in parallel between ep69 one focusing on the relationships between certain characters one thats kinda a mix both of those happening a bit later and one featuring an antagonistic force. All of these plotlines are paced perfectly feel really natural are tied together well and... are very painful. So painful in fact that one of them made it so in my rewatch I couldnt actually watch two episodes at a time for a bit... I wanted to go highly indepth about each plotline but I realised my draft was looking like an overly indepth summary of the plot with very small anecdotes of my thoughts. Especially Rikus arc for some reason... Riku and Mitsukis arcs have quite a bit in common honestly Momos arc also has some similarities though less so. Im not quite sure what to say about the other plotlines aside from they are also well written and... everything really does tie together neatly If there are any loose ends those will be tied up soon. I suppose I can say the plotline with the antagonist force is the least emotional one but it is still really well written. Its also worth pointing out the brilliant foreshadowing both with things people say and with subtle movements... and even sometimes the directing gives extra clues. Both for things this season and things still to come. Fun: How does a freakin video game adaptation have this level of visual humour? Now were not talking Bocchilevels of absurd direction nowhere near that nothing is near that but it is still far above most anime in the unique ways the visual humour is directed And considering how the games stories are Im pretty sure just text with very basic and barely changing visuals that is just... how? And the comedy is basically always welltimed one of my favourite jokes this season is basically in the middle of an emotional scene and it... it fit perfectly... The only thing that I think could be better in this regard is sometimes the chibi cuts are unnecessary and the jokes would land just as well if not better if they didnt swap to chibis. But that is only a few scenes. Episode 5 is the chaotic episode that is brimming with comedy and misunderstandings that help build character in a fun way while still blending in a few serious moments quite well. In other words its almost a microcosm of what makes this show so good. The insane but natural comedy. The smooth transitions from serious moments to funny ones. The depth of the characters and their dynamics. Episode 5 really shows all that quite well Overall: I once said idol anime are to the music genre what isekai are to fantasy. Lots of them get made lots get popular but especially compared to shows from other subgenres in the wider genre youll very rarely find a good one. Continuing on that metaphor... one could say IDOLiSH7 is the Re:Zero of idol anime. A wellwritten long deep dark somewhat slowpaced show standing out in amongst a genre of mostly vapid onecour shows. And one where though perhaps not necessarily a perfect adaptation one can clearly see the care put into it Though this show is a fair bit lighter than Re:Zero which is where the metaphor breaks down... But I7 really does blend the lighter moments and the darker ones together so well its amazing With a vibrant and wellrounded cast with fun dynamics and very realistic feeling problems its a perfect blend of comedy and drama all feeling so natural making it a truly outstanding show