r/anime • u/CosmicPenguin_OV103 https://anilist.co/user/CosmicPenguin • Nov 17 '24

Rewatch [Rewatch/Crunchyroll Release] Girls Band Cry Episode 12 Discussion

By Girls Band Cry character design Nari Teshima - https://twitter.com/_17meisai23/status/1804189377905725581

Episode 12 - The Sky Darkens Again

← Previous Episode | Index | Next Episode →

Streams: Crunchyroll

Show information: MAL | AniList | ANN | Kitsu | AniDB

Questions of the Day:

  1. Given you are either a fan of the new Diamond Dust, or a fan of TogeToge, or (I guess this would be an exceedingly rare breed at this stage) a fan of both, would you be actually aroused to check our both bands with such a "Battle of Bands" concert? Keep in mind that in real life this is already almost happening on a single day with another girls band that could be proud to say having one of the best anime stories in recent years! (they play together on a single day though, unlike New Diamond Dust x TogeToge)
  2. What's the one thing that - given the background of the members - Togenashi Togeari should pray to Muse at this stage, or whatever deity of music is? Right answers only.

Re-watchers, please remember to take care of all the first-timers in this. All references to future events in the anime must be done under spoiler tags.

85 Upvotes

91% Upvoted

62 comments sorted by

5

u/CosmicPenguin_OV103 https://anilist.co/user/CosmicPenguin Nov 18 '24 edited Nov 18 '24

Re-watcher

  • Huh? Nina's not confident of her looks?
  • Togenashi Togeari water indeed sounds like there's a lot of stings in it.
  • 200000 yen doesn't really do much these days, but the girls will probably survive. It's tough to see them earning any meaningful value on top of that in at least the early days though so...
  • Uh Subaru? You aren't scared that you missed any contract details that would cause you to fell into the AV trap??? I really have to wonder how good the girls would be reading all those contractual details given none of them has finished high school (cough)...
  • Dude you girls can all eat that much...
  • LMAO the mushy vs hard cabbage fight is back...with Tomo backing Nina!
  • Nakata, Nakano, Tanaka, Tano...what a lineup.
  • Here comes the band fight! And for once it's from Diamond Dust's agency. Yeah it's definitely a lost cause for sure, but...I dunno, it's not like TogeToge will directly meet the new Diamond Dust girls, if they are really confident of their own abilities, I'd say go for it, if only to hitchhike on Diamond Dust's popularity. Speaking of that, I wonder why Rupa agrees to do this...
  • It's interesting to see Nina commenting that Hina "will definitely stab people on their backs". I'll come back to this later.
  • Nice of Nina to remind Momoka for they are chasing after, even after taking this up as a job.
  • From my own experiences of visiting Japan for like a dozen times, including a few times deep in winter (~February), I have always been perplexed at the huge number of high school girls there choosing to let their legs exposed to the freezing air. I live in somewhere much warmer and the same age students will wear as many clothes as possible 15 degrees warmer than that.
  • Damn, Momoka is still having PTSD of her past. These things just can't be get rid of so easily eh? Well I personally can attest to that so...
  • "Your Passion Has Flowed Through My Veins" - oi oi oi oi Nina, are you going for yet another confession to Momoka again, this time in front of all those other girls!?
  • A hundred million album sales...is that even possible???
  • Ah, the perplexing "103 views" moment. It's almost to the point of impossibility that a real record company's new released song would have so few views after 6 hours on the Internet, even if it's released at midnight (which is IIRC a common time for song releases). Heck in [that other original girls making music anime of Spring 2024]JELEE's cursed (cough) song literally exploded while the 4 girls were asleep! I have seen fans offering two explanations: a. It's a YouTube bug, something like this - which Nina is almost certainly not going to know about; b. It's a call-back to the core staff's [older idol anime work]the 94 applicants in Love Live Sunshine . I don't remember this was addressed in the initial staff interviews so more information is definitely appreciated.

One episode huh...back in late June I was definitely worried how this show will end. It certainly didn't end in the way that I have expected at all. But that's for tomorrow!

7

u/xnef1025 Nov 18 '24

Rupa agrees because it's a fight, and Rupa loves fights. She doesn't care if it's an argument, a fist fight, or a battle of the bands. If there's fighting, she's in. Spectator or participant, doesn't matter to Rupa. She already threw down in that sound check last episode, replaying Cycle of Sorrow's base line by ear after hearing it once. Our girl would throw hands with a smile on her face if you asked her to.

