BanG Dream!

It's become a common trend in recent years for an anime project to spawn an idol group - it boosts the popularity of the franchise, and provides another avenue for profit. However, according to Takaaki Kidani, founder and president of Bushiroad, the company responsible for the BanG Dream! multimedia project, the era of idol anime is coming to an end, and band shows will be the next big thing. Which is interesting, because despite technically being a band anime, BanG Dream adheres incredibly close to the idol formula. You can buy albums and character songs for BanG Dream. (Shouldn't the focus be on the instruments?) You can go to a concert and see the voice actors perform live. And it's not just concert tickets and CDs that BanG Dream is trying to sell you; the multimedia project also includes card games, headphones, several manga series, and a mobile game. BanG Dream is an extremely commercial project, which isn't a bad thing in and of itself. However, it becomes a problem when the pursuit of financial interest comes at the expense of creativity. Everything about this anime is designed to be safe and inoffensive. There's nothing new or risky here that could potentially alienate consumers; just trends and tropes that have proven themselves to be successful thrown together into an amalgamation that's sure to sell. It's something that nobody is going to hate, but that nobody is going to love either. Rather than creating something that's only okay for everyone, it would have been better if they had created something that will be at least one person's favorite. Sadly, making a good show seems to be secondary to making good money. There's not much that's more generic in anime than a story of a high school student trying to start a club for one of their interests. With that premise alone, you already have a fair sense of the events that will go on over the course of the series: In the first two thirds of the series, it'll be necessary to recruit more members, and of course they'll all have some issue that needs to be worked out before they can join, and once the group is finally completed in the final third, there will be some last challenge to overcome. But genericness aside, there's also the issue that the series is loaded down with fluff. There are so many scenes that don't accomplish anything, when there's so much that needs to be accomplished. It would have been possible to tell a much better story in much less time if the staff actually cared enough to write something interesting, but as it is, the story is generic and insubstantial. Scenes that don't accomplish anything doesn't refer only to the half-developed plot; character growth was only sorely lacking. The characters start the series well within the lines of clearly defined archetypes, and over the course of 13 episodes, they never really go beyond that. There's the occasional scene that will hint that maybe some growth is going on, but it'll never result in lasting change. This results in a tragic absence of sincerity. No matter how absurd a situation characters are placed in, it's still possible to relate to and care about them if their actions and emotions feel genuine. Here, the situation isn't all that detached from ordinary life, but these characters are so flat that it's near impossible to connect with or be invested in them. Perhaps another aspect of this is that the characters aren't visually appealing. BanG Dream relies heavily on CG for its performance scenes, and this causes the characters to look really unnatural, especially their faces. And even when the show isn't relying on CG, the use of stills and pans is abundant. Over the course of its run, there were two occasions on which episodes were delayed by a week, and it also started two to three weeks into its season. It's not unreasonable to expect that this extra time would be put to good use for making sure that everything actually looked good, but apparently CG was passable, and the staff couldn't be bothered to go beyond that. After watching a certain amount of anime, you begin to pick up a few words and phrases: youth, dreams, bonds, excitement, you get the idea. These are the types of words that make up the songs from BanG Dream - no real depth, just a barrage of platitudes and banalities. At least, that's how the lyrics are for the opening and ending themes. As for all of the other songs that are sung over the course of the show (like five?), they're left untranslated. It's probably no great loss, though official releases ought to get into the habit of translating song lyrics. Despite being a band show, it seems that the music really wasn't all that important. None of these factors on their own would necessarily ruin an anime. A solid cast could compensate for a lousy story, and some people won't care how a show looks or sounds as long as it has something interesting to say. The problem is, BanG Dream doesn't have any strong suits; everything about it is derivative and half-baked. It doesn't have anything new to say, and exists only to make a profit off of an existing trend. It projects a future for the industry where creativity is shunned, and the only thing that matters is marketability. This is everything that is wrong with the industry. Good riddance.

I decided to give BanG Dream a shot since I enjoyed the tap tap hell which is the rhythm game. In all honesty, I usually go into these types of anime with low expectations and I set the bar especially low because of how boring the synopsis made the anime sound. At a glance, BanG Dream looks generic, bland and boring. Storywise, there’s nothing outstanding about it but it isn’t bad nor good, it’s more mediocre. The plotline is definitely not the selling point for this anime. It’s your standard “airhead gathers girls to start a band/group” which is fine, it’s supposed to be lighthearted. Although, there is some realism within the show. It touches on family issues, finding yourself and there are some very serious takes on friendship and relying on others. The plot itself isn’t completely predictable, there are a few things that might leave you wondering what will happen next. The story does start off slow and a couple episodes are mainly just the progress of the group which can be boring. Overall, the story wasn’t bad but it could’ve been better. As for characters, they’re all very likeable. A variation of tropes, you’re bound to like at least one of the main girls. There was at least one episode dedicated to each member, the development was pretty good for twelve episodes. The bonds between them all were displayed well and the friendships were developed nicely throughout the series. If you played the game like myself, you will notice an absence of three other bands, if you haven’t played the game you aren’t missing out on much so don’t worry about it. If BanG Dream does get a second season I would like to see more of these characters implemented in story rather than just being cameos. The artwork was nice, like most band/idol anime the colours are vibrant. Everything else was pretty standard apart from the eyes, they seemed to focus more on the eyes than anything else. Only complaint would be the CG, it was messy. Didn’t look particularly good and they would’ve been better off without it. Now one of the more important aspects, music. The OST was nice enough, it wasn’t memorable or anything but it did add to the atmosphere during scenes. Although, there were a lot of times where background music wasn’t used where it could’ve been. If you don’t pay attention to that kind of stuff then it shouldn’t be a bother. The opening and ending were nice, ending better than the opening in my opinion but both were catchy. The songs were cute and funny, the voices were raw which I can appreciate since they’re all supposed to be novices. The seiyuus did a great job portraying their character, you could really hear the emotion. Generally speaking, BanG Dream wasn’t fantastic but it was enjoyable. Lighthearted atmosphere, cute characters and catchy songs. Whether or not you watch this anime is for you to decide. I hope this review at least helped you finalise your decision!

"Why does it exist" is really the only way I can think to describe this anime. For a simplistic slice of life anime about a group of friends trying to start their own band, it's perfectly fine. Not anything special, and incredibly inoffensive. But fine. You can sit down, watch it, and you don't feel like it's a chore to do so. But at the same time, it's not going to blow you away. It's obvious that this anime's primary purpose is to be one element in a multimedia project, spawning an idol group, the game, ect, and that's really all it is. It does everything you expect, and it does it in a decent enough way, but it's all stuff you'd be expecting. It has heart behind it, but that heart is cliched in itself. I may seem like a broken record here, but that's really because I can't think of much else to say. If you enjoy the BanG Dream! game, or the songs by the real life groups that spawned from the project, then you'll likely like the anime. It's the characters you like from one of the bands, doing band like stuff, and becoming friends. If you're planning to just watch the anime, do yourself a favor, and don't make it a "drop everything and look forward to watching this" thing. The best way to watch it would be casually, in between the things that have your complete focus. In that sense the anime is enjoyable, but don't expect anything more out of it.

