REAPER Idol Show References

Since some of you were not sure what to imagine when reading about the ‘Birth of an Idol’ activities in Master Grim Reaper Makes His Debut in Center Position, I have decided to channel my passions into creating a (very long sorry) comprehensive guide! If the videos are blocked, try searching up idol producer videos on iQiyi (I chose to give youtube links bc some of them have eng subs). If that doesn’t work…idk how to help you sorry

_{(Alternatively, just go watch PD101/Idol Producer…but this guide is for those of you who don’t have the time to do that…)}

_{(EVEN MORE ALTERNATIVELY this video series gives a short summary of every episode of the entire first season of idol producer so…I guess you can watch that too – do note that most of the videos are blocked in the U.S. so if you’re watching from the U.S….rip)}

Produce 101 is an idol survivor show that originated in South Korea. The first season aired in 2016, consisting of 101 female trainees from 46 different entertainment companies. Through competition rounds and voting that was opened to anyone with a Korean phone number. It was immensely popular and the term 국민 프로듀서/national producer was coined since the show is based on the idea that the public of a nation, through votes, are the ones who determine who the top 11 contestants are. These top 11 get to debut in a temporary idol group for a little over a year.

Season 2 comprised of 101 male trainees. I was in Korea the summer it aired and I can tell you from firsthand experience that EVERYTHING was about PD101, from the subway ads to makeup store events…(I’ve also seen some of the contestants irl they’re very talented). Due to its immense popularity, the show has continued on with other seasons (i.e. PD48, where they mixed Japanese and Korean trainees together).

In 2018, China released Idol Producer, a show that was (very very) similar to PD101. Despite the various copyright issues, the show did VERY well. Their first season was all male trainees and the top 9 contestants formed the boy band NINEPERCENT.

The videos I’m sharing in this post are from season 1 of Idol Producer. The format of ‘Birth of an Idol’ in Master Grim Reaper is very similar to Idol Producer. You can imagine that this is what ‘Birth of an Idol’ would look like in real life 🙂

Beginning ranking evaluation performances:

Banana Culture Trainees

Chen Linong

Second evaluation:

Unlike in the novel, second evaluations are usually filmed and then reviewed later on by the mentors.

Theme song:

Idol Producer version

PD101 version

Group performances:

This is just a long list of my favorite performances from Idol Producer. I wrote this entire post as an excuse to make people watch them. Sorry not sorry

I Will Always Remember
Dream
Firewalking
Quit Smoking
小半
Reminiscing

Counterparts:

Who is Lu Xu? In season 1, the person who started at #1 center position and remained #1 the entire time was Cai Xukun. The novel most probably based Lu Xu off of him.

The nation’s beloved #1

HOWEVER cael and I personally think Lu Xu is more Zhu Zhengting (another contestant) bc he is perfect and the best look at this man, no dead angles fun fact every single one of our translation docs has a pic of zzt stuck at the top for inspiration lol

Ji Xiunian gives us Song Weilong vibes

(we are not trying to push for any ships or actual projecting of real people into fictional roles; we just wanted to give everyone a sense of the visuals of the novel)

Other fun videos! The show has a lot of cute and funny interactions between the contestants that kind of highlight a little more of how it’s like to have 101 trainees live together.

Pajama show

Truth or dare

baLanCe

Memes I will clown for the rest of my life because I can’t believe they really did this seriously:

Girls we could be your mack daddy

i haVE a PEn whoAAoaOaOa

Thanks for reading I spent an hour making this instead of working on my essay. I was also judged by cael the entire time.