BanG Dream! 3rd Season

This is the season BanG Dream fans have been waiting for. I'm a big fan of this series and have been for a couple years now, and for as well written as the mobile game's story was, I (and many other people) were just waiting for the egg to hatch. There was so much potential in this series, and to have it written off as just more shoveled out seasonal garbage was disheartening. It's unfortunate that the road to get here was littered with rubbish. Season 1 was extraordinarily bad, and season 2 was lukewarm at best and fell flat at worst. For everybody who got thatfar and decided to call it, it's unfortunate that they might not ever have a chance to see what this franchise has to offer. This season is the pay-off. It's extremely evident that the creators took past criticisms to heart and did their best to deliver a final product worth raving about. The art, animation, storytelling, absolutely everything has peaked this season, and I loved virtually every second. Here's what I have to say about each: Story: 8/10 The biggest praise I have to give the story this time around is how they managed to finally break free. The story is absolutely not something novel, however, it's done in such a way that feels fresh and invigorating. It's no longer the series of trope after trope that arbitrarily pushes forward some uninteresting plot. I felt like I had reason to care about the story and the struggles each of the characters had to go through, and it is precisely this sort of connection that storytellers want to create. Sure, this season had its drab moments, but ultimately just blemishes on a bigger whole. And the payoff in the grand finale is just worth it. Art: 8/10 If you watched Season 2, you'll know that the always-on 3D CG takes some getting used to. They sort of dropped the ball in Season 2, where the art took backseat. This time around, they improved the character designs, graphics, and the animations themselves! I remember early on in one of the first concert MV-inserts, my jaw hit the floor with how detailed it was. I really mean it, I had to pause part way through just so I could take it all in! They really put their best effort in the most important moments. On the off scenes, it can feel a little poor due to the triple frame animation, but they hit hard where it counts, and I appreciate it. Sound: 9/10 I loved the OST. A lot of it is re-used from Season 2, which I liked anyway, but there are some new songs here. I'm eagerly awaiting the OST to release physically so I can snag a copy, I really feel it's worth picking up. A lot of the insert songs were pretty jamming, too. I particularly like the ending theme. Character: 8/10 Like I said in the Story section, while this is nothing new, I felt there were legitimate reasons to feel attached to these characters. Slightly trope-y, indeed, but the interactions and dynamics between the cast as a whole flows in such a delicate balance that I can only describe as working as intended. Enjoyment: 10/10 Yes, I'm biased here. Like I've said, this is the season we've all been waiting for. Right from the get-go, from episode 1, this season hit the ground running, and I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. I loved pretty much every moment! Conclusion: 8/10 While I'd love to say, "if you're not a BanG Dream fan, forget the other two seasons and just watch this", that unfortunately isn't possible. Season 1 could probably be skipped without much value being lost, but Season 2 pretty much directly ties into this. However, I hope my sentiment holds: If you're willing to bear with one bad season and one mediocre season to get to this, I personally promise you that you'll not be disappointed. This season was interesting, funny, sounded great, had lovable characters, and honestly just all-around fun to watch. I'll probably do it again soon! And if you're a BanG Dream fan like me, I promise you, this is truly where the series belongs. I sincerely hope we'll see more in the future. After all, if the trend of each-season-just-gets-better keeps up, who knows where this could go? If you'd like to hear why I kept saying I loved "virtually every" moment, please see the spoiler-filled full review as a blog post on my profile. And finally, if you're an Afterglow fan like I am, prepare to be very thoroughly disappointed.