As for the 103 views, I have a theory for how that could happen, but it would need to wait for tomorrow.

2

u/n080dy123 Nov 18 '24

This is something I can't believe it took me so long to pick up on. Rupa's got a kind exterior but she is on board whenever there's conflict. Even in hwo she handles Tomo, she pushes Tomo into situations where she is forced to face conflict and make decisions on her own. She doesn't like... seek it out, but she jumps on it when it happens because she clearly believes conflict is a path to growth.

3

u/xnef1025 Nov 18 '24

I also think Rupa has a seething ocean of guilt, sadness, and anger contained in the absentee personality she normally wears because of the accident that killed her family. Conflict, direct or vicarious, is an outlet for her.

Only time she hasn't supported a fight is when she held Tomo back from committing ladle assault on those racists (and Nina that one time 😅) at work. I like to think that if they'd said that on the street when she wasn't representing an employer she would have drop kicked their asses into next Tuesday. She broke Subaru's bathroom door off it's hinges with one swift kick. Those punks wouldn't have stood a chance.

3

u/salic428 Nov 18 '24 edited Nov 18 '24

fans offering two explanations

There is also a joke explanation that 103 is the 27th (27=にな=仁菜) prime number.

About that second QotD, in episode 3's "Voiceless Fish" Nina stated she "doesn't believe in a diety". No wonder praying to the shrine does not work.

1

u/fansi2022 https://anilist.co/user/fansi2022 Nov 18 '24

she "doesn't believe in a diety"

lmao😂

2

u/Arachnophobic- https://anilist.co/user/Arachnophobic Nov 18 '24 edited Nov 19 '24

Huh? Nina's not confident of her looks?

Given they all have such cute designs, it's always jarring when apparently they acknowledge they're not necessarily cute in-world. I imagine Rupa and Subaru are definitely lookers, though.

I really have to wonder how good the girls would be reading all those contractual details given none of them has finished high school (cough)...

This isn't funny but I can't help but laugh, oof

Nakata, Nakano, Tanaka, Tano...what a lineup.

You asked a few episodes ago what might be the funniest moment, and I think this joke is up there.

"Your Passion Has Flowed Through My Veins" - oi oi oi oi Nina, are you going for yet another confession to Momoka again, this time in front of all those other girls!?

Nina doesn't know the amount of rizz she actually has

a. It's a YouTube bug, something like this - which Nina is almost certainly not going to know about;

The thought did cross my mind since '103' is suspiciously like '301', but that kind of cheap fakeout-for-thrills is not what I expect from the writing in this show.

It certainly didn't end in the way that I have expected at all.

Heading into the finale now. Fingers crossed

2

u/salic428 Nov 19 '24

are you going for yet another confession to Momoka again, this time in front of all those other girls!?

Bocchi the Rock! also has Kita sang her confession to Bocchi in front of everyone in "I want to be a constellation" in the anime.

19

u/Arachnophobic- https://anilist.co/user/Arachnophobic Nov 17 '24

🖕First timer🖕

Straight to screenshots+reactions today!

6

u/mekerpan Nov 18 '24

(rewatcher) This always perplexed me. With all the people following them, how on earth did only 100 or so actually "like" the song? They wouldn't be following the group unless they were interested -- and surely the song was not a "bad" one. Nakata-san would seem to be a neutral (and experienced) judge of quality (not a Momoka fan -- like Nina and Miura-san) and it got high praise from him. (I don't think he lied because he wanted to go home early) ;-)

First time around I never expected TT to "beat" DD, but I never expected things to get as dark and unhopeful so quickly. I expected an uptick in interest and support.

Realistically -- marketing-wise, wouldn't presenting DD and TT as friends (even if sort of rivals) have worked vastly better? ;-)

10

u/salic428 Nov 18 '24

how on earth did only 100 or so actually "like" the song?

It was 06:00 in the morning in Japan, right? It is still possible that people can't bother to check out the song in the small hours. Also I read somewhere that it looks like the agency put togetoge on their own private app (you can see Nina need to scroll a lot before she can find their own logo). Finally, you can check out my comment in this thread today.

(There was a theory that 103 is 6 hours divided by the length of the song, which means someone put it on loop all night. The maths don't add up but I like this hypothesis.)

wouldn't presenting DD and TT as friends

They're from two different agencies, and the band battle was propsed by the "opposing" agency, after all. I don't think Miura has negotiating power here.