Like many others, I discovered BanG Dream! when it was a fresh app that had just come out. I consider myself extremely well versed in idol anime especially those that have spawned from mobile rhythm games. When I saw an anime had been made, I was looking forward to it because other idol anime like Love Live! and Cinderella Girls had been successful. However, this was not the case with Bandori. It is extremely bland and seems like it was a fast attempt to catch up to other idol anime that had been successful and making tons of money. None of the characters are multifaceted, and the plot itself is generic. Personally, I would stick to playing the game and skip the anime itself if Bandori interests you. However, there are many more series more deserving a watch.

BanG Dream! is an anime what had the potential to become one of the level of "Love Live!" or "Im@S", but watching the pv, i was afraid about the CG they use on the songs what are not part of the anime, and my worries become true, this anime tried to insert the CG on their songs, and it was horrible, i wanted to see some improvement in this area, but it is like they didn't even tried. The anime is full of weird facial expressions, even in normal situations, the story is bad, it rounds around a lot of problems the girls have because of their past or even their personalities, the anime put a lot of time on this, and it was horrible. You have a product, who already succeeded, if i were in their shoes, i would copy that product, anime, and i will try to make it better, actually you have a great game with a great story, behind this anime, i don't know why the anime decided such a path, but it was pathetic. Also the way they play the instruments is horrible, there is a lot of anime references for that. Don't lose your time with the anime go play the Smartphone game

gorgeous and almost made me cry. i have a lot of nostalgia for the rhythm game due to me playing it nonstop when i was little. now i can't play tokimeki experience or sparkling dreaming sing girls without near crying. 10 out of 10 all across the board. Visuals: Gorgeous omg it makes me very happy when i see them in videos and stuff. Story: Cohesive and goes well with the music. easy to remember with each episode and no fillers! Sound: if you can't hear the opening or ending without tears welling up in your eyes, it better be a 10 out of 10, or thats just how it was with me. The voice acting is top notch too! Characters: all of them have flaws and redeeming qualities. i love all of them! they're all so likeable! kasumi has her moments where it seems like her actions may be selfish, but she never fails to resolve those issues or make you like her more. arisa is a tsundere character done right. her and her bandmates fight of course, like all friends do, but she always makes sure her friends are well or having fun when they are out and about. saya is a sisterly character that doesn't want to join poppin party at the start, but of course she does eventually. she has her golden moments, and her ups and downs. rimi's appearances nearly make me cry due to her crying being so emotional. another example of top notch voice acting. she is a cute character that always comes out in the end. and tae... is tae. I can't say much without spoiling a lot. overall 10/10 i recommend. it was a rIDE but thats always good if the anime is good! ^^

In 2015, Bushiroad started developing a multimedia franchise known as ''Bang Dream!''. It started with a manga of 5 teenage girls coming together to start a band. Then in 2017, an anime was made with new character designs and story. And in the same year, we also got the Bang Dream! mobile game, which is now a huge success with over 9 million players, but how good was the anime that started it all? Story: The story is about a girl named Kasumi who decides to start a band out of inspiration when seeing a band perform live. She makes friends with other four girls to form the band, ''Poppin' Party''. I'm a sucker for music anime with this kind of story, as I enjoy watching the characters grow and improve on their skills in the band. What makes the story interesting is the character arcs that our girls have to go trough, but other than that, the story is quite simple and even predictable at times. Art: Bang Dream's art isn't anything too impressive compared to what we get in anime nowadays, but I certainly wouldn't call it bad, but I also wouldn't call it great. One thing I do admire about Bandori's franchise is the character designs, Popipa defiantly has the most natural colored hair out of all the bands in the franchise and it makes sense since the characters were based off the seiyuu hat voice them. Background art is... alright. There are some nice places in the anime that have some nice designs, but a lot of the series also takes place in a school, so don't expect anything too ground breaking with the scenery. Characters can be quite expressive, but can also have a bit of ''derp' faces from time to time. The CGI is... average. It definitely looked strange at times, but thankfully, season 2 got a different studio who have experience with CGI so the animation looks ten times better. The CGI is only used in music sequence scenes so you won't see them too often. Sound: Listening to the soundtrack, it has nice tracks, but it's a very standard slice of life anime OST. Nothing too much stands out in the sound, but what I can praise Bang Dream! for is the music. Back when the first anime came out, Poppin' Party didn't have much songs, but even with the little amount they had, the songs are pretty good! The music has always been my favorite part of the franchise and it gets better and better as time goes on. Characters: The 5 girls of Popipa might be very standard character cliches when you look at them first, but they become much stronger and better characters as you go trough the show. Kasumi Toyama is the very cheery denki girl who's looking for more excitement and thrill in her life which inspires her to start a band. Kasumi is a very standard protagonist who's very optimistic about everything and never gives up. While she still has flaws and not the best leader, you can see how her character grows and improves. Whether her optimistic personality becomes annoying or not depends on the viewer, but I love Kasumi for how hard she works. Rimi Ushigome is the shy one of the group, looking up at her big sister as an inspiration in music. The character arcs in bang dream are always so satisfying as you watch the characters grow and that's also very apparent with Rimi. While she still struggles a bit with her shyness as the series goes on, you can see how she battles with her fears and becomes a more confident bass player. Arisa Ichigaya is the tsundere. Constantly being annoyed by some of Kasumi's actions and attitude towards things as well as being easily flustered. I can see how Arisa can be annoying to some, but the brutally honest personality is what I like about her character. As the series goes on, she also opens up with her feelings more and starts to really get attached to everyone in the band. Tae Hanzono is a very... interesting character. She's the ''airhead'' of the group, but the same could be said for Kasumi. Tae is my personal favorite of the girls, as she's so unpredictable and bizarre with some of her words and actions. She is the most skilled one in the group and the one most passionate about her instrument. She's a joy to watch throughout the show. And that leaves us with Saya Yamabuki. Saya is kind-hearted and the most mature, bu she doesn't get as much screen time due to her joining the band much later in the series. I won't spoil much, but she has the most interesting arc during the end of the series which makes her a great character. There are also some other minor characters, but they aren't as interesting to talk about. The best way to experience these characters is actually trough the Bang Dream! mobile app. As you read the games stories, you really see more of the characters that the anime doesn't explore, but that's recommend if you really want to get into the franchise. (The app does have a global release). Enjoyment: I personally enjoyed the anime. I think my love for the franchise is because of the mobile app and just how much the app offers in terms of content. I enjoyed watching the characters and their interactions, and how they grow as a band and friends. You can really see how much they end up caring for each other and it might be cheesy as hell, but I love it. Overall: Bang Dream! isn't fantastic, nor is it awful. I feel like not enough fans of the bandori app give the anime a try because of it's animation, not even realizing that the anime does a great job at developing Poppin' Party as a band. I would definitely recommend the second season and game over the first season, but if you have interest into a music anime about a group of friends, give this anime a try.

