HEROINE TARUMONO!: KIRAWARE HEROINE TO NAISHO NO OSHIGOTO

DESCRIPTION

CAST

MOVIE DramaZutto Mae kara Suki deshita.: Kokuhaku Jikkou Iinkai
MOVIE MusicKono Sekai no Tanoshimikata: Secret Story Film
MUSIC Slice of LifeJinsei wa Saikou no Himatsubushi
ONAHeroine Tarumono!: Kiraware Heroine to Naisho no Oshigoto Mini Anime
OVA MusicHajimete no Futarikkiri Ryokou

REVIEWS

• 

  jayvee

  30/100
  Episode 11 may be one of the worst, most self-unaware pieces of media I have ever had the displeasure of experiencing.

  Before it all

  First and foremost there's something I'd like for you to understand. Heroine Tarumono was an absolutely fine, run of the mill good vibes idol show; I'd even concede it was decent, dare I say. However, the events that transpire on episode 11 of this disgrace of a show are so absolutely abhorrent and outrageous that I wouldn't even be able to call it storytelling; they completely erased any and all goodwill and positive impressions I had of the show up to that point, and thus, are the entire reason for me to be writing this review in the first place.

  ---

  Basic plot

  Let's start from the beginning. Hiyori, the protagonist, is going from the countryside to the city to pursue her love for track and field, ending up becoming friends with two girls, Chizuru and Juri; but her, also wanting to be considerate of her family's financial situation, picks up a well paying job that just so happens to be as "Manager-in-training" of two of her classmates which happen to be idols, Aizo and Yujiro. Since the both of them are incredibly stuck up it takes a while but they eventually warm up to her (Even if not explicitly stating their newfound fondness of her); but at this point the main cause for concern is the fact that nobody can find out she's their manager contrasting with how they're on the same class on high school (Which clearly makes that a tad bit complicated). And this is pretty much how the show goes until episode 9.

  ---

  The beginning of the end

  Episode 9 introduces a new conflict, a situation, a malevolent intention, a third party, a snitch, a fucking woopsie daisy if you will. Arriving at school, on the bulletin board Hiyori sees a bunch of pictures of her, Aizo and Yujiro hanging out together after school hours, which creates a big commotion; high schoolers that have parasocial relationships with idols, being the societal fuck-ups that they are, start harassing the trio and making their life a living hell both on school and on social media. This culminates in Hiyori having to make a drastic decision; abandoning her job as Manager-in-training as to help preserve her friends' careers and help quell any rumors about them that were making the rounds; all this while their agency, trying to do the same on their side, tries to make them stop going to high school altogether.

  

  ---

  Frankenstein's episode

  Now we come to episode 11, oh sweet episode eleven how did anyone think of approving this.

  We start the episode with a reveal that those with a keen eye might have seen coming; Chizuru, one of Hiyori's friends has the brainrots for Aizo, half of the duo. From there, they hammer it in even more just how absolutely deranged she is mentally, taking pictures of them while they play basketball during school hours all while trying to conceal herself; but them, seeing her, think they might have got a clue on their stalker. From now on the episode goes all out on showing her continue being deranged; she leaves mid conversation with Hiyori and Juri after they start talking about the boys and is then shown having a breakdown behind the school and erasing Hiyori from the pictures she took of the trio. This is when the episode really starts getting completely ridiculous.

  After some help from Yujiro reveals to Hiyori and Juri that Chizuru was their stalker, and causes her to reveal how much she hates Hiyori for being with her idols, Hiyori needs to clear her mind; she goes jogging and ends up finding a totally irrelevant character that, knowing little of what's going on, compares her situation with "hating" her sister to Hiyori's situation of being stalked, harassed and made to quit her job and basically says "talk it out bitch".

  Now lets get to the good stuff; Hiyori spends the entire day trying to catch up to Chizuru and talk to her, but Chizuru, HAVING STATED SHE FUCKING HATED HIYORI obviously doesn't want to talk. All of this culminates with a confrontation on the schools entrance where Hiyori is knocked out cold by Chizuru.

  Now, before me telling you how this absolute fucking shitshow ended let's do a quick recap of what happened since episode 9.

  

  Chizuru has:

  • Stalked three people
  • Exposed three people
  • Induced the harassment of those she exposed both IRL and online (IRL especially for Hiyori since it seems most idol fans are deranged here)
  • Jeopardized two idols' careers
  • Made the idols have to hold an entire press conference just to address this issue
  • Made Hiyori quit the job she only took to help her family just so things wouldn't get even worse for the duo
  • Punched Hiyori out cold

  And now, after all of the really damning and serious stuff Chizuru's caused other people simply because of the parasocial relationship she has with one of these idols, Hiyori wakes up on the nurse's office with the duo and Chizuru, at which point the episode ends by...

  Hiyori saying it's her fault she didn't realize Chizuru's "feelings" which for whatever reason need to be acknowledged as real even if they're completely one-sided and border insanity.

