BanG Dream! 2nd Season

Kasumi Toyama and the members of Poppin'Party—their high school band—are now second-year students, but with the new school year comes their latest set of challenges: student council duties, cram school, and part-time jobs, among other things. Furthermore, they are now separated into different classes, and as a result, their free time together is shortened. Looking back, their joyful times together seem like nothing more than an unachievable fantasy when their members are too occupied to even gather in Arisa Ichigaya's basement for practice sessions. As the band ponders over the situation, an unfamiliar girl suddenly emerges, unknowingly pulling them into the spotlight once more.

In this rising era of girl bands, Afterglow, Pastel*Palettes, Roselia, and Hello, Happy World! begin to make their appearance as well. Each band, comprised of musicians with their unique personalities, illuminates the stage with its performances. As Poppin'Party returns to the music scene and encounters new friends, the sparkling, heart-pounding music starts to play once again!

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Minato, Yukina Main

Aiba, Aina Japanese

Toyama, Kasumi Main

Aimi Japanese

Aoba, Moca Main

Misawa, Sachika Japanese

Ichigaya, Arisa Main

Itou, Ayasa Japanese

Tsurumaki, Kokoro Main

Itou, Miku Japanese

Imai, Lisa Main

Nakashima, Yuki Japanese

Hikawa, Sayo Main

Kudou, Haruka Japanese

Mitake, Ran Main

Sakura, Ayane Japanese

Shirokane, Rinko Main

Shizaki, Kanon Japanese

Seta, Kaoru Main

Tadokoro, Azusa Japanese

Saitou, Kazuhiro Producer

Kakimoto, Koudai Director, Storyboard

Iida, Satoki Sound Director

Majima, Takahiro Episode Director

Reviews

Oct 15, 2021

NotRoyce4

Recommended

After finishing season 3, I am returning to give my thoughts. I rank the seasons 3 > 1 > 2. Season 2 is my least favorite, but it's worth watching to be ready for season 3. What do I not like and what do I like?

> What do I not like?

The biggest problem is introducing 25 new characters (5 bands with 5 girls each). These characters are in the mobile game, and the anime has to introduce them to grow the franchise. That is understandable, but it is challenging.
The biggest challenge for viewers is in episodes 4, 5, and 6, which introduced Hello Happy World, ... Pastel Palettes, and Afterglow. We meet 15 new characters in 3 episodes, and there is not enough time to learn their personalities, names, and faces.
In contrast, the girls from Roselia had a cameo in season 1 (and an appearance in the season 1 OVA), and the girls from Raise a Suilen are introduced gradually throughout this season.
When I watched this season, I did not expect them to introduce so many characters, and I did not know why they were doing it. This made me feel overwhelmed.
If you are a newcomer, I assure you that you will learn all the characters eventually. Do not worry if you do not learn them immediately. You will be able to follow the central plot of the season without learning all the characters. Relax and enjoy the story. You can learn more about the characters later by playing the mobile game or watching the mini anime, Garupa Pico. That is what I did.
For example, I was especially confused in episode 4 when Michelle (the big pink bear DJ) was introduced. Later I learned that Kokoro is a naive girl, and Michelle is a gundam created by her wealthy family to allow Misaki to pretend to be Michelle.

Also, I was confused about the direction of the show. I expected Poppin' Party to continue being the main focus of the show after season 1, but there was an early focus on Roselia (including the use of Roselia songs for the OP and ED). The direction became clear in the second half, so it was okay in the end.

The use of CG for everything is a big change from season 1, which used CG for the performances only. You get used to it. It doesn't bother me anymore.

> What do I like?

The music was good, and the six bands provide plenty of variety. All of the songs are available in the mobile game, so you can get extra enjoyment from them.

Cute girls doing cute things.

I know the list of things I like looks short, but music and cute girls is the purpose of the show. Mission accomplished.

