"Heroines Run The Show" (In 2022...Kind of)
On Parasocial Relationships and Idols
I don’t even remember how I found this anime but according to the title, I had very very different expectations for how this show was going to pan out.
Am I disappointed? Vaguely. Is it a good title? Absolutely. Does it have anything to do with the actual premise of the anime? Not as much as I saw beyond a very superficial and oftentimes very forced tie-in via dialogue.
Actually, the colon after the main title is so on-point it’s redundant: “The Unpopular Girl and the Secret Task.”
Here we have Hiyori, who enrolls in a Tokyo High School to pursue her dream of running track. Almost immediately upon her departure from her country hometown, her dad breaks his back and so she has to help provide and pay for her own rent. She lands a job as an apprentice manager for a rising idol group LIPxLIP, comprised of her aloof classmates Someya and Shibasaki and while the potential for shenanigans was high, it delves in realistic portrayals of work/life balance.
Hiyori is a great multi-tasker, jumping between her track practice and her work alongside with school. To be fair, she’s not very good at her schoolwork, but she does give 110% in whatever it is she does and that’s very relatable and kind of heart-breaking to see.
[Someone once told me that Japanese people love their high school life because after graduation it’s straight to college and then working in an office (oftentimes) so the rose-colored days of their youth is something they reflect on fondly. And seeing Hiyori work so hard is equal parts inspirational and devastating.]
If you like idols and their rise to stardom in an animated format, then I recommend this anime for you. It’s short, as many shojo, slice-of-life stories tend to be.
[If you like this checkout my other anime newsletters: Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku, Clean Freak! Aoyama-Kun, Given, Little Witch Academia, Sk8 The Infinity, and Erased stored in our lil’ ole archives.]
[[Also some newsletters on animation as a medium which is similar but different in execution and storytelling: The House, Encanto (which comes with a Podcast! Yummy!), The Summit of the Gods, and The Hunchback of Notre Dame.]]
Following Your Dreams
I think there’s something to be said about following your dreams.
Hiyori leaves her family and her home to pursue her dream of track and field. Someya and Shibasaki give up their youth and free time to pursue their dream of becoming idols.
There’s a lot of give and take when you’re so focused on accomplishing your goals, but sometimes we have to ask if it’s worth it.
That’s a question that not I, nor any kind of animated show can answer for you buddy :)
To counter my previous point, in Heroines Run the Show, the answer is yes, but.
There is a very clear theme of following your dreams, but also finding new ones along the way. It’s a call back to enjoying the journey and living your experiences to the fullest, but it’s also about discovering new aspects about yourself in your pursuit of the main goal that makes life interesting and worthwhile.
Hiyori realizes that she loves her assistant manager job. The idol boys realize that the high school life they scoffed at before is something worth enjoying. They haven’t given up on their original goals, but simply added to it.
Learn to love the process, because once you reach the end of the road, you have to find something else to keep moving towards.
Idols and Idolatry
Celebrities truly live a different life from us plebeians. They could be household names, strangers we worship online, famous actors or well-to-do citizens.
No matter what, the spotlight of fame makes it so our eye is drawn to them and we can idolize or villainize them in whatever way we see fit. Maybe they’re blinded by the light or burnt, but whatever happens we greedily watch like some Jerry Springer addict.
Idols sell their privacy in order to create their art, and those specifically from the K-Pop industry capitalize on that transaction. They stream their lives and any group or solo activities through V Live, they address fans on Weverse, maybe drop some promo or dance routine through Line or another social media app.
Their currency is their personality, their features, their every waking moment that lets viewers relate to them and love them and want them to succeed. In a career that demands every facet of your life to be televised, any sort of private life must seem like worlds beyond reach.
This is how they grow a loyal fanbase, but it leaves no room for mistakes as you grow up in the public eye and are scrutinized for every action or inaction you take. [Though mistakes are often humanizing and televised in an edit that makes them seem more relatable].
Idols can become so well known as to be worshipped by people like you or me, and while that creates a supportive audience, it sometimes dips into the danger zone. We love them, we support them, but we may also find ourselves putting caveats on that adoration:
Parasocial Relationships
How far is too far?
If your love for a group or a member turns into hatred for others who don’t see eye-to-eye or for disgust for anyone who gets “too close” to them, that becomes dangerous for the idol and other fans.
A parasocial relationship is “a term coined by Horton and Wohl in 1956 to refer to a kind of psychological relationship experienced by members of an audience in their mediated encounters with certain performers in the mass media, particularly on television” (Oxford Reference).
In other words, it’s a one-sided unhealthy obsession someone has with a TV or media persona.
This isn’t to bash the fanbase of any one group or to ridicule those who find solace and happiness in these groups. To look at the relationships that have developed in recent times because of the preeminence of social media is to look within ourselves and how we hope to receive love.
These idols, as mature and kind as they present themselves, are still human beings with faults and desires and problems. Placing them on a pedestal leaves no room for argument or change (for fear of upsetting fans).
Imagining a relationship with one (or all of them GAWDDAMN WattPad writers I’m looking at you) or fantasizing of the perfect meeting keeps you from enjoying the life around you. Enjoy and love them in moderation, I guess is what I’m trying to say.
Loving the artist and loving their art is great and amazing, but knowing boundaries is another important life skill we often seem to be lacking.
This kind of relationship gets a bad rap, especially when we see cases of stalking or violence against other fans, but it can lead to overseas friendships and a community of happiness in our otherwise dark timeline.
When it comes down to it, we should respect boundaries and the privacy of others. And for the love of all that is holy, be kind.