mirabilis

I'm glad they finally unpacked it all because they'd been building up to it since episode 1. The saddest part is how this could happen to anyone passionate about their work - managing expectations and being aware of your own limits can be a difficult thing to do when you're starting out. The parent complaint was the straw that broke the camel's back.
I personally feel like Naru is just very worried that a dating scandal could destroy everything that the group has been working towards, and I don't blame him.
Ep8 is probably going to end with Asuka resigning as damage control.

- Dan tells the boys about his feelings for Asuka but that they aren't dating; the boys are taken aback by this. Naru gets upset and tells Dan to be more careful so they don't get found out as the group is in their prime and this could ruin everything
- Naru says it must be nice always being helpful to others like Asuka; later Asuka remarks that Naru has finally found something he can work hard at for 8LOOM but Naru wonders if it really is for 8LOOM's sake.
- A photo of Dan holding Asuka's hand at their MV/photoshoot gets leaked to the press (from the preview it looks like he was redrawing the flower seal on her hand); Kousaka points out that the public won't believe that it's 'not what it looks like'
- Naru asks Asuka to quit her job as their dormkeeper

This might be my favourite episode yet. The one thing I didn't expect was for Naru to be so taken aback by Dan's feelings towards Asuka, especially since he's been egging him on this whole time. Now I wonder if he just wanted them to get along better in a platonic sense.

On a surface level, this drama may look like a massive cliche and it certainly doesn't shy away from common tropes but I'm genuinely surprised by how much heart there is in each passing episode. This isn't just a drama about a boyband or a superficial rom-com; it's about self-love and camaraderie in the face of adversity. Episode 7 really cemented that for me. It was heart breaking to watch what happened to Asuka because of how fickle it all was at the end of the day. I think anyone who has faced hardship when embarking on their career as a young adult can relate and see a bit of themselves in her. The world can be such a cruel place, but that's precisely why we need to love ourselves instead of beating ourselves up.