Conclusion: Bandori season 2 had a big job to do. Their introduction of the 25 new characters was rough, but doing it smoothly wasn't possible. It was okay. It could've been worse. This season has good music and cute girls, and you can complement this season with Garupa Pico and season 3 and the mobile game to enhance your enjoyment of Bandori.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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May 29, 2020

Strings162

Mixed Feelings

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:
The same, nothing is so much that standout. But more groups and running out of the idea. Also the graph for the main plot is a bit like function graph which means the starting was very nonsense completely full of fanservices in my opinion I don't like it so much, It's just not from the artist himself but for fans themselves.

Story 5/10
The story is a little bit worse because poorly made 3D but accurate. Also ... the emotional scenes are also function graph.

Art 5/10
Pretty okay, I genuinely have to say it's pretty disappoint for the big company to animated 3D not so great. Lack of effects light beams and stuffs. Just a bunch of light sticks floating around and spotlight are gradient-fill like color. Honestly not so good 3D.

Background Music 6/10
It's worse but still okay it's just not fitted.

Soundtrack 7/10
Lacking of soundtrack

Songs (Extra) 8/10
Meaningful song. Their themes are enjoyable. Each band has their individual themes nothing to expect about.

Character 6/10
Each character has a unique character. But Poppipa are more worse because of fanservicing.

Enjoyment 6/10
I don't find it just must watch more like okay to watch. Which means it's no special.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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May 8, 2019

lowlifeloveliver

Not Recommended

So, I'm not one to write reviews very often, and when I did, they were very brief and pretty sarcastic. I don't even write thorough reviews for my absolute favorite shows. But I come today with a heavy heart to announce to the world that just when people thought the first season of BanG Dream!'s anime adaptation didn't do the franchise any justice, the second season made the former look pretty good.

The mobile game BanG Dream! Girls Band Party! has had a massive popularity explosion since its release, and the release of the English server in April 2018 made the franchise even more accessible to ... the community, and I've seen more and more LLSIF players hopping over to Garupa just to see what all the hype's about, only to end up *staying for good.*

Why did this happen, you ask? I've seen many people comment on this, answers ranging from more interesting song beatmaps, unlimited song play, and better artwork than SIF, but the number one trend I've noticed is that people come thanks to FOMO, but *they stay for the characters and their stories.*

The game has 25 main characters divided up into 5 bands, each with her own story with her bandmates and with other main characters in the other bands. This makes things very complicated, but also allows for a variety of different stories, events and short conversations to appear. You can see angsty drama between ambitious characters as they discover who they are as musicians in Roselia's band story. You can see a hilarious, chaotic yacht performance in the Phantom Thief event story. Through the game, you can see the girls' personalities shine, whether they're in school, in the studio, onstage, at home, engaging in hobbies, doing club activities, window-shopping, working part-time, celebrating holidays, interacting with their families, or even volunteering around town. There's a little something for everyone, and while the character relationship chart is kind of a mess, there's something about Garupa that makes it simple enough for a new player to jump right in without needing too much background. SIF's stories aren't anything worth discussing, and their characterization is definitely more prominent in the anime, making the game's story content unnecessary for full enjoyment.

BanG Dream! Season 2 tried to shove 25 main characters (oh, wait, they threw another band in there, too, so make it 30) into a 13 episode show and make it work.

Well, it didn't.

The first few episodes feature one band per episode, with some little struggle that those girls have to overcome (usually with Poppin' Party being integral to the solution) and every episode ends in a feel-good moment accompanied by a really awkward montage of each member smiling or giggling that lasts 10 seconds and serves no other purpose but to prove how much "moe potential" each girl has through her "hehe" or "nn!" before cutting to the ending. This sort of montage is also common throughout the later episodes, though they generally get placed at the beginning or in some even more awkward spot in the middle.

