Kamen Joshi, Alice Project, PARMS, whatever have you — not the best reputation in the business. While I do indeed (because it is my website and HTML is unlimited) have the space to expound on every negative thing ever alleged about the entity, I will not, for I am lazy and will instead encourage you to do your own research into such matters. That being said, the perception in no way plays out in the idol production, which is always so earnestly idol that it makes your teeth ache. And when the world faces unprecedented crises, who or what could possibly be better to show us a way forward?

Yes! Can this promotional video for the sustainable sourcing of electrical power, especially wind, help to turn the tide against unrelenting climate change? Or is it simply a sinister greenwashing ploy to cover for the unsavory side of the business? You decide!*

So this is Alice Juban, yes, but I notice that they’re now officially under the Kamen Joshi brand, and I didn’t know that had happened or when — if you’re newer, back when Kamen Joshi was brought into being, it was as a mass supergroup of the three main acts within Alice Project, and Alice Juban and Steamgirls and Armor Girls all had their own identities. That seems flipped now, which isn’t a big deal, but just something that I noticed.

But anyway! You know what I hate most about Alice Project? Other than the aforereferenced bad stuff? That it’s always so completely and utterly cheerful. That’s one of the very best things about idol in general, but nobody takes it to quite the same simpering levels as Alice, at least not in the chika loudol scene. As a grump, I get terrible mixed feelings inside, as I am an idol fan who like idol often for the hell of being idol, but I am also a critic who rolls his eyes a lot, too. But look at this! Listen to it! The juxtaposition between those two things ought to discomfit, and it does, but also can you stop? You cannot. You get to the end and then you replay it because it made you feel good inside at the same time that you were thinking about all that nasty stuff that you’ve heard about. Damn it all.

Also, I say again, I no longer have the slightest idea who any of these members are, and I kept waiting for Tachibana to slowly pull off her mask smirk at me.

*Because we live in a world in which satire is dead: Yes, you fool, it’s satire