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Sakurazuka
Jan 24, 2004

NANI?

Her cover of Mr Tambourine Man goes viral

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Terry van Feleday
Jun 6, 2010

Free Your Mind

Mons Hubris posted:

This show is better than it has any right to be. Every episode is super dramatic but somehow it doesn’t feel sappy even when the whole band is jammin out while ugly crying.
It works so hard to earn the immense emotional charge needed to unload something like this convincingly. I remember them trying to do the big collective ugly cry episode back in bandori S2 and it not feeling earned at all, I actually quite detested that one because I just didn't share the characters' mental space & feelings. It feels like they learned from that and this time constructed the entire episode around the growing urgency of Tomori's feelings coming through more and more. The editing slowly getting more rapid to carry the momentum of the song growing more intense even through non-performance scenes, the largely static camera finally fully unlocking into 3D space the moment Anon reaches down and grabs Soyo's arm, going into these grand dramatic sweeps during the performance that nevertheless let it be shot like an intimate conversation between the bandmembers...
And within these extremely tight structural & pacing constraints it has to juggle scores of moving parts in the writing just to short-term patch up all the links in the relationship hell chart. Setting their ambitions this high and then executing perfectly, it's wild that the show gets to just keep on having absolute showstopper episodes. I was genuinely kind of a mess after this one

Endorph
Jul 22, 2009

i love how neither soyo nor anon got forgiven for their mistakes or flaws or got like, 'fixed,' the resolution for both of them was just realizing theyre hosed up and that the people they care about have issues too.

Tabletops
Jan 27, 2014

anime
Really loved this episode but the little voice in the back of my head during that scene saying

“anon (and really all of them except raana I guess) is way too bad/new at guitar to play by ear/improv like that”

Wish I could turn that part of my brain off for poo poo like that

Mons Hubris
Aug 29, 2004

fanci flup :)


Tabletops posted:

Really loved this episode but the little voice in the back of my head during that scene saying

“anon (and really all of them except raana I guess) is way too bad/new at guitar to play by ear/improv like that”

Wish I could turn that part of my brain off for poo poo like that

In normal circumstances yes but they were being compelled by the power of emotion

Fangz
Jul 5, 2007

Oh I see! This must be the Bad Opinion Zone!
Ah but the scene with the bandages imply that Anon was secretly practicing. Also, perhaps she had a chance to rehearse after Tomori recruited her.

SatoshiMiwa
May 6, 2007


Official Music video of the song from last episode. It's ....a lot and good

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJ-OebTVyvk

SatoshiMiwa fucked around with this message at 04:03 on Aug 19, 2023

Endorph
Jul 22, 2009

SatoshiMiwa posted:

Official Music video of the song from last episode. It's ....a lot and good

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJ-OebTVyvk
i love how the characters are drawn in different styles and then unify into tomoris artstyle

Agronox
Feb 4, 2005
Ahhhhh this is so good. Watched all ten episodes over the weekend. A few thoughts.
  • I'm glad you don't really need to know anything else about the franchise to enjoy this (because I don't). I mean, I get the feeling Sakiko's friend matters from elsewhere but fine, what she does here is easy enough to follow.

  • The director here did a great job. If you've got a CGI anime, might as well take advantage of easy pans and unusual camera angles. They were used to good effect, particularly in episode 7, where you could just feel the pre-concert dread.

  • Why is Soyo getting Gendo Ikari poses and like, film noir villain lighting? Oh.

  • Re-watching the recent eps it's funny just how much Taki is a wrecking ball. Soyo might've forgiven singing Spring Sunlight, but she won't forgive Taki saying "who cares" when told that it hurt Sakiko's feelings. And then her kinda cruel indifference leads to Anon walking out. Great job dumbass!

  • It's just... incredibly well done how everything culminates in episode 10. Soyo was right about one thing: the band had a giant Sakiko-shaped hole in it, just a total absence of any leadership. Crychic disintegrated, and MyGO dissolved into thin air; but then Tomori rebuilds it, step by step, one member at a time. If Crychic was Sakiko's band, MyGO is Tomori's now. And if there's any major conflict left in the remaining episodes, other than discovering Sakiko's Special Secret, I expect it will be her coming to terms with that fact.

