The Debut (2021)

An intriguing mystery

The storyline is really articulated. From the beginning we understand this has no overly sweet and sappy moments, but it gets darker and darker with each episodes as Fame discovers more and more about the truth. The story is so intriguing that I got obsessed with this and finished it in like one day, plus the next morning. There are plot twists at every corner and those cliffhangers are just too hard to ignore. What starts out as a mystery to be solved ends up in complete tragedy when Fame understands that her sister's death was just the tip of the iceberg.

Minor and Kla definitely got the best character development stories. Minor is probably the most despicable character in the bunch, yet she goes completely unnoticed until the last episodes. Kla at first looks like the most harmless character, until we discover that he too has a scandalous secret and in the last scene where the Newtype members officially resign, he really showed how unstable he can be.

I think the best actors in their roles were Ploypailin (Fame) and Cherren (Smile). The others did a splendid job, but these two stood out in particular to me. Smile is such an ambivalent characters, because she behaves one way towards Farn, another way towards Yui and Fame and in a still different way with the core members of the group. That adds a lot of depth to her. Also the relationship with her mother is ambivalent: she is extremely submissive, but as soon as her secret gets exposed, she changes completely and she doesn't even want to talk to her anymore.
Fame is just the perfect character to lead you onto this mystery. She collects each and every evidence she can, she tries to balance her professional and personal lives, but she ends up realising that revenge is not the answer and that Farn killed herself because she too was becoming a monster. She got out of that mess before she could become a monster too.

What I love the most is on how many levels the story can be interpreted. On a more superficial level, it's an intriguing mystery where the innocent characters aren't actually that innocent and the evilest characters don't even realise the amount of suffering they have caused (to Farn in particular, they don't even know she committed suicide).
On a more philosophical level, we can analyse how celebrities are objectified by their fans to the point of being punished for tiny mistakes, like when Minnie got beaten up and raped by Kla. We see how the obsession over those we idolise can compromise our judgement and lead us to unspeakable deeds, but we also see how Minor exploited her fame and manipulated Tun to get what she wanted. I also appreciate how they touched upon the concept of revenge: is it really worth it? Fame realises Farn didn't need revenge, because the monsters she got bullied by also became the victims of Farn's actions, but at the same time revenge was Minor's biggest motivator, it was her only source of satisfaction. We could also analyse how the rules the idols have to follow are actually the source of all the suffering: the idols didn't break the rules for fun, they did it because they wanted to be free to be themselves. This is exemplified by Smile when she says that the ropes she gets tied with in her fetish shows are her source of freedom (or something of that sort). Those rules are so strict, that they prompt the idols to break them.

I think there are some points that could have been explained further. For instance, they didn't dig too much into Kirin's past before the plastic surgery. Also I got the impression Smile's mother used to be an actress, but she couldn't continue her career for whatever reason. I would have loved to know more about these two aspects, but to be honest it didn't ruin the experience for me.

I recommend this to everyone. This is a must-watch. Also the OST is a guilty pleasure.

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worth watching, a story that idol fans will find interesting

even though the story kind of dragged in the middle, i think it recovered in the last episodes.
the show is a psychological thriller and since the start it makes you want to know what really happens in the group. it is interesting, suspenful and entertaining. some episodes weren't as good as others, i think the best episodes where the first six or so and the last two episodes, but i still think it is worth the watch, specially if you're into idol groups such as AKB48 and that sort of stuff. if you're into AKB48 you will find this group to be very familiar :)

i don't want to spoil anything, so i will just make a summary of why i liked this show: the thing i liked the most i that there is not good or bad characters, all of them are complex and you will find yourself very conflicted about their actions. there will be characters that you will think are likeable doing awful stuff and characters that may seem like awful people doing nice stuff, so it is pretty much like real life, there is no good or bad (in most of the cases) and i really appreciate that in a show. also, it gives you a glimpse of all the shitty stuff people in idols groups go through and all the stupid rules they have to follow in order to maintain this image of a perfect human being. there's no such thing as a perfect human being, and i think that's the moral of this story.

oh, and if you like anime or manga like madoka magica or magical girl site, you'll probably like this as well because there are cute girls with cute outfits but everything is fucked up.

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