Introduction
Idol Densetsu Eriko is a 1989 shoujo anime drama series by Ashi Productions about an aspiring idol singer, Eriko Tamura. The 51 episode series follows Eriko through challenges - some quite realistic, some more absurd - on the path to stardom.
Eriko Tamura is actually based on a real life singer by the same name (who strangely enough, later played Mai in the widely panned 2009 Dragonball Evolution and Yaeko on the 2007 series Heroes), although its doubtful there is any similarity between the two besides name and profession.
Eriko, in the anime anyway, is the 14 year old daughter of two music industry icons; her mother Minako formerly a famous idol singer and her father Yuusuke the chairman of Tamura Productions, a music company. Eriko is a talented singer, but her parents oppose her singing professionally, perhaps knowing the asperity of the industry.
On the way to an event, Eriko's parents have a serious car accident, leaving her father dead and her mother comatose. The custody of Tamura Productions and of Eriko herself are contested by her father's brother, Kosuke. He muscles his way into the family home and the company, and upon discovering Eriko's talent for performing, begins grooming her for a debut.
Eriko's training is grueling, and the abuse she experiences in Kosuke's guardianship is bad enough to cause her friends to take action. Eriko's friend Yasuko Nakata, a tomboyish biker delinquent, helps Eriko escape to the care of Shinya Uchida, who was her father's best friend and colleague.
Eriko finds hope and purpose in her singing, and continues to practice. When the day for her debut finally arrives, and despite attempts at sabotage by Kosuke and others (its complicated), it is a success. Eriko breaks into the idol scene, but in doing so she unknowingly garners even more hardship.
That's just the beginning! Eriko gets to experience roughly 40 more episodes of traumas after that. The show is often quite dark, though it can vacillate between heavy melodrama and cutesy fluff. Being an idol show, of course there's a fantastically catchy pop soundtrack, too. There's a lot here for a fan of this era / genre / demographic of anime.
The epic highs and lows of idolatry:- toyetic accessories
- dancing 'til you bleed
- dinosaur dirigible
- attempted murder
- school expulsion
- tiny doggies
- child abuse
- saxophone-playing vagabond
- kidnapping
- skiing
- bullying
- secret cousins
- suicidal ideation
- Kellogg's Frosted Flakes
Characters
Eriko & Friends
The titular legendary idol herself. A persevering, sanguine girl who is forced to endure endless torments. A talented singer. Sports blonde pigtails.
A delinquent biker girl who is one of Eriko's closest friends. She's skilled at taekwando and often uses her skills when someone needs to be rescued from danger.
Eriko's friend and schoolmate. A source of comfort and support to Eriko after her parents' accident.
Son of Shinya and childhood friend of Eriko.
Idols & Rivals
The primary star of Tamura Productions and the icy rival of Eriko. Abandoned by her own parents and forced to make it on her own, she resents Eriko for her loving upbringing.
An idol that has a flirtatious rapport with Rei.
A talented saxophonist and dreamy eccentric. Seems to be able to talk to animals. Maybe.
Parents & Guardians
The primary antagonist of the series. Eriko's uncle; the brother of her father. A greedy, cigar-smoking capitalist.
Eriko's mother, and a former idol herself. She nearly dies in the accident that kills her husband. She is left in a coma.
Eriko's father, and the head of Tamura Productions. Husband of Minako. Seen as a father figure and mentor by Rei. Resented by his brother Kosuke.
Friend of Eriko's father Yuusuke. He becomes Eriko's guardian after her parent's accident. He is the father of Kazuki.
Themes
Here's some extreme over analysis of themes largely centering around the finale, so spoiler warning. Also, I can only really go off of the fan sub translation and I have next to no knowledge about the production of this series. This is just my reading of what's present.
Because of the nature of some topics addressed, some interesting questions arise: should a child even be in this kind of exploitative industry? What responsibility does a celebrity have to their fans?
Given that this is an anime created to promote a real life teen idol, there's really only one conclusion. Eriko is an idol and she's primarily here to sell merchandise. The show needs to drive the plot with ever escalating melodrama, and to do it Idol Densetsu Eriko pulls from a lot of classic tropes about showbiz. And pretty much every story about the media industry concludes that its terrible.
