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historyhermann · 1 year ago

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BanG Dream! It's MyGO!!!!! Spoiler-Filled Review

BanG Dream! It's MyGO!!!!! is an anime series adapting the band MyGO!!!!!. Its the latest adaptation of Bushiroad's BanG Dream! music media franchise, also known as Bandori. Koudai Kakimoto is series director. Sanzigen animated the series.

Reprinted from Pop Culture Maniacs and Wayback Machine. This was the fiftieth article I wrote for Pop Culture Maniacs. This post was originally published on September 29, 2023.

This series has a simple premise: a girl returning from the U.K., Anon Chihaya (voiced by Rin Tateishi), returns to her homeland of Japan, and learns that everyone at her new school, Honeoka Girls Academy, are in bands. So, she tries to create one of her own, meeting avid rock collector Tomori Takamatsu (voiced by Hina Yomiya), piano player Sakiko "Saki" Togawa (voiced by Kanon Takao), and a student from a prestigious academy, Soyo Nagasaki (voiced by Mika Kohinata). However, she faces an unforeseen obstacle: Tamori, Soyo, and Taki were former band members. Guitarist Mutsumi Wakaba (voiced by Watase Yuzuki) and drummer Taki Shiina (voiced by Coco Hayashi) were CRYCHIC's other members. At first, it seems that Taki caused the previous band to split apart.

In many ways, BanG Dream! It's MyGO!!!!! differs from BanG Dream!, which aired three seasons from 2017 to 2020, short series such as Pastel Life, CiRCLE Thanks Party!, and Morfonication, and the five films related to the franchise. More broadly, Bandori was created by Takaaki Kidani, president of Bushiroad, in January 2015, with Kō Nakamura as writer of the manga. In fact, the franchise itself compromises various manga issues and volumes, and a light novel, until September 2017, overlapping with the beginning of the anime series. Later, a game was created, and the related manga, RAiSe! The story of my music, began in February 2019.

As for this series, the CGI looks better than in previous iterations and the cast remains realistic, even with a feel which isn't like other shows centered around girl bands. It was even recommended by Anime Feminist, calling it a sweet, and enjoyable, introduction of a new group in the franchise (and girl band anime in general), and an "easy recommendation." There is much more going on than this in the series, however. While I'm not aware of every detail about the characters, the characters are relatable in many ways, to those who have been part of a band, and those who haven't.

I haven't seen a series which begins with a band breakup in the first episode, bringing with it angst and emotions. Most series centered around girl's bands follow a similar structure as the characters build-up the band through the first (and sometimes only) season. Unfortunately, BanG Dream! It's MyGO!!!!! is a bit rocky at first. Viewers are thrown into a practice session. Saki quits the band. Taki demands to know whether this is true. Mitsumi admits that being in the band wasn't fun.

The writers, such as head writer Yuniko Ayana, do a good job of calming those rocky, chaotic beginnings. This begins by focusing on Anon. She is a young woman with long pink hair who returns from the U.K. She tries to remake herself. As a new student at Honeoka Girls Academy, she meets Tomori, who collects rocks for fun. In the process, it is easy to relate to both characters. Social interaction tires out Anon. Tomori is more introverted. Taki pushes Anon away, calling her "scum" and doesn't want to interact with anyone else. The drama, animation style, and music pull you in even more.

At first, it seems that a new band comprising Anon, Taki, and Tomori is possible, thanks to Soyo, with various meetings are RING, where Taki works. However, Anon is controlling and Soyo seems to have a hidden agenda. This doesn't get any better, even as Anon and Tomori get closer, with the revelation that her diary entries are actually songs (or at least they can be songs). One of those is Spring Sunlight, which she composed when she was part of CRYCHIC, as shown in a flashback in the third episode. The fourth episode hints at Soyo's real agenda. She claims that no one is at fault for CRYCHIC breaking apart. Later, she challenges Taki, declaring that everything will turn out the same way with this band, claiming that they never connected.

