With it being a tie between Poppin’Party and Raise a Suilen for the finals, the committee decided to let all three bands play in the finals anyway. So with the big performance coming up, all the bands are preparing while also coming together.
This episode was really simple in that all it was were the three bands preparing for the concert. It sure is nice to see Popipa and RAS get along and have a normal conversation and actually help each other out without having any of the hostility before, all of that hostility coming from Chu2. Now that they’re all friends they can help each other out, like when it comes to finding out information about the Budoukan from Masking and Layer since they both performed there before. It’s great seeing them so friendly together (with Chu2 present) as it was nice seeing them talk and eat together, then all of a sudden running laps together. My goodness, I knew Pareo was already pretty athletic but running in platform shoes and still beating everyone is amazing and terrifying. She’s just great and strange in a good way.
In order to stand out and do their best at the finals, each band is coming up with new songs. I thought it was so adorable that Arisa shyly invited everyone over to her place, even though they always go there. The fact that she was busy writing a song ever since all the way from the start when they barely joined the competition really shows how important this all really was to Arisa. We saw her take the reigns when it came to planning and producing their music video, and yet she was still hiding the fact that she had been writing a song this entire time. Honestly, Arisa is so amazing. Even though she can have a sharp tongue (as tsunderes do), she has so much love for the band and for her friends. She’s just not like Kasumi where she’ll yell out her thoughts and emotions all the time. Instead she handles them in a different way, and usually hides them but takes action. I totally understand that because I tend to do the same.
A character that surprised me this time was Rimi. Something in Kasumi’s lyrics for Mirai Train must have resonated with her, because after hearing Tae’s melody she asserted that she wanted to do something too. I’m not sure why she cried earlier, but she looked over at her calendar and it might have to do with her sister, Yuri. Whether she can’t come to the concert or its something else, it made Rimi want to try even harder. I hope we’ll see why in the finale. And even though they have Mirai Train to work on, Kasumi proposes to do a collaboration of Tae’s song (which is the ED theme) with both Roselia and RAS. And even though this final has already been changed around, the song will still happen. It should be pretty exciting!
One thing I totally didn’t expect but was a really welcome surprise was all the spotlight on A-chan. We’ve seen Asuka here and there, but she hasn’t really played any kind of role. She’s mainly been there to be a friend to Rokka and hear out her thoughts, and she hangs out with Rokka and Ako from time to time. I did wonder whether Asuka would ever play a bigger role, and it turns out that she joined the Girls Band Challenge committee! With everyone around her working so hard, she wanted to do something in her own way to contribute. I’m glad that they’re making her into her own character rather than just a forgettable side one. In the committee, she’s in charge of the posters and also a blog od the competition. She went around to do interviews of all three bands, but most importantly I think she was able to see things from Kasumi’s perspective and bond with her. From the first season, we could see that they always had a normal sibling relationship, but things did start to change when Kasumi formed Poppin’Party. And with all her friends being in bands, she was most likely feeling pretty left out. I suspect with Kasumi always being busy with the band, they don’t have as much time to hang out together. So it was really nice seeing them have a serious conversation with each other at the end, Asuka asking Kasumi what exactly she means when she says things are “kirakira dokidoki”. It’s that feeling of warmth and wonder, and excitement, and Kasumi is always trying to reach that feeling with her band and her friends, which is why she’s always so darn happy. Lots of kira kira here, and some doki doki there. A strange phrase to say normally, but at least I think Asuka was able to understand her sister a little bit more. This was a really nice development~
And next episode will be the last sadly. I can’t wait to see the bands collaborate in the end, but I’m even more pumped to hear all the new songs. Mirai Train has a pretty melody so I can’t wait to hear Kasumi’s lyrics…that I hope will be translated but I won’t count on it. :/ Also it’s hilarious that Roselia’s temporary title for their song, by Sayo, is 39 because that was her temperature from her fever that one time. That’s hilarious and very Sayo-like, but again I can’t wait to hear it. I’m so excited for the finale!