I enjoyed this much more than I thought I would. STORY I like this genre, the musical slice of life with cute girls doing cute things. I like Love Live and K-On, Euphonium, etc. However, there is a lot of heart and story to this one more than others I've seen. Without being forced, it actually feels like there is progression and trials for the characters, which is something I really appreciate. ART I don't think this animation has as much quality or heart as K-On, sometimes almost feeling cheap. Any presence of CG here (or in related games or music videos) is surprisingly smooth. Character design is appealing, however, even with side characters. SOUND Music might be my favorite out of those listed shows, and if you wanna cheat, more Poppin Party and Roselia songs and covers outside the show are mindblowingly good. Background sound, OP and EDs, and voice acting absolutely works work me. Songs that take part in the show are also bangers with heavy story bangers too.

BanG Dream! didn't go out like a BanG!, more like a small dull thud. For an anime like this within it's genre it very typical in this anime climate but even then this kind of anime just can't be in the same pedigree of it's contemporaries..why?...well... Let's start with our main cast Poppin' Party. Kasumi Toyama voiced by Aimi Terakawa our genki leader...check. Arisa Ichigaya voiced by Ayasa Itou our resident tsundere and main focus of quips and teasing within the group and the keyboardist of the group...check. Rimi Ushigome voiced by Rimi Nishimoto the bassist of the group, the shy one...check. Tae Hanazono voiced by Sae Otsuka the aloof cloudcuckoolander one and the guitarist of the group...check and finally Saaya Yamabuki voiced by Ayaka Ohashi the drummer of the band and probably the only decent character in the anime. Yeah, if you blatantly haven't noticed, besides Saaya, the other characters are as stock and cliche as they already are. Saaya is the exception all due to her backstory and why she doesn't want to be in the band and once her DOES join the band...she becomes bland as every other character. The rest of the Poppin' Party?...they essentially had Kasumi by coincidence gathered these characters together to form Poppin' Party...check. The minor supporting characters are also there and some are supports...again typical but there are other bands in this anime and LA is more intrigued by the colorfully exotic bands other than Poppin' Party...and they are designated to be only cameos and other characters Poppin' Party just interacts with. The plot is your typical "form a band" and "be the best" as LA said, typical of the genre, however this anime just has ever plot beats of its contemporaries. From K-On! on how the coincidences lead down to forming the band, the band competition, Kasumi's later character dilemma reflects something similar to Love Live's Honoka in the first season and finally the multiple bands in competition have both shades of Love Live and The iDOLM@STER. The characters are no better with their stereotypical archetypes that any idol fan or "cute girls in a band or idol group" has seen. The animation from Xebec and Issen are well pun intended but the animation has a rather poppy feel to it, from it's characters to it's backgrounding. The animation is decent especially with it's character designs having a moe touch with some bolded outlines making the designs rather unique which is rather wasted on many of the main cast characters being stock and bland as they are. The "Lives" use of the CG however is probably the worst aspect of the animation, as in the CG integrated with the bright and poppy traditional animation just clash SOOOO heavily and the CG use is rampant in the almost every Live concerning Poppin' Party, LA gets it Love Live did that too but even they integrated the CG better and used it in conjunction with it's traditional animation as the seasons and Sunshine passed and BanG Dream! on the other hand has this blatantly apparent CG in full and used for the majority of it's Lives (sure BanG Dream! doesn't have another season or anything but they never deviate from using CG in their Lives, it's just a mark of laziness AND consistency). Overall, Xebec's character designs are all great and all, LA just wished it blended to it's Lives as well. The voice acting is artificial moeness in a ways. From Aimi Terakawa who yes, is annoyingly genki to Rimi Nishimoto as Rimi- ohhh LA saw what you did there- Ushigome...as the squeakily shy vocals and Ayasa Itou as the tsundere and her vocals became rather annoying especially after her thousandth tsundere quip. The only two voice actors LA seemed to like were Sae Otsuka due to her nice tsukommi quips and her general cloudcuckooness and Ayaka Ohashi was moe but a decent one and she got bit more range due to her "backstory" bringing in her dramatic vocals into play. In the soundtrack department, the OST is ok enough though with Kasumi's singing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" over and over again you'd WANT Kasumi to shut it. The rest of the OST is just "ok" but not to the point of being "catchy"...just "ok", but it's like every other generic Japanese anime pop music you've heard. You know for an anime that has music as one of it's core focus (you know..forming the band and playing songs etc.), the music should be one of the things you kinda had to excel at. LA will point out that it's themes of being a "star" or stars in general is hamfistingly inserted into the characters and plot which also seeps into the writing as well, sure something like Love Live also had their themes front and center yet they were subtle in their execution but they weren't as obnoxiously blatant as what BanG Dream! did with their theming of "stars" (Poppin' Party's guitars are star shaped, the Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, looking out to the stars when there aren't any, Kasumi herself being one of the main driving forces for this theme), in it's defense, LA gets it, Poppin' Party and by extent BanG Dream! is trying to have it's own personality by using this theme, sure it CAN do that...LA just wished it wasn't as blatantly eye-rollingly obvious what it's trying to get across. The finale arc as LA aforementioned to Kasumi's "dilemma" is, it DOES make it interesting BUT the other plotline being the place where the bands all play at "Space" is gonna get closed...LA to say the least kinda thought it clashed heavily with Kasumi's plotline (or forgotten until the final episode). Before LA goes into more detail...CHECK on Space being closed (See Love Live's first season entire goal for Honoka). One is that yeah...it's something LA has seen before just in a MUCH smaller scale, second is the fact that what does Space closing has to do with Kasumi changing herself into training herself to the point of losing her voice?...their still gonna have their band, the band isn't gonna dissolve if Space is gone as they can ohhh LA doesn't know...still make a CLUB at school and still sing songs at school and lastly, HOW can Poppin' Party resolve Space from stop being closed down, it seemed more in the grunchy owner's own personal reasoning than a "financial" problem as to why it's closing (and the finale?...NEVER tells WHY but it's still closing so yeah...feels like an almost total non-conflict)...it just feels forced and checking the boxes for forced manipulation into trying to like the already stock and annoyingly bland characters. Two Steps forward...5 steps back... BanG Dream! is like every other idol or cute girls in a band anime you have seen only done with little effort (not completely though), from the too similar plot and character beats to it's just "ok" OST songs. BanG Dream! is by all means a run of the mill, checked boxes of its genre and expended as little effort to get this franchise off it's feet. It's no wonder BanG Dream! reception has been radio silent in terms of popularity. Yes, this anime based off a manga has turned into a franchise, from a mobile rhythm game to their merchandise not selling (no seriously) to only a little to no DOUJIN circles doing anything about this franchise. Wow...that's depressing... LA says all this about BanG Dream! even outside of the anime itself as the anime/franchise is artificial and desperate to go with the trend and be popular but like LA said about the anime, the anime is a stock, cliched with none of the flair that it's contemporaries has done better with it's elements and even better than BanG Dream! has done. From a seasonal point of view, BanG Dream! was a pretty mediocre to almost boring ride, it had a "bit" of effort in it's characters but it was a slog to get through at times. But nonetheless, BanG Dream! is definitely one of those animes from Winter 2017 you can quite easily ignore and not miss out on anything. BanG Dream! is mediocre and cliched being played straight without a hint of flair to it, not horrible or appalling per say...but on par of no…

