Latest chapter is up on MD. Wonderful developments, great pacing.
I was kinda split on this story's decision to give so much attention to the stalkers, but after my knee-jerk 'Keep them disgusting creepazoids outta mah yuri' reaction, I've realized that it's actually a commendable decision. So many manga about entertainment and the performing arts completely and totally misrepresent the professions they cover, glorifying and fetishizing industries that are extremely exploitative (Love Live, for instance, has caught flack for making the idol industry seem like some grandiose pathway to dreams instead of an oppressive industry that pulls in young girls with talent, restricts their personal freedom, and forces them to act out anime archetypes for swelling crowds of sweaty otaku who'd get an aneurysm if their waifus, who just so happen to be real goddamn people, ever happen to get into a relationship or display any traits that aren't sickeningly moe or endorsed by their agencies). I honestly hate the whole, 'we must devotedly love our fans and appreciate the support they give us' ideology, because so many of these fandoms are filled with toxic people who perv out over underage girls and fantasize about getting into relationships with them, even as the corporations that market the idols rarely ever criticize this, but actively prey on the social isolation and repressed desires of straight male consumers to mold idols into real-world waifus and maximize appeal. Though the idols do make good money and the stalkers are terrible people, there's also a lot to be said about the agencies that form the root of these issues, and the general fandom culture that drives such behavior. And the fact that this series is willing to engage with that by presenting the seiyuus as people often uncomfortable with performativity, whilst also giving the stalkers human traits and exploring their mindsets, psychology and fiction-reality disconnect is pretty neat. I'm not expecting it to be some kind of brilliant symbolic deconstruction of the industry like, say, Revue Starlight, but even if it displays the willingness to explore the seiyuu profession with more depth than just 'cute girls and their loving fans', it'd be a cut above all the shows and series that idealize professions for blatant cash-grabbing.
last edited at Nov 11, 2020 1:37AM