Kirarin Revolution, episode 10

(きらりん☆レボリューション) 2006

Kirari (voiced by Koharu Kusumi of Morning Musume!) is a middle schooler who LOVES her food. So much so that it's scary! While girls her age swoon over idols, Kirari swoons over her dad's cooking, and couldn't care less about the life of a celebrity. But when she saves the pet turtle of Seiji of pop group SHIPS and falls in love, she decides to become an idol herself so that they can be together (or so she hopes).

It's becoming increasingly difficult to avoid media and fans. So difficult she can't even walk to the entrance of her school without being swarmed with people. When she talks to the chairman about it, he suggests transferring to a school for idols. Because things will only get busier, this will work better with her schedule. And Seiji will be there, too! The sad part is breaking the news to her two close friends - however, they accept it and say it can't be helped.



She is lively and excited on her first day, running into SHIPS pretty much immediately on getting there. Hiroto says he'll help when there's a problem (awww... Hiroto, I don't care what you say, you're a softie), Seiji is calm and polite like always, and Naa-san offers to help with studying, so Kirari believes everything will be fine. But she didn't count on being in the same class as Erina, who appears soft and innocent to classmates.

Furious that Kirari is stealing her thunder, she manipulates two female students into thinking that Kirari is a bad person who picks on her - Kirari, sadly, is under the impression that they are good friends. They offer to help mess things up for the new girl, much to Erina's glee. Later in the day, one of the girls volunteers Kirari to write on the board in English class, claiming she once said in an interview that she was fluent. This is completely untrue, and it's only through the help of smart Naa-san that she is saved. Then in fitness class, Eiko and Meiko (as they are known) try to utterly defeat her in volleyball, using their "X Revolution" technique. But Kirari's serves and hits are so slow that the other team passes out, or moves too fast, to get to the ball by the time it gets to their side. As a last resort, Erina pretends to cry, saying that before Kirari came, everybody was happier. The other students agree.



Kirari is naturally hurt, but then, across the gym, she hears a SHIPS song, and the boys are having a dancing lesson. Dancing makes people happy! So she asks them to do her a favor, and through the joy of the song, the girls see that Kirari isn't so bad afterall.

I don't really know what to say about this episode, except that I love Hiroto's voice. When Kirari jumps down from the wall next to the school, landing on Seiji, the sounds he makes actually caused me to laugh out loud. Though, the idol school scenario had me confused - I thought it was occupied just by idols (when they say "school for idols," what else can I assume?), but other students seem to be regular people? Although I do understand that you can't exactly fill a whole building with them.