It's actually pretty good like it exceeded my expectations. The animation is decent, but that's to be expected from the studio. They ain't Sunrise or anything. The characters are all great. Though I wish they touch upon other characters a little more since they didn't fail to develop most of the main characters. I was expecting more tbh Story is good, and the pacing was alright. Music, this is where they shine. Like it's actually genius how they did episode 12 where their performance is not bad, but not professional either. Like, it's pretty realistic that they performed on that level since they are amateurs. Enjoyment, I felt a little emotional feeling when it get emotional and laughs when there's a comedic scene. Pretty alright. Overall a nice 7.2/10

To put it simply, this anime was put out to advertise a game that surpasses it in every way. The anime itself in my opinion falls short of being a great music anime however that is not to say the music in the series is not amazing as this series has some of my favourite music in anime to date even though only a glimmer of that is shown in this first season. The anime for BanG Dream is also amazing past this season, this anime felt like it was building up to something greater which is exactly what it did as both season 2 and season 3 are massive steps up in storytelling, appearance, and writing in general. (which is why I ranked sound 8/10 for this show as I know it gets EVEN BETTER in the future seasons( This anime unlike the game focuses almost entirely on the band Poppin Party with occasional very short appearances of the other bands from the game (Afterglow, Pastel Palettes, Roselia and Hello Happy World) and another minor band that is almost exclusively in the anime Glitter Green The game is a rhythm game visual novel and does great storytelling, the reason I am making this review is I encourage you to watch this show and explore into the deeper universe of the series if you dislike the first season of this anime. Now about the actual show now that I got that disclaimer-esque warning out of the way. The show centers around 5 girls, Rimi, Arisa, Tae, Saya and Kasumi who form a band called Poppin Party, this is a mixture of your typical school anime and music anime that feels somewhat cliched and boring at times however is still very enjoyable. It is important to know that despite this anime showing mainly this band that there are 6 bands in total shown in the bandori universe that matter up to this point. Poppin Party (our main cast) but there are also 5 minor bands of importance in this series (pre S2 and S3) Afterglow, Pastel Palettes, Roselia, Hello Happy World, and Glitter Green (who are minor characters in this show) A lot of these minor characters won't be shown much and if you are a player of the Bang Dream mobile rhythm game and coming to watch for those characters in specific you should know that you will likely be let down. The story is fairly rudimentary and isn't a shining point at all, if you are coming for story expect barebones basic writing, nothing exceptionally terrible but also nothing to praise or give props to. Art is fairly good, the 3d design of the characters can be off putting but they get much better with their animation in S2 and S3 so I can't flaw them much as it doesn't take away from what is being presented. I ranked character a 6 because despite the series as a whole having amazing characters, you only see a glimmer of that here, this is a great stepping stone into these characters but don't expect many major developments. I enjoy this series and I even enjoyed this show despite the fact it pales in comparison to it's contemporaries, I heavily encourage you to try Season 2 and maybe Season 3 if you enjoy S2 and install Bang Dream Girls Band Party on your mobile device to see the better parts of this series. Overall I rank this a 7/10 due to it being an overall good series and good starting point for the show, it is lackluster in a lot of parts and lacks the shine and charm the future seasons and game bring, however that does not mean it should be discounted entirely. Give it a watch, and definitely try the game.

STORY - 7 ART - 6 SOUND - 7 CHARACTER - 8 ENJOYMENT - 8 Bandori has a soul that is emboldened by its quest to discover music—and it's that initial encouragement that swept me along Poppin'Party's ride towards becoming their own band. After having seen this, I can say that while it may not be the most perfect show out there, it's still an origin story filled with plenty of sparkling and heart-pounding moments. To form the all-girl band called Poppin'Party, Kasumi—an oddball who has an energetic heart and a voice that blissfully melts my heart—has to meet the other members first, and earlier segments of the show introduce us to them. We have Saaya, a caring older sister who helps out with her family's bakery; Rimi, a timid choco-cornet-loving girl; Arisa, who is adorable because of her gap moe tendencies; and Tae, the dorkiest and most comical one of them all. At first glance, their tropey demeanors can come off as being too vanilla, but I'll assure you this. Those basic traits of theirs will eventually pave to way to some sincere development as they realize what lies ahead in their musical ambitions. Before I get into the character development though, there are points throughout the show where the story gets quite shaky. Like the creators know how the plot points will chronologically line up, but didn't put in enough effort to make them flow more naturally. As a result, some scenes—mostly the sedated humdrums—feel out of place when they're shoehorned in the storyline. And those scenes can be distracting, considering the character development here rely a lot on nuances and subtleties. It's not to say all these small interactions are meaningless. In fact, most of them are genuinely enjoyable to watch, and not just because they're heartwarmingly cute or humorous. With the constant focus on how the girls' dynamic with each other evolves through their actions, thoughts, and exposure to music, their flaws and personal issues are slowly revealed, and this is where Bandori sparkles the most. Because the show is grounded with no overly ambitious goals, the changes Poppin'Party go through feel realistically intimate. Everyone has their own worries to deal with, as is the case with Rimi's anxiety, Arisa's social awkwardness, Saaya's burdens from her past, Tae's general apathy, and Kasumi's optimism causing her to become oblivious of her own self. And it's through the start-up of their band—with support from each other and their family—where they learn that they can overcome these things that are stopping them from seeking out the beat they've been looking for. As they practice, they discover more about themselves along with the wondrous prospect of being in a band together—and it's a development that's very fulfilling to see. Art-wise, even though I find it could've been done better, the vibrancy at least works well enough with the narrative elements. There are stills and pan shorts here and there, with some odd-looking eye placements, but there are also scenes that look beautiful in the character-defining moments. The CGI isn't half bad either, as outside of the occasional off-model ones, it captures the fun energy from Poppin'Party's performances Speaking of performances, the musical direction taken by this show is mostly low-key, with soundtracks that complement the relaxed atmosphere quite nicely. The insert songs are definitely the most notable ones, considering they characterize who Poppin'Party is as a novice band. It helps that the creators chose to go with a raw live feel rather than using the version from post-production as it makes their songs sound even more authentic to the ears. From a rough and basic start to a more delightful result, their music resonates together with their development as a band. Looking back at everything once again, Bandori might have started off feeling uncertain, but its direction took for a better turn with its evolution towards an emotionally engaging story on Poppin'Party's origin. They sparkle from their meaningful development and friendship. They make my heart pound when they perform. And I'm definitely proud of what they've learned before becoming such a lovable band.