  This is the example of how to not to write a redemption story. Chizuru may just have permanently fucked up all three of their lives or at least their public image, which for an idol is everything, but at the end of this godforsaken episode she's going to be forgiven by Hiyori AFTER EVERYTHING SHE'S DONE because "oh oh her feeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeelings"

  In every piece of media the viewer needs to have a level of suspension of disbelief; but to tell the viewer
  "Hey, she's done all this shit because of her one-sided feelings which may result in people's livelihood being jeopardized, but even though she's done absolutely nothing to redeem herself, believe she'll just stop hating Hiyori because she... punched her I guess."

  ---

  But what about episode 12?

  Episode 12 didn't matter much to me after how much of a stinking shit ep 11 was, but the breakdown goes as follows:
  Chizuru gets in a self pity spiral while Hiyori forgives her too easily and everyone forgets about everything that happened (including their harassers) as they would in this utopia they live where people's memories last for less than a week. Chizuru, in her self pity keeps saying she's "not a fan anymore" to try and garner any sympathy after what she's done only to restart her erratic behavior regarding this single parasocial relationship.

  ---

  Conclusion

  In the end this is all about perspective, after all Chizuru is just a victim of circumstance; and Hiyori is a victim of... well... Chizuru, and Aizo is a victim of... her too, and Yujiro... well you get the gist of it.

  Only watch this show up to episode 9 or 10 if you want to keep a good impression; this episode absolutely destroyed my opinion and rating of the show; I have no idea how they thought it would be a good message. I understand what they were going for, but if they wanted the viewer to feel any sympathy at all towards Chizuru they should've made her less wicked, because when you stop to think about it for more than 2 seconds, the stuff she did is really dangerous and fucked up; ESPECIALLY considering she was fucking friends with Hiyori.

  But if there's a one thing I can say I absolutely loved with no caveats or buts during the entire show on every scene she was in it's Juri. Best character with little contest.

  
  Continue on AniList
• 

  bufis

  57/100
  the last episodes ruined it all

  Ah… it happened again. Yet another good anime ruined by its last episodes. What can I even say? It is a shame indeed.

  Heroine Tarumono! is about a boyish, straightforward girl that goes to the city to pursue her dream, track and field. It just so happens that two of her classmates are actually a very popular idol group, LIPXLIP. She doesn't even know them, as she isn't interested in idols; but she needs money, so when she sees some agency's hiring announcement, she immediately applies for the post. Turns out, it was a recruitment for the manager-in-training for LIPXLIP! And, surprisingly, she was hired, due to her ability to supervise them as their classmate. That marks the beginning of a tiresome, frustrating, but fun journey, during which new friendships blossom and new experiences are gained.

  Heroine Tarumono! showed potential in the beginning. It doesn't have the best characters nor the greatest story, but it has its own charm that makes everything else work. It feels innocent, relaxing, and warm. Well, that goes away quickly, starting from episode 10, when utterly unnecessary drama unfolds, and it is a pretty damn shitty one as well. It got slightly better in the last episode, but… it wasn't enough, at all. The conclusion to the events that took place in episodes 10 & 11 felt very rushed and shallow, just like the rest of episode 12, honestly.

  :spoilers start:
  Of course, we really needed some obsessed fangirl being a psychopath, harassing people just "for her bias", right? Because it seems like the writers wanted drama and an entertaining plot, but they couldn't think of another way. Well, spoiler incoming, they ridiculously failed. Ah, and the characters all act like some broken toys without a brain in those episodes as well. One of them gives some real shitty advice, like?? "Oh, well you have to think about the harasser's feelings, it doesn't matter what fucked up things they did they surely have a reason, you have to understand them". Oh my god… and the protagonist actually listened to that stupid advice, are you for real…

  Yeah, it is just that awful.

  :spoilers end:

  Well, aside from those atrocious episodes, I do have another bone to pick with this series: its misogyny. Specifically, the way it portrays women. They just had to draw the heroine's brows in a really weird manner just to show how "ugly" she is, didn't they? The idol main characters are also fine with her being their manager-in-training because they "can't see her as a girl" (because she is "ugly", energetic, and doesn't really care about her appearance). Like… oh my god it's 2022 do we really have to go through this? They don't seem to regard her as a girl for the whole anime (except for one episode). Aizou is openly misogynistic as well (and doesn't really have any character development when it comes to that).. The show does try to make him a backstory for it, basically to gain the sympathy of viewers and make them overlook this fact, but it just falls flat anyway.

  The characters work pretty well together. We have the competitive, hard-working, and sassy duo, paired up with the equally hard-working, righteous, and straightforward girl manager. Aizou looks like a playboy, yet hates girls; Yuujirou has the appearance of a gentle, timid teenager, yet has a very sharp tongue and doesn't really care about anyone. And the most important thing, they don't even like each other. This makes them always compete with each other, and scowl when they accidentally see each other in their free time. The saving grace in this situation is the heroine, Hiyori, who makes them closer thanks to her becoming their friend (though they are too stubborn to admit it). The girl's perseverance, energetic self, and kind nature manage to make them warm up to her, and that's pretty heart-warming to see.

