Don’t you just love finding a new series that completely blows your mind and goes waaaay beyond all your expectations? Recently, I had my first experience with IDOLiSH7, and after seeing plenty of people gush about it on Twitter over the years, I now FINALLY understand what all the fuss is about!
The IDOLiSH7 anime had been sat in my Crunchyroll watch list for around 4 years. As a huge J-Pop fan, I knew I’d end up liking this series due to it’s musical roots, yet I never found the opportunity to ever give it a go. On the 20th of March 2024, that all changed when I finally decided to watch my first ever episode – which then turned into consuming all 62 episodes over the next 8 weeks.
IDOLiSH7 originally started as a mobile rhythm game in Japan in 2015 which is still ongoing, but was never translated and is still only available in Japanese. The anime adaptation was announced in 2016 and Season 1 was later released in 2018 featuring 17 episodes. Here’s a quick synopsis from My Anime List for those who haven’t seen / don’t know about IDOLiSH7 yet:
“On her first day of work at her father’s small production agency, Tsumugi Takanashi was not expecting to be made the manager of the agency’s new male idol group. Though shocked that her father is trusting her with such a major project so soon, Tsumugi vows to do everything she can to support the seven young boys. After seeing how well the boys work as a team, Tsumugi meets with her father and learns that her first job as manager will be to cut four boys from the group. This is because her father believes seven idols are too much to manage, and the current top group, TRIGGER, only has three members.
After holding an impromptu audition, Tsumugi returns to her father and boldly declares that she refuses to cut anyone from the group, as each member has a unique allure which collectively enhances the group’s appeal. She returns to the boys and they are thrilled that none of them will get to miss out on their dreams. Together they become IDOLiSH7, and prepare to take on the fiercely competitive world of idols.”
As much as I would like to go into great detail about the series right now, today I’m here to share my favourite songs across all 3 seasons, because why the hell not? There truly are some bangers that deserve the spotlight and I’ve spent far too many hours listening to this soundtrack for it to not be put to use! This was originally going to be a top 10 songs list, but I just couldn’t narrow it down!
So here we have it, my top 15 songs from the IDOLiSH7 anime!!
*Contains some mild spoilers
15. WONDER LiGHT – IDOLiSH7
(Season 3 pt.2 OP)
First up is the most recent opening for Season 3 part 2, WONDER LiGHT. The first thing to note about this song is that it’s quite different to any of IDOLiSH7’s other songs, probably because it was written by Ayase (1/2 of YOASOBI) which you can certainly hear if you’re familiar with his other works. I really enjoyed the opening movie, and this music video is even better, giving it a somewhat chilled out vibe in contrast to the explosive drama during this season.
14. THE POLiCY – IDOLiSH7
(Season 3 pt.1 OP)
Another great opening song with THE POLiCY for Season 3 part 1. Since the music is much more toned down here, you can focus on each individual solo vocal part as well as their wonderful harmonies. I think this is one of the better songs for showing off IDOLiSH7’s voices and its interesting composition makes it super memorable in my opinion, as well as super fun video to go along with it!
13. 太陽のEsperanza – Re:vale
(Season 3 pt.2)
Time for some Re:vale! I wasn’t keen on these two when they first made their appearance in season 2, but after their story arc, my opinion of them both as a unit and also individually changed massively. This song, Taiyou no Esperanza, is unlike any other song in the anime with it’s flamenco influence, yet it suits the duo so well! Their performance of this song in episode 24 of Season 3 completely took me by surprise and I loved every second of it!
12. WiSH VOYAGE – IDOLiSH7
(Season 1 OP)
Wish Voyage is the first song you hear when starting with S1 of the anime as it’s used as the opening song, complete with a fully animated video. This is a fantastic start to the series and introduction to IDOLiSH7’s music too as it showcases their style so you fully know what to expect from the music right from the start. It’s a super fun song and I couldn’t ask for a better starting point (this video clearly had the biggest budget)!
11. Sakura Message – IDOLiSH7
(Season 3 pt.1 Ep.3 OP)
I’m a sucker for a good ballad, and IDOLiSH7 do an amazing job with Sakura Message! Considering the majority of their songs are incredibly upbeat, this was a refreshing change of pace and I’d love to hear more songs like this from them. I was surprised with the plot surrounding this song too, and since Nagi is my favourite, I absolutely loved his scene with the hidden meaning reveal in S3 pt.2 which made me revisit the song and grow an even bigger fondness for it.
10. IMPERIAL CHAIN – ŹOOĻ
(Season 3 pt.2 ED)
Ok, so I know ŹOOĻ aren’t the most likable bunch with their only redeemable member being Touma (can’t help but feel sorry for the poor guy), so I’ll push that to the side for now and praise this song for what it is; Imperial Chain is awesome! I like how different it is to the other groups’ tracks and I never became tired of hearing it at the end of (almost) every episode during Season 3 pt.2 while scrolling through the Crunchyroll user comments!
9. miss you… – MEZZO
(Season 1)
Originally titled TODAY IS… and performed by IDOLiSH7 in Season 1 ep.8, the lyrics we changed for MEZZO’s debut song and became miss you… Unfortunately, we never actually get to hear the MEZZO version in the anime which is a real shame (so I’m cheating slightly), but I much prefer it to IDOLiSH7’s version so couldn’t not include it. The composition and the vocal melody is the same anyway, so you’ll at least recognise it from the series.
