okusawamiikun’s 30 Day Challenge!

Day 28: Favourite 3☆

I would like to apologise to NFO Sayo, she used to be my fav by a long shot but . . . look at this Kokoro. She reminds me of Pirate Umi who I love and cherish and who has yet to come home (pls), I can't say whose dress I like more but Kokoro's card is just. So full of life. The way she's hanging off the rope ladder and twisting around, braids flying, Michelle monocular raised to her eye . . . and there's seagulls flying behind her and the Michelle bandanna and Michelle sail?? I love? The whole scene is so bright and happy and so Kokoro

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Day 27: Favourite 2☆

Reason #387523937573 for death by fictional characters: this card

I don't even like Lisa's design much usually (blasphemy, I know) but Lisa with either a ponytail or her hair down will never fail to slay me on the spot. The details on her dress (the red belt/sash? looks particularly nice), her expression, her pose, the braid in her hair, the teardrop earrings . . . everything about this card is sleek and perfect and I have feelings

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Day 25: Favourite popular ship

I'm not too fond of most popular Bandori ships, which is still kinda weird to me because before idols/band girls/stage girls came into my life I'd never had a problem with shipping what other people shipped? Maybe not being actually involved in fandom until then (I read things occasionally but never participated) was part of it, idk but TsuguSayo is a good ship!

I'm pretty sure other people have said all there is to be said about how supportive they are of each other, how they met (or properly interacted I suppose) and immediately clicked, how they're like-minded hard workers but opposites in demeanour. That perfectly balanced 'similar but different' dynamic they have is a real weakness of mine and I'm usually partial to any ship if it ticks that box.

I also fell into TsuguSayo headfirst before their event came to EN and the fandom was too inundated with them (which isn't bad, it's just kind of a lot), so that may have been a factor too

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Day 24: Favourite overall vocals

I know.

"Tsubame you biased fool you're not basing your choice on musical elements alone—"

I KNOW. LET ME EXPLAIN MYSELF. Look, like with Kasumi, I didn't really like Arisa's voice either at first, you can't tell me I like it now purely because of best girl influence hhh. I watched the anime a couple of days after getting the game so really my first experience of hearing her sing was in Ep 11's unaccompanied Mae e Susume (yeah Sing Girls was the ED but I didn't pay attention to the solos), aka the best scene imo, but y'know, it was rough, because it was supposed to sound rough. Then I went and listened to Su-Suki Nanka Janai, which was an okay song until it grew on me. My first impression of Arisa's voice was just . . . "Yeah. Typical, cutesy. Probably a closet idol."

That changed when I started greedily consuming all the live footage I could find, as you do. I liked her seiyuu's stage presence, but more importantly—that one solo in HashiKimi acoustic. So soft and pretty?? Lovely dynamics? To no one's surprise, I hunted down more of Ayasa's work and gave my entire soul to her. So . . . I guess you could say this is more Ayasa's doing than Arisa's lmao.

Those solo bits where Arisa's voice sometimes catches or wavers, which I usually don't like? I thought it was a seiyuu quirk at first, not a character quirk, but as I found, Ayasa doesn't sing like that in other roles. As Kaoruko from Revue Starlight, she's smooth and lilting and flirtatious as heck (this is turning into Ayasa lovemail but I'm in love with this particular song, it's a duet but yeah).

Anyway the point is, Ayasa purposely makes Arisa sound awkward and sort of repressed and I've come to adore it after knowing it's intentional. I mean she does genuinely have a nice voice, it's just people wouldn't usually pick hers as a fav so I felt compelled to explain further? That's all I will shut up now

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Day 23: Favourite main vocals

If you'd asked me this when I was just getting into Bandori I'd have said Yukina for sure. We were in the middle of A Song Unfinished and people were picking LOUDER left, right and centre, not to mention it was playing on the event page. Yukina sounded great and LOUDER suited her voice especially well. I didn't like Kasumi's voice at all. Yes! BanG Dream implanted itself in my head and all I could think of was how shrill and grating she sounded.

Who knew she'd become my fav all these months later? Really though, whether you like Kasumi's voice or not, I think we can all agree on one thing: this girl sings her heart out. She's energetic, she's passionate and tender . . . she's so, so expressive. Yet her heightened emotions never impede the flow of her singing, only add to it (lumpy, uneven phrasing is a huge pet peeve of mine, so even if someone is more technically sound otherwise, if their singing doesn't flow well, it's still . . . eh).

You can see why Aimin had trouble with the signature Kasumi vocals in the beginning, but as she said herself (I don't remember where exactly), she eventually figured out a good way to use her voice. I'm no expert but she does sound less strained to me in more recent songs? Maybe part of it's just me getting used to how she sings but I love listening to her now.

Yukina and Kokoro are very close behind her though! It's just . . . Kasumi's range of expression, guys

okusawamiikun’s 30 Day Challenge!

