Girls Band Cry Episode 13 Discussion

Similar with Jellyfish, the finale feels kinda lackluster (though in Jellyfish I personally felt it was probably the slope was more pronounced).

My personal gripe is that despite knowing that it was an uphill battle TogeToge girls gave up before the fight even begun with Diamond Dust (what happened to Nina's spirit for having a great battle against DD?). They ditched their opportunity with Miura's agency just for their own pride? And also hindered whatever career they might have as a band in professional grounds. I mean, one of the biggest messages from Rock music is about "sticking it to the man", but what's the point if you're already willing to admit defeat before even trying? Sometimes you have to deal with the hardships and just grow up so you don't have to bow down later on. D4DJ finished in a similar note of "battle of the bands" and even though Happy Ara was smashed by Peaky P-key in the last stage, they still gave their 100% and stood with their head high.

Despite my grievances with the finale, the show is still pretty damn good in my books and remained as my Anime of the season. It had solid drama (even if it's teen angst) along with fun and light hearted moments and growth with all the girls, along with some of the best use of 3D animation in order to express all those emotions and great choreography during their stage performances.

. And a note, I see that Nina as a character has created a lot of controversy and here in my opinion, there is a very thin line between being a person with very strong ideals and being a selfish idiot who only thinks of herself and Nina is between those two . She was the one who accepted Diamond Dust's challenge when the rest of the group didn't want to, then seeing that they weren't going to fill the concert, she also denied Diamond Dust's help out of pride and selfishness because she has to be right because yes and As a result, the entire group paid the consequences by breaking the contract with the production company, going from being professionals to starting over. Even the most indie band in the world needs money to live. I like Nina but in a band you also have to look after the well-being of all its members and I hope to see that in season 2, that momoka, Subaru, tomo and rupa put her in her place and make her see that she is not everything that she wants, that others also have opinions and needs. greetings

I agree with basically everything you said.

Sounds like I need to give MyGO another shot. I braced myself for typical SANZIGEN animation, but the voice acting seemed distractingly amateurish and the character interactions annoyed me so I dropped it after one episode.

@Hormigo I understand where you're coming from and yes Nina is meant to be a child-like and immature character. We've been shown her flaws since the first episode. I agree that it's necessary for Nina to experience all the actual hardships and live through the hell once to grow up and mature.

But if after all these episodes and you're still saying it's Nina's selfish choice but not the group's collective will, then I don't think you got the core message of the show at all. The show is about 5 girls that all experienced different types of unfairness in life, and chose to fight it straight on instead of conforming to the norms. All of them stand behind Nina's choice, and the individual reason I shouldn't even have to explain because that's literally what every character arc is about.

Also they are all independent women who all have autonomy to a good extent (like they literally all live alone, also professional and employed), Nina is not shoving her ideals down their throats, they all have the ability to voice their opinions and the show demonstrates that with the many instances of the ideals clashing and changing. No offense but it's actually crazy that you think Momoka, Rupa, two grown ass adults and Subaru, Tomo, two professionals with decent YOE are just letting Nina dictate their career by playing the guitar while crying haha. Will they regret this choice in the future? Maybe, but they will all own up to it. The band is more united than you think I assure you.

@cu1923 I understand what you are saying, but in these two episodes it has been clear that it was Nina who pushed the group to make certain decisions. I do not deny with this that the others did not agree, but as was seen in the previous chapter Neither Subaru, nor momoka, nor rupa, nor tomo agreed to accept that challenge, they knew it would be a disaster. Why did they do it? Who knows, maybe to teach Nina a lesson? Everything has been based on overcoming Diamond Dust, very understandable for Momoka and Nina, because they have personal implications with that group, but neither Subaru nor Rupa nor Tomo had those implications and I do not deny it, they accepted that situation, even if it was not with them. The issue. Having said this, it is my personal opinion. I would simply have liked a much broader debate among group members about which way to go. greetings

@Hormigo All good, I respect your opinion but respectfully speaking it is interesting you thought all the smiley faces and supportive remarks everyone gave Nina was disingenuine. Like Tomo literally said "that's what I like about you".

