Let’s talk about Mei’s Parallel Collection.

As the final chapter of the “What if” series, this card ends the saga fairly well. 6 years have passed, and Mei is not only a successful idol, but also she has started training others. As she puts it, she wants to cultivate the next generation. As her next solo live is around the corner, she invites the Producer for a date to relax. The Producer understands that she must have something to discuss, and Mei opens up and says even to this day she still thinks about how Straylight has ended. It is a mutual agreement to go their separate ways, and they sure have the best performance in their final live. But Mei believes that Straylight is unfinished business. Before the solo live, Mei is understandably stressed out as the stage is exactly the same location as Straylight’s last live. But things are going well and Mei is happy about it. After the live, Mei feels more certain that it is about time for Straylight’s reunion.

I’m surprised by how good of a balance this card is. I thought Mei would get the short end of the stick and her own story section would be sacrificed for laying the foundation for the Straylight comeback. But the story also did a great job explaining how Mei is going her way and the struggles she faced. Nonetheless, I reckon this mini series is good. Of course, it is brutal to FuyukoP. I would be mad if I were one. But the outcome is very satisfactory, and as Asahi said, if you get hurt you will grow. I think this is exactly the case here.