6

Yessssssss, my heart melts!

So Rio's desire to simply not want to cause trouble to anyone, ultimately warped into the persona that we know. What remains cute about it is that she does not go hard in being a queen. Multiple times she breaks down and is just a sweet girl, and never fully envelops the act. Even at the end of the performance she can't stifle her tears on stage after being accepted (cute cry for days). She puts her try-hard effort into better things, like secret practice. I've seen it a hundred times before, but this... hits different, as the youth say. I get misty watching this for some reason.

Rio's singing voice being angelic I should have seen coming. If she can't dance, she must have had something, as manager-kun said, to be chosen as an idol. Unfortunately, her auditions' flashbacks didn't show any hints of that, meaning Mrs. Owner-kun must eccentric to feel out Rio's kindness and give her a chance. Never the less, she is here and yes, a beautiful singing voice is more immediately appealing to 'normies' than the technical dancing that draws in the hachimaki crowd.

The sequence was animated at a level that sold the mood quite well, but the smooth movements contrasted with Rio-Sama's entire character design, to my chagrin. Thankfully they said ahead of time that they were all but removing the dancing to focus in her strength, so slide it may.

The whole scene, while quite cliché, was riveting (likely in no small part because of my investment in Rio's character arc), especially the cruel juxtaposition of the audience assuming one of the other two would be the center, and the 'shine' on the fan playing along with Rio-sama's posturing. Great "show, don't tell".

Now, manager-kun has set his sights on filling out the ranks!