English Dub Review: Heroines Run the Show: The Unpopular Girl and the Secret Task “I’m Quittin’ My Manager Job!”

Overview (Spoilers Below):
Devastated by fans’ reactions to the photos of her with LIPxLIP, Hiyori decides to quit her job. Meanwhile, Aizo and Yujiro’s respective brothers offer advice on addressing the scandal.

Our Take:
From the looks of this episode, it appears that things can only get even worse before they get any better. With the photos trending worldwide and people acting like every troll on social media, Hiyori is forced to make a heartbreaking decision. If you haven’t read the title, she’s quitting her manager-in-training job.
Last week’s episode is a subtle yet compelling depiction of how a scandal affects those involved. It doesn’t just happen to celebrities and idols but also to the people close to them. Hiyori has been affected the most due to her secret manager-in-training job and many jealous fan girls. There’s also a matter of people questioning which member of LIPxLIP Hiyori belongs to that caused her to make this shocking choice.
This episode continues the show’s scandalous arc with the characters dealing with people gossiping and spreading rumors about the pictures. While it also deals with Hiyori quitting her job, the episode never loses focus on the drama centering on Aizo and Yujiro’s supportive families. The scenes involving LIPxLIP’s brothers were the main reasons for the episode’s undeniable success, aside from its themes and tiny bits of humor.
Aizo and Yujiro’s brothers are always willing to help them out of trouble, mainly because of what they did for them. For example, Yujiro saved his brother from the pressures of drinking and took the fall for him. As for Aizo’s brother, Ken, he’s always supportive of Aizo, even though Aizo doesn’t treat Ken as well as he does. The brothers’ support led LIPxLIP to address the truth to the reporters about how much they enjoy spending time with their classmates, especially Hiyori.
While it may not do much to get Hiyori back on the job, the press conference did receive enough praise from fans to soften the scandal’s blow. The episode was a solid and heartfelt continuation that addresses not only the scandal’s effects on the characters but also the sincerity of the support from their friends and family. More importantly, it continues to develop the main characters into likable people compared to the previous episodes, which I’m glad it did. However, they still haven’t found out who’s responsible for taking the photos. Hopefully, that suspect will reveal themselves before all is said and done.