RAISE A SUILEN's SEASON RAISE A SUILEN or to be more precise CHU2 was mostly the antagonist to the rest of the bands during the second season, but in this season RAISE A SUILEN as a whole is peered into a microscope and showing their dynamic as a band with some rough patches here and there. Now RAISE A SUILEN as a band was missing a position that or the guitarist (which Tae subbed in as during the second season). Rokka Asahi voiced by Riko Kohara reluctantly agrees to this as CHU2 DEMANDS she be in their band. Rokka early on this season becomes a focalpoint as she struggles with being a major fan of Popping Party whilst joining a band that wants to "crush" Popping party at the same time....yeah she becomes the guitarist of RAISE A SUILEN latter on. But LA wasn't kidding that this season focuses on RAISE A SUILEN as a band and to be honest we get know the rest of the members in more detail than previous seasons and how they "tick" as a band while also seeing them in their most damaged states. How they tick as a band is rather nice seeing them surge in the rankings BUT their synergy as a band comes into effect in making great music, how the members gets in a bad state however on one part is due CHU2's never-ending quest to crush Popping Party and Roselia and be the 1# band and second is that CHU2 thinking she's above her band members and that obviously causes a divide in the band, as much as CHU2 wants the "best" for her band deep down. Rokka for the band seems to be the glue that keeps the band together oddly enough for the last member to join the band but nonetheless it does makes sense as Rokka learned a bit from Popping Party and wants to BE LIKE A BAND like Popping Party. LAYER voiced by Raycell though the most cool headed of the group, giving us hints form the seocnd season, seems like she doesn't know WHAT to do with RAISE A SUILEN as a band as much as she's the lead singer of it and latter we find out that she was more or less carried along with the flow by CHU2 to get her into the band. MASKING voiced by Natsume is more or less the emotional through-line of the band as much as Rokka is but like CHU2 wants the best for the band, she just wants it in a less restraint manner that CHU2 wants it and she likes her friends in RAISE A SUILEN as well as the rest of the rival bands. Finally we have PAREO voiced by Reo Kurachi which latter on we get her backstory and LA could relate to her and through this, PAREO actually became LA's favoruite character in RAISE A SUILEN as a result, but PAREO wants the band to succeed due to her highly respecting CHU2. CHU2 this season got some MUCH needed character development as sure she's still the antagonist to the rest of the rival bands but this season soften her up from the ruthless bratty half pint to the rets of RAISE A SUILEN's band members showing her that not being 1# isn't the end goal, it's "being in the band and having fun with it all", much like Popping Party band philosophy (as it were). On speaking of which, Popping party and by extension, Roselia, Afterglow, Hello Happy World and Pastel Palettes due to this season largely focusing on RAISE A SUILEN gets lessened screentime with probably the biggest band players being Roselia due to the ongoing feud of Yukina and CHU2 and Popping Party wanting to bring the limelight back onto them while RAISE A SUILEN and Roselia punch out for "Best Band" . If anything this 3rd Season looked more into the characters as a collective band than the individuals themselves and with RAISE A SUILEN needing to BE a band and all, LA can see why this 3rd Season took this route and to this defense alot of the character development of the individual characters that needed it was already covered in the previous seasons before it. The animation done once again by SANZIGEN was the same as it's second season and to be honest SANZIGEN actually did MUCH better in the 3DCGI especially in it's band lives this season especially with how intense and driven CHU2 was in wanting to crush Roselia that their lives were outright amazing as much as the 3DCGI were there. The character designs and backgrounding ain't much to talk about as it's the same as the 2nd season before it so LA doesn't really need to touch on this for this season. The voice cast is back as though RAISE A SUILEN takes center stage this season, LA will say RAISE A SUILEN's voice cast did a pretty good job in their roles with Natsume as MASKING and Reo Kurachi as PAREO being standouts for LA to which the majority of RAISE A SUILEN's voice actresses were actually singers before turning into VA's and fine...as much LA has soften up to CHU2 through this season, LA will give props to Risa Tsumugi's rather colorful way of how CHU2 acts...be it good or bad, Risa Tsumugi does the bratty half pint well. Again due RAISE A SUILEN taking center stage this season, the rest of the voice cast DOES get less of a screentime but nonetheless same voice cast as the previous season so not much to say about it besides RAISE A SUILEN themselves in which they were a great addition voice cast-wise. Ok ok, so with all those technicals done with and LA tackled RAISE A SUILEN. What is the plot to the 3rd Season of Bang Dream!, well leaving off from the seocnd season, CHU2 pretty much forms her band and wants to be the "Best Band" with a contest against the rest of the rival bands. Roselia is CHU2's target and Popping Party wants to pretty much get into the action and be noticed again with all the band carnage Roselia vs. RAISE A SUILEN is getting. ALOT of stuff happen in between with RAISE A SUILEN members now more consistently intermingling with the rest of the rival band members be it from lives or "rest days" as it were and LA really liked this, pretty much showing off that as much as RAISE A SUILEN is the rival band to the rest of the bands, it's members (sans CHU2) isn't like CHU2. Not to mention ALOT of the interactions in general were funny one way or another or interesting especially is opening up with the RAISE A SUILEN members. THIS IS RAISE A SUILEN's season, no doubt, but this is also RAISE A SUILEN's opening up to the rest of the bands and even further beyond that, softening up of CHU2 and making her opening up to the fact that being 1# isn't the ONLY thing forming a band is all about. The 2nd Season made out CHU2 as the latter but the 3rd Season REALLY did soften CHU2 and made this season REALLY interesting than ever before and though LA was a HUGE detractor from the first season, with the seocnd season and now THIS season. Though LA still doesn't agree that the band-format will "takeover" the "idol wave", but Bang Dream more or less gave itself a niche in the Japanese cultural landscape and much like CHU2 needing to see that being 1# isn't all that, Bang Dream's creators needed to know that they created their own landscape and not needed to "crush" anything to be 1# and this 3rd Season showed IT possible to have a great girl band anime and Bang Dream's 3rd Season is IT. This is coming from someone who again was a HUGE detractor of Bang Dream thanks to the dismal first season, but 3rd Season and by extension the 2nd Season that essentially was the buildup to the 3rd Season pulled off a GREAT season with this one and LA wouldn't mind more of Bang Dream!...what?...uhhh..an all male band in an alternative universe with the named Argonavis?...

