Activities

a follow-up on the most exciting weekend of my life ꒰ᵕ༚ᵕ⑅꒱

i've been posting a little about it on this site (and spam tweeting but shh) so i think i'll round up everything in one post for anyone who's interested, or just to share my experience! on friday, i went to see the roselia 5th live dv, and on sunday i saw popipa perform LIVE and honestly, i'm so thankful for this experience

—roselia dv

i have a lot of feelings on this omg!!! watching the third perform was a whole FUCKING EXPERIENCE THEY WERE SO SO GOOD and then ROSELIA CAME UP AND PERFORMED and honestly the 5th live footage is an emotional rollercoaster all the songs are sososo good i can't wait for y'all to see it!

special mention to kiseki! the camera kept panning to yurishii and aiai's high note at the bridge brought me to tears, it was incredible i really hope they upload it on youtube ;u;

and then yukki came out in the bridge of black shout,,, and they ended the live with hidamari rhodonite,,, this post will be wayyy too long if i type all my feelings about it out (i can in the comments maybe hehe) but to keep it brief... yurishii seems really at peace with her decision. everyone will miss her, but i'm so proud of her, and how radiant she is. she's passed on a lot to yukki (like the okay gesture oof) and i'm glad i got to see her smile for the last time ;;;

thank you sm roselia, you are ALL SO TALENTED AND I LOVE YOU SOSOSO MUCH

—popipa live

it still feels so unreal that i saw them perform live,,, in fact i saw them during the meet&greet though i didn't get a pass BUT I WAS TWO WHOLE METRES AWAY FROM RIMIRN AND SHE SMILED AT ME AND I ALMOST BROKE DOWN HOLY SHIT RIMI'S SMILE IS PERFECTION

but the live performance,,, holy shit it was only six songs but i could feel their love and energy in each song and i cheered my lungs out for them!!!! they even performed saa ikou for the first time and haiosfhai it was perfect! aimi didn't mess up at ALL and all of them were so cute and did their best to speak english to us (saechi asked 'are you fun' omg i love her)

popipa is honestly sososo talented and charismatic and wonderful and they're all so fuckin pretty irl??? they stayed up till 12am for practice the day before and every second of their performance is so precious to me... hearing them promise to come back to singapore again made me sososos happy I LOVE THEM ALL SO MUCH THANK YOU POPIPA

—overall

i'm just,,, so immensely grateful for this chance to immerse myself with the bandori seiyuus. it's only reaffirmed my love for the series, and i hope one day everyone learns to love the seiyuus as much, if not more, as the characters themselves. they're all such beautiful and talented and amazing role models, and i love them all so much i can't even put it into words.

another thing about bandori is that... it has the power to move people through their music. i went with my friend who knew next to nothing about roselia for the dv, and she was equally as emotional when they performed, especially at hidamari rhodonite. i went with my little sister for the popipa live, and although she isn't a HUGE bandori fan like me and was a little reluctant, she went WILD during the live and was cheering as loudly as me and yelling about how fucking amazing aimi's falsetto was

to conclude, i'm just... so thankful for bandori as a series. the story, the girls, the seiyuus: they're all so inspiring, and have touched my life. i'm so glad i found bandori, popipa & roselia's seiyuus really do mean the world to me aaa

p.s. if you have any questions about the live or want me to ramble more!!! i can do so in the comments HAHA this post is so long already uuuu

It’s either a translation error or she has A BEACH.

(Pretty sure she actually has one..)