  Though, the best character is Hiyori herself.

  Very average art. Not bad, though. As for the voice acting, I personally loved Hiyori's voice. The songs were pretty nice as well.

  For the most part, this anime is quite enjoyable. If we ignore the last 3 episodes, at least. If we don't, well... enjoyable until that point, and a big "why?" after. I recommend the first 9 episodes, especially if you are into idol anime (obviously).

  (Ratings: story: 6; art: 5.5; sound: 7; character: 6; enjoyment: 6.5; overall: 5.7)

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• 

  pengwolf

  77/100
  Great introduction to a new generation of HoneyWorks main characters, but the final arc leaves a bit to be desired.

  To preface this review, I'm a huge HoneyWorks fan. I've been listening to the songs for years, and recently got into the storylines. That started with just reading along to the lyrics as I watched the music videos, then in the past month or so I finally got around to watching the older anime content (the 2 movies and 6-episode anime following the first generation of characters, Sakuragaoka's graduating 3rd years). I fell in love with those couples pretty quick, and I think that stuff is a great intro to the franchise: the Natsuki/Yuu story is a sweet, concise, successful childhood friend romance; the Hina/Kotaro story is a slightly rockier childhood friend romance with a decent amount of drama and a comfy resolution; the Akari/Sota story is a perfect little fairy tale; the Miou/Haruki story is a dramatic and heartwarming tale of mutual love and adversity. All of these require very little song knowledge to enter, and just a handful of songs to "wrap up", in the Tokyo __ Session epilogue series and three Hina/Kotaro specific songs.

  Those anime also give teasers for what I assume will grow into gen 2, featuring more of Hina/Kotaro, their friends Arisa/Ken and Jodai, who we see in this anime is dating Juri, Hiyori and Chizuru's friend. We also know from the songs that Mona views LIPxLIP as professional rivals, as a fellow up-and-coming idol, so I was really happy to see her in this anime.

  I realize I've written this much without mentioning this show at all so I hope that shows anyone reading how connected I feel this whole franchise is and how much I love this whole thing.

  So how about THIS show? This is a "Heroines Run The Show!" review, after all.

  I liked Hiyori a lot from the beginning. She's super energetic, cheerful, and optimistic, and her sharp contrast to the moody LIPxLIP boys sets the stage with some funny clashing drama. But we quickly see her sunshiney personality "fix" the boys, as they finally break down their walls and show their genuine emotions, getting invested in personal relationships, getting a better outlook on their idol career, etc, all thanks to Hiyori. If the anime was just that stuff, it would be a solid entry into HoneyWorks' other feelgood wholesome type stories, just devoid of any romance unlike the others. I loved the trickle introduction into Mona, referencing how she's gotten over her "hatred" of her sister Sena, which was purely out of jealousy and feelings of inadequacy, and how she's now in a healthy headspace regarding her relationship with her sister, and able to work on herself as an idol. (I could say more, but I would spoil Mona's songs and possibly the next anime we see come out of HoneyWorks).

  So why did I rate this show a bit lower than the other HoneyWorks stuff, if I like the franchise so much? The answer is, like it probably was for the other reviewers, purely thanks to the final arc regarding Chuu-tan. Any of you familiar with the songs would know that (as of January 2023) the current viral hit HoneyWorks song is called "Sorry For Being Cute/Kawaiikute Gomen", featuring Chuu-tan as the cover girl. But that's not who she is. She's a stalker, a psychopath, a yandere-light, who represents all the gross parts of idol (and vtuber, for that matter) fandoms. She gets so parasocial about the LIPxLIP boys that she assaults one of her only friends and is willing to throw away that friendship, all for her OBSESSION with one of these idols. But that's not even what I hated about that arc - what really pissed me off was how quickly Hiyori forgave her, and how she even blamed herself for it, saying things like "I didn't know I was hurting Chizu-chan so much" or "I didn't realize she loved them that much", when the real problem Chizuru had was with her own mental health and obsession with these boys.

  I was hoping the anime would end with Mona revealing herself as an idol sooner, and possibly having a rival showdown type of thing at the big COUNTDOWN FESTIVAL that the anime ends with, but instead we got... that.

  Still, as a whole, it's an enjoyable show, especially to fans of the other content, and it builds up enough of what could happen next that I was happy with it. Just not as happy with it as I could have been.

  Final rating, 77/100. Good, but not as good as the other HoneyWorks stuff. Here's hoping for more of Hiyori and the boys, more of the Juri/Kodai love story, and more Mona!!!

  Lastly I just want to mention that all the easter eggs and older songs that surfaced in this anime were extremely satisfying. The Heroines Run the Show special EDs were:

  • Hina and Hiyori version of "I Want To Be Cute"
  • Kotaro and Ken version of "Romeo" singing to Hina and Arisa
  • Sena and Mona version of "Dream Fanfare"
  • Hiyori, Juri, and Chizuru singing "Heroines Run the Show"
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