Day 21: Most relatable character

It's actually not Sayo, or not just Sayo at least. I definitely have more in common with Arisa and Rinko, but since I'm incapable of talking about my faves without going into how I relate to them I've already covered this topic with them previously. Besides, Sayo is a fav too, just not my number 1 in Roselia because Rinko exists, and I feel like I need to put that out there.

The thing is though, I don't actually have much in common with Sayo at all. There are characters I'm much more similar to but don't relate to as strongly, like Kanon. Does that make sense? I do relate to Kanon's indecisiveness, horrible sense of direction and her wanting to give up on her instrument but that's more on a surface level, while the few things about Sayo that resonate with me broke into my house one day and punched me repeatedly in the windpipe with the Spider-Man meme. Sayo shot from somewhere at the bottom of my list right into the top 5.

It was the TsuguSayo story that did it, but it had help from the Hikawa events. Sayo learning to bake is literally me trying to do anything. Using a new program? Give me instructions. Going into a new building? Where's the room, no one told me you had to take the stairs up and then down again, where does this door lead, am I allowed in this corridor, how do you physically open this door?? You get the gist. I don't have a flexible bone in my body. I need to be told exactly what to do or else I will panic and implode. Yet Sayo is respected, looked up to, because of her attention to detail. She holds her head up high and admits to her need for things to be specific, because that's okay. It doesn't mean she's stupid, which is something I need to accept when it comes to myself.

There's her inferiority complex and jealousy too. I don't express those things exactly like she does when Hina outshines her, but she's written so well that you immediately recognise what she's feeling because chances are you've felt it before, whether the circumstances were similar or totally different.

Interesting that the characters I find the most relatable are the ones on the Hanasakigawa student council when I've never had or wanted anything to do with student councils in my life

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Day 22: Favourite beatmap

I like fast beatmaps with straightforward rhythms that I don't have to pay a lot of attention to so I can just sit back and let my fingers do the thing. Songs with random hard bits mixed in with parts where the notes are super spread out make me tense up and dotted rhythms/syncopation are the bane of my existence (you have no idea how hard I have to concentrate on Happiness! Happy Magical), so SURVIVOR EX and stuff like Asu no Yozora are much preferred. I love the flick-slide/slide-flick at the end of each of them, it's so satisfying

Hbd Rimirin!! Ily

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Day 20: Favourite chibi

Before you say anything, nO I DON'T WANNA DO THIS TO HAGU WHEN PLAYING, it's just. It's like she's going "Oh no my super secret infiltration into alien society got found out and now I'm being possessed by aliens HELP" and also her pose can indicate a different sort of existential crisis depending on the costume. Have you ever seen such a cute existential crisis ever

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Day 18: Favourite area convo

Here we have a lone wolf songstress in her natural habitat. Approach her with caution, for even the bravest have been known to quake under her terrifying gaze. And that's before she opens her mouth. The wisest action is to run at the first sign, before you and your brittle self-worth are done for.

Oh, and apparently she'll eat your vegetables for you without complaining. That too.

(They're so cute I can't . . . I never thought I'd love Yukina as much as I do now)

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Day 17: Favourite event

Mm all PoPiPa events are good (scratch that, all events are good) and I was gonna pick something from EN but this one is simple perfection. I'm kinda surprised at myself tbh, I thought I'd want a generous portion of angst sauce on my friendship meal but sometimes watching your girls hang out and have fun and nothing else is even better because it's a testament to how close they've grown. Help they're such hopeless dorks

okusawamiikun’s 30 Day Challenge!

Day 15: Favourite origin story

Hhh I fell asleep trying to reread band stories last night

Right so this is probably an unpopular opinion (?), I've heard some people say Roselia's band story is unrealistic and has inconsistent characterisation because Yukina and Sayo are established as having professional mindsets and zero tolerance for subpar technique, yet they do a trial run with Ako and Lisa and boom! Immediate chemistry, standards fly out the window because the music worked its magic.

Sure, what are the chances that's gonna happen in practice (it's a nice trope though, I'm guilty of using it and I'm not gonna stop), but I wouldn't say it's a problem because it undermines Yukina and Sayo's way of thinking. The point of Roselia's origin story (and Neo-Aspect too) is that a band built purely on technical prowess can't last. All of the band members have different reasons for wanting to get together. Yukina and Sayo only use their high standards to hide their true intentions, and Yukina comes to realise that she's never been able to keep her feelings separate from her music, no matter what she tells people.

Roselia's origin story is my favourite because it goes into every character's personal motivations and has them come into conflict with one another, forcing the girls to communicate and sort out their issues and form a bond that goes beyond what they'd been aiming for in the beginning. They've all come so far . . .

Unrelated but one gripe I have about S2 is the mentor-student relationship Roselia has with PoPiPa, for me Roselia's appeal comes from the gap between their musical skills and their communication skills and I like seeing the two bands on equal footing bc PoPiPa, while lacking in musical skill, has always been built on friendship and togetherness