As plenty of reviews have already stressed out, this is very much like an other idol show. It is not necessarily a bad thing. There are plenty of shows that became successful following a particular format, and those achievements should not be diminishes. Look at Kuroko no Basket. It just happens that Bang Dream falls in that specific genre. So, onto the review. The story is very basic. A high school girl, Toyama Kasumi, looking for inspiration, follows a trail of star stickers to a pawn shop, where she finds a red star shaped guitar. She decides she wants to learn how to play the instrument and find people to put a band together. Everything works out in a way or the other. She finds the right people to play in the band and they are able to perform on a live stage. With some complications along the way, but you get the point. Through out the story, the main characters go through some major character development, making them a little bit fleshed out, and a little less one dimensional. At the beginning of the story they downright look like stereotypical anime characters, but to the end, you can see their personalities shine with all their flaws and imperfections, making them all extremely relatable and likeable. Even the ones that you are not completely fond of. The animation is not horrible, but they could have been able to do better. The CGI aspect is really cool looking, but it just doesn't save some of the more atrocious looking parts of the animation. What really stands out from this show, in my opinion, is the music. This is no Nana or K-On, but the music is still pretty darn good. Rock songs have always been my favourite thou, so I might be a little biased while going into this, but you cannot tell me that Time Lapse doesn't friggin pump you up. It makes you wanna do a massive workout, and run around doing stuff. It is very classical rock, with tones of pop and and musical theatre, but you kinda get the gist. If you like idol anime music, you will probably like this kind of music. Poppin'Party is pretty standard though when it comes to Bang Dream music. There isn't just one type of genre. If you go into the game, there is a whole variety of songs to listen to from five different bands with specific styles and songs. That is what makes this franchise so much fun. Putting different bands together to showcase the genres out there (ranging from musical-theatre to gothic), with relatable characters and fun stories, is something that very few have done. To be honest, the reason why I am giving this review 8/10 is because I play the game, and I can see the characters, the story and the music develop in such a way that you don't really see in the anime. If you are just gonna watch the anime you might be a little disappointed, but if you go into the game, you can just see why it is so compelling and fun. My favourite band isn't even Poppin'Party (Toyama Kasumi's band), yet they are still lots of fun to listen to. Lastly, Bang Dream in reality is not about Poppin'Party. Bang Dream is Poppin'Party, Afterglow, Rosalia, Hello Happy World and Pastel Palettes. Bang Dream is about finding your own musical preference and style, while obviously finding entertainment in cute girls and pretty cards.

If you're anything like me, you enjoyed the tap hell that is Bandori. Perhaps you thought to yourself, "maybe the source anime was good!" If that's the case, be warned, because if you're anything like me, you won't come out the other side as optimistic as you were going in. It wasn't too good. I've broken down my review into the core parts. Story: 4/10 It wasn't terrible. But it wasn't good either. Most, if not all, of the paper thin plot was shoehorned in, in an artificial attempt to create drama. Hardly any of it flowed naturally; it felt like one needless hurdle after another. This is, of course, in a show which requires little to no plot in the first place. Look at K-On!, for example, a band anime where girls get together and have fun. Bandori, on the other hand, doesn't exactly attempt to be revolutionary, but it does fall back to the same tropes that almost every mediocre show is guilty of. And then immediately forgets about said plot tropes. It was a rough ride from start to finish, but I will say that it ended on a good note. There were perhaps two good episodes throughout the series. Art: 3/10 Good lord, what a mess the art was. I'm not exactly an anime art style connoisseur, if it's presentable, it's fine by me. That's what this anime wasn't: presentable. Right from the get-go the amount of derp-frames are absurd; more often than not you'll stare at a face and question whether or not that's even anatomically possible. And when they cut to 3D CGI for the music scenes (this happens often, so be wary of that) it's not any better. I will say, however, that what we've seen from their 3D CGI recently as music videos from other bands (HHW, Afterglow, etc) look leaps and bounds better, so I'm hopeful for season 2's CGI. (Which, by the way, S2 will be only 3D CGI. We'll see how that goes.) Character: 6/10 Kinda trope-y, kinda fun. A lot of the personalities of the cast are those which you've seen time and time again, but that's not to say it was that bad. There are times you'll think to yourself, "Of course, because that's what that stereotypical archetype would do", but it flows kinda nicely. It certainly makes for some humorous interactions. Some. Sound: 8/10 This is a huge hit or a miss, and not everyone would agree with me. For one thing, I didn't like the singles. They didn't resonate with me, as I found myself enjoying maybe 2, 3 songs tops. The background music, however, was great at conveying whatever emotion the studio wanted you to feel. It built tension, opened relief, conveyed when a time was goofy, or whatever else music is supposed to do. It was good, it sounded good, it worked well, not much else to say here. Enjoyment: 6/10 Even with everything I've said above, I didn't hate it. It wasn't a masterpiece by any means, but it wasn't as if it was some show written, produced, and aired in less than a day. When I wasn't reeling in the artificial drama or awkwardly staring at a poorly drawn key frame for more than what felt like was normal, I enjoyed the wacky antics of these characters. As I've said, there were a few good moments buried in a mountain of mediocrity. Overall / Conclusion: If my flip-flopping stance hasn't been drilled through enough, I'll reiterate it one last time. It wasn't bad. It wasn't great. It was somewhere between "just okay" and "good", which I suppose warrants a 6. It wasn't what I was expecting from the Garupa mobile game's Band Stories (which were pretty good), but those alone give me hope for season 2. I enjoyed the Garupa Pico mini-show series more than this. If you came from the mobile game and want to watch something Bandori related, watch that. Otherwise, your hopes may be a bit too high from what this show delivered.

