“Scared to Death” and “I’m Not Leaving”
What They Say:
The sky’s the limit for Poppin’Party’s rocking musical ambitions and dreams of stardom. But they must contend with other bands looking for their big break as they rock their way to the top of the charts!
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Rokka is enjoying a nice soak while thinking about what happened at the concert earlier. If you recall the end of the last episode, CHU2 asked her to join RAISE A SUILEN. Rokka immediately turned her down. At least give it some thought! Elsewhere, the girls of Poppin’ Party are trying to figure out why CHU2 scouted Rokka. Tae points out that Rokka is an amazing guitarist. What other reason does CHU2 need? She’s absolutely correct! Tae also suggests that CHU2 probably discovered Rokka on her own. She may be a bit overbearing but she’s very talented and is passionate about music. The girls are still surprised that Rokka turned her down. She’s got moxie, that’s for sure! As for Poppin’ Party, they plan to enter the BanG Dream! Girls Band Challenge. What about Roselia though? Yukina is still firmly against entering. They have to focus on preparations for FUTURE WORLD FES.
The next day, Rokka is walking to school with Asuka. They notice a commotion at the entrance and discover that the cause is CHU2. She still hasn’t given up on scouting Rokka! She hands Rokka her business card and hopes that she’ll reconsider. Rokka decides to run away, haha. Not going to lie, Rokka running away was way more adorable than it had any right to be. CHU2’s personality scares her. She is pretty overbearing. Not only that, Rokka doesn’t appreciate that she wants to squish PoPiPa! We all know how much she loves PoPiPa! At least she’s safe in class, right? Well, she gets called to the Student Council room and guess who’s waiting for her? Yup, CHU2. She’s quite persistent, huh? Once again, she asks Rokka to join the band but she refuses. She’s saved by the bell for afternoon classes and CHU2 is forced to leave. Luckily, Rokka doesn’t see CHU2 at all for the rest of the school day. Now she’s safe, yeah? Nope! After school, CHU2 is waiting for her once again. She even has PAREO with her this time! What happens next I can only describe as one of the most amusing chase scenes I have ever seen in an anime. I rewatched it a few times, it was that funny. Anyway, Rokka manages to lose them eventually.
CHU2 is cooling off by herself and decides to get a drink. The only problem is that she’s too short to reach the button! Yukina happens to walk by and helps her out. She’s a little annoyed that she’s been treated to a drink by her rival. CHU2 makes it clear that she still plans to crush Roselia. Yukina responds by telling her that Roselia isn’t a stage for CHU2 to showcase her music. Lisa shows up and this prompts CHU2 to leave. In a hilarious scene, she tosses her can at the trash but misses! She chases it down the street for a while, haha. A bit later, the members of Roselia are discussing their FUTURE WORLD FES plans when Yukina randomly declares that they’re going to enter the BanG Dream! Girls Band Challenge. Why the change of heart? All she tells them is that “we’re the same.” Over at Galaxy, Rokka is showing off her rockin’ guitar playing skills. Masking witnesses her playing and can feel that this girl is special. That’s why she grabs her hand and drags her across the city to CHU2’s private studio. Coming on a bit strong, don’t you think? Rokka can’t stop screaming. By the way, her screaming is adorable. She’s roped into performing a song with the band. At least she seemed to enjoy playing with them. When the song ends, LAYER and PAREO think she did a good job. However, Masking thinks something feels off. CHU2 agrees and informs Rokka that she failed. REALLY!?
It’s finally time for the BanG Dream! Girls Band Challenge! The preliminaries start off with a bang as Roselia performs their song “FIRE BIRD.” What a great song. In case you forgot, I’m a big fan Roselia fan. Just outside the concert, Rokka is discussing the rules of the BanG Dream! Girls Band Challenge with the other staff. There are multiple venues and participants can enter whichever one they want. There’s no limit on the number of performances! Please give me nothing but Roselia performances. PRETTY PLEASE!? Fans vote on their favorite bands and at the end of the preliminaries, the two bands with the most votes move on to the finals. Therefore, bands should strive to play as many venues as they can. Also, you can only vote once! Winning over fans is definitely going to be crucial in this competition. By the way, the members of Afterglow totally voted for Roselia, haha. Roselia is just that good. Again, Roselia fanboy here.
