What if Miss Rui Yashio covered Roselia . . . haha just kidding . . . unless . . .?

aaa

Not to be an Ayasa stan on main but check out her 6ty!!

djfjd

Can’t wait to see her go hard in Morfonica lives

You can hear that extra C string at the beginning too . . . the power of the controversial five-string . . .

(Ayasa Itou I love you . . . the one and only Miracle Dancing Keyboardist . . . perfect excuse to say so)

THIS IS THE ONLY IMAGE IN EXISTENCE

Ok but I’m so ready for all of them, 2D and 3D

Honestly it must be fate that Rui’s seiyuu is named Ayasa . . . as if one Ayasa wasn’t enough for my heart how am I gonna survive

Eyy time for another challenge, it’s been a while and this sounds like fun

Original post by Kurogaya

Day 1: BanG Dream! 1st Season

I’ve said this before but S1 to me ages like a fine wine even if I wasn't blown away by it on the first watch, especially after playing the game and getting to know the girls. Sure their characterisations don’t 100% line up but eh that’s the nature of a franchise with various stories told through various media and by different people. I think PoPiPa’s origin story is just as worth knowing as the rest and it’s cool that it got put into the game too.

Chances are we’ve all heard things about PoPiPa being basic and happy and feel-good, and oh boy does S1 turn that on its head. Though they’re not exactly the most unique, building on tropes is one of Bandori’s strengths and it shows. I love love love the game of course but it doesn’t really give Kasumi or Saaya their due and S1 is where they really shine.

So without further ado here are some moments in S1 that stood out to me (probably out of order and missing stuff, I’m kinda rusty):

• Kasumi skipping breakfast on her first day of school. It’s so trivial but sorta says a lot about her and also subverts the toast-hanging-out-of-mouth oh-no-I’m-gonna-be-late! trope
• Arisa’s “I’m gonna prune you!” Legendary
• Kasumi apologising to Rimi profusely after she realises she pushed her over the edge. Kasumi may be a scatterbrained genki protag but when she makes a mistake it devastates her and she tries her very hardest to fix things
• Do we talk about kira kira hikaru? Do we? It’s certainly iconic . . . honestly I don’t think I cringed as hard as is generally expected though. Also Rimi. Rimi saved the day and I am proud and that’s all that matters
• Breaking the Random Star. Not only does it break Kasumi too, Arisa doesn’t unleash a single sharp remark, revealing just how much of a facade her tsunness, though still a very real part of her, is. She and Kasumi are more similar than they appear to be
• Tae’s intro oh my God. The way she and Kasumi both just descend into chaos is gold
• The sheer contrast when Tae looks her in the eye and tells her they’re (she’s? idk) not good enough to play at SPACE. That’s the unfiltered honesty I love from Tae
• The whole thing with Kasumi abandoning Arisa and Arisa feeling jealous and betrayed is great but also the fact that Rimi faithfully keeps Arisa company at practice during that time makes me soft
• The flashback to the day Saaya’s world fell apart. Gave me chills hearing Jun and Sana crying over the phone
• Saaya yelling, “Is it fun?” at Kasumi in tears. Stop this suffering isn’t allowed
• STAR BEAT STAR BEAT STAR BEAT I fell in love the very first time I heard it and to this day there isn’t another song I love more. Saaya reading the lyrics. Saaya dashing to school. CHiSPA’s new drummer handing over her sticks
• Kasumi losing her voice is heckin awful to watch. And when she hugs Asuka and says, “You’re cold”? Ouch my heart
• Mae e Susume also became an instant fav, I love Star Beat more but my list of PoPiPa faves is . . . long. The scene where they all sing acapella is chef’s kiss
• Tae falling sound asleep like a baby
• Arisa bursting into tears after the audition. Rimi being the first to reach out. Stan the AriRimi friendship

I only remember this stuff because I was planning to make a post like this an eon ago . . . S2 is a fog in my brain that’ll be fun. Apologies for neglecting GuriGuri but hh I’m a PoPiPa appreciator first and foremost

Original post by Kurogaya

Day 2:

First PoPiPa MVs

Can I just say I really love the Teardrops MV, it’s very dramatic and cool and dare I also say I prefer the expressions to the ones of the current 3D models even if I like the current models themselves more? The lighting is sorta muted and dreary and the camera shakes and unfocuses and hello Arisa crying is not okay. The shot of the flower buds in each of the girls’ image colours in the beginning leading to a corresponding shot at the end but with the buds opened makes me emotional . . . sob . . . blooming . . . growth . . .

