BanG Dream! It's MyGO!!!!! ：Discover Myself, Express Myself, and Take a Step Forward

Discover Myself, Express Myself, and Take a Step Forward

on Kakimoto Koudai's BanG Dream! It's MyGO!!!!!

Recently, there have been a number of major comic conventions held in South America, two of which were Argentina Comic Con in Buenos Aires and CCXP in Sao Paulo, Brazil. As anime culture -- especially Japanese anime -- has increasingly entered the mainstream, the aesthetics of some anime works and genres have been gaining traction. BanG Dream! It's MyGO!!!!!, the latest anime series in the MediaMix project[1] BanG Dream!, not only made a major breakthrough in the idol anime genre, but it's also the best Japanese anime we've seen this year.

A rainy day. The traffic signal changes, and a black butterfly flutters hurriedly between pedestrians splashing through as they walk. With a long sigh, the focus shifts from a window splattered with raindrops to a bassist's face reflected on its surface. After a reverse shot, the virtual camera pans across the wall and rotates, pointing to the doorway about to be opened -- the practice room is like a stage installation that unveils the entire world in a single shot. The owner of black butterfly entered, bringing the rainy weather into the room, and spilling relentless words into everyone's heart. BanG Dream! It's MyGO!!!!! (hereinafter referred to as MyGO) opens with a heavy dissolution of a once united band, laying a dark cloud over the entire work.

The stormy opening of the work is undoubtedly a microcosm of its off-screen blizzard: the emergence of MyGO is seen as a revolutionary reconfiguration of and rebellion against the current "(quasi-) idol animation"; this article will address its uniqueness in a progressive two-part series.

Discover Myself in the World

Unlike live-action films in which uncertainties are at play, animation begins with a blank canvas, which means that everything must be created and controlled. The best creators are the ones with the greatest control over the visuals. In the BanG Dream! series, the film BanG Dream! FILM LIVE (2019) directed by Umezu Tomomi exposes that animation as a medium of control is incapable of creating the unpredictability of a live band show. Live-action performances are accompanied by a wide variety of elements, including equipment, audio, and the acting and improvisation of the voice actors -- every one of these elements, even if it contains a mistake, is a part of the countless "moments" that make up the irreplaceable scene of a live-action show.

Therefore, if you think of FILM LIVE as a real "concert", you would probably find it uninspiring that the scores for the performance are all dubbed studio songs, which are carefully scripted rather than improvisational. Two years later, BanG Dream! FILM LIVE 2nd Stage (2021) continued its controlled and fictional style, but this time it managed to make the most of them with camera movements that cannot be reproduced in a live performance, unrealistic body movements and interactions, emphasis on real time, and the live-like sound effects which are still scripted yet different from the studio version— all that really hyped up the audience. FILM LIVE 2nd Stage is an example of anime’s potential for extreme fine-tuning. It no longer strives for 100% realism, but embraces its fictional nature and goes all the way to where the reality can't go.

In this context, we can say that Episode 3 of MyGO, directed mainly by Kakimoto Koudai, is an advanced exercise in this tightly controlled anime strategy. Following the memories of the main character, Takamatsu Tomori, this episode traces the formation and collapse of the old band "CRYCHIC". This episode must have left a deep impression on viewers because of the extreme control of the sound and graphics. However, it is fair to ask: if the subjective viewpoints of the characters, the camera placement and the special audio design of the whole episode are really perfect, and if so, what is the intention? It is important to note that Kakimoto's control of the visuals in the third episode might be lacking if the intention were to simply create a sense of "immersion" that allows us to briefly "become" Tomori and feel what she feels, as the viewer's sight is often in a state of misalignment with that of Tomori’s due to all those explanatory shots, counterintuitive editing and pans inserted into the dialogs.

Solet’s say it’s "simulating" the way Tomori experiences the world rather than making us "become" her: even with the potential of animation, it is already very difficult to fully recreate how the real human eye sees, making it mission impossible to immerse oneself in the thoughts of the characters. Kakimoto's method is pretty much like simulating and adjusting a virtual camera at the position of the character's head. In this episode, in the tight, extreme but imperfect control of visual information, Tomori, who "wants to be human", is deliberately made "invisible": "I" could not discover myself, so I could not become human. However, with the appearance of Togawa Sakiko and the formation of the band, "I", who have been given a place to live, are allowed to cast a glance at myself. Tomori’s image appears several times when she sees herself in glass and mirrors, all at the time of (or after) writing words, composing lyrics, and plucking up the courage to sing in the practice room. Pouring her emotions into words is how she connects with the world.

Memories are at the same time visions. In the ambiguous and unreliable subjective memories, as well as the indistinguishable "Spring Shadows" (the name of "CRYCHIC"’s song), "I" was there. Episode 3 is thus about the discovery of one’s own image, the germination of the "self" - the realization of oneself in a world where the "I" did not exist/felt my existence. It is out of this paranoid subjectivity, this emotional suspension, that the mobility of this episode, and in fact of the entire series, is born.

Express Myself through Songs and Poems

In Episode 12, after "MyGO!!!!!" completed its first headlining show, the former band member Wakaba Mutsumi leaves a celebratory gift for the newly formed band in their lounge. Nagasaki Soyo, the bassist, sees the gift and rushes down the hall to find its owner. Their following conversation seems baffling.

