Disclaimer: This review won't tackle through the individual contents of the anime, but is instead a general overview.
To start things off with Bang Dream! (From this point, will now be called Bandori) Season 3, I'd like to give my short overview on both Season 1 and Season 2.
Season 1 for Bandori was more or less a test run. It did the job of introducing the main cast and some of their songs and all in all, it told the story of the main band, Poppin' Party, quite adequately, but the inherent problem with Season 1 is the fact that it did only that, which is
...
sad to say, lacking in a lot of ways. My rating for Season 1 is a solid 5/10.
Then Season 2 came, which heavily improved on a lot of aspects. Weirdly enough despite the extreme change in art, I'd say Season 2 wins more when it came to catching the characters' unique expressions and mannerisms. But what made Season 2 a huge standout compared to Season 1 is the shift from focusing only on the main band to including everyone else and ultimately capturing the biggest charm point of the Bandori series, the characters and their bands. Season 2 felt like an actual anime with an actual story to follow instead of being a "test run" of sorts. A solid 7/10 for me.
Which now brings us to the most recent season as of this review, Season 3, and needless to say, it's a huge, huge step up from its predecessors.
It took what made Season 2 good and emphasized more on that point. I'd argue that it's a bit unfair to give Season 2 a rating of only 7 when it's pretty much setting up for Season 3, but regardless, it helped elevate the following Season.
And damn, did it elevate, way more than it deserves to, even.
By the end of the day, Bandori is about a group of cute girls with fairly big dreams, which they want to achieve together, as a group. Sounds familiar, right?
...You'd think that's all it would offer, and honestly, if that's all this show had, this would still be an alright standard SoL about cute girls doing cute things.
But no, this show not only offered that charm delivered by other anime of similar natures, it also showcased the reality of being a band in a world where you're competing with other equally dedicated groups and things won't always go the way you'd want them to. Not only for our main band, but for the other bands as well.
Season 2 is very notable for its drama and this Season also picked up on that. I'd say that Season 1 was about simple beginnings, while Season 2 was about improving, not only in the context of the actual quality of the series, but with the characters themselves. So where does Season 3 fall under?
I'd say that Season 3's primary focus is on the three bands: Raise A Suilen, Roselia, and of course, Poppin' Party.
Season 3 showcased Season 1's simple premise of beginnings and took it a step further, by adding a tinge of logical reasonings between the interactions of each character with one another. This is where the band, Raise A Suilen, finally comes together.
It also showcased Season 2's premise of improvement. No matter how skilled one is, it doesn't always mean you'll be on the top. Roselia finds an actual opposition with RAS, which was showcased already in Season 2. Despite being arguably the most skilled band in the entirety of the series, even Roselia found improvement within this season.
And lastly, Season 3. As mentioned, it not only featured the best of its predecessors, it also has one key factor, the culmination of everything from the very start.
From Kasumi discovering her guitar, and ultimately Popipa, in the first Season to their internal rifts in Season 2, due to the untimely introduction of RAS.
Popipa has been through so much in the anime, and to see them being thought of as an adversary by even Roselia and RAS, just goes to show, that everything they've gone through, all the positives and all the negatives included, weren't for naught.
Popipa stands firm as one of the best bands in the series and Season 3 beautifully ties together the emotions that have been built up not only by the story, not only by the characters, and not only by the music, but by the fans themselves. To most viewers who have stuck around to even come this far, it's all worth it and to those who are still wondering, trust me, Season 3 is absolutely worth it to even go through the arguably bad first season. It's not exactly rare for these kinds of anime to draw on such warmth within one's own heart but to have an actual quality story to go along with it, now that's rare.
This season most likely won't be the final but if I'm being honest, this may as well be. They'll have to do a lot to top this.
From the art, to the story, and of course, to the music, the entirety of the Bang Dream! series is, as Hina would say: "Boppin'!"
Jun 16, 2020
BanG Dream! 3rd Season
(Anime)
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Disclaimer: This review won't tackle through the individual contents of the anime, but is instead a general overview.
To start things off with Bang Dream! (From this point, will now be called Bandori) Season 3, I'd like to give my short overview on both Season 1 and Season 2. Season 1 for Bandori was more or less a test run. It did the job of introducing the main cast and some of their songs and all in all, it told the story of the main band, Poppin' Party, quite adequately, but the inherent problem with Season 1 is the fact that it did only that, which is ... |