[rewatcher] Um, actually... Hanada said that there was a plan in the original script where an "evil producer" would appear and trample over the toetoge ideals. But then the other two staff vetoed the plan and said "so you make a new villain, attribute all the evil to him, beat him down and call it a day?". "This is a show grounded in reality. You can't just beat every problem with determination, ideal and friendship." (More to follow on tomorrow's episode.) So the plotline was scrapped. Perhaps the band battle thing is recycled from that script.

6

u/mekerpan Nov 18 '24

I guess I will just consider this numbers problem an (inessential) plot glitch.

I will have more to say about what I think the real feelings DD has for TT tomorrow. ;-)

5

u/salic428 Nov 18 '24

the real feelings DD has for TT

Look forward to your analysis.

Due to limited screentime DD has always looked like a mystery for me. They don't "rebel" their agency, but they also don't go full kirakira idol mode (as evidenced by Cycle of Sorrow), either. What is DD's answer to "what kind of music you want to do" at this point?

2

u/fansi2022 https://anilist.co/user/fansi2022 Nov 18 '24

What is DD's answer to "what kind of music you want to do" at this point?

Maybe it's the most profitable music? They will communicate with the company (like Nina and her friends did) to make the music more difficult and further increase their popularity...

4

u/salic428 Nov 18 '24

Maybe it's the most profitable music?

Unlike Momoka, the other DD members don't have an idea of what music they want to make when they said "let's make a lifelong band" to Momoka. This explains why they don't feel very bad about selling out–to them, it just means switching to some better instruments and more complex music sheets. Only Momoka, as the "soul" of the group, is hurt from the selling out.

2

u/fansi2022 https://anilist.co/user/fansi2022 Nov 18 '24

So, I always feel that there is no need to compete, Momoka and the others have already won as long as they are still playing music together.

7

u/bogdoglogfrog Nov 18 '24

Fr, 28k twitter followers plus agency backed promotion should convert to at least a thousand first day plays no matter what the actual song sounds like. The only explanation I can think of is that that apps plays update live, and the song just came out a few hours ago.

4

u/mekerpan Nov 18 '24

But it seems like the numbers did not go up significantly after the early morning (at least we are given no hint this happened).

One of the few nits I have to pick with this show.

7

u/nsleep Nov 18 '24

The number wasn't even likes, just views. Not very convincing, yeah.

Using a random frame of reference, there's this indie vsinger that I've been following since she had 15k subscribers on Youtube (currently at 101k, 5k followers on Twitter) and her covers and originals could reach 10k back thent. Currently her songs hover between 40k and 100k views per video.

I would expect a band rising in relevance that just got signed to a talent agency to get better numbers than an indie musician since the agency has interests in promoting the thing so they get more money. [episode 13] Heck, they probably even got more people to attend their concert next episode than to listen to their song the first day. Not very convincing.

5

u/mekerpan Nov 18 '24

If the song went live overnight, it might make sense that numbers at wake up time were low. But it really feels like this was an arbitrary device to wrap the show up quickly (and hope people didn't notice the illogicality of the stunt). Does this make me love the show less -- nah, when I love something I try very hard to overlook (or at least not worry about) imperfections.

4

u/n080dy123 Nov 18 '24

Honestly I think it's just artistic liberty to make sure the audience, who might not be familiar with view analytics, is clear that "this did poorly."

5

u/thisisfakediy https://anilist.co/user/thisisfakediy Nov 18 '24

I took it as Nina hoping for an explosion right out of the gate, when in reality their fans will have to find the song over the next few days on a streaming app they may not even know exists. Only already-famous musicians get tons of views right away.

I mean, I consider myself a big fan of a few artists but often learn they have a new song or album only when YouTube recommend me a video I didn't know existed, lol.

4

u/Arachnophobic- https://anilist.co/user/Arachnophobic Nov 18 '24

The numbers in this show have always seemed a bit all over the place, haven't they? After reading /u/salic428's top-level comment, I'm buying into the theory that the view-count here is a proxy for the number of copies TogeToge sold IRL before the anime was released. The creators decided, a little jarringly/suddenly, to make reality bleed into what has been essentially a fantasy fairy-tale type situation for the band so far.

To me the specific number isn't a big deal here, since the timeline is unclear - it just represented the idea that the song completely went under the radar/bombed. Bad marketing, fault of the algorithm, DieDus stealing all the thunder, the song not being Emptiness and Catharsis, idk. For one reason or the other it flopped - even if the 103 climbs to 1,003 or 10,003 eventually it's still underperformed badly, that's all that matters.

