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Review

by Rebecca Silverman,

Idol Dreams

GN 2

Synopsis:
Idol Dreams GN 2
As Chikage continues her double life as fifteen-year-old aspiring idol Akari, she is forced to reflect on her thirty-one-year-old self even as she becomes more attached to her second chance at youth. Meanwhile Tokita considers how Chikage helped him when they were in middle school, making him wonder what brought them to their current positions in life. How does the past affect the present? And can going back in age really change anything?
Review:

Why is Tokita helping Chikage to relive her adolescence? Volume one of Arina Tanemura's magical woman story implies that it's just because she was his first love back in the 9th grade, but is that really enough of a reason to devote himself to a woman he hasn't seen in years when he has a girlfriend? While many manga would suggest that yes, that's plenty of justification, Idol Dreams' second volume decides that it isn't, and Tanemura gives Tokita his own flashback chapter to the third year of middle school to provide some answers. While that is one of the shortest parts of this volume, it is also the most important. Not only does it make Tokita more than just a “nice guy” character and potential love interest for Chikage, but it also rounds out both of them as people and gives the story a depth that it didn't have before, showing us that Chikage wasn't the only person to go through a bad time. That seems to be the focus of this book in general – reminding us that being fifteen isn't easy for most people, and that while Chikage holds it up as the pinnacle of her life thus far, for other people it marks the lowest point.

Parents everywhere have probably asked their children at some point if they would rather “peak in high school or when they're thirty,” and this volume takes that old saw and applies it to the series' characters. For heroine Chikage, fifteen was the good old days, when she felt safer and more attractive and secure than she does as an adult. Tokita, on the other hand, was the opposite, and his third year of middle school marked a time when his “friends” all turned their backs on him while painting a target on his. Chikage was the only person who was kind to him and helped him at the time, and because she pulled him out of his hole, he now feels like he needs to do the same for her. It isn't clear how much of what he's doing is out of obligation now that he sees his idol fallen so far and how much is the lingering effects of his middle school crush on her, and I don't think that he really knows which is more powerful either. Oddly enough Tokita is the more complex character in the story, clearly unsure of whether or not he's really helping Chikage by giving her the pill that allows her to physically regress. Would it be better to help her to move on from her heartbreak and to help her get her thirty-one year old life on track? Or is he truly providing her with a second chance by letting her relive her adolescence? His conflict comes out when he receives a phone call from his girlfriend while they're out shopping for cute outfits for Chikage's Akari persona; while he does acknowledge his commitment to his girlfriend, he also shows worry about leaving Chikage alone and insists that she continues to see him for “check-ups.”

In some ways this is like reading a magical girl story from the mascot character's perspective. While Luna and Artemis of Sailor Moon occasionally express doubts about the girls' new lives as magical girls, we rarely get to see the level of concern and conflict from mascot/magical guardian characters that we do in Idol Dreams. (I'd propose that Puella Magi Madoka Magica's infamous Kyubey is a direct reference to that fact.) The fact that Tokita is a human rather than an adorable creature is doubtless a factor, but it still brings an interesting element to a story that's already playing with an established genre. Tanemura speaks to this tinkering with the magical girl story in an extensive interview at the end of the book, which was originally published on LaLa Melody Online. She mentions that she was inspired by the younger-to-older transformation of many early magical girl idol stories (such as Creamy Mami or Fancy Lala) and so deliberately decided to reverse it for her older readers. This awareness of the genre, to say nothing of her familiarity with it from having written several more traditional magical girl stories herself, is part of what makes Idol Dreams' second volume so interesting, as there is a sense that she's working to push genre conventions in different directions, such as Hibiki's family life and the fact that he, too, is struggling through his fifteenth year. In most stories he'd live alone and lonely in a huge apartment; here he lives in a small, dilapidated building to take care of his siblings.

Tanemure says in the interview that she wanted Idol Dreams to appeal to readers of her earlier works who have grown up. It feels as if she has succeeded in this, not just by making her characters older, but by playing with her signature genre while posing the question of whether or not you would go back to being a teenager if you had the chance. Would it be worth doing fifteen over? Or would it be better to focus on thirty-one and put the past firmly behind you? Chikage may not yet be asking herself that question, but Tokita seems to be, and as we follow the story, it is definitely a question worth mulling over.

Grade:
Overall : A-
Story : A-
Art : B+

+ Less tone makes Tanemura's art easier on the eyes, interesting play on the magical girl genre. Tokita's past and personal conflict make him a better character than he was in volume one. Included interview is very informative.
Chikage doesn't feel like she's growing much as a character, Tanemura has a lot of trouble drawing the lower half of the male body.

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Production Info:
Story & Art: Arina Tanemura
Licensed by: Viz Media

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Idol Dreams (manga)

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Idol Dreams (GN 2)

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