Title: Idol Dreams Vol. 6
Author: Arina Tanemura
Publisher: Viz Media
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 168
Genre: Sci-Fi, Romance
Publication Date: August 6, 2018
The Story
It’s been a long nine months waiting for this volume of Idol Dreams but it was worth it! This was one of the best volumes in the series thus far; however, I’ll have to be pretty vague as to avoid some pretty big spoilers.
This volume is split into two sections, each with their own share of high drama. We pick with the disappearance of Hibiki from the end of Vol. 5. Deguchi does everything she can to track him down and comes across some information regarding his whereabouts. When she learns why all is forgiven as Hibiki has some family matters to attend to. Many were worried because it caused Hibiki to miss practice which is something he never does. Still, despite the tough issues he has to deal with, Hibiki shows back up to practice and even performs flawlessly up on stage.
This brings us to our second half where it’s time for Tokita and Hanami’s wedding. However, Hanami is in great conflict over a particular matter which ends up causing a ton of drama. Sadly, that’s about all I can say without blowing the entire back half of the volume for readers! Still, the ending was a little expected yet shocking at the same time. It did serve as a major cliffhanger and makes you wonder just what will happen in volume seven.
The story here was great. You have to feel bad for Deguchi as she had to deal with two separate high drama issues as both her younger self and her current self. Still, this volume put the emphasis on the side characters more than Deguchi and had it to where we got to see Deguchi’s involvement and/or reactions to the issues she had to deal with.
Characters
As I mentioned, Deguchi felt like a bystander here. She switched from main role to support role as she was there to help Hibiki through his problems and then we got to see how she was affected by Hanami’s problem in the second half. Deguchi is portrayed in a way where these problems feel like they are directing affecting here but you have to realize that both situations are not really her problems. Yet, she still chooses to get involved because that’s just the nature of her character. The last line of the volume though was a bit disturbing to read… especially after how this series opened up way back in volume one. I have a hard time believing that other people’s problems would cause someone else, not directly affected by them, to think like that. Maybe I’m reading too much into it and/or maybe it was just put there for emphasis. Either way, it was still a bit odd to read.
Hibiki is a monster in the workhorse kind of way. Even after dealing with his situation, he returned to work and acted as nothing happened… although it was painfully obvious that the issue was affecting him. Still, he went out there and performed and gave the ticket-holders their money’s worth… the sign of a true professional. Whether you agreed with his decision to go through with the performance or not, you have to admit that he did live up to morals he set for himself. Call it honorable… call it foolish. Call it what you will but at least you can’t call him a liar or a hypocrite.
Hanami was just a total wreck this volume. I never really cared for her as a character but I think that was by the author’s design. She’s supposed to be this lowlife style character who doesn’t mind being a bit sleazy from time to time. Why Deguchi puts up with someone like that is beyond me. Now, here she is, back at it by making another foolish decision… which was made because she had made previous foolish decisions earlier in the series. It’s like a never-ending trail for her. In this case, one of her bad decisions leads to a last-minute indecision resolution… one that wasn’t very conventional. Sorry for making this sound like I’m beating around the bush but I am. I don’t want to flat out say that Hanami [REDACTED] at her own [REDACTED] because she got [REDACTED] with [REDACTED]’s [REDACTED]. That would just look weird!
Final Thoughts
Great volume of Idol Dreams…totally worth the nine-month wait for it. Now that the drama has settled (somewhat), I can see volume seven being a resolution to the Hanami situation while life continues on for the younger Deguchi. In other words, things are looking to simmer down a little bit so I’m interested in seeing where the manga is going to go from here. They kind of just threw a couple of major plot points at us this volume so we’ll need some time to let that settle in.
All around great read… even if I couldn’t talk about [REDACTED] [REDACTED] in the [REDACTED].
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This item was provided for review by Viz Media