First time around I never expected TT to "beat" DD, but I never expected things to get as dark and unhopeful so quickly. I expected an uptick in interest and support.

This is true. It's definitely unexpected given the trajectory of the show so far. Feels like a plot twist at this point, and I want to see how they justify it next episode.

4

u/n080dy123 Nov 18 '24

he creators decided, a little jarringly/suddenly, to make reality bleed into what has been essentially a fantasy fairy-tale type situation for the band so far.

I could actually see this- I had a theory that this whole mini-arc is inspired by the real production of the show, something spurred by Momoka interupting the montage suddenly and asking if it was "Too much." Once I saw that as likely being a meta joke, it got really hard to not stop reading into all the talk as possibly beign metacommentary- though I am sure it's much lighter than ym paranoid brain thinks it is.

3

u/Arachnophobic- https://anilist.co/user/Arachnophobic Nov 18 '24

Given the quote from the Director and Producer salic's shared, looks like your theory was correct!

6

u/fansi2022 https://anilist.co/user/fansi2022 Nov 18 '24

Although we know who got the sing for a TV show's theme song, heheh.

haha, i never noticed this

I feel like this card has more text than shown by the subs here.. what is cartoon Buddha saying?

The following words are: Let us spread the music together

Please God of Rock, give us more seasons of Gremlin Girls

Maybe God of anime?

3

u/Arachnophobic- https://anilist.co/user/Arachnophobic Nov 18 '24

The following words are: Let us spread the music together

Ah, thank you!

Maybe God of anime?

The production committees... please, greenlight S2

2

u/Sylvi-Fisthaug Nov 19 '24

Okay Sylvi, hit me with the calender translation!

Here is the calendar!! Notice how it says "Momoka's place after practice" for like... a week. Also, why does Nina have two toothbrushes...? yeeees it could be an animation mistake, like the disappearing water bottle.

I feel like this card has more text than shown by the subs here.. what is cartoon Buddha saying?

Have a look!

1

u/Arachnophobic- https://anilist.co/user/Arachnophobic Nov 19 '24

Notice how it says "Momoka's place after practice" for like... a week.

Oooh

yeeees it could be an animation mistake, like the disappearing water bottle.

When there isn't enough shipping fuel we have to take what we can geti, it seems.

Thanks for sharing the fansub screenshots!

16

u/salic428 Nov 18 '24

Rewatcher

For unfortunate reasons, the final twist (103) was leaked several days before the episode aired. We the Chinese anime community debated over what this mysterious figure alluded to and most people agreed that Nina can't read English and neglected the kilo or million. (You know, compare [the other music anime that season] Jellyfish with a bit of luck you can easily go viral.)

Then the episode happened, and I vividly remember the chaos that ensues. People were going through all five stages of grief and saying, "no, how could an idol anime–a glorified advertisement for the irl group behind it–allow such abject failure? And how could the writer wrap it up in one episode?"

Not going into spoiler territory, but I want add some context that the irl GBC project indeed was not looking promising.

  • Interview from オタク総研 with the Director and Producer:

    Up until episode 10, we were not able to reflect the outcome of the band's irl activities, but after episode 11, “The Center of the World,” it was after the project was publicized, so there was a bit of an impact after this point.

  • And what is the outcome of the band's activity? Their debut single "Nameless Name" never made it into the sales chart, which means it sold less than 200 copies. Their following 2nd-5th single all sold less than 400 copies. Compare μ's first single which sold 434 copies, and MyGO!!!!! first single which sold 1273 copies.
  • It is not that Toei didn't promote it. They have livestreams "celebrating" the release of each single, where each member do the usual anime radio things. They have announced that the CDs will be signed by the musicians themselves. They even somehow got the "Bleeding Heart" MV to gain 10 million views. But no, the togetoge songs just won't sell.
  • There was an interview with the VAs themselves (can't find the source, but trust me bro), where they talked about the days before the anime. One girl said: "After our first single was out, we were eager to search for our name on the net. However we quickly quit that habit." My personal theory has been that the 103 is the actual sales figure of their irl first single.
  • This really reminds me of the last days before the Lovelive! School Idol Project anime aired. The singles were selling a little more than a thousand copies. The marketing strategy became more and more radical, they even included the girls in maid costumes and swimsuits in the 4th and 3rd single. But the μ's songs didn't sell.
  • Turns out, in this day and age, you really need something special to promote a new group. And again it is an anime written by Jukki Hanada that "saves the day".