BanG Dream! Season 1 is an attempt at experimenting with the school-idol genre by reshaping the idol formula in the form of a band. However, this particular season hasn't exactly "broken out" of the usual idol mold. For context: I am not familiar with the rythm game at all. This review is purely contained within Season 1 of the anime with no consideration for stuff already explained in the game, nor in Season 2. With that said, let's get into it: We follow a typical cheerful protagonist in the form of Kasumi, at the start of her first year of high school. Fact of the matter is that Kasumi is pretty much the usual 'airheaded-girl' main character. Her actions are based on pure instinct, and she's the type to do something first before thinking. Although the good thing is that her actions didn't feel out of line, and later on, it was shown that she CAN be serious when the situation called for it. I suppose if you've gotten used to those types of main character like I have, you won't have a problem with her. The first few episodes felt... a bit rough, to put it lightly. Plot-wise, the early episodes were a mess. The whole bit with Random Star (The guitar) almost seemed comically nonsensical. Kasumi knowing NOTHING about how to play a guitar and then suddenly being THAT good after being teached by Otae for a few days was just ridiculous. One thing I'd like to mention is that the anime did make somewhat of an attempt at showing Kasumi's process of learning guitar. It's just that it felt very half-assed. I know it sounds nitpicky, but as someone who plays guitar as well, I just can't ignore it lol. Arisa as a character defenitely had way more potential than what was given to us. It felt like the series was trying to play it safe. But well, having a generic character isn't the end of the world. As Kasumi gathered more and more band members, it became apparent that each character's personality wouldn't exactly be revolutionary. Arisa is a tsundere, Rimi is shy, and Otae is a bit of an airhead (much like Kasumi). Getting into the midpoint where almost all of the band members have joined was where the anime started to get interesting. Actual conflicts were introduced between the characters (especially Saya). The strength of their bonds were tested and their character did undergo somewhat of a development as a result. It's nothing mind blowing, but it is sufficient. Although that's not to say that all of the conflicts were good. Some of them did genuinely came out of nowhere. The season finale (Last 3-4 episodes) was the best part of the season. In respect of everything that happened throughout the season, the finale puts the spotlight back to Kasumi for a personal conflict. This was the moment where our main character finally got her much-needed development, and damn was it a hard-hitting one. Dare I say her character development had the most emotional impact out of all of the girls. Because in spite of Kasumi being the main focus, other band members were also actively playing their role in supporting each other. The result is a conclusion that felt well-deserved for Poppin' Party. Though I did hope for other bands such as Glitter Green and CHiSPA to get a bit more spotlight Now that we're done with the story overview, let's get into some of the technical stuff. First of all, the songs were decent for an "idol" anime. But for a band anime? Definitely need to be better. I quite like 'Mae e Susume' (Ep. 12's audition song) and 'Yumemiru Sunflower' (Finale's song) but other than those, nothing else really stood out. The animation was nothing to write home about. Some tricks were blatantly used multiple times so that they don't have to animate the hands when the band were playing instruments, such as cutting above the instrument, having the camera shot the character from behind, etc. The flaws in the animation became very noticeable when they animate the band singing in 2D. It straight up looked weird and janky (It made me laugh ngl). The 3D scenes were way more preferable. Overall, BanG Dream! Season 1 is a decent first anime for the franchise. It feels too close to the usual idol anime, when an idol group and a band is obviously different. The plot and story feels somewhat lackluster for an anime released in 2017 (Even by idol anime standard). All that being said, it does manage to deliver a coherent story with some emotional weight at the end of the season. The cast, while nothing revolutionary, aren't too bad if you don't mind the usual tropes. If you ask me whether going into the BanG Dream anime series is worth it, my answer would be yes. Merely for the fact that this is only the entry gate, and that later shows will be much better. Thank you for reading this far and have a nice day! - EXTRA - Below are my personal thoughts of Poppin' Party's members individually. I decided to put this at the very end because it contains some minor spoilers for each of them. I advise you to stop reading if you want to go into the show without some light spoilers. Kasumi: She's a good girl at heart. Her actions are always sparked by good intentions, but she just doesn't really think things through before taking action. Her lack of brain cells resulted in some really annoying moments fueled by misunderstanding between the band members that coud be EASILY resolved if they just TALKED. But enough about that. The last 3-4 episodes of Season 1 genuinely changed my view of her for the better. I did not expect her somewhat egotistical & overconfident approach would be confronted by other members, albeit not to the point of having an actual argument. It's still nice for other characters to point out the MC's flaw that she herself wasn't aware of. Arisa: She's a typical tsundere, but as I've said before, she had the potential to be something more. Arisa was introduced to us as this sort of genius, one of the smartest among her generation. Yet for some reason, she refused to attend school more than what was necessary to maintain her grades. The main reason why she would skip school even as a genius was never properly explained. Was it because she doesn't have any real friends before meeting Kasumi? If that was the case, the conclusion of her arc felt glossed over. She could've had other, more complex reason that made her skip classes regularly. Maybe even some sort of trauma? I hope this will be explained further in Season 2. Rimi: First of all, let me say that I was pleasantly surprised of her soft voice. I found her voice quite the blessing to my ears. Her character arc started out slow with many misunderstandings, lack of confidence, stuff like that. Although it's only a couple of episodes, it felt like a bit of a slog to get through. However it does have a solid conclusion (The 'performance' at the end of Ep. 3). She stayed as a nice, inoffensive supporting character through & through. Tae: Out of all the girls, Otae's character arc was the weakest. Even weaker than Rimi or Arisa. It sucks because she's my favorite character in terms of personality (Such a silly girl lmao). The best/funniest gags in Season 1 were always one that involved her, one way or another. Unfortunately, her character was played almost solely for comedic purpose. Her reaction to the owner's 'decision' ended up as nothing more than a gag/comedic relief. She was supposed to be the one that wants to perform at the Live House the most. Shouldn't she be emotional at least? Her dreams were basically crushed and it was played for laugh. That's a bit sad now that I think about it. Here's hoping for more development in Season 2. #Otae4ever Saya: Contrary to Otae, Saya's character development was the best out of all the band members (Excluding Kasumi cuz she's the MC) by far. She had the advantage of being a 'shadow member' even before joining officialy, making the emotional connections between her and the rest much more powerful. The first moment that got me hooked to this Season was when she was conf…

Bang Dream! is a palatable experience considering its age and concept, and yet it doesn't convince me that it's a unique experience. While it wasn't terrible, it feels like this season was made without a proper goal in mind. The season overall struck me more as "we need to put something out there" rather than "let's make this engaging". Some side characters appear, say a few lines, and disappear into nothingness until the 2nd season. Kasumi's conflict was introduced in a way that feels like it snapped into existence rather than being an underlying flaw of character, and in addition to this, it was resolved extremely quickly. And to be honest, the show is just flat out slow. Admittedly, I had watched this over a few weeks instead of all at once, so some details I may be misinformed on. Despite this, I don't think it's wrong to say that for a majority of the season, much of the runtime is spent on unimportant dialogue that only serves to build on the already-established relationships and dynamics of the cast. Still, to give it the benefit of the doubt, taking it slow did help to give substance to the main cast, however little it may be. I just wish it had been done in a way that felt satisfying and engaging rather than disinterested and sudden. The musical payoff is decent - it's not Bocchi level (but what is?) - and might only get better from here. Without knowing how much source material there was to go off of, I'd say this is a successful first season which could definitely be used as a foundation for ones later on. To be honest, this season feels like it exists only to prop up the next one. Ultimately, if I could watch the 2nd season and follow along without watching the 1st season, I probably would.

