Lemon Angel Project 07

title: I want to get to know you

My faith in this show keeps being rewarded. It gets better, and the voice-acting and singing in particular get better, as we go along. This ep features good songs from both Kadowaki Mai and Shihono Ryou. Perhaps we really are building an idol group here.




In this ep we find out more about the original Lemon Angel Project and its demise; we see Tomo become the group's "heart" and lead singer; we see Miki, Yui-sempai's friend and collaborator realize how great a person and performer Tomo is; and we enter the dark passageways of a conspiracy against the group.

Reaction on 2channel has been pretty positive about this episode. The good singing of both Kadowaki Mai and Shihono Ryou surprised people. And a couple of people thought that Ryou-chan's acting became dramatically better. As if she is a quick study. If the amazing skill and maturity she shows on her radio show is any indication, she is very smart and talented -- at 14.

The OP is sung this week by Kadowaki Mai. The first few episodes were all done by the group together, then episode 6 OP was sung by Hirama Juri (glasses-girl) and got raves on 2channel.

summary:
Saaya is being a bitch. She wants to be leader of the group and keeps telling the others what to do. It's embarrassing.

Meanwhile, the main producer (I'll call him "good-salaryman") sees tangled-light-hair guy go into a conference room. Then he sees Miki coming up toward the same room. We see that she is hiding a data disk behind her, as if she might be coming to give it to tangled-light hair. Good-salaryman rushes her away.

During an interview, the other girls rebel publicly, turning Saaya into a weeping chibi. But they readily agree that she must be allowed to audition for main vocalist, along with Tomo and Miru, whom the producer chose.

But the audition is on Saturday, the same day that the sharp guy with glasses insists Tomo must go to Yui-sempai's grave -- the anniversary of her death. They can get back in time, he says -- if she still wants to. He wants her to quit the group so he and tangled-light-hair guy can bring back the virtual LAP.

He surprises her by taking her first to the practice of a famous rock band, where she is suitably impressed, but then witnesses the star lording it over his drummer and firing him on the spot, with the assistance of sharp-glasses guy and security. Tomo seems repelled and scared. Sharp-glasses tells her that Yui considered her work to be a collaboration with tangled-light-hair, who was her producer

She finally makes it to her goal, Yui-sempai's grave. Yui lived from 2000 to 2016. Tomo prays. Miki comes up behind her. Miki seems to feel some respect for her. She asks if this isn't the audition day. Tomo laments that she had expected to be there earlier and have time, but sharp-glasses had taken her places. Miki explains that when the first Lemon Angel Project got started, Yui signed a contract with a company and got a producer, who was tangled-light-hair guy.

Miki felt that the producer changed Yui's music so it wan't hers any more. Yui told her not to criticize him. She had fallen in love with him. She thought he was a genius.Then he told her he thought she was extremely talented, but that he didn't have any interest in her in a romantic way at all. She was devastated, and wandered off into the dark rainy streets, eventually being hit by a truck.

Miki tells Tomo not to leave the group, but to keep singing. She says that the group couldn't continue when it lost its heart, Yui, but now Tomo is the kind of person who can be a new heart for the LAP.

Back at the rehearsal, Miru is wowing them with her performance. Then they wait for Tomo, who finally bursts in through the door, exhausted. But when asked if she could sing, she gathers herself together and says "Yes!" with determination. And she transports them with her great singing. Miru sees the original LAP lead singer in Tomo. (Yui modelled the appearance of the lead singer in the original, virtual LAP, on her young friend Tomo's features).

At the end, when all the other girls are rushing up to congratulate Tomo (even Saaya, who can recognize quality when she sees it), Miru marches over to the manager and asks him to make Tomo the lead singer.

At the end, Tomo is on the phone with sharp-glasses guy. She tells him she wants to sing, and will not back out. After they hang up, sharp-glasses guy says to himself, "You'll regret it," as he plays with a data disk that looks like the one Miki had.