8. Perfection Gimmick – IDOLiSH7
(Season 2)
Somehow, Perfection Gimmick is the song that ends up playing on cycle in my brain for the majority of the time that I’m not listening to the songs out loud (with the exception of Dancing∞BEAT!!’s introduction which honestly drives me INSANE – what can I say, IDOLiSH7 have some ridiculously catchy songs)! I’ve probably placed this one a little high on the list due to it’s ridiculously catchy properties, although I did thoroughly enjoy seeing them perform this song as their first number with Iori as their center!
7. Dis one. – Re:vale
(Season 2)
Re:vale’s cover of Zero’s Dis one. is something really special and it suits them insanely well! The composition and instrumentation in this track is what caught my attention the most since there’s so much going on, yet everything seems to have its place and all comes together perfectly. Re:vale are certainly the most versatile of all the groups and they have SO many different sounding songs, but I always keep coming back to this one (no pun intended). It was an excellent end to Season 2!
6. NATSU☆しようぜ! – TRIGGER
(Season 1)
It honestly hurt to see TRIGGER singing a song meant for IDOLiSH7 at first, but after hearing both versions numerous times, I have to say TRIGGER’s version is on fire! After hearing TRIGGER’s other songs early on with much more mature, sexy vibes, it was a complete surprise to hear them perform a fun, summery, upbeat track. I love their surprise versatility though, and Natsu Shiyouze is an amazing song no matter who sings it!
5. Colorful – MEZZO
(Season 3 Ep.23 ED)
Despite Colorful only showing up once as a one-off ending song during Season 3 pt.2, it’s by far my favourite MEZZO song and even made it into my top 5! It’s an insanely catchy song and both So’s and Tamaki’s voices are incredible here, really showing off their talent. Having this song finish the episode that showed their bond getting stronger was such a treat and I love this song a little bit more every time I hear it!
4. Secret Night – TRIGGER
(Season 1)
I wasn’t that keen on Secret Night when I first heard it in Season 1 as I didn’t particularly like TRIGGER to start with. They seemed so aloof and so out of IDOLiSH7’s reach, however, fast forward a few seasons to Season 3 and that couldn’t be more different. When they came back to this song in the later episodes of Season 3, I ended up falling in love with it having now followed TRIGGER on their journey. After their performance in Ep.20, I couldn’t help but get excited whenever a TRIGGER song was played and I’m sure fans of the anime will understand why this song is the reason for that (no spoilers)!
3. RESTART POiNTER – IDOLiSH7
(Season 2)
Here we see the return of Riku as center with RESTART POiNTER! This is such an amazing song to follow IDOLiSH7’s emotional speech at their live, and even on its own it’s a super catchy track which instantly made it onto my favourites list. I love how each member gets their own part in the verse before splitting into their subgroups and then all coming together in an explosive chorus. It’s so good and this video is great too (although that isn’t part of the anime)!
2. PLACES – TRIGGER
(Season 3 pt.1 ED)
TRIGGER absolutely nailed this song! PLACES could honestly be joint 1st, I love it that much and I think musically, it’s probably the stand out song of the whole series! There’s a lot crammed into this song and their voices are so perfect, both as a group and individually, so it’s easy to see why it was used as the new ending theme for Season 3 pt.1. I purposely left the credits running after every episode without fail just so I could listen to this gem of a track (the ending video is pretty great too)!
1. MONSTER GENERATiON – IDOLiSH7
(Season 1)
The no.1 spot goes to IDOLiSH7’s debut song, MONSTER GENERATiON! From the moment I first heard it just 2 episodes in, I knew I was going LOVE this group and the track has grown on me even more since then! I’d easily describe this song as IDOLiSH7’s anthem, and seeing them come so far from their first stage performance (featuring this song) warms my heart so much. I cannot get enough of it!!
BONUS TRACKS:
Dis one. (Anime Size) – Kujo Tenn
(Season 3 Ep.10 ED)
After the eventful episode, it was lovely to hear Tenn single Dis one. as a solo acoustic song. This ending also provided a sweet moment between the twins and you can almost imagine Tenn singing to Riku like this when they were little. It was wonderful seeing everyone else sit quietly and listen to his beautiful rendition, and I have to agree that he does sound amazing solo despite preferring him sing as part of the TRIGGER trio. This was a great change of pace though and I’m so happy they decided to include this version in the anime!
未完成な僕ら – Re:vale
(Season 3 Ep.8 ED)
I also couldn’t leave this post without ending with Mikansei na Bokura by the original Re:vale! After hearing the duo’s backstory, I feel like this song is such an important track to the series. It’s also Momo’s favourite Re:vale song despite him not being the one singing it, and I think this just shows how much the original Re:vale means to him and how he’s genuinely not trying to replace Banri. I loved the reunion for these characters too, and I’m incredibly thankful that we got to hear the Banri x Yuki duo!
And with that, we have reached the end of this crazy long playlist! Including the bonus tracks, I made it to the magic number of 17 songs in total (with this post published on the 17th), and I only noticed after I composed my song list, but it turns out I subconsciously picked 7 IDOLiSH7 songs, 3 TRIGGER songs, 2 Re:vale songs, 2 MEZZO songs and 1 ZOOL song (equalling the amount of members in each group with the exception of ZOOL). How strange is that?!
If you made it this far, thank you so much for indulging in my new obsession with me! It’s been so good writing about something different in this little space and I hope to do some more posts like this one in the future! If you’re an IDOLiSH7 fan, I’d love to hear which songs are your favourites too!
Now all that’s left to do is pray for a Season 4 announcement!
gamergal.exe 