Living on a lighted stage
Approaches the unreal
For those who think and feel
In touch with some reality
Beyond the gilded cage
– Rush, Limelight from Moving Pictures, 1981. Lyrics by Neil Peart, Music by Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson.
Takemiya Jin-sensei has really gotten into pop idols recently. Or, at least her work has. In Mabushisa no Mukou Soku (まぶしさの向こう側), “To The Other Side of the Glare,” she takes a look at life from the lighted side of the stage, following the girls of pop idol group “AKH49” with a decidedly Yuri focus.
In “First Kiss no Tsukaikata” an idol is about to take on a role in which she will have to kiss an actor. Her manager has been watching over her for a long time and is very in love with her…not surprisingly, she’s feeling conflicted. The conflict does not dissipate when her idol asks her to be her first kiss.
The stories are nice and no one is the mean girl, which is very refreshing. A new girl joins the idol group to which her beloved friend (who is adored by many) belongs and they get to spend time together. Two of the idols are asked to partner in a “Yuri coupling” and find that they actually quite like one another. A fan and an idol both are hiding something important from one another…well, several things, because each is secretly in love with the other. An idol fan and an anime fan reach past the differences of their interests to find interest in each other.
The final chapter follows all of the characters on their day off with many embraces, kisses and smiles.
Ratings:
Art – 8
Story – 7
Characters – 8
Yuri – 7
Service – 3 Some service in the Yuri coupling story
Overall – 8
This was perfect bedtime reading. Nothing negative, conflicts were small and ephemeral. No one’s unlikable, nothing terrible happens to anyone. The artist is clearly having fun and all the girls get the girls. ^_^
Limelight is a great song. You should listen to it.
I remember a tweet from forever ago where she mentioned becoming slightly obsessed with idols, so I guess it was foreshadowing haha.
I enjoyed this one a lot – while there’s certainly a divide in Takemiya-sensei’s work in tone and content between her Rakuen and Yuri Hime output, she still seems to enjoy the hell out the latter, and it’s hard not to have fun right alongside her. This one has quite a few characters on the right side of eighteen, and while idols aren’t really something I care for, idol *manga* feels like an old friend after Strawberry Shake Sweet!
And I certainly buy Takemiya-sensei as being into idols after that likeness of Sashihara Rino in the afterword :) I guess we just wait until she has an opportunity to put a Fate/Grand Order with the serial numbers filed off work out there?
I’ve also seen her wax poetic about idols on Twitter. ^_^ Its really common with some of the folks ho began in doujinshi to continue fannish work long after they’ve gone pro, so yeah.
Woo Rush!
\m/(^o^)\m/ whooo!!