Uta no Prince-sama Maji LOVE 2000% – 12

Oh, how the tables have turned.

THIS EPISODE. Not only was there random exposure on the senpai, but THAT CONCERT SCENE. I was wavering in the middle of this season, but UtaPri is the best. Seriously. I’m sorely tempted to drop everything I’m playing to finally pick up the fan disks, but I probably shouldn’t.

Out of nowhere, the senpai suddenly get character development. Okay then. Camus’ only issues have been with Cecil and Reiji gets along with everyone, so it seems only natural that it would be Ai and Ranmaru who need to think about what working with others means. I don’t know much about Ranmaru’s problems with his past band since I haven’t even touched All Star yet, but I’ll assume that it’s true. I know a bit about Ai’s problems though, so it’s kind of heartwarming to see him actually interested in what STARISH are doing. Apparently Maji Love 2000% is capable of changing the world… or something. I’d actually love to see the 4 senpai team up to form a group since they haven’t actually done a lot this season. Hell, even to the end, it looks more like they’re watching over STARISH from afar instead of teaching them anything important that might help them win. So in the end, the senpai were useless and it was actually STARISH that taught them something. Right. With Ranmaru saving Haruka from being scouted (I guess) at the end, Camus’s screentime with Cecil, Ai taking interest in something, and Reiji being cheerful all the time, I guess the senpai have had some decent parts in this season. I just kind of wish they had helped out more with the rest of the season. …Though that probably would have taken Haruka out of the equation, making the anime a BL fest, so maybe I’m okay with how things turned out.

“You mean we all showed up to stalk Cecil? This must mean that we’re all close friends and totally not social deviants!”

Speaking of STARISH, they seem to be doing alright. They’re definitely cutting it SUPER close to the deadline, trying to learn choreography the day before though. Cecil’s vaguely established culture still seems to be making things difficult at times, but for the most part, they’re all doing okay. Even Haruka has her head up while facing HEAVENS now. Kind of. From the set up and based on the last season, it looks like they’ll be preforming Maji Love 2000%. …So I don’t know if everyone’s just forgotten that Haruka handed them the exact same song a couple episode ago and they all sang it, or if she’s re-composed the instrumental so well, it’s a whole new song even though it isn’t. Well, she’s done something with it (lord knows what it is), so I guess we’ll just have to wait next episode to see.

Dear god, they’re the perfect rivals for one another.

I had my doubts when HEAVENS first arrived if they could stand up to STARISH’s fabulousness. They proved me wrong several times over this episode and just when I thought they were done proving me wrong, they did it again. With more explosions than a Michael Bay movie, fire because why the hell not, fabulous dance moves, and inexplicable dragons, HEAVENS put on an absolutely amazing show that honestly left me speechless. They hit STARISH’s level of being so bad/cheesy, it’s the greatest thing ever and they even did it in a completely different fashion from how STARISH usually does, making it better since it’s not like a copy or anything. Whoever planned all of the concert scenes and animation for them is the greatest person in the world. Also, I guess Haruka composed this, so I guess this is proof that she’s amazing on her own, even without STARISH. The idol’s individual talent is one thing, but Haruka brings the best out of them. I’m so proud of her~! Even though it was the enemies preforming!

The concert, the random rivalry set up between Raging and Shining beforehand, and just… everything was perfect for the ending of this episode. Even the overly dramatic music at the ending that played (as if HEAVENS had just brought about the apocalypse or something) was amazing. Good luck keeping up with this, STARISH. I don’t even know if Maji Love 2000% is even going to cut it anymore, considering that we’ve seen it as the ED for every episode leading up to this and it doesn’t have nearly as many explosions. Plus HEAVENS had dragons. The dragons are going to be hard to beat. I hope for STARISH’s sake that they up the fabulousness for the ending so we’re not just watching the same thing we’ve seen for 12 weeks already. I mean pelvis thrusting is cool and all, but I don’t think I’ve ever been as excited/entertained/whatever for Maji Love 2000% s as I was watching HEAVEN’s performance here.

“Did…. Did they just murder our audience?”

So can I have the music singles for this yet? I am so going to be broke when they come out. So yeah, it was unnecessarily flashy and gimmicky, but I loved the concert scene to bits, you have no idea. HEAVENS are great rivals for STARISH. Even if they came out of nowhere, I can see why they’re so popular now in whatever fictional world UtaPri is in. That was ridiculously entertaining. Really, I’m glad that the anime doesn’t follow the games that closely now since this whole Uta Pri award thing has made for a really exciting ending. I’m just curious as to how episode 13 will go since all we really have left is STARISH’s performance and the announcement of the winner. Of course, the episode ended with things looking bleak as a cliffhanger and you just know that it’s either going to be STARISH’s victory or a tie of fabulousness. Though I’m not going to bet on that since if STARISH loses, maybe they’ll set us up for a 3000% third season involving the guys getting back together or something. …Or maybe not since that would mean that Haruka would probably be off with HEAVENS to write music for them. Plus friendship and love always wins blah, blah, etc.

Your move, STARISH.

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.