My first complaint is that these episodes don't really show you the essence of any of the other bands. It's really just another season of The PoPiPa show, except with no clear plot and a thousand times more chaos. Without the PoPiPa girls, the other bands’ episodes would have been completely irrelevant and uninteresting, which frustrates me considering that each band has so much to offer individually as well as when they interact with the other characters. As any Garupa player is aware, the girls in PoPiPa are nowhere near as popular as the likes of characters such as Moca, Kaoru, Lisa, Misaki, etc. The franchise is aware of this. The fanbase wanted to see more of the other girls who hadn’t been animated yet. And despite that, we continue to be lured in by the promise of seeing the others get their time in the spotlight only to have them be completely overshadowed by PoPiPa. In fact, the only characters from the other four in-game bands you really see serving some other purpose later in the story are Rinko (given her status as Hanasakigawa’s StuCo president, assisting many of the later plot events), Aya (who helps PoPiPa with their live), and Yukina (who saves the day at the school festival and is constantly scolding or giving advice). Afterglow and HaroHapi who? Considering I find Afterglow’s story to be the most interesting and heartwarming with just the right amount of tension to lead to great development, I was kind of shocked that I nearly forgot all of them existed in this show. I can count on my fingers the number of times Maya, Hagumi and Tomoe got a single speaking line, which greatly upset me even though I believe Yoshida Yuri’s Hagumi voice to be what greets BanG Dreamers at the gates of hell.

The abundance of characters involved in this mess made the plot nearly nonexistent, and I really didn’t know what was happening until over halfway through the show. It was a perfect example of why “quality over quantity” is so important. Instead of getting a solid storyline and witnessing character development like in S1, we’re left with tiny snippets of characters here and there, never really seeing their personalities or their connection to the franchise, rendering a viewer who doesn’t play the game clueless-- and in a way, this serves as a giant advertisement for the game. “Wow, I thought Hina was adorable! I wish I could have seen more of her. :(“ Well, aren’t you in luck! SayoHina twin drama is one of the most common occurrences in the mobile game, and every player in the universe is gonna pressure that oblivious viewer into downloading the game, where said viewer will become a player after falling in love with the beautiful graphics, lovable girls, intricate storylines, incredible music, and detailed live 2D character models. This marketing scheme has worked; even my best friend decided to give the game a go after her social media blew up with anime screencaps, prompting her to watch it and crave more Kokoro to fuel her kokoro’s love for pure yet stupid genki girls.

I would like to put it out there that I love every band and all the girls. I realize I sound salty at PoPiPa overshadowing the others, but that’s not the issue-- the issue was giving fans false hope for more of the others and then pulling the rug out from under us while also making the show a mess for PoPiPa. I’d argue that each band could very easily have its own show, with other characters playing a supporting role when necessary (i.e. Hina in the Roselia story, Chisato in the HaroHapi story, Ako in the Afterglow story, and so on). I think it would be more than great; it could be brilliant. Sure, it’s ambitious, but wasn’t the concept of this season ambitious as well? At least we’d be more likely to get something quality if we could see more of the characters shine the way they do in-game. Adding in the subplot and conflict with Raise A Suilen and ChuChu just made the goal of a cohesive show even more unlikely, and it’s truly unfortunate for the franchise.

It was utter chaos and I never knew where to place my focus or what to get out of the show. The CGI art wasn’t *terrible* per se, but certainly could have been a lot more fluid and true to what we’d expect from such a show. It felt awkward to watch and the facial expressions didn’t feel super consistent, either. When one of them would make an expression like this (>.<) it looked very out of place with the style and it could have been done differently, though the art was the least of my problems (besides the sound and voice acting, which was incredible, as expected).

As for the sound and voice acting, I have no complaints. Returns is easily one of the best songs in the BanG Dream! franchise and everything about it gives me goosebumps. It’s amazing. Rinko’s new voice actress did throw me off a bit, not because she did a bad job, but simply because it was very different, and I’m sure most people agree that for a first voice acting role, Nonchan did a stellar job.

Okay, the second season of BanG Dream! was pretty bad in terms of an actual storyline, characterization process and animation, but if you’re a fan of the game and want to see all the girls animated even for a few seconds out of the entire season, yeah, it’d be worth it. Otherwise, don’t bother.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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