[SPOILERS] Cute girls doing cute things, is what this anime speaks at you, but it's much more than that. You know, there's something about BanG Dream! that really captures my heart. I don't know if it's the VA's, rhythm game, or the songs, but BanG Dream has really changed me. I've followed Bandori for about 2 years now and I have to say, that it has aged very well. From the shaky first season to now, I can't believe I'm saying this but, season three is the best so far. Story: Just a continuation from the last season but we finally see Rokka's full potential and growthas a character. Things that happen in this anime are over the top but no to dramatic that you can't see them in real life. Conflicts happen during this show that could really happen in real life and that's where BanG Dream! finally got it right. They finally connected with their audience by making us feel what the characters were feeling. We see the struggle of an underdog bang (Poppin' Party) and 2 juggernauts (RAS and Roselia) fighting for their spots to play at Budokan. We felt the individual struggles that each person had, and we had a deeper understanding of CHU2 and Pareo and what motivated them to become who they are. I can't lie to you though, the show was really good until near the last 2 episodes where they us a cop out "everyone wins" type of vibe, but overall the story was really good and beats out season 1 and 2 out of the water. 8/10 Art: I think CG in Anime is sort of a love-hate relationship. This show was somewhat in the middle for me. There's some scenes where the animation was really good and some where they were really bad. Other than that, I didn't find the CG to be so bad that I couldn't watch it. When I first heard that it was going to be CG for the second season, I actually was on the fence on watching it and you know what, the CG was really bad LOL, but now, it feels like they have stepped it up and giving us high quality animation. I'm probably just used to it at this point though. 7/10 Sound: What can I say, it's a band anime. I actually sang along with them which tells you how much time I devote my life to Bandori. We don't really need to talk about the VA's. Just know that I love all of them. 10/10 Characters: Wow, so much character development during this show. Basically, we see Roselia and RAS's growth as they find one another in the friendships that they have. They struggled with each other, and these types of struggles are found in the real world. Pareo's real identity and who she actually wants to become, CHU2 and her work ethic to become the greatest. Sayo's struggle in losing and defeat. There's many more, but that will defeat the purpose if you haven't watched the anime yet. 10/10 Enjoyment: Really love this anime, no questions asked. I loved everything about this anime, and it shouldn't be written off of people's list just because it's a "K-On" rip-off (which it totally isn't). It's not just cute girl's doing cute things, but it's about finding who you are and becoming the star that you wanted to be. 10/10 Overall: I love this anime and I love BanG Dream!. I can't tell you guys enough how much I love this whole entire series and it has a huge place in my heart. Kira-Kira Doki Doki 9/10

I'm such a huge fan of this series and I absolutely loved this show, however, the issues in this show frustrate me as I truly think this show is nearly perfect. ART: 6/10 Bang Dream has found the capability to have beautiful animation regardless of the 3D CG. I'm also really impressed with the capability of this setting having clear locations and areas. I feel like if I was put into this setting, I would be able to find where everything is in geographical respect to another. However, why the hell did they continue to mix shitty 2D animation with good 3D models? In season two itwas bad as there was a mix of 2D and 3D every one or two episodes, but you literally cannot escape that shit here. It's incredibly jarring when you have 3D main characters talking to 2D side characters and it doesn't get better as the season continues. Why can't they just pick an art style for the characters and go with it? SOUND: 7/10 The sound when the performances are occurring are just straight audio tracks of the songs, and I don't even think the music in this season was as good as the last. The sound was adequate. STORY 9/10 The competition where the bands compete is where things bother me. The competition as a whole is really not fleshed out, and especially the ending feels is unexplained. But the show doesn't focus too much on that and has amazing plots within the bands. Bang Dream is the complete polar opposite of K-ON, where K-ON creates enjoyable moments through slow, detailed scenes. Bang Dream is very intense in terms of how fast the story progresses, but its more of a roller coaster that's thrilling to ride rather than a rushed experience. CHARACTER 10/10 One of the characters is a dick, but I REALLY LOVE ALL of these characters. Bang Dream could have these characters doing literally nothing and I would love it. ENJOYMENT 10/10 OVERALL 9/10 Watch if you like bang dream. If you don't, try the series out.

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