The story leads viewers to see Anon as controlling and problematic, Tomori as submissive, and Taki as more forthright. While Anon is arrogant and selfish, there is more to it. For one, emotions are high between all of them. The yuri subtext within this series, and the franchise, is clear. The feelings between Taki and Tomori are clear, with Taki having a soft spot for her, while Anon teases Taki. In addition, after Kaname Rāna (voiced by Hina Aoki) calls Tomori an "interesting woman," Taki protects her. Occasionally, during BanG Dream! It's MyGO!!!!!, Taki blushes when talking to Tomori, when they are talking one-on-one.

Rana is one of the more interesting characters, as she only participates in the band when she feels like it. She doesn't want to get caught up in the drama between the other girls. She is extremely skilled at playing the electric guitar. Often she wows people with her skills. Anon worries about Rana outshining her. Clearly, Rana's skills go beyond Anon's meager guitar skills. As a result, Anon attempts to become competent at guitar playing, but takes shortcuts, which backfire.

It takes Taki to tell Anon the truth about her for her to open up. She confides in Tomori that Taki was right. She reveals in a date-not-date at the Sky Forest National Aquarium, with Tomori, that when she was studying abroad in England, she couldn't keep up. In a very relatable scene, Anon is excited to be in another country, but can't understand what people are saying. Since she doesn't know much English people ignore her. She is even nervous to introduce herself to the class.

After she says that her whole life she has been running away from her problems, Tomori ends up reassuring her that even if she runs into a dead end, you look for a path and try and move forward. She even admits that Anon pulls her forward. She says she wants to move forward, even if she feels lost. Ultimately, Anon and Tomari agree to perform a live concert, despite the band's lack of preparation.

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The character writing (and storytelling) of BanG Dream! It's MyGO!!!!! on another tier, with real emotions and comedy mixed together, with love triangles, with good use of the light, and dark, to symbolize the moods and thoughts of the characters. The sixth episode brings all of this to the fore. It makes clear that Anon is still a beginning guitarist. While she plays guitar, her fingers get hurt. Taki tries to compose music. But she causes fissures in part by being too hard on everyone.

Rana's character shines in later episodes, not only as the "stray cat" as some characters call her. She is the only character who distances herself from the emotional conflict between all of them. However, as shown in the sixth episode, her lack of presence causes stress on Taki (called "Ricky" by Anon), who attempts to be the leader of the band, rejecting help from anyone. Rana later helps Tomori express herself by playing the right music behind her, giving what she is saying meaning. She also calls them all "boring women" due to their arguments with each other, and takes a step back from the band.

Even so, the band puts on a stellar performance in the seventh episode, despite the fact none of them feel ready, and they have little live performance experience. Other bands, shown in the BanG Dream franchise, like Afterglow and Poppin' Party, make an appearance. Tomori's voice shines above all of them, as she believes that her songs are "screams" from her heart. Everyone is in the groove, except Soyo. She's caught up in the past. Angrily, she grumbles when the band begins playing Spring Sunlight. She snaps, almost claiming the song for herself, even though it was Tomori that composed it, not her.

The seventh episode of BanG Dream! It's MyGO!!!!! makes Soyo's motives abundantly clear: she wants the band to crash and fail, and revival of CRYCHIC. Her beliefs echo Jay Gatz/Gatsby, in F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby who famously told Nick: "Can’t repeat the past? Why of course you can!" Just as it was a failure for Gatsby, it is also a failure for Soyo. She attempts to rope Saki back into the band. Her goal is to bring together the former band members, including Tomori and Taki. She sees Anon as someone who can further her goals. She can't accept the reality: that CRYCHIC is dead and gone.

