Grow Up Show: Himawari no Circus Ep.10 - How are they going to beat that? Ouka!

Episode 10 of Grow Up Show: Himawari no Circus continues the competition arc, with the Himawari Circus able to perform, but not excel to the point of stealing the spotlight from much more experienced circus troupes. That's to be expected considering they were completely unknown until now, but that's also the challenge.

How can they impress the public enough to attract attention to themselves? I still think the end goal here is not to win the competition, but to impress Nanami enough for her to back off from destroying the troupe. With every appearance she makes, it is reiterated that she is the "enemy."

Maria in the completely empty hospital room was kind of sad, hopefully we can see her having fun with everyone back in the troupe by the end of the series. She deserves it.

Somebody! Give Nanami a sticker because she becomes like this when she's stressed! I mean she's still beautiful, but...

She appears multiple times to mock them, while simultaneously being extremely irritated by how everyone treats Maria as their family. It's jealousy, I'm sure, considering she basically lost the chance to spend time with her due to her disappearance and the time she spent with the troupe. I don't think there's a huge wall, though; she clearly cares for her sister.

So far, the results haven't been great, though. Mizuka and the troupe managed to impress the people watching their performance, but the popularity was stolen by bigger troupes like Nanami's. They need something special, something unique to attract the attention of the newspapers.

Their best bet is a completely new routine developed by Mizuka and Ouka that goes beyond what Black Lotus built back in the day, but can they do something completely new in such a short period of time without the ability to test it out in private beforehand?

To add more drama, Maria has been moved to a bigger hospital and can only see the results through the newspaper, currently unable to meet with the girls directly. The scene with her cutting out newspaper clippings to preserve the small photos of her girls was quite nostalgic. I remember keeping a few of those back when I was a kid participating in competitions (not circus ones, though).

Every pair in the team is pretty much solidified like Yura Aoi and Yura Akane in this picture. They just need a bit show together.

Traitor! I'll never be able to fully trust Rin again because she went and betrayed everyone for so long communicating with the enemy!

By the way, it may just be me noticing it this week, but most of the episode's scenes were actually just panned still images; they didn't even bother animating the clapping of the people watching the show. Did the production run out of budget near the end or something?

The next episode is the inflection point for the story, considering that the series is likely 12 episodes long. I'm curious if they'll actually show what Black Lotus is doing right now, because that remains one of the mysteries of the series. She abandoned her child, Mizuka, with a huge debt and no information about what he's doing...