  • It's established really early on that Tomori nearly enters a fugue state when she's singing live, and I'm glad that it pays off here, where she gives the entire performance with her back to the audience. lol

  • Utakotoba is good, and amazing in episode 10, but does it remind anyone else of this in the beginning:

KariOhki
Apr 22, 2008
Episode 11 is the most lighthearted one so far, but without going wildly off into the fields with the overall vibes. Soyo's detachment (whether real or faked) the entire time until the end was great.

And finally some tidbits on Rana, dropping some backstory in a scene and then going to sleep as cats do.

Allarion
May 16, 2009

がんばルビ!
Rana's whole backstory about her grandma is a S1 reference which caught me off guard. Not necessary to know the full context since Rana's explanation is essentially it, just an unexpected lore connection.

Fangz
Jul 5, 2007

Oh I see! This must be the Bad Opinion Zone!
Lmao this band is just one big gay disaster (+cat)

Omnicrom
Aug 3, 2007
Snorlax Afficionado


Fangz posted:

Lmao this band is just one big gay disaster (+cat)

Oh boy is it. And the cast trying to domesticate Rana with sweets was hilarious, especially because it semi-worked.

Sindai
Jan 24, 2007
i want to achieve immortality through not dying
Taki food training Rana :3:

Agronox
Feb 4, 2005
Soyo: ugly crying
Anon: ugly crying
Taki: ugly crying
Tomori: ugly crying

Ranna: takes a large sip of water

Terry van Feleday
Jun 6, 2010

Free Your Mind
I'm glad that even once the big emotional stuff is sort of settled our girls continue to be a bunch of ramshackle messes

Misc thoughts: Of course Anon designed their goofy denim costumes, should've seen that one coming (Raana doing some impromptu fashion design is a fun twist though)

it's oddly sweet that Anon kept Tomori's note from their aquarium date

Every look Soyorin (lol) shot Anon was pure gold

Sindai
Jan 24, 2007
i want to achieve immortality through not dying
Anon's costume/photo imagination becoming more self-centered each iteration was a great gag too

Endorph
Jul 22, 2009

i like that soyo's 'growth' has led to her being more openly pissy. shes a better person because shes now openly meaner

Endorph
Jul 22, 2009

im definitely getting a vibe we're getting a s2 from the sakiko/mutsumi/etc perspective though. probably those two forming a new band with the other side characters? its very conspicuous that we have a bunch of characters who arent in the game but have main character quality cg models (instead of the more obviously background character models afforded to, say, anon and tomori's classmates)

SatoshiMiwa
May 6, 2007


I would not be shocked that we get An Ave Mujica anime announced afterwards to cover that story

Big Leg
May 22, 2020

a corpse is talking
i like how we went from tomori spending an entire episode doing spoken word performances and confronting all of her friends to her sleeping through 90% of the episode.

SatoshiMiwa
May 6, 2007


Anon Tokyo is an amazing band name why do people hate it :(

Omnicrom
Aug 3, 2007
Snorlax Afficionado


SatoshiMiwa posted:

Anon Tokyo is an amazing band name why do people hate it :(

Because MyGo fits with the theme of the series :colbert:.

Also because it's Tomori's Band. It should be Tomori Tokyo.

snackcakes
May 7, 2005

A joint venture of Matsumura Fishworks and Tamaribuchi Heavy Manufacturing Concern

Omnicrom posted:

Because MyGo fits with the theme of the series :colbert:.

Also because it's Tomori's Band. It should be Tomori Tokyo.

tokyo tomori - those kids missed their chance at a jojo's reference

Fangz
Jul 5, 2007

Oh I see! This must be the Bad Opinion Zone!
Oooh, it was just pointed out to me that Anon had a panda band-aid. (And Taki is noted for really liking pandas)



What does this meaaan???

EDIT:

Also, I missed this

https://twitter.com/ForrevaEiEn/status/1675511931678113792

Fangz fucked around with this message at 16:55 on Aug 26, 2023

Endorph
Jul 22, 2009

sad that the songs arent subbed in the official subs because this bit from the ed feels, very thematic

KariOhki
Apr 22, 2008
I need to stew on the last bits of episode 12 a bit more before posting about it fully but (spoilers for ep 12 and outside-of-the-anime things) curious how people who aren't as into the franchise are seeing this part - I knew it was coming in some amount having gone to Ave Mujica's 0th live and following their ARG back in the spring and all the character matching based on art that's happened

Also next week is a recap/digest episode, and episode 13 (final) should air on 9/14.