Out of everyone, the most unfriendly girl ever (who literally lost friends over being blunt), first called out how impulsive and "wrong" Nina's choice is to put herself in danger to help some unfamiliar girl in her class, and on top of acknowledging that stubbornness and immaturity, still chose to support Nina. If that isn't genuine I don't know what is.

Also they did not quit the agency to teach Nina a lesson bro that is the most childish thing ever lol. Again, Subaru, Momoka, Rupa, and Tomo are all responsible people, they really are. I really don't know why you'd think people that had been through as much as they had, tasted all but the sweetness of life would ever think it is a good idea to punish a 17-year-old girl who's just out of a smaller town and a complete newbie to the industry rather than just having a proper talk.

First, being responsible means taking up responsibility. Everyone agreed to leave the agency, that not only makes any consequences afterwards their individual responsibility but also entails legal liabilities that are not Nina's to bear alone.

Second, being independent means having your own voice. Just echoing my previous point but they are all individuals with professional experience that have been contributing to society. They KNOW how and when to voice their opinions, let alone keeping their best interest in mind while making a decision as big as quitting an agency.

Third, being mature means knowing how to treat other people with respect. Quitting the agency as a means to punish a minor that is the least experienced in the group is UNACCEPTABLE behavior for a professional and an adult. The right thing to do, which everyone had all done at some point is to help and guide that person instead (Momoka and Subaru teaching Nina about the industry/contracts, Rupa sharing her own story to help push Nina to resolve her family issues, and Tomo giving her honest opinion/support to Nina on guitar).

I hope the paragraphs could at least change your mind to some extent. It hurts to see that you would think Momoka out of all people will ever wish ill upon Nina, when she is literally the goat for immediately owning up to the new song flopping (when it's not even her fault entirely) to protect everyone else's pride and interest.

@Kimurah Not sure what you mean here. They didn't give up the fight; they actively decided to see the contest through to the end, instead of accepting the lifeline that Diamond Dust gave them after Miura begged them for help.


This was the whole reason Momoka left Diamond Dust. The other members wanted to become an idol band just to get big, and Momoka couldn't stand the idea. If TogeToge did the same thing here and accepted the lifeline just so they can save face and recoup the money, they'd be no better than Diamond Dust. So instead they refuse, they resign from the agency since they cost them a lot of money, and they proceed with the original contest and get destroyed. But they definitely stuck it to the man.

They forfeited the 2 day challenge from Diamond Dust. The challenge was obviously going to be an uphill battle, but it would have helped them boost up their name among new fans. Even Nina said that they knew they lost once she jumped on the stage and started MCing. They went in with a defeatist stance rather than try to give their best despite the obvious impossible challenge (their new song wasn't good either compared to their previous hits).

They also rejected Miura's plan and decided to go solo indie, which makes no sense at all, specially since Rupa & Tomo wanted to make it big in the first place.



Which again, goes against the whole point the series has been banging with a hammer of growing up. They decided to go with the most riskful path that will lead them to sure failure or moderate success at best and they'll have to disband anyway because they cannot sustain themselves professionally as an indie band. The parallels aren't even there as you make it seem, Diamond Dust wanted to turn the band into something totally different. Miura's offer was about providing them bigger venues and making the effort to attract bigger audiences, not changing their band identity.

Money can be recouped in the long term (heck they even offered to pay up in time as indies) so why not stick to Miura's plan and pay the agency by working with their strategy? (Miura's agency were already absorbing the losses, they didn't bother to send them a bill, because that's part of their job as an agency looking for new talents). Their resolution to drop out from the agency makes absolutely no sense as professionals (even Tanaka tried to convince them to stay because he knew they had something good going on).

If rejecting Diamond Dust's help was what they intended to do, then wouldn't it be better to just stick with the original plan?

Rupa and Tomo quit their job at the fast food place after they got the offer from Miura. Nina left the same job even before Rupa & Tomo did, not to mention that her parents were paying up her appartment all this time at least before Miura showed up. Subaru doesn't have an actual job, she's been a highschool girl studying to become an actress due to her grandmother's overbearing prescence. The only one with a steady job has been Momoka.