Should Eriko become an idol? Her parents didn't want her to. It separates her from her friends, impedes her education, and exposes her to a lot of predatory elements. But its a forgone conclusion; she must be an idol, the only reason for the show to exist is to promote the career of the real Eriko Tamura. Naturally, there's some inherent strangeness in promoting an idol by showing the dark side of idol-dom.
In real life, fame at a young age can be emotionally damaging. Child stars are often associated with later adult instability. Eriko, the fictional one at least, experiences trauma after trauma throughout a period of development when children are typically already struggling with beginning adolescence.
The additional strain of losing her family, friends, schoolmates, privacy and anonymity would be overwhelming. She can't turn to her parents for support or guidance. Her closest friend, Asami, goes to a different school after Eriko is expelled. Her peers are distant at least, but frequently jealous bullies. The slightest false move in public could become a tabloid scandal.
In moments of insecurity she conveniently encounters fans that rely on her for inspiration. At one low point, a suicidal fan calls her when she's on a radio program and Eriko talks her down. That's a lot of responsibility for a 14 year old, and a particularly sheltered one at that. But its easy to see how the pressure of people relying on her might motivate her to continue beyond her limits.
In the conclusion of the series, Eriko is the top idol in Japan. But in more private moments, she has doubts about herself. She's forlorn. A caller on a radio show tells Eriko that her TV performance inspired her; that Eriko was cute, optimistic, and brave. Eriko replies obliquely, that it was just a show, and that she found it "depressing." Another fan tells her that her role on another show made him a "real" fan of her - that she had acted mature in the performance. Later, when she's alone, she marvels at the comment: he likes "mature women" like "me." "That's weird." Indeed, it is weird that a 14/15 year old would be presented that way.
"Who are you really?" She asks herself in the mirror. "I'm Tamura Eriko … no, that doesn't seem right."
After attaining the fame that she worked so hard to achieve, she realizes that she doesn't really know who she is. Her fans only see a curated version of her. Her fame also now prevents her from personally connecting with her fans - the only thing that really motivated her to continue being an idol.
Her childhood friend, Kazuki Uchida, has had a largely one-sided crush on Eriko. Early in the series, he objects to her being an idol so vehemently that Eriko runs away from the confrontation. She claimed she "didn't know why" but she had to continue.
Later on in the series, Eriko had been dealing with the disappearance of her amnesiac mother and was in emotional turmoil; Kazuki spent the day with her in hopes of distracting her. When Eriko opens up to him, in tears about potentially losing her remaining parent - Kazuki grabs her by the arms and abruptly kisses her on the mouth. She looks stiff. Neither character says anything afterward, even in the car ride afterward. A strange moment she simply goes along with, like many others in her life.
After Eriko begins her crisis of identity, she meets with Kazumi and evidently expresses these troubled feelings to him. Kazumi simply tells her "this is the life you chose." She has no reply. Afterward, she walks alone through the streets and vanishes. For the bulk of the next two episodes, Eriko is gone.
Kazuki being the ultimate catalyst for this disappearance feels pointed. As someone who has ostensibly known her since childhood, Eriko might think he should be able to recognize and sympathize with her confusion. But perhaps, like her fans, Kazuki sees a performed version of her, the version he prefers to see. After all, Kazuki did not think much about the confusion and turmoil he might cause by forcibly kissing her during a crisis; he seemingly did not consider much what she might have wanted, just what he wanted from her.
The final episodes of the show depict the supporting cast and various minor characters reacting to Eriko's disappearance. Even previous antagonists who have come around to supporting her anxiously worry about her whereabouts.
Curiously, her greatest idol rival, Rei, wonders of Eriko, "who are you, really?" Rei is likely intimately familiar with the feelings Eriko is struggling with, being an idol herself. Rei perhaps sees the real Eriko to a greater degree than most.