I like the other MVs well enough too but all I have to say is GLASSES RIMI

Bandori OVA

Tbh my favourite thing about the OVA is Saaya getting excited for the beach trip, girl has been living for others for so long and deserves to enjoy herself, not to mention it’s cute that simple things make her so happy. I’d rather not get buried in sand myself but you can’t blame her

Roselia’s great, I like that they featured in a beach episode because despite their musical prowess they’re a bunch of dorks and what better way to show that than by making Sayo faceplant in the sand? Rinko however did throw me, she’s a lot more outwardly confident than the Rinko we know now

I’m going off memory here, hope I’m not imagining things that never happened

I always have one friend slot open in game in case I see someone I know or they have a name I like but

Earlier I ran into Daelynn who I remember from when this site was babey, sent a req and went into the next song without opening up a spare slot first bc what were the chances I'd run into people I recognised twice in a row . . . next thing I know TunaSalad pops up like "Surprise!"

But it's all good now bc BanPa is a cool site

When Prelude Replay first came out I watched a recording of it and cried and now after reading it in English I wanna say will it ever not make me cry? Even the 2nd Band Stories didn’t make me tear up like this hhh it really hits too close to home

As someone who used to play at eisteddfods and study at a conservatorium I remember having the exact same experience baby Rinko had on multiple occasions and it’s just the worst . . . embarrassing yourself whenever sucks but there’s a special kind of horror I associate with piano competitions/exams, maybe because if you have the misfortune of forgetting what to play you’re met with complete silence and you can picture everyone cringing in their seats, maybe because I never had a good grasp on harmony and memorising music and every note was like “oh god what comes next muscle memory don’t fail me!!”

I threw in the towel but Rinko. This girl. This girl is a heckin beast. That flashback? I felt that in my bones. So when she says, “I’m anxious about performing but that’s okay” and goes on to give the performance of her life—and wins—I just?? Cry??? This kinda story isn’t particularly unique or anything but it still feels super real and personal to me and Bandori is just . . . good at achieving that

Can we also talk about how wonderful Yukina is for listening to Rinko and helping her find her answer? To think I once had her in my bottom tier . . . my 3rd favourite keeps changing but right now it’s her take that past me

In other news I’m v excited for 3rd anni hoo boy

This combo of names is peak Tomoe energy and I’m here for it

I haven’t rped properly in ages but messing around as Kaoru is fun

[Current JP event related]

Remembering my first RinAri post and thinking about Arisa being soft for shy girls (who are also assertive when the situation calls for it) . . . Craft Egg I see you, having her immediately drop everything and agree to play at Kanon’s street live when Kanon tells her directly that she wants her to, all her reservations be damned, bc how? can she say no??

Arisa’s really out here supporting our sweet soft-spoken girls and I love it, she even goes to Kanon’s classroom to make her initial and very eager (albeit misinterpreted lmao) offer to help bc Kanon’s words left such a deep impression on her

(Like look Arisa is a good supportive friend in general but I’m weak for these interactions specifically)

Ok ok so I was rewatching PoPiPa 6th live while waiting for someone to upload the 7th live and I'm being bowled over by Double Rainbow feelings (again) I need to talk about this

First please observe the following very cute quotes from Rimi's DR 4* story:

After everything that happens in Band Story 2 Rimi writes a section in Double Rainbow specifically for the two of them I'm so soft ...

So then if that isn’t enough rl PoPiPa go and perform the song live and during the instrumental break Kasumi and Tae move to huddle around Saaya, leaving Arisa and Rimi to ... the duet ... look ... look at them ...

Look at themm I'm gonna cry hh,,, no one *sob* harmonises like they do,,,,,

I love how connected the different aspects of this franchise are heckk