Endorph
Jul 22, 2009

KariOhki posted:

I need to stew on the last bits of episode 12 a bit more before posting about it fully but (spoilers for ep 12 and outside-of-the-anime things) curious how people who aren't as into the franchise are seeing this part - I knew it was coming in some amount having gone to Ave Mujica's 0th live and following their ARG back in the spring and all the character matching based on art that's happened

Also next week is a recap/digest episode, and episode 13 (final) should air on 9/14.
i was into the franchise when it launched but i havent kept up with the recent stuff outside of the anime - i think it works fairly well? they've seeded these characters in enough that its pretty obvious something was gonna happen with them, and it tracks with what we know of mutsumi and sakiko's characters.

also soyo got to continue being the worst.

Agronox
Feb 4, 2005
She is such a dork she's great.



I'm glad she got to do the title drop

Fangz
Jul 5, 2007

Oh I see! This must be the Bad Opinion Zone!
Seems like we're lining up for a second season then, with Sakiko's band of toxic sickos

Terry van Feleday
Jun 6, 2010

Free Your Mind
The concert was fun enough and I'm happy for our girls that it went well but I adored the sudden total genre shift into Nyamu and Saki doing supervillain negotiation posturing at each other

Endorph
Jul 22, 2009

yeah i wasnt sure about the possibility of an ave mujica anime but after that scene i really want one

Agronox
Feb 4, 2005
Is giving someone cucumbers in a chocolate bag some kind of big diss? Feels like I missed something

Mons Hubris
Aug 29, 2004

fanci flup :)


Are we going to find out why Sakiko blew up the first band only to immediately start another? Or is it just that Tomori/Taki/Soyo weren’t already famous enough or something?

Omnicrom
Aug 3, 2007
Snorlax Afficionado


Mons Hubris posted:

Are we going to find out why Sakiko blew up the first band only to immediately start another? Or is it just that Tomori/Taki/Soyo weren’t already famous enough or something?

I suspect if there is a follow-up season for Ave Mujica that will be a central question, alternately it might be revealed in the finale for this show.

We don't really know much about Sakiko given the perspective of the show, but from what we see of her it doesn't seem like she blew off Crychic casually or even necessarily by her own choice. Right at the cold open of the series she shows up to rehearsal after being missing for a day, soaking wet to break up the band. That is not normal behavior. Later when we learn her history with Tomori we learn she wanted to start the band because she met Tomori, who she knew full well wasn't some famous person. She also herself scouted out Taki and Soyo so if them "not being famous enough" was the problem it wasn't when she started Crychic. I also point out that in episode 7 it looked like she was having a genuine emotional breakdown after MyGO played her old song, whatever happened that wound is still way more raw than she lets it show.

Everything we know about her and Crychic points to there being something going on that kept Sakiko from staying with the band, and possibly even from actually explaining why she had to leave. It was mentioned Ave Mujica's stage outfit has really heavy face-obscuring makeup and that might be for some in-universe reason. As of now we don't know.

SatoshiMiwa
May 6, 2007


Concert was great but I adored all the pre-concert stuff including Anon constantly wondering if the song was done. Just captured the nervous energy I imagine all bands go through before concerts at some point

Terry van Feleday
Jun 6, 2010

Free Your Mind

Agronox posted:

Is giving someone cucumbers in a chocolate bag some kind of big diss? Feels like I missed something
Nah, Mutsumi really really likes cucumbers (we always see her caring for the cucumber patch at school, her PFP is a cucumber flower, etc) and so to her a gift of those is far more earnest & heartfelt than actual chocolates would've been, and the reason Soyo exploded at her like that is just that Soyo had a lot of wires crossed at that moment; frankly we could spend some time unpacking everything that happened inside her in that few-second span

SatoshiMiwa
May 6, 2007


Soyo needing time to still unpack her emotions and the poo poo she went through but not realizing that probably Mutsumi has the same things happening to her is 100% on point for teenagers

Tabletops
Jan 27, 2014

anime
I mean it’d be helpful if she was capable of speaking

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Omnicrom
Aug 3, 2007
Snorlax Afficionado


Again, teenagers.

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