The members of RAISE A SUILEN are shocked that Roselia has such a commanding lead. Not surprising at all in my personal opinion. I’m so biased. CHU2 isn’t worried though. Once RAS takes the stage, it’s all over for them. We’ll see about that! The Poppin’ Party girls are very excited about the BanG Dream! Girls Band Challenge. They’re going to do their first performance at Galaxy. They’re also planning to write a new song. That should be fun! Rokka is there with them but she seems out of it. No doubt she’s still thinking about what happened that night. Back over to the RAS girls, CHU2 doesn’t understand why Roselia is still in the lead. Their first performance was perfect! LAYER thinks it’s because they don’t have a guitarist. She should have accepted Rokka! It’s a shame that CHU2 thought her performance was a letdown.
Speaking of Rokka, she’s at the baths and still wondering about what went wrong that night. What did CHU2 mean by saying she censored the music? As she washes her hair, Tae joins her. They go back in the bath together and Tae compares Rokka to her hamster. Well, that’s just rude. But she’s basically saying that Rokka is staring off into space lately. Tae heard about her audition with RAS. Why didn’t she join them? Rokka tells her that she failed the audition. But that’s okay! She didn’t want to help squish PoPiPa anyway! Rokka’s not being honest with herself though. Tae hopes she can hear Rokka perform with RAS again…and then proceeds to pass out in the bath, haha. The next day, the members of Poppin’ Party discuss their new song. They also mention how Roselia is still the overwhelming leader. Kasumi is willing to play all of the venues! That’s quite ambitious. More importantly, they want to know how Rokka is doing. Tae explains the situation to the rest of them. They want to help her out. Hey, maybe they can through their new song! Also, did Arisa sell Chikumagawa!? NOOOOOOOOOO. Not going to lie, Arisa had a lot of great scenes.
It’s finally time for Poppin’ Party’s first performance of the competition! Rokka is very excited about it. PoPiPa seems to be sporting a new setup, too. Tae tells the crowd that they wrote a new song and it was written with a dear friend of theirs in mind. This friend is going through a tough time right now and they wanted to send her some words of encouragement. They want to remind her to never give up on chasing her dreams! They’re such good friends, aren’t they? It really warms my heart. If it wasn’t obvious, the friend they’re talking about is Rokka. PoPiPa begins performing their new song, “Step x Step.” I really liked this song. Their words seem to reach Rokka and she runs out of the venue with a look of determination. She comes across Masking who takes her to CHU2’s private studio on her motorcycle. Rokka asks for one more chance to join RAS. CHU2 doesn’t want to give her one and tells her to leave. However, Rokka refuses to leave! SHE WANTS TO JOIN RAS, DANGIT! CHU2 can see that she’s determined and agrees to give her one last chance. Rokka begins to passionately play the guitar and eventually all of the RAISE A SUILEN members join her. It turns out to be a passionate performance. I guess you could say passions run R・I・O・T? Get it? Because they were playing “R・I・O・T”…I thought it was clever. Anyway, CHU2 allows Rokka to join the band but only as a temporary guitarist. She’ll have to prove that she’s worthy of being in RAISE A SUILEN. Ganbatte, Rokka!
In Summary:
Two episodes dropping at once really caught me off guard! But you know what? They were worth it. It feels like Rokka is the main character of the series, doesn’t it? I’m fine with that. Her character development has been great and watching her journey has been a lot of fun. I’m glad that she finally joined RAISE A SUILEN. The music, as always, was great. Poppin’ Party’s new song, “Step x Step,” was pretty good. Naturally, listening to any Roselia song is always going to make me happy. We clearly need more this season. Are you tired of me asking for more Roselia yet? Well, get used to it! The BanG Dream! Girls Band Challenge is heating up! What amazing performances await us in the next episode?
Grade: B+ (both episodes together)
Streamed By: HIDIVE, VRV