Although Anon was controlling, Soyo is much more manipulative. She claims that she is sick and cannot go into band practice, causing the band to split apart. Later, she texts Saki repeatedly, but gets no response, since Saki blocked her. But Soyo won't stop. She even strong-arms Mutsumi into meeting Saki. This doesn't go as she expects. In a heated discussion, Saki calls out Soyo for being selfish and tells her to forget the past. She tops this off, with a bold declaration: "CRYCHIC has been destroyed. It will never be revived." Unsurprisingly, Soyo begs and pleads Saki to reconsider, even after Saki tells her to leave her alone. This leads to the clincher: "you only really think of yourself, don't you?" This completely destroys Soyo.

Saki feels that she told Soyo the cold, hard truth, while Mutsumi stands there, unsure what to do. The story's construction makes you somewhat sympathize with Soyo. This is despite the fact she is a jerk, just like Saki. However, there is more going on. The ninth episode of BanG Dream! It's MyGO!!!! makes this clear. In a flashback, the origin of Soyo's depression is shown. She moved around a lot as a kid and her mother doesn't come around much. These memories are bathed in a warm light. They include remembrances CRYCHIC's formation and its breakup, and playing a bass. Soyo comes to realize that Saki's words about her were right.

Soyo's actions don't only affect her: they impact her fellow band members. As noted earlier, her actions cause the band to splinter, with Tomori blaming herself for everything that's happening. Soyo actively ignores Tomori and Anon, who only want to talk to her. Taki even confronts her. Soyo defends herself by claiming she told lies to keep the band together. Despite the fact that Soyo, who seems to imply, almost in a homophobic way, that Taki is nothing without Tomari, she restrains herself from punching her. After the new bassist (and classmate of Taki), Umiri Yahato, leaves, Taki makes matters worse: she explains what Soyo told her. As a result, Anon declares that they don't "need her. Tari is unsure what to do as Tomori bawls her eyes out, with Tomori questioning whether she wants to be in a band.

All of this comes down to teenage angst, either between Tari and Soyo, or more generally. Some fans were right to say, after this episode, that Soyo is the jerk. Taki, Soyo, and Anon, at minimum, are horrible. Tomori isn't, nor is Rana. The characters in this series go beyond the bad/good binary and are more complex than they seem on the surface. Surely, this could have been shown in more episodes, but the thirteen episodes of BanG Dream! It's MyGO!!!!! didn't seem rushed. They perfectly show the angst the characters went through, making them relatable. All of them have clear (and understandable) goals and motivations.

Otherwise, Tomori's astronomy club could be called an "autism club." This, however, only scratches the surface. Tomori doesn't want to repeat the mistakes of the past, as she did with her previous band. Taki is one of her only friends. In the third episode, Tomori composes a song about her social isolation. While she tried to fit in, she felt alone even when she was with other people. Tomori is not unique in feeling this way. Consider the protagonist Bocchi in Bocchi the Rock! who occasionally has anxiety attacks, or other protagonists such as Shoko Komi (in Komi Can't Communicate), Rina Tennoji (in Love Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club), Bocchi Hitori (in Hitori Bocchi no Marumaru Seikatsu), and Sasaki (in Azumanga Daioh).

By the tenth episode of BanG Dream! It's MyGO!!!!!, it seemed that the band won't get back together: the members had split and are doing their own things. Tomori is determined to reunite the band. Soyo pushes back and asks about Soyo. One person helps her, playing background music to match her feelings: Rana. She calls Tomori an "interesting girl," helping give Tomori's spoken word poems/songs meaning. Tomori is successful in getting Tari to play drums, and Soyo and Anon to play guitar. The latter is possible after Soyo and Anon talk. Anon hears what Soyo has to say. Both realize they are lost. The episode ends with Tomori, Rana, Tari, and Soyo playing a rock song together. It is about how the band was blasted apart into nothing. All of them (apart from Rana) begin crying, with their memories flooding back.

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While, Tomori is the only "normal" person, Rana goes above the fray of the emotional conflicts. She becomes a bigger part of the band by the eleventh episode. Soyo is partially redeemed, after she admits she used all of them, but stays with them regardless. Tomori leads the band forward, pushing them to do public performances. Taki remains stubborn, not wanting to perform. Despite continued conflicts, the friendship between them grows. Even Soyo and Tari become friends-of-sorts. Most significantly, Anon comes up with their new band name: Maigo, meaning "lost girls." This later becomes "It's My Go!," hence the title of this anime.