Elections can be pretty divisive so shall we just set that aside for a minute and give all the bands some appreciation? This is gonna be long and I apologise, but here’s what I personally love about each of them

PoPiPa:

I may be biased because my best girl is the keyboardist but PoPiPa has a special place in my heart. They don’t get that much attention, which is kinda unsurprising since they’re not edgy or cool or eccentric or eye-catching like the others. But that’s exactly why I love them—they’re ordinary, they could be you and me, they could be anyone passing on the street. Just a bunch of girls who found something to strive for and stuck together to do it. They’re so often dismissed as generic but I think they have a lovely camaraderie that isn’t really talked about—in fact I think their mutual understanding of and respect for one another is second to Afterglow’s. Everyone supports everyone else despite Arisa’s griping, Tae’s airheadedness (though she’s really quite perceptive) and whatever problems they might run into and that warms my heart. Lack of conflict (I mean Double Rainbow exists but mostly they’re chill) doesn’t equate to tedium either because individually they’re all quirky and different and their interactions reflect that—like how Arisa is forever going “Kasumi NO” and “wtf O-Tae” but is super sweet to Rimi, and can’t hold her own against Saaya’s teasing.

Afterglow:

More of the same tbh? Afterglow is like PoPiPa but with girls who’ve known each other for much longer, who see each other as equals and are completely comfortable spending time together. Moca knows Ran inside out, knows exactly how to approach her when she’s in a mood and what to say to cheer her up. When Tomoe’s sick she texts Himari in anticipation of Himari getting antsy and wanting to visit her, and the others tell Himari not to in anticipation of Tomoe reacting exactly the way she does a literal second later. I mean. If that isn’t friendship goals idk what is. Other than that Moca’s wit is an absolute highlight for me in any Afterglow story and judging by her popularity I’m sure a lot of people would agree. So much teasing. Himari getting all flustered but not really minding because it’s all in good fun. The others being affectionately exasperated. Good stuff.

PasuPare:

PasuPare’s dynamic is a nice contrast to the above two—instead of bands based on friend groups we have one put together by an agency. Sure they go to the same two schools as everyone else but it’s still super interesting because they didn’t choose to be in a band together, so they have no say in who they’re dealing with but need to learn to get along regardless. They’re also the only actual professionals despite their rocky start—with that in mind, the writers could easily have made someone like Hina the leader, but instead we get a naive idealistic girl with big dreams and awful stage fright, and if that wasn’t enough she’s pitted against the local jaded Slytherin and former child celebrity who’s been in the industry for years. Add a boppin’ prodigy, a pro model who’s also an amateur samurai and a studio musician who doesn’t feel like she’s good enough and I don’t even need to go into how they interact because the setup is already A+? They’re so much more complex than a typical cutesy feel-good idol group and I’m really proud of their growth.

Roselia:

I love them. Too much, especially as of late. I need help (I blame Aiai and Yurishii in particular ;_; they’re still tied with PoPiPa though). Yes they’re extremely popular and that can be frustrating for fans of other bands, but as much as I love their aesthetic, they are not simply pretty goths in goth outfits playing emo songs. They struggle, they fight, they have trouble understanding each other but push through, and it feels realistic. Roselia is essentially two pairs of close friends and a twin with emotional baggage, and due to the combination of pre-established relationships, general restraint and an intense focus on music above everything, they remain pretty fragmented as a group. I love that they have different levels of closeness. They’re grappling with their own issues and all of them are nerds who have no idea what’s going on, which is adorable and such a huge contrast with their stage image. Being at the top of their game music-wise isn’t enough—they’ve got a lot to work on, and that imperfection appeals to me as much as a perfectly happy, transparent relationship, if not more.

HaroHapi:

Not gonna lie, they used to be my least favourite band. But holy heck have they grown on me. This is also the hardest one to explain but I guess that’s the point. You’re not supposed to dig deep and dissect HaroHapi’s workings—all you gotta do is strap yourself in and go along for the ridiculous ride, and end up discovering a surprising amount of heart behind the silliness. HaroHapi makes the world smile, and it doesn’t matter that nothing they do makes sense because they’re still here, right? And they wouldn’t be if they weren’t all whole-heartedly invested in their cause. That’s what unites them, that’s what makes them click even though 99% of the time you look at them and see nothing but complete goddamn chaos and wonder how Misaki is still alive. They radiate joy and their antics are hilarious to watch so what more could you ask for?

Leave some more love for the bands in the comments if you wanna