Thank heavens we’re moving in the direction of more singing and less talking on the part of Miss Monochrome’s titular character. It still isn’t quite enough this time around either, but progress is being made. The autotuned voice of Horie Yui is back in full swing, which means it’s once again time to bust out the earplugs for this installment of everyone’s favorite robot idol. Thankfully despite a subplot revolving around Miss Monochrome trying to monopolize the stage from her band and backup dancers, in the show itself she seems to be yielding more speaking lines than ever to her side cast. And with her Roomba companion receiving the occasional line voiced by the ever-hilarious Kamiya Hiroshi, or the series of new arrivals in this season, the timing couldn’t have been better.
I would particularly turn attention to the idol’s new producer, the dual-personality road rage specialist and certified klutz Yayoi. Unfortunately while she is introduced on the basis of the former, drifting around winding mountain roads at night yelling profanities to the wind, what ends up taking over is an endless repetition of the same gag where she bumps into a door or other frame and immediately points out to us yet again that she’s too clumsy for her own good. Along with Miss Monochrome’s repeatedly pointing out her own obvious jokes in a manner that would put Borat to shame, this season seems to revolve around jokes that are repeated until we’re sick and tired. Yet sometimes Yayoi’s competence will suddenly spike, or she’ll develop the common sense that everyone outside the kindly manager Maneo seems to dreadfully lack, and she will suddenly become a force of momentum for the plot. And if we’re lucky, she gets behind the wheel for a moment or two.
The other cast include the new backup dancers for Miss Monochrome’s upcoming debut tour, a guitar prodigy doing inventory at Maneo’s convenience store, and a life-sized Casanova battery, as well as old faces like the manipulative Mana and rival idol Kikuko. Oddly enough, just as this season begins to pick up in terms of plot, these characters get used to sidetrack Miss Monochrome into filler episodes, a strange addition to a show already short enough as it is, but with the increasing stress of Miss Monochrome’s idol career it is nice to step back and relax with some filler about wandering the desert or holding perfectly still poses in the background of a TV drama. Out of nowhere the universe develops a sense of monetary value, and suddenly the budget for her debut tour is a heavy consideration, placed in the hands of Yayoi for better or for worse (hint: usually worse).
And for all these fun and games leading up to the culmination of her efforts, her first live concert, I just wish we could have had a reasonable, normal, low-key, non-abrasive voice for her to work with. I hate to look forward to when this show becomes nothing more than a glorified music video, especially with some genuinely enjoyable content peppered throughout this installment, but all I can hope is that Miss Monochrome 3 is nothing but a real-time portrayal of her concert, or otherwise just a season focusing on everyone but her.