As popular as rhythm games are in Japan, Bang Dream is one such franchise from the genre that is reaching an impressive new high in popularity as of the time of writing, both in Japan and here in the West, with its 10th anniversary just about 9 months away. Many will agree that the introduction of the third generation of bands into the franchise and their respective anime, those being MyGO!!!!! and Ave Mujica, are the main driving forces behind this, though there has also generally been a recent boom of ‘girls band’ content in anime so far this decade. Such anime are not the focus of this review (though I would love to write one on one or both of them in the near future), instead it being the original anime that came out in 2017 with the aim of widening the reach of the franchise while it was still new to the scene. Let’s begin. This first season of the anime adapts and expands on the first chapter of the in-game band story of the franchise’s first band, Poppin’ Party (PoPiPa). Here we are introduced to the 5 characters that pave the way for the franchise, as this anime covers the story of the band’s formation and they get the full focus across all 12 episodes. As with most shows like this, the character interactions drive things forward. The meat of the story here is how the band comes together. Each character coming into the band gets an arc spanning a few episodes before a bigger conflict involving the whole group comes into play for the climax. By design, they all come together with just enough hitches to keep viewers the slightest bit on their toes. There is some external drama, but the band hardly faces much meaningful internal conflict. Everything comes and goes relatively smoothly, regardless of how severe the directing tries to make high-stakes moments seem to be as such. It makes for an easy watch, but in the same breadth, it’s not as easy to get invested with the group as it feels it should be. The narrative generally feels too conservative, both in terms of the actual content in the anime itself and the approaches to said content. There are some easter eggs sprinkled throughout that point towards the other first-generation bands, but it is not until Season 2 when they are brought into the story. This is a letdown, as only one of the 5 total first-generation bands sees significant screen time. Though PoPiPa is the most significant in terms of the overall story spanning the entire franchise, missing out on the variety brought in by the other groups is a loss of one the franchise’s bigger appeals, which especially hurts given this anime meaning to serve as a first impression of said franchise. A lot of viewers’ enjoyment from this anime will likely come down to how they view the dynamics of PoPiPa’s members. Like with the story, it’s as peppy as one would expect. Kasumi, the MC, moves at a bit of a different speed than all the other characters, which the synopsis conveys well. She is the perennial poster child for the franchise, but newcomers may likely be turned off by her character. Her reckless ambition, bombastic positivity, and near-total disregard for personal boundaries set a strong tone that can easily be quite overbearing at times. When considering those elements in terms of the band’s dynamic, however, her unique motives and personality are the glue that keeps them all together. She is a force of nature all by herself, as her actions directly progress the story and character developments more so than any other character. Apart from Kasumi, it is the same conservative approach without much embellishment. None of PoPiPa’s other members feel too unique or too bland, and all have a decent balance of likeable and unlikeable traits. For better and for worse, they all feel like typical high school girls with typical high schooler mannerisms and conflicts. While it isn’t the most unique or interesting writing, the realistic aspects make it easier to see the characters for what they are. Introducing a character first through some tropey or odd side to them followed by throwing in a starkly-contrasting human element, usually in the form of some sort of personal struggle or a deeper relationship with another character, is the main approach to the character writing here. This method is used often in Season 2 when other bands are introduced, and is even still being practiced today with the newest bands, but I digress. Such human elements often come off as quite relatable, but in the same vein, the directing goes all-in with them, making them seem a bit melodramatic on occasion. Again, not having the variety from the other bands hurts a bit, as one of the biggest draws of the later seasons is how the bands all mix up with each other. Still, PoPiPa is a fun bunch, if a bit shallow, that bounce off each other nicely, so what viewers get here is still not bad. The corresponding story in the game is fully-voiced, at least in terms of PoPiPa and most of this story’s other major characters. Here, all of those original VAs return, and others are brought in to fill in the gaps that aren’t in the game. Kasumi is a cliche type of character that is presented in a unique way, and Aimi’s exuberant performance is what gives Kasumi’s characterization some of that secret sauce. Apart from Kasumi, the performances for the other 4 members are good but nothing really special. PoPiPa’s music consists mainly of a pop-rock sound that takes some inspiration from idol music, as all 5 members’ vocals bounce off of each other often in their songs. The OP, Tokimeki Experience, is one of the more iconic songs in the franchise and is a succinct demonstration of the band’s soundscape. Like with how relatively realistic most of the characters feel, the music PoPiPa composes is believable, being an upbeat, trendy type of music with a level of complexity that can be reasonably expected from average high school girls. It’s generic quite frankly, but what matters the most with the music in these types of franchises is the ability to create the emotional attachment that ties the music to the universe it is composed for. Due to the more grounded approach taken when it comes to the music, it gets the job done in that regard. That said, the emotional climaxes are not as high here compared to later seasons, so the actual payoff is not as high as it could otherwise be. The visuals are the elephant in the room when it comes to this anime, and not in any sort of positive way. Xebec, the studio at the helm for this anime that enjoyed good success in the 2000s and early 2010s, seemed past their prime when producing this anime. The 2D art and animation are rough, but first, the positives. The balance of colors is good and the character designs at their base fit the more realistic approach to the directing. In addition, the outfits the bands wear for their live shows all look good as well. They are flashy as intended, but not overly so. All of that aside, the fidelity and level of detail are severely lacking. All of the characters are easily recognizable by their designs, but there are many noticeable hiccups and inconsistencies, even in earlier episodes. 2D performance sections are also very rough. There isn’t enough actual physical motion coming from the characters and motion that is shown feels so out of sync with the music that it could not be any more disorienting. On the other hand, the OP as well as a decent bit of the performances use CGI, and they are easily the best-looking parts of this anime. Though it is still not great, the characters’ appearances more closely match their respective 3D sprites in the game. The frames are a bit choppy at times, but this is some motion blur baked in that helps to offset that. The motions still lack some finer details here as well, but things at least line up correctly in those segments. While it could quite easily be argued that this first season is the worst there is to offer in terms of anime produced for this franchise, it lays a groun…

