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IDOL×IDOL STORY! #5
IDOL x IDOL STORY! Vol. 5
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April 24, 2026
I love when a volume of this drops with one of Girl Crush because it’s fun to compare and contrast the two of them. I definitely think that the latter has the edge in terms of story, but this is certainly no slouch.
The difference comes down to how they approach the material. Idol x Idol uses a much broader cast to tell its story, while Girl Crush certainly has a cast but is really focused in on Tenka.
We haven’t even hit the second competition yet, but prepping for it is causing its own set of problems. The whole volume is about stacking various character dilemmas atop one another, plus a dollop of yuri at the end for good measure.
One thread that weaves through this volume is Karin’s struggles with her mom being one of the producers of the idol reality show at the heart of the series. She clearly has a need for parental approval and gets nervous when that’s on the line (in her mind at least).
There’s also the slimy jerk running the whole show, who’s trying to manipulate the outcome so his desired contestant wins and makes her debut. He uses a reporter to run a sneaky con designed to crush Karin’s confidence and take her out of the running, adding just a drop of poison to the poor girl’s thinking.
We see a lot of graduation ceremonies, Karin’s buttons apparently have a high demand, as several of the girls come of age. As much as keeping track of the various characters still gives me a headache, I do appreciate that they’ve all got their own thing going on.
While the two teams prepare for the big singing competition, Aria decides to sing with the girls doing each part on both teams. This drives home just how good at her job Aria is, plus it also manages to bubble up a ton of drama under the surface.
In that respect, I like this part of the series better than Girl Crush. The idol business is savage and combining it with a reality show is a great way to really make you feel bad for the ones who are being eliminated.
There’s more done with these girls than, say, any given Love Live cast (minus the first season of Superstar, which is fantastic), and that does make them more real. Which makes it hurt that much harder when you realize that some of them have to fail by design. And it might not even be their fault.
And, at the end, Mimi and Ibuki end up sharing a bedroom in Tokyo through a variety of circumstances. There’s a lot of implied yuri here; it turns out that Ibuki saw Mimi perform a lot more than we were lead to believe. And Mimi alludes that she knows it and feels a lot for Ibuki.
The whole thing is pretty solid, basically. There’s enough drama and all the other things that it does well. The pace feels a bit slow, but that’s because it has to spend a ton of time checking in on a huge cast. It’s a juggling act it doesn’t always manage, but does more often than not.
3.5 stars - Girl Crush is better because it is a great character study, but this is real good. It drills down on the ruthless nature of the game and the business and still works hard to make the cast more than just one trait. Solid.
The difference comes down to how they approach the material. Idol x Idol uses a much broader cast to tell its story, while Girl Crush certainly has a cast but is really focused in on Tenka.
We haven’t even hit the second competition yet, but prepping for it is causing its own set of problems. The whole volume is about stacking various character dilemmas atop one another, plus a dollop of yuri at the end for good measure.
One thread that weaves through this volume is Karin’s struggles with her mom being one of the producers of the idol reality show at the heart of the series. She clearly has a need for parental approval and gets nervous when that’s on the line (in her mind at least).
There’s also the slimy jerk running the whole show, who’s trying to manipulate the outcome so his desired contestant wins and makes her debut. He uses a reporter to run a sneaky con designed to crush Karin’s confidence and take her out of the running, adding just a drop of poison to the poor girl’s thinking.
We see a lot of graduation ceremonies, Karin’s buttons apparently have a high demand, as several of the girls come of age. As much as keeping track of the various characters still gives me a headache, I do appreciate that they’ve all got their own thing going on.
While the two teams prepare for the big singing competition, Aria decides to sing with the girls doing each part on both teams. This drives home just how good at her job Aria is, plus it also manages to bubble up a ton of drama under the surface.
In that respect, I like this part of the series better than Girl Crush. The idol business is savage and combining it with a reality show is a great way to really make you feel bad for the ones who are being eliminated.
There’s more done with these girls than, say, any given Love Live cast (minus the first season of Superstar, which is fantastic), and that does make them more real. Which makes it hurt that much harder when you realize that some of them have to fail by design. And it might not even be their fault.
And, at the end, Mimi and Ibuki end up sharing a bedroom in Tokyo through a variety of circumstances. There’s a lot of implied yuri here; it turns out that Ibuki saw Mimi perform a lot more than we were lead to believe. And Mimi alludes that she knows it and feels a lot for Ibuki.
The whole thing is pretty solid, basically. There’s enough drama and all the other things that it does well. The pace feels a bit slow, but that’s because it has to spend a ton of time checking in on a huge cast. It’s a juggling act it doesn’t always manage, but does more often than not.
3.5 stars - Girl Crush is better because it is a great character study, but this is real good. It drills down on the ruthless nature of the game and the business and still works hard to make the cast more than just one trait. Solid.
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