Soyo: What did you think of the show?

Mutsumi: I’m happy for you.

Soyo: You are the one person I don’t want to hear that from, Mutsumi-chan.

Regrettably yet unsurprisingly, almost all of the characters in MyGO have at least once failed in expressing what they really meant in words. In the above example, even though neither of the two meant any harm, and one of them is rather sincere even, the conversation drags their relationship to perhaps its worst possible outcome, due to subtle semantic deviations as well as the creator's "deduction"-like approach in characterization.

As Kakimoto emphasizes in his interview, the construction of relationships between the characters is at the heart of MyGO. However, what is placed in front of it, is the failure of communication in the process of human bonding. A more serious and even disastrous failure comes in Episode 7, which is the turning point of the whole work: the lead singer of the band, Tomori, bravely takes a step forward and shouts out Sakiko’s words back at her, "My song is a cry from the heart", impassioned and grateful. However, these words are misinterpreted in the process of delivery; and Soyo, playing on the stage, sees Sakiko shedding tears and running away, thus triggering a succession of dramas in the remaining episodes. In the writing of Ayana Yuniko, the main screenwriter of the movie, all the characters in this chain of reactions displays intense and instantaneous responses. Yet unlike what we know of those strictly scripted works, the precise and subtle writing of MyGO ultimately leads to purely sensual emotions that are beyond the writer’s control.

Devastated by the loss of her band members, Tomori meets up with Misumi Uika who shares the same hobby. Uika picks up Tomori's notes. "It's like a song (うた). It might be possible to convey it in a song（うた）, and feelings can be worth a thousand words for things that aren't expressed clearly." Inspired, Tomori pours her feelings into the lines and goes to the Live House alone to recite them, letting out the fragments of her heart. She cheerfully gives her own definition: "Yes, it's a poem (うた)!" Drawing on the homophony of the Japanese words for "poem" and "song", the pun results in a series of misunderstandings, twisting the gears of fate. At first, what Tomori writes is known only to herself., although the act of writing itself is her way of connecting with the world. After Sakiko and others guide her on what a song should look like, the words change into lyrics which are dependent on the form of the song. It is not until Episode 10, in which Tomori stands alone on stage and recites what she writes, sparing no effort to convey the echoes of her heart, that the words are taken out of their object position and for the first time constructed as the subject.

In Episode 7, the sudden start of the song "Spring Shadow", meant to be a harmonious dance between its creators, is not driven by the purpose of ‘speaking my mind out loud’ as claimed by Tomori but is actually a forced act, further weakening the band members. Yet the piece "Words of Poem (詩超絆) " appearing in Episode 10 is truly a cathartic expression of the singer’s ego. Its name is written as "poem (詩)" yet has both the meaning of "poem" and "song". When Tomori chooses to stand alone on the stage, the literary part of her "Poetic Song" comes forth, balancing with its musical nature. It can now be considered both a (modern) song and a(n) (ancient) poetry. With the awakening of the conscious subject and the returning from the song to the ancient poem, "Words of Poem" has become real poetry, and Tomori a real poet. What she is expressing at this moment is a cry of the heart in the true sense of the word. At this point, the communication is complete. It is because of the response to such sincere feelings that the five members of "MyGO!!!!!" finally come together.

...... Even I am what I am, I choose to take a step forward

As a typical transmedia project, the anime series under the BanG Dream! project once tends to portray its characters in a positive light, which limits the space for interpretation; the characterization is over-idealized something that’s more purposefully constructed than out of the character’s agency. The reason for this is that the search for sustainability has made creators more conservative and limited by their programmatic positioning, which guides the audience toward a univocal level of understanding. But the characters in MyGO are much more complex: "I" who’s lost is also one who‘s vulnerable, abandoned, vain, and far from perfect...

However, trauma is not synonymous with "reality", nor should "realism" be a label for a work. The key step for MyGO’s creators, such as Ayana Yuniko and Kakimoto Koudai, is with what happen afterwards, which is an emotional and logical response to the whole work: Though things have reached this state, I still choose to take a step forward.

The world of MyGO is born when we discover ourselves again in a world where we have been intentionally made invisible. The poetry (the work) of MyGO is born when we consciously construct words and phrases as a subject. MyGO is a work about creators as well as one about realizing and acknowledging one's own existence. Here, "I" finally become myself; "we" finally become the unique "us", even if we are not united.

References:

1. MediaMix: A group of ACG works that are released across multiple media and platforms and in multiple carriers. This article specifically refers to cross-media projects that correspond to the linkage between live action and anime.

2. Idol anime or idol-themed anime: Although the activities related to "BanG Dream!" project is a part are carried out in a manner that falls within the category of idol commercial activities, "BanG Dream! It's MyGO " does not have the typical characteristics of an "idol anime". For the avoidance of ambiguity, the term "(general) idol animation" is used as a proxy.

3. The titles of MyGO!!!!!’s songs are usually composed of kanji characters, and the pronunciation varies from song to song. The pronunciation of "詩超絆" is "うたことば(詩／歌言葉)", which can be interpreted as "conveying what you want to say with songs and poems".

written by OreoOlymLee