SPOILER-FREE! There is just no predicting the life of a franchise. Seemingly for no reason whatsoever, a certain property can catch on like wildfire and take the anime community, or the larger media-consuming public, by storm. Other franchises peter out into oblivion before getting their chance to shine, and yet still there are some where their very existence is a jumbled mass of “What on Earth is going on?” Especially given the sometimes-erratic nature of anime production, there are some buses that keep starting and stopping. "BanG Dream!" is one such show that falls into that category. Originally released in Winter 2017 to complement the video game, the animated franchise effectively underwent a period of dormancy for a few years before its second season was released in Winter 2019. The second season itself was more a functional reboot and re-writing of the rules, as it ultimately continued the series in a new kind of direction both tonally and character-wise. In the meanwhile, it’s worth taking a look at this first season since it stands apart as though it resides in its own universe, somewhat divorced from the whole that eventually formed from it. New high school student Toyama Kasumi is looking for something that will cause her heart to beat like it did when she gazed at the starry sky as a child. After following a trail of starry stickers to her classmate Ichigaya Arisa’s warehouse and fawning over the star-shaped guitar there, she and Arisa both attend a Glitter-Green girl band performance at the SPACE club. The performance ignites the fire that Kasumi has been looking for, and together with Arisa, a baking family’s daughter named Saya, the younger sister of a Glitter-Green member named Rimi, and SPACE club staff member Tae, they form their own girl band – Poppin’Party. Despite the rather conventional setup, "BanG Dream!" early on demonstrates a narrative awareness of the genre and actively works to try and subvert it. Under normal circumstances, a show like this about making a group (be it for a sports club or an idol troupe) would introduce the various members one at a time, usually the result of being swept up by the main character’s charisma or presence. The series doesn’t completely divorce itself from those standards, but here though, all five Poppin’Party members are introduced and interact with one another early. The sense of familiarity with the various members is allowed to germinate sooner than most other shows would, so by the time the group begins to form, enough time has been taken to establish the dynamic. This holds true even though they are not all brought into the group at the same time. It makes the overall sense of character camaraderie tighter than it would be otherwise. Though as far as the individual characters personality-wise are concerned, there is definitely a wide disparity between which ones resonate as far as an enjoyable presence. Two characters best exemplify this, with one being Arisa. She’s the group’s curmudgeonly character, and easily became one of my favorites to see. Her reactions and quasi-tsundere tendencies are thankfully over-the-top enough to get their comedic value without crossing the boundary into nauseating, and the fact that all of the group members seem to know exactly how to push her buttons makes poking fun at her fair game at any moment. The story also gives her enough moments to show that, despite all of that, she still has fun and will go those extra steps for her friends. Kasumi’s character is unfortunately at the opposite end of that spectrum, at least at first. As could be expected from an overly-enthusiastic character which comes dangerously close to being a nuisance, she doesn’t necessarily have the greatest sense of personal space, and already wants to be on given-name bases with nearly everyone that she meets. Her presence produces the rather strange effect of both wanting to see her dream of Poppin’Party realized, while also seriously wishing that she would, at times, dial it back, and not just a little bit. It never got to the point where I didn’t want to see her on-screen, however the writing seemed to channel her energy in a hundred different directions that took too long to find its way. This does partially get rectified in the second half of the season when she faces a shift and can demonstrate restraint and unease. Part of this shift is due to being at the mercy of the shift in narrative tone – at first, "BanG Dream!" tries to straddle the line between wanting to and not wanting to take itself seriously. Kasumi roping in the other members of Poppin’Party reads as light-hearted, yet cannot quite coalesce since the show’s anchor is teetering on the edge of being a frustration. Halfway through the season we come across the first genuine conflict of the show, but it does have the problem of being almost too serious in contrast with more or less everything else that came before. It’s one of those circumstances where juxtaposition works in theory, yet the actual impact feels more ham-fisted and artificial since the dissonance is so stark. The end of the season, however, manages to settle into its proper rhythm – if the previous arc went a little bit far with its gravitas, the final few episodes manage to find a decent middle ground between them. The problem facing the group is serious to be sure, but feels more akin to an actual problem that a real band would be facing if they were trying to become known. By getting a cold dose of reality splashed in their faces, it allows the group to show their true mettle and tackle their challenge head-on. It therefore makes the season’s climax read as deserved. The look of the show itself is not terrible, but it does leave something to be desired. Despite coming out in 2017, "BanG Dream!" season one feels as though it came out of the late-2000s with its character designs. The compositing however is its weakest element – there is an awful lot of sunshine in the course of the series, which unfortunately gives too many scenes a bit of a glare and whitish hue. Quite a few locations are recycled, which is perfectly fine, although certain things like the warehouse rehearsal space are rather blank. Gratefully, if the visuals were lacking in some respect, the music does help to make up for a lot of these shortcomings. Though, given the Poppin’Party songs that were available at the time of the anime’s release, I do have to wonder why they chose “Tokimeki Experience” as the OP song. The track itself is not bad as a standalone piece of music, though it lacks the kind of exuberance that the story seemed to be striving for. That said, all the choices for insert songs within the thirteen episodes themselves were good picks, and the rare occasions where there was original material contributed to an earnestness that was pleasant. And “earnest” more or less is what defines the first season. In the midst of its heavy-handedness and occasional times where it wasn’t that funny, this did feel like a group of five girls who cared about what they did and about each other. There’s a kindness in the series that made it seem like this band was worth following. Did I like this season? I can’t say that I did, but I was intrigued by it, which is more than I can say for a lot of other things I’ve seen in the course of my anime life. "BanG Dream!" season one is an odd duck. It seems to keep itself tied up when it wants to let loose, and when it does indeed let loose, it gets a little bit crazy. It manages to find some semblance of balance in the second half by introducing some rather practical conflicts and allowing the group as a whole to combine in a way that feels strong. It may be at times rather uneven, but it was fun when I wasn’t necessarily buying it or laughing with it. It’s kind of in its own quirky little corner of the anime music world…

Review from a player of BanG Dream! Girls Band Party which you can download on your respective app stores (google play and apple appstore). So First off this anime adaptation was made by Xebec and i must say it's not one of the best Xebec adaptation to date Good things about the anime - It stayed true to it's source material - 2D animation - Great soundtracks Bad things about the anime - the 2D animation of Xebec could definitely use a lot of work especially on minor scenes you can see the animators be like "meh this scene is not that important so i'll draw it half-baked" which definitely hurts the quality of the anime - it's just a 2D chapter 0 of poppin party which you can check on the game in.. guess what LIVE3D animation ffs - kira kira hikaru intensifies all in all i really like 2d but ffs xebec you made me change my mind with this adaptation they have one job and they managed to suck on it

Bang Dream! is a pretty okay tier. I played their game and watched their anime. For someone wanted to watch this series. I guess it's not that bad to watch. Plot 5/10: So the plot, nothing is so much that standout. A group of girls were making the band and pretty much that it's should to. I found nothing interesting or outstanding but just some cliches jokes around. Nothing to worry about. Story 5/10 The story are okay. Good. Art 3/10 It's sad to see the arts that were poorly made. I can't argue much better that the art are very bad not that precious just a bunch of poorly animated stuffs. Background Music 7/10 Decent enjoyable musics. Mating well with the scenes. Soundtrack 8/10 A nicely seasoned musics. I think it's a one of pretty good one so far. Songs (Extra) 8/10 Meaningful and their dreams' song are straightforward. This is one of my favorite songs in the entertain industry from pop anime songs. Character 6/10 Each character has a unique character and should be but nothing standout that much. Pretty great to see. Enjoyment 6/10 I don't find it just must watch more like okay to watch. Which means it's no special.