I think a lot of people have been generally optimistic, albeit somewhat apprehensive to totally give in, when it comes to New BiS. I’ve personally been very willing to embrace them on their own terms (I dig the music quite a bit, after all), though whether I could always take them seriously as a thing called “BiS” has nagged at me. And so far, the release of ANTi CONFORMiST SUPERSTAR has followed that pattern perfectly, with perfectly solid music that I’d happily accept from just about any other idol, but this weird feeling that it’s just not BiS.

And then today, to commemorate the release of the EP, they drop the “full, 5-hour version” of the MV for “CURTAiN CALL”, which is exactly what it sounds like. It’s five hours (well, like 5:02:22) of “CURTAiN CALL” on loop, interminably repeated until the arbitrarily selected interval of time had been reached, the members singing and dancing with surprisingly little flagging the entire time. Just:

Hit play, then mark the point at which you get tired of the song … and then imagine how the BiS members felt at the same time

The only way this could be better would be if the whole thing were an actual live stream rather than a recording. What a ridiculously stupid feat, and for no greater reason than “because.” It’s such a small, stupid spectacle and at the same time impossibly epic. It doesn’t even warrant spoiler alerts or anything — there’s absolutely zero dramatic tension — you just get sucked in to watching it. If I thought that Watanabe ever had a meaningful artistic point much further than “absurd physical challenges for young women,” I’d be giving him credit for displaying the utter emptiness at the core of modern existence, and the feats that idols must perform to maintain the ever-necessary-however-inconsequential connection to fans. Instead, I’m just left slack-jawed that this was conceived, agreed-upon and then flawlessly executed, all the more impressive when you consider that you can’t exactly rehearse something like this; you just have to do it.

BiS may never be Peak BiS again, but I’ll be goddamned if they aren’t doing their level best to show that they belong in the same conversation.