天下制覇

God, I hate the idol industry.

Impressions:

Uh oh. The writers have run out of things they know about beach volleyball, haven't they? Well, while they run off to the books to find an interesting factoid about digging, oversets, or, god help us, chesters, it's time for that old standby that must by legal decree of 2007 be in every goddamned anime, the pop idol character. And what's her deal? She wants to be an idol through volleyball. Because a creepy magazine did a photoshoot of teenage volleyball players. That's it. That's the whole thing. They don't even pretend that she's not an idol though. She has a little concert at the start, terrible CGI, of course, just splat into the episode without connection to anything because apparently they couldn't think of a way to work it in.

All the characters awkwardly smile and humor her like a bad guest star that's been foisted upon them. The director stretches his most directorest muscles possible for a super incredibly subtle scene where she's sitting in the darkness feeling sorry for herself while the main pair happily sits in the sunlight. Then, she learns that friendship is the real heart of the idol all along. A+ effort all around, team. Way to expend twenty minutes and sell some CDs.