REVIEW: ‘Idoly Pride,’ Episode 5 – “Separate Lights, One Feeling”

Idoly Pride (stylized as IDOLY PRIDE) is a brand new Winter 2021 idol anime. The show combines idols with a touch of the supernatural to spin a pretty realistic story about idols trying to reach the top. Last episode newcomer Hayasaka Mei joined the girls of Hoshimi Production, further filling out their ranks. Yet there’s still a lot of hard work left to do, even as the girls work hard to develop their skills. Looks like Idoly Pride Episode 5 is going to push them even harder.

Idoly Pride Episode 5, “Separate Lights, One Feeling”, kicks off with a powerful surprise. Kouhei, the manager of Hoshimi Production, wants the girls to form separate groups within their main unit. Fans of idols, anime included, will know that this a pretty common occurrence. In many ways, I expected this to happen at some point. Idoly Pride Episode 5 feels like a good place. It will let us viewers grow with the girls in their units. The leaders for each group will be Kotono and Sakura, two of the first idols with Hoshimi Production’s newest unit. It’s fitting: after all, the group wouldn’t exist without Kotono and Sakura starting it.

Still, both Kotono and Sakura have some hesitations, which are completely understandable. It’s one thing to be part of a larger group. It’s another to be a part of a new sub-unit and it’s leader. Yet Kouhei has faith in Kotono and Sakura, as well as in their mindsets. Kouhei even compares them to the moon and sun in terms of their approaches and temperaments. 

Thus, the sub-units get their names: Moon Tempest and Sunny Peace. Moon Tempest, led by Kotono, includes Ibuki Nagisa, Shiraishi Saki, Narumiya Suzu, and Hayasaka Mei. On the other hand, Sunny Peace, led by Sakura, includes Hyodo Shizuku, Shiraishi Chisa, and Saeki Haruko. In many ways, this splits their personalities up quite well. It also mixes a few of the quieter characters together, which should offer up some dynamic character growth. Ultimately, it’ll be exciting to see the girls develop under these sub-units. I’m really curious about the music they’ll be making!

Units aside, Idoly Pride Episode 5 is very much so about practice, practice, practice, especially with yet another new member. This time it’s Ichinose Rei, the girl we saw dancing in Idoly Pride Episode 4. Rei gets handpicked by Kouhei for her skills. She joins Sunny Peace, balacing out the group by being the fifth member.

Rei’s initial impression is that she’s quite serious. One could say she’s a taskmaster for sure, but that can’t be helped. Rei is a skilled dancer: it’s a bit in her nature to notice even the slightest misstep. Still, Rei’s dancing skills build off the skills of the other girls, and will hopefully push them to be better dancers. As I said before, the girls aren’t just musicians. They’re also performers whose dancing is just as important as their voices. While Rei might be a bit too serious at times, she has a point to all of her chiding.

But, as always, that’s not the full picture. Rei isn’t solely serious, and isn’t always so stoic. Naturally, the girls learn this in the latter half of the episode.

Overall, Idoly Pride Episode 5 serves more as a transition episode than a plotty one. It’s a nice developmental episode that helpfully links the first half of the series to the back half of Idoly Pride. Now that there’s plenty of idols and a solid plan, the show can really find its groove with helping the girls become full-fledged performers.

By the end of Idoly Pride Episode 5, there’s a total of ten girls under Hoshimi Production. There’s a sense of finality too. I don’t expect there to be any new members to the unit or sub-units. Now, it feels like the series has enough foundation to start getting the girls onto the stage to perform. Hopefully we’ll start to see them pair dancing and singing together in the next episode. I’m really eager to see these idols get to being idols.

As I’ve said before, there’s still a lot of work the girls of Hoshimi Production have to do before they reach even half of Mana’s level of success and fame. Yet Idoly Pride really makes viewers want to cheer for the girls and support them. I can’t quite put my finger on why that is. All I know is that I really like all of the characters we’ve been introduced to thus far, and want to see them succeed. I can’t help but care about them and want them to succeed. Safe to say I’m a big fan of Idoly Pride!

Idoly Pride is now streaming on Funimation.