A brand new season, a brand new idol anime. “Selection Project” will be the representative of the girl idol genre in the Fall 2021 season. Doga Koba is the studio handling the series and it’s produced by Kadokawa. Additionally, Daisuke Hiramaki (“Wataten”, “Yuru Yuri”, and “Asteroid in Love”) is directing the show. Selection Project Episode 1 is out and the series is off to a good start.
The Selection Project produced a multitude of idols and is the biggest idol competition in the country. In the current setting of the series, it is now their 7th season. With 108,305 girls dreaming to become an idol, this competition is surely fierce. Out of those thousands of applicants, only one from the nine areas divided across Japan gets to secure their idol dream.
The episode starts off with a young girl named Suzune in a hospital room tuning into the Selection Project that airs on stream. This scene sets up the main character of the story. We can assume that Suzune is in frail health which can lead to some unfortunate results in the future.
Like any other idol main character, Suzune is a ray of sunshine. She would go the extra mile to achieve her idol dream and has supportive parents to back her up. Not to mention, she has the singing prowess that can take her to be the top idol.
With Suzune having the most of the screentime, it is for certain that she’ll be the winner in her area right? That’s what we all thought until she fell during her finals performance. Her health condition might be the cause of this. It was earlier mentioned that she was in a hospital when she was young. In spite of her fall, she quickly stood back up to finish her performance in the finals.
The episode focuses on at least one girl in each area. Of course, without a doubt, they would eventually win in their area. These girls also had their own distinct personalities and I wonder if the region they represent has something to do with it. Hopefully, we get to know more about these girls in later episodes.
However, the only one who didn’t get the win was Suzune, who was behind only by a hundred votes. Her blunder might be the reason why she didn’t win, thus, she ends up walking home. While walking home, we can feel Suzune’s heartbreaking defeat as she’s singing the debut song of the idol she looked up to and aspired to be.
Suzune losing was a big surpirse. Not to mention, her loss was a tough one. Imagine losing while singing your favorite song from your favorite idol, it truly is heartbreaking. With her loss, I’m curious how will she become a top idol and replace the winner of her area. I’m also intrigued by how the story will flow from here and what’s next for the winners from each area and Suzune herself.
You can watch Selection Project Episode 1 on Muse Asia and Funimation.
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