Uta no Prince-sama Maji LOVE 2000% – 09
Whoa, they have a ☆ in their name too. They mean business.
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…Well then. Tokiya still hasn’t done anything and Cecil’s problems seemed to have been solved right as they started. You know, I thought he was already part of STARISH as of the last episode, but I guess nobody thought to inform Shining of the new development. |
“Maybe if we stand here long enough, Cecil will come back.”
Taking off right from where the last episode left off, Cecil left everyone to go back to his fictional country. …Which apparently isn’t located that far away considering that it seemed to have taken less than 24 hours to get there, have a conversation, and then come back. However, in order to compensate for Cecil’s disappearance, the senpai had more lines than ever before and there were a ton of flashbacks just in case you couldn’t remember what little went on all season. Haruka’s random piano playing was a nice touch though. It kind of made it look like she took the lead there, which is good since she’s supposed to be the one holding everyone together (…or at least that was her job before the bromance took over >.>). I’m a bit surprised that nobody went to the troubles of following Cecil home and trying to convince him to come back, but the trusting in their bonds is definitely a more UtaPri thing for them to do in retrospect.
Meanwhile, Shining is thinking “Damn it, why didn’t I think of entering with a parachute?!”
However, until the end of the episode, it just felt like this was a collection of flashbacks and everyone coming out about how much they like Cecil. There just wasn’t the usual Uta Pri fabulousness that there usually is. Luckily, the entertainment from this episode came from Shining and his usual prancing about. Plus I’ll admit, the skydiving was a fabulous way for Cecil to make an entrance at the end. While most of the episode was boring, it was like someone noticed and then threw around their most ridiculous ideas to make things come together at the end. …Luckily for them, it worked out. I’d say that the second half made up for the boring start.
Well, things seem to have resolved themselves with little to no effort at all and since Cecil has officially joined, this could easily be the last episode of the season. But hey, out of nowhere comes the Uta Pri award plot again. And look, they even pulled an idol group out of nowhere as rivals. Okay, maybe not out of nowhere since magazines and such have had the HEAVENS trio on them since near the beginning, but still. Who the hell are they and really, how much competition can they be? If everyone’s reactions to Maji Love 2000% are anything to go by, STARISH is the most fabulous, hallucination-inducing thing out there and everyone else can get out.
Dear lord, Haruka. What have you unleashed?!
…I guess, where the story was supposed to be touching, I just wasn’t feeling it? We all knew Cecil was going to come back, so there wasn’t any tension. And even then, it felt more like an “oh, he’s back. Good.” than a “YAY! CECIL IS HERE!!!!!1!one” reaction even from the characters. Though to be perfectly honest, I don’t really care for Cecil’s character, so I could really couldn’t care less if he was present in STARISH or not. The anime version is an improvement over the game version, but Cecil is still Cecil.
I’ve said this before, but the plot for UtaPri is all over the place. Why bring in the rivals now? The drama with Cecil barely qualified as drama and really, the rivals don’t seem to have much going for them (other than the fact that the guy with the glasses pulls them off really well) considering that this is the first time we’ve even heard their group name. Where Cecil joining had progress pretty much every episode, the rivals haven’t had much of a build up at all… So who knows where UtaPri is going. But hey, the next challenge they face, Tokiya is probably going to be the one to pull them out of it since he hasn’t had his episode yet. …He might be the one who causes the problem too, but hey, I’d like to see more of his character so that’s not a bad thing.
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About Karakuri
University student and the one at Metanorn who's known for wearing glasses. Likes blood, insanity and plot twists, but also plays otome games and adores cute romance anime. It balances out... somehow.