You can't say that they are ALL independent and have autonomy, specially after they ditched Miura's offer and now have to look for new jobs. (except Subaru & Momoka)

@Kimurah ...I think we interpreted the show very differently. Some of it is even completely opposite of my interpretation, which is very strange to me. I'll provide lines and examples here, so I'd love to hear your thoughts.

The "2 day challenge from Diamond Dust" was Miura's idea, after she went to them and begged for help. She specifically asked them to have both groups play both days, so that they can sell out both days and not have TogeToge look like they lost. This was explained by Hina when she met up with Nina. Miura wasn't going to tell the band about her actions, and instead framed it as "DiaDust wants us to play both days so that we can face off in front of the same audience" (as Tomo explains in their band meeting). Without knowing the context that Miura begged them for this offer, then yeah, this seems like DiaDust is changing their mind and asking for a fair challenge. But because Hina told Nina about it, Nina knew that simply accepting this new challenge means they already lost, since it was a pity offer after Miura begged them for help.

While on stage, Nina said they knew they lost, because... they did lose, lol. The original challenge was who will sell the most seats, and they knew before the show even started they lost, because they did not sell all their tickets while DiaDust did (not to mention DiaDust already played the previous day, to a sold-out venue). She didn't "go into it with a defeatist stance", because the challenge was already over by that point.

The decision to go solo indie was just them repenting for their decision of rejecting the offer.

I honestly didn't see a message of "growing up", which makes your statement about the show "banging with a hammer" all the more confusing. There's the aspect of facing your pasts and moving on, but the main point of the series is about not giving up on your dreams, no matter how hard it may be, i.e. the opposite of "growing up". This is backed up by Nina quitting school and working part-time to support her new dream of being a musician, Momoka trying again to be a musician despite her fear of failing again, Subaru finally telling her grandmother that she wants to be a musician instead of an actor (for which she has a perfect career already lined up for), Tomo willing to give her input again even if it means she may be scorned for it, and Rupa... well, it's not clear, she's definitely the least developed character. "Growing up" would mean facing reality and not pursuing your outlandish dreams, but this is obviously not the case. If you could provide some examples of the show saying that growing up is the right thing to do, I'd love to hear it.

There was a very obvious parallel with Miura's offer and what DiaDust did in the past. Miura even says "I had a feeling this would go against your principles. I guess I'm also to blame", meaning going behind their backs to get out of the original challenge and then not telling them about it is going against what the band wants. Doing what they don't want to do is exactly why Momoka left DiaDust in the first place, hence it made no sense to do it again. If they accept defeat by going along with their pity offer just to get more fans or money, then again, that's exactly what DiaDust did in the past, going against their principles just to get more exposure.

Tanaka says like 5 lines (using the "good" fansub): "You're quitting?" (yes) "For another agency?" (no [...]) "Was there a problem?" (It's our own decision) "Spoken like true greenhorns" "Come back in 10 years if you survive until then; I'll make you something for free". Where in this dialogue is he trying to convince them to stay?!? Did we watch the same episode!?

the show was so, so close to greatness
the 3D animation is beyond impressive, i hope we get this caliber of animation going forward

i think aside from the kinda rushed ending, the show really didnt knew what to do with Nina and Hina
Nina never got better as a person/character, maybe as a musician, but that comes second

and Hina was kinda there... i dont get her point, aside from accentuating how wrong Nina is for being so self-righteous
and then what? Nina remembered Hina liked "her song" so she's okay with all? i dont get the point of all this

probably because it doesnt matter, they didnt polish it because the show ended 2 minutes later lmao
we needed at least 6 episodes more to tie everything right, but it is what it is



and personally speaking, following Togenashi since its beginning and very much enjoying their music, the last song was asscheeks, worst by far






PS: if you like sad rock girls, with a show that actually ended nicely, go watch MyGo (you dont really need to know/watch anything from BanDori beforehand)
just be ready for the cringe that Ave Mujica is

@Romax24245 Just to clarify, what do you mean by "original plan"?
They did go with the original challenge of who sells the most seats, and they did play the concert at the end despite losing the challenge.