Utage is now caught between wanting to keep her beloved Tamon pure versus acknowledging the fact that she has an indelible amount of influence over him. She can pick and choose what he wears (like that necklace). She can even influence how he acts onstage and on TV. I wish she was more of a corruptor even if she only does it inadvertently. That would make this show a lot more interesting. But instead, she just wants to be one of the countless, faceless fans he already has. On that note, do fans ever contemplate what the end would look like? Like you can’t keep stanning the guy forever, right? Idols retire and get replaced all the time. Idols get married all the time. At some point, your fandom has to face its mortality. But maybe it’s one of those things where you just don’t think about it until you have to.
Anyways, this week’s episode finally introduces us to another member of F/ACE. Tamon confirms that he and fellow groupmate Ouri only pretend to be close for the cameras. But deep down, you know it’s all for show — that it’s just “kayfabe.” Nevertheless, this sort of inauthenticity bugs me. I remember when people would pair certain vtubers together, and if said vtubers had a stretch of weeks or months where they didn’t interact with each other as much, fans would flip their shit. You’re already watching a girl pretend to be a 2-D anime character, so you already know it’s fake. But now you insist that they live out your weird yuri fantasies? C’mon, bro. Oh, don’t even get me started vtubers celebrating their birthdays. At the same time, however, when vtubers act like besties, I could never buy in. I could never shake that gnawing feeling at the back of my mind that it was all for show.
Oh no, oh dear, Ouri is a prick. He acts like a prince in public, but behind closed doors, he’s green with envy. He can’t handle Tamon’s success. Obviously, Utage’s going to stand up for her man, but this is where she unleashes her fury, right? I mean, you can’t let me down now after all that talk about how Tamon is the best thing ever. C’mon, beat Ouri up. I roll my eyes at Utage’s crazed fandom, but I have no qualms about assholes getting their just deserts. For me, this is what fantasy is for. Actual villains get away with heinous shit all the time in real life. At the very least, I want my fiction to punish them. Unfortunately, Utage simply kicks Ouri out of the apartment. It’s… better than nothing, but she should’ve thrashed him the same way he thrashed her Tamon.
Ouri then literally kicks the door down, so he’s asking for it. Second chance to beat him up! Do it! C’mon, he’s manhandling your Tamon! But again, nothing happens. Their… manager? Handler? Well, that guy then shows up and makes Tamon and Ouri work together on a script. Afterwards, Utage has one more confrontation with the asshole in the elevator, but she only gives him a few stern words. Unsurprisingly, they’re nowhere near enough to correct Ouri’s abhorrent behavior. In fact, Utage seems more outraged by the fact that they’re looking to choose a new center for F/ACE’s next project. This is so pathetic. This is why jerkasses like Ouri continue to to be jerkasses, because who’s gonna hold them accountable? Nobody. Not their manager, and not even a supposedly devoted fan like Utage. We let spoiled assholes ruin the precious world we live in, and as a result, we deserve everything they do to us.
To pick the next center, the boys compete to see who can act the most heartbroken. After all, they’ll be singing a sad ballad. Unfortunately, Tamon finishes in last place, because he’s been pretending to be Hottiehara for so long that he doesn’t know how to turn the persona off. It also probably doesn’t help that he doesn’t have any personal experience with romantic heartache to draw from. This isn’t the only way to achieve his results, but it would have certainly been the easiest. But there are four battles left to go, so the story is positioning him to make a furious comeback. Needless to say, Utage is coming to the rescue. The agency might as well hire her to be his manager. But how would this series have played out without her? Would Tamon have crashed and burned from the very first episode? Would his career have abruptly come to an end? Oh well, we can only speculate.
Once again, Ouri bursts into Tamon’s apartment just to be an asshole. This time, he even demands that Utage switch her allegiance over to him if he becomes the true center of F/ACE. This is gross, because he obviously doesn’t actually want her for her; he just wants to steal her away from Tamon. But people love their NTR. This is anecdotal, but I remember a vtuber being surprised that overseas fans didn’t like NTR as much as Japanese fans.
Stray thoughts & observations:
- Are their heads too small, or are those shirts too big? I could also be biased. I’m more acquainted to men having a v-shaped silhouette.
- Really? Teaching people who to make shaved ice? Sure, okay.
- Sounds… gross.
- Utage spins everything Tamon does in a positive light. Tamon and Ouri are just pretending to be friends? Gosh, that just means they work so hard to make their fans happy!
- Like I said, I hope this doesn’t turn into a reverse harem. Sure, she immediately pulls her hands away, ’cause she says they’re reserved for Tamon and Tamon only. But people can change their minds. I hope she doesn’t. I like plenty of romcoms. I can’t say I’ve ever enjoyed a harem romcom or anything for that matter.
- Instead of a flashlight, like the one that’s probably built into her phone, she uses a glowstick to light her way. Hilarious.
- Tamon tries to defend Ouri, but that’s what victims do. You honestly can’t believe what they say. Children will lie to protect abusive parents, adults will lie to protect their abusive spouses.
