One of my favorite things about Bandori is how it very subtly delivers the unexpected and shifts our perspectives in a meaningful way.

For example, Pastel*Palettes appears to be the most superficial group, as they're managed by an agency and have contracts. They don't write their own music or lyrics, nor do they make their own costumes. We know that none of the girls wrote the lyrics to Mou Ichido Luminous. But when you read the band story, the song hits a lot harder, because we are shown that despite their careers being created entirely by the agency, the bond the band shares is more authentic than an outsider could ever imagine. It reminds us that even if an idol group or band operates under an agency and performs content composed by someone else, they're real people and there's so much more going on backstage. Things we as fans and onlookers will never get to see. And that's what makes it so special to them. It's a part of their group's unity that only they know.

This directly contrasts with Roselia. They write their own songs and compose their own music. Their songs, however, usually portray the views primarily of one member. Hidamari Rhodonite is Yukina's feelings about her relationship with Lisa. Kiseki is primarily Rinko's thoughts and feelings. Opera of the wasteland is Ako's (and, not at all surprisingly, shows some lyrical similarity to Kiseki). Determination Symphony is Sayo's. ONENESS is without a doubt something Lisa brought about. Their lyrics and music contain raw passion. They all describe a sensation of their bodies moving by themselves when they play together. It's like magic. A sound only they can create.

And yet, their bond is the weakest out of the bands circa band story 2. They all have wildly different ideas of what the band means to them and what role music plays in their lives. They want to go different directions. They disagree on a lot of things. Many times, they feel a bit shy to offer up ideas, feelings or concerns for fear they'd just disturb the peace unnecessarily. I don't just mean Lisa, Ako and Rinko. Even Yukina and Sayo are super awkward with it, it's just in a different way than we see the other three. For a group whose tagline is about devotion to Roselia, they lack unity. Since then, it seems we've seen active attempts to improve this. The theme park event especially shows how Yukina realizes the importance of unity within the band since a few rough patches in the road really shook them up previously. But if I hadn't known any better, I'd think a band like Roselia would be able to read each other's minds, pretty much, just based on their music and their lyrics.

I don't know if anyone thought about this, but I have a lot more to say on the subject, as well as things to add on about the other three bands (Popipa especially) but I wanted to share what I was thinking. If anyone has something to add, please drop a comment 👀