シャインポスト
Synopsis
Shine Post is about Haru Nabatame, Rio Seibu, and Kyouka Tamaki’s idol unit, TiNgS, is on the verge of disbandment. However, if they can fill all two thousand seats in their upcoming anniversary concert, their idol careers will live to see another day. This quota is seemingly impossible for a group like them, especially when the most people they have had at a show is 37. Fortunately, they are placed under a new talented manager—Naoki Hinase.
While initially reluctant due to past experiences, Naoki takes charge of TiNgS after sensing Haru’s genuine passion for idols with his own remarkable ability to see the shine of someone who is lying. Despite the challenges she faces in this ambitious endeavor, Haru wants everyone in the world to love idols, even willing to become the shining guidepost—shine post—to accomplish her dream.
Review
Idol shows are a dime a dozen, they are EVERYWHERE! From the Love Life! series to whatever you can think of being a fan of said genre with its many companies and subsidiaries. But more often a times, they can range from the songs to the drama that just serves as plot device to the overall main product. Such is the case with last season’s Extreme Hearts from the creator of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha being somewhat of a letdown being a subtle but mediocre character-driven story that sadly, reeks too much of the counterparts (a la PuraOre! Pride of Orange) that did the formula better, but not by much. Instead, it’s shows like CyGames’s Uma Musume: Pretty Derby franchise that provides the distinction that atop of its horseracing-cum-idol premise, it is a full load-down of its character-driven drama, and this season, it’s Shine Post, Konami Digital Entertainment and Straight Edge’s mixed-media project that boasts almost as much observance and excitement as it could get for an IP that pretty much only exists in Japan.
Despite the premise being oh-so-repetitive towards the idol genre space, the one thing that will bug you is how eloquent the character writing is that it’s so distinguished and well-thorough. Well, that’s because even though Shine Post is a multimedia project, it got its start being a light novel series, written by Rakuda and illustrated by Buriki. And if you’re the AniManga industry insider nut that I am, you’ll know that these 2 people got their start with the now famous Bench-kun harem rom-com that is OreSuki. This will immediately tell you that Shine Post MEANS business, and it does not goof around with its character-driven story and realistic drama that’s just as tightly controlled and enjoyable as it is in OreSuki. If you’re the type of person that ABSOLUTELY hated how saturated the idol genre is now, Shine Post is the anime for you to deviate the setting for actual, greatly concocted characters that’ll make you think twice about watching idol shows that have both style and substance to boot, and little of that usual fodder that maligns the genre to this day.
Shine Post tells the story of an up-and-coming new idol group called TINGS, made up of 5 girls and stylized by their family names: Kyoka Tamaki, Momiji Ito, Haru Nabatame, Yukine Gionji and Rio Seibu. Out from the cusps of forming yet another idol group to saturate the idol scene even more, it’s Manager Yuki Hinase and her ideals of “one’s a company, two’s a crowd, three’s a party”. And since more girls can be given their opportunites to be a Shine Post, why not take the plunge? As we all know, being amateur idols is one of the toughest moments because you have to start somewhere, and unforunately for these 5 girls, their spirit of camaraderie and teamwork got off to a wonky start due to distrust and fear of reprisal. That’s where the new manager Naoki comes in, the distant cousin of Manager Yuki, and someone who has the ability to see people shining when they lie. Yeah, you think that that angle was weird to see people shining, but in formality, the somewhat unique trope actually works. Also, TINGS didn’t start out as the 5-member group that they did, but in yet another stylizing methodology in the form of TiNgS, representing the fallout of members that arose with that same distrust angle (I shall not spoil this since it’s something worth noting). While the 5 girls are new to the idol business (except one of them), Naoki is too, and he doesn’t really know how to be their manager since his cousin Yuki just threw the job at him, leaving him to his own devices of how he wants TINGS to operate like a an actual professional idol group. But still, he took the plunge, knowing that with proper counselling and advice, he would lead the group to new heights, starting with achieving a 2000-people strong annivesary concert that will make or break (or rather, mold or disband) the group that only achieved at most, double-digit turnouts. And within the heartcries of a group that is immensely struggling to stay afloat, there comes one: leader Haru Nabatame’s dream of people like her being idols, being the shining guideposts a.k.a Shine Post, to embrace idols as they are.
Knowing Rakuda’s exquisite writing ability in OreSuki also should give you an idea that everyone’s journey into becoming idols are immensely different yet present their own sets of challenges as well like tough terrain. Some like TINGS’s leader Haru Nabatame has for a part of her whole life, knacked into the idol industry with her friends who become one as well with the dream that they would debut and serve alongside each other to the fullest degree, while others like Kyoka and Rio have to start from scratch and learn from whoever’s leading the charge at their own know-how. The amount of drama in Shine Post is so realistic, it doesn’t try to sugarcoat anything and instead “BAM!”s you in the face about how tough the idol industry is, and the need to push and grow obscenely fast because one slip, and the world moves on without you ever knowing. This is the harsh life being an idol, and there’s nothing but advancements as the days passes by, already planned to the next concert. And this is incredibly hard to be a Shine Post. In that stance, Haru’s story is the full package here, and it’d be my due diligence to have you watch the anime as it covers practically the entire show’s rhythms.
Shine Post’s production didn’t skimp out either, and instead it embodies the entire idol setting to make it as grand as it could be. This is thanks in part to director Kei Oikawa, who he has helmed the Uma Musume: Pretty Derby anime adaptations of its now 2 seasons under P.A Works and Studio Kai, and knows well enough on what make idol shows work the charm. The latter holds much regard since it’s the studio chosen to adapt this idol drama series, and I’m ostensibly glad that Shine Post got the Uma Musume treatment of a high-quality production that highlights the same exact tones with what Uma Musume Season 2 has been laid upon. So, it’s experience that makes Shine Post look the way it is: as grandiose with lustre and eye-popping visuals to look the cut. Even the CG moments can feel worrisome, but in Shine Post you can rest easy because they too look great. Same goes with the songs, from the OP/ED and the OST, you can be assured that they also sound just as good from a star-studded staff team behind the scenes.
With so few numbers following this show, I’m actually surprised that it never caught on towards the general audience, most possibly so because it’s an idol show on hindsight, and I can already see the numbers dwindling because of that alone. However, Shine Post is the perfect example of defying expectations while using an almost universal premise to execute its objective. Ultimately, as Anatole France quotes it this way: “It is in the ability to deceive oneself that the greatest talent is shown.”, in the exact same way, we got deceived by Shine Post thinking that it’ll be the same-old, same-old, generic idol series, when in spirit and in truth it doesn’t feel that way and has a certain charm that sticks on you from the get-go.
If there has to be one idol show that stands out in the unlikeliest of situations, it’s gotta be Shine Post. And I can finally say for certainty that Shine Post is THE idol show that I can recommend to those not to keen towards the idol genre. It’s a cult following, but I’m glad to be part of that cult, it’s the idol show to end all idol shows.
