i was wrong to have skipped the original Bandori anime for so long... Honestly, i'll admit i slept on Poppin' Party, even in the game. The left-of-dial stylings of Afterglow, Roselia and RAS always just spoke to me more than the stars n' guitar's idol-lite poppiness; as it turns out, the story of Poppin Party is actually one of the more interesting ones to me. A lot of moments (Kasumi's introduction, the sleepover in Episode 12) deliberately subvert CGDCT tropes and especially those of Love Live, which isn't much to write home about on its own but when this story would, within the same series, be subverted again to slant darker, it's like seeing a still of a bird in flight, or a cross-section of what makes the narrative tick. i'm getting ahead of myself.
More than anything, i retroactively noticed a lot of mirrors to PoPiPa's story in MyGO and Ave Mujica. Saaya's time in her middle school band ending for family reasons is very similar to Saki's experiences, but more grounded, potentially relatable and less emotionally intense. (It's definitely to Ave Mujica's credit that it is so much more melodramatic, not just in being a story about the importance of fiction for dealing with things that can't just be moved past, but in that, the audience of troubled girls it's trying to reach are primed to be more ill over it in a way that reflects how the characters themselves are.) Kasumi and Hatsune both have a very different night stargazing with their relatives at the core of their self-identity. i would even go so far as to say those colorful star logos that put me off of PoPiPa originally serve a very similar purpose to the star symbolism surrounding Hatsune, which i hold incredibly dear. And Hatsune's feelings are filtered through the lens of a Gothic horror narrative, but they're just as real and bright as Kasumi's. It's the same sky, after all.
It's not only interesting on its own merits and as the precursor to my favorite story of all time, but it shines a new light on that story, one that makes it even more obvious to me that Hatsune's feelings are just as genuine and worthy of supporting as those of the cheery series mascot herself. The first comparison that comes to mind was the difference between watching Madoka Magica and then being so interested in magical girls i watched Cardcaptor Sakura. One's path is far more twisting and dark, lined with branches and shaded by the thick canopy of the Black Forest. The other is clear, wide suburban streets so sunlit it's like they're bleached pastel. But the idea of the magical girl is the same; someone so caring that her love for her friends slips around the borders of labels, whose strength comes from her vulnerability. Kasumi and Hatsune both find themselves in the bands they would come to love by following those stars they noticed because of that lovely memory. In Kasumi's case it's very literal, but in their own way Hatsune and Saki-chan follow in the memory of stargazing together by meeting at the planetarium at the end of MyGO. That scene's already dense with beautiful meaning, and on top of that, it was threading the needle of being a continuity homage. That's impressive; noticing the parallels to such a dark, intense story made the relatively lighter drama here feel more siginificant.
Even for as series i know to get more intersting as it goes along, though i really don't think this first season is any "shallower"; more obscure, maybe, and thus arguably less well written, but Ave Mujica and MyGO are masterpieces so that's not saying much. Their DNA being noticeable this far back definitely is, though. For me, it's sort of forced me to acknowledge the virtues of "less good"; as in, something not being worth my time if the plot, character sense and/or tone it's trying to convey was achieved better by another work. There's only so much time we get on this planet, so why spend it on something that's less than its absolute best ? Isn't that just a waste of something precious and irreplacable?
Episode 12's live is noticeably imperfect. Even i could tell the singing was off, but the passion came through so clearly in that, but i had to make sure i wasn't just hearing things. (Even if i were there is something to be said for an emotional attachment so strong it causes you to imagine flaws you only love all the more.) To have SPACE's owner confirm it–that their imperfect performance was finally up to scratch, that PoPiPa pushed themselves hard enough and loved enough that there was nothing they could do but play imperfectly–is immensely validating. Not just to my sense of hearing, but in the same way MyGO was when i watched it now over a year ago, and also in a new way that really can only come from my changing understanding of art and love.
Thank you very much for reading !! There's been a few short pieces the last few weeks, and that'll continue to be the case for at least the first two of April for medical reasons. Also, in lieu of a blog post, some weeks i might post a fanfiction !! You can read them here (NSFW+dead dove warning, obviously): Look upon my fanworks !!