There is one interesting connection to the previous BanG Dream series in BanG Dream! It's MyGO!!!!!: Rana's grandmother, Shifune Tsuzuki, ran the club SPACE!. It connects the two series together, making clear they are in the same world. It also makes the crossovers-of-sorts of characters within the BanG Dream franchise smooth and without much explanation. There isn't a need for a direct confirmation of this. Take for example the Season Two opening of Milo Murphy's Law, "The Phineas and Ferb Effect." That episode indicated that characters from Phineas and Ferb would crossover into that series. In this series, such confirmation would be unnecessary.

The tension between the characters fades away as they bear their emotions on stage in a performance which compromises most of the twelfth episode. Tomori sings her heart out about finding herself and loss. She ends up embarrassing Taki when introducing everyone. Then, she explains what each of them means to her. To her, being lost is fine. Powerfully, Tomori sings about feeling scared, hurt, self-righteousness, moving forward, and not hiding anything.

This heavily music-centered episode is the last one which centers on this band. At the episode's end, Soyo pushes away Mutsumi. She doesn't want to see her again. At the same time, Saki recruits Mutsumi and Yutenji Nyamu (voiced by Akane Yonezawa) into the new band she is forming. This is reinforced by the final episode. Soyo, Tomori, Tari, Rana, and Anon meet in RING for their band. Anon and Tomori meet Uika Sumika (voiced by Rico Sasaki) outside a planetarium. Soyo realizes she's self-centered. None of these interactions are the central focus. Instead the story focuses on Saki's new band: Ave Mujica.

This band is led by Saki, who demands that they hide their real / true identities by wearing masks. Their debut concert begins like a play. Each wears mask which hide most or only part of their face. They begin with introductions and give themselves code names of sorts. The song they play has horror vibes and has images which connect to the Moon. To make matters worse, Saki doesn't even have an after-party with them. She returns home to her alcoholic father, who she calls "rotten."

If it wasn't apparent enough from the final episode, the story of Soyo, Tomori, Tari, Rana, and Anon will be in the background in another series. Instead, the story will center on Ave Mujica now, even though Saki is terrible. The sequel is entitled BanG Dream! Ave Mujica. Whether the song played in the final episode of BanG Dream! It's MyGO!!!!! is weak, not fully there with a metal / hard rock vibe, gothic metal, or pretentious, it is clearly meant to close one chapter and open another.

Personally, after watching all thirteen episodes, I'm not very sympathetic to Saki. More likely than not, BanG Dream! Ave Mujica will center on trying to make Saki sympathetic, just as the writers did, particularly, with Soyo and Anon in this series. Some may dislike this series because of the angst, or argue it was not as strong as D4DJ. However, the difference is that D4DJ, from what I remember, didn't have angst at any level comparable to this series.

BanG Dream! It's MyGO!!!!! is more than the adaptation of a five-member band. It is similar to previous parts of the BanG Dream! franchise, either the three-season BanG Dream!, which aired from 2017 to 2020, the chibi BanG Dream! Girls Band Party! Pico series, Morfonication, the five films, and other parts of this expansive franchise. It has a tone which is very soft, comforting, and with drama, but is not over the top. It is hard to say that it integrates "canonical queerness and themes of gender identity" like D4DJ, as some described it. Nor does it focus on the reality of being a young caregiver like BanG Dream!.

While I can't be sure whether this series has similar vibes to Uma Musume Pretty Derby, as some have asserted, it shares no similarities with other music-themed series. The "delightful" Carole & Tuesday strangely has all of its songs sung in English and has themes centered around race, gender, and environment, which garnered its some criticism. Then there's the mix of healing and music depicted in Healer Girl, the slice-of-life feel of K-On, and the series within the Love Live! idol music franchise. Adding to this is the combination of fantasy and idol music in Yohane the Parhelion: Sunshine in the Mirror, which is, itself, a spinoff from the aforementioned franchise, which recently ended. This doesn't even account for the many other music series.