The ending is surreal. Fans, family, and many others Eriko connected with throughout the series gather in a meadow reminiscent of the flowered field in the shows title sequence. Eriko appears, parting the crowd as she passes. She gives a speech. "I wish I could show you who I really am," she says. But, she continues, "I was selfish." And then she performs.
Eriko gives herself up to the performance. She concludes, tragically, that its wrong to have wanted to know her herself, to want to be authentic - the identity that others project on to her is more important.
Did Eriko choose this life? Or is this the life cultivated for her by so many external forces? She was born into conditions priming her for this career.
Her parents were former idols and music producers. Her uncle pushed her into debuting for the money. Eriko did want to continue - but she had the same naïve understanding of the media industry that many 14-year-olds do.
Her new guardian, Mr. Uchida, is also from the music industry and permits her to continue despite knowing that her late father, his best friend, didn't want that life for her.
Adults generally understand that people Eriko's age are not able to know the full consequences of certain adult actions, and consequently, cannot consent to them. Even if Eriko could know ahead of time that this career path would endanger her, strip her freedom and privacy, and take her childhood, would she be able to understand how that might affect her?
Like I said, I have no clue what the authorial intent was with any of this. By accident or design, it feels like this anime pushed the limits of what it was intended to be. And I think that's neat.
Content Warnings
Potential triggers for sexual assault.
I don't think it's much of a hot take to observe that anime, in general, has a misogyny problem. I might love this anime, but like a lot of shows (especially of this era) the way that it depicts women and girls leaves a lot to be desired. There's a lot of focus on the bodies of these idol girls. Within the actual show, I don't think its that far off from other anime of the same genre - usually not much more revealing than Sailor Moon or something- but promotional material is often way more suggestive. A bit ick.
Episode 12 features an ambiguous moment when Eriko is attacked by men while in Guam. Its stopped by another idol. Paparazzi capture Eriko's interactions with this boy and spin it into a scandal, painting Eriko as less than pure. This leads to bullying in following episodes.
In episode 16, at the 13:30-14 minute mark for those who want to skip it, Eriko's skirt is pulled up by a boy while she's performing in front of a crowd of men.
This next part is many layers of horrible.
In episode 34 Eriko is groped on the behind by a high profile music executive. What's worse is that everyone who surrounds Eriko seems to know that he has a reputation as a creep and makes excuses for it. In fact, seconds after it happens, she's told that it's good luck for up and coming idols to be assaulted that way. HurK!
In this episode, Minako (Eriko's former idol mother) has amnesia from the car accident that killed Eriko's father. Eriko mentions that this creep, who everyone calls Mr. Osawari (evidently a lewd name) introduced Minako to Eriko's father, and even visited them when they were hospitalized. Minako appears to be triggered into a flashback. Later, Minako meets with Mr. Osawari, who crudely tells her that he molested Minako when she was starting out. The memory triggers Minako, who is depicted visibly shaking and collapses. This event causes Minako's memories to return. Yes, it's really like that. Its bananas.
I have no idea what you're supposed to think of these assaults. They are simultaneously treated as harmless fun and traumatizing for the victim. In a more intentional, mature work, these scenes could be used to comment on real life sexual abuse in the entertainment industry - and maybe it was partially intended that way? But its too flippantly handled to work.
There's something potentially compelling about Minako having this horrifying revelation; this notorious predator had assaulted her, then set her up with her husband who later became a media executive and presumably continued to run cover for this predator. And also that, while she was unconscious and/or without her memories, this predator had access to her and her daughter. Chilling stuff. I think that could be interesing to explore in the right story, but its way beyond the scope and capabilities of Idol Densetsu Eriko.
I want to point out again that Eriko shares the name of an actual idol that the show is meant to promote. Puzzling decisions. Wouldn't blame anyone for being put off by these elements, so that's why I'm noting it here.
Thanks
Although the show was dubbed into several languages, Idol Densetsu Eriko never recieved an official english release. The only reason I can enjoy the show is thanks to the translating and subtitling work by Licca Fansubs and Kiteseekers. Kudos to them and all the passionate fans out there that do work like this simply for the love of the medium.