Personally, I wish that BanG Dream! It's MyGO!!!!! could have focused on Anon, Tomori, Rana, Tari, and Soyo for another season instead of pivoting to an entirely different band. In that way, the series isn't as strong as it could be. However, it still goes to extremes, with peaks and depressing valleys. It is more ambitious than any other BanG Dream! series and features Tomori, a neurodivergent-coded character. All of this interlinks with melodrama. The visuals also keep pace with the narrative tone, which has clear awkwardness. At the same time, the series' abrupt conclusion could be purposeful.

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The voice actors are all very talented. For instance, Coco Hayashi is known for voicing Mirai Momoyama in the idolish Kiratto Pri☆Chan, Setsuna Yūki in an OAV entitled Love Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club Next Sky, and Ikuko Kamiyashiki in Stella of the Theater: World Dai Star. She voiced characters in Bocchi the Rock!, High-Rise Invasion, Luminous Witches, and Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai as well. Hina Aoki voiced characters in series such as The Great Cleric and Cardfight!! Vanguard will+Dress. Hina Yomiya prominently voiced Anna Yamada in The Dangers in My Heart and Lainie Cyan in The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady. She will voice protagonist Honami Konohoshi in Stardust Telepath, which premieres in early October.

Other voice actors, Mika Kohinata, Rin Tateishi, Akane Yonezawa, Hazuki Tanda, Kanon Takao, Mei Okada, Rico Sasaki, and Yuzuki Watase specifically, are just as talented. Although Kohinata, Tateishi, and Yonezawa, are new to voice work, their talent shines through in this series as Soyo, Anon, and Yutenji. In contrast, Tanda prominently voiced Miyū Sakurada across the D4DJ franchise. In addition, Okada voiced Marika Mizushima and Watse voiced Miiko Takeshita in the same series. Those voice roles could explain why they voiced characters in this series.

Takao also had many voice roles. This included characters in Asteroid in Love, Bibliophile Princess, Edens Zero (Hermit Mio), and Management of a Novice Alchemist (Sarasa Feed). Additionally, Sasaki voiced Poporon in Dropkick on My Devil!, Ayoko Yamada in Kageki Shoujo!!, and Chisa Sasuga in Stella of the Theater.

The BanG Dream! It's MyGO!!!!! director, Koudai Kakimoto, is known, in part, for his work as an episode director and storyboard director on many other iterations of the BanG Dream franchise. He was an episode director on Library War and Le Chevalier d'Eeon, and storyboarder on A Lull in the Sea, to name a few. The series writer, Yuniko Ayana, in contrast, has written on many series, including series composition throughout the BanG Dream! franchise. She wrote episodes of D4DJ First Mix, Flip Flappers, Given, Kinmoza Kiniro + Mosaic, and Sweet Blue Flowers. Considering that some of these series have yuri subcontext, or even yaoi themes (in the case of Given), that undoubtedly influenced how this series played out. After all, Ayana is a go-to person "for yuri content."

The animation studio for this series, Sanzigen, previously produced seasons 2 and 3 of BanG Dream! (and other parts of the franchise) and D4DJ, provided key animation for I want to eat your pancreas, photography for Little Witch Academia, 3D graphics for Wandering Son, and 3D layout for Yuri Is My Job!. The company has worked on many other series beyond this small grouping.

Despite the fact that there is a lot of angst, emotions flaring, and drama, and the series abruptly ends, BanG Dream! It's MyGO!!!!! stands strongly on its own, unlike other anime centered on girls' bands. That, combined with the focus on the music process, makes the series shine above others which have aired this year, even if series airing later this year are just as strong.

BanG Dream! It's MyGO!!!!! can be streamed on Crunchyroll.

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