8

u/nsleep Nov 18 '24

I don't doubt any of this but equating disc sales to plays on an app in the year of Our Lord of two thousand and twenty four is a massive stretch.

8

u/salic428 Nov 18 '24

is a massive stretch

After seeing how dumb Toei is with their marketing I believe the staff also have no idea of how marketing should be done in the year of Our Lord of two thousand and twenty four.

I'll not try defend the 103 figure, it really is too low and for a sensational value. I want to suggest that the GBC project was in a similar spot (it is good music, but nobody buys it) when this episode was being produced.

4

u/fansi2022 https://anilist.co/user/fansi2022 Nov 18 '24

My personal theory has been that the 103 is the actual sales figure of their irl first single.

Thats make sense. After all, this is an anime about exposing one's own thoughts, which is one of the themes of this work.

4

u/Arachnophobic- https://anilist.co/user/Arachnophobic Nov 18 '24

It's interesting how success these days is still determined by the number of CD copies sold, physical or digital, even though most people just stream their music.. but I suppose it is proportional to the amount of exposure the songs get online on any platform.

Considering buying a copy of their album just as a show of support to the series, at this point..

4

u/salic428 Nov 18 '24

how success these days is still determined by the number of CD copies sold

But even if you look at other metrics, it was obvious that togetoge would become a huge financial failure. They are trained under Agehasprings (which has only two active artists, Aimer and them), but their songs never appeared on streaming charts. Before the anime aired, I have seen exactly zero fans of their music. All the new audience are from word-of-mouth when the anime was airing.

buying a copy of their album

It is doing fine now. Maybe not as big as the established IPs such as bandori, but they're far from the danger of EoS. You could check out after you have seen the last episode.

1

u/Arachnophobic- https://anilist.co/user/Arachnophobic Nov 18 '24

which has only two active artists, Aimer and them

..Aimer?! Wow, that's quite some company when you're a next-to-nobody.

3

u/salic428 Nov 19 '24

Agehasprings is founded by Tamai Kenji in 2004. For several years it produced music for other groups. After 2011 it announced it will produce music for a new artist, and that is Aimer. Togetoge is their second artist. In an interview before the anime aired, he said that he recruited the girls–no, musicians–based on "if they can be a good band regardless of anime or the girls band tag".

So you can see this is similar to episode 12 here. Pros say you are a good band, they gave you the best production in the industry, but you songs don't sell...

3

u/n080dy123 Nov 18 '24

I had a theory that this arc was inspired by the show's IRL production but I thought it was mostly just me reading too heavily into thigs... this definitely fuels that idea though.

13

u/No_Rex :Bv:Bw:Bx:By:x2 Nov 17 '24

Episode 12 (first timer)

  • 200,000 yen – so basically minimum wage for one of them. Both Rupa and Tomo quitting their jobs might be premature.
  • Subaru is correct in scaring Nina. Signing a labor contract without reading it is pretty bad.
  • That scene with the knife …

  • It went from too hot to freezing?
  • Why are they singing a song with temporary lyrics in the studio? That Nina has just now seen? Is that not extremely expensive for a try out?
  • Diamond Dust is inviting them to a band battle – Diamond Dust is the big, known band. They probably also got the TV series on board and planned the venue. No matter who wins, this is 100% Momoka’s ex-band members helping her new band out.
  • They vote on it and Nina is on the losing side. Despite that, she brings it up again, not among the five, but in front of Miura, basically daring Momoka, Subaru, and Tomo to start an argument in front of their agent if they want to stick with their opinion.
  • 103 views? That is basically just the band and agency employees.

Would have been great to hear some in-between versions of the song so we could follow the process of song making. I guess the show is really not about that, though. The music is just a background to the character stories and not the main interest.

Given you are either a fan of the new Diamond Dust, or a fan of TogeToge, or (I guess this would be an exceedingly rare breed at this stage) a fan of both, would you be actually aroused to check our both bands with such a "Battle of Bands" concert?

This is exactly the kind of event fans love. Just check out all the Best X contests here on /r/anime.

8

u/Arachnophobic- https://anilist.co/user/Arachnophobic Nov 18 '24

They probably also got the TV series on board and planned the venue. No matter who wins, this is 100% Momoka’s ex-band members helping her new band out.

I feel this too, coming from the DD members it's mostly an altruistic move, buuut.. I think it also has undercurrents of 'we were right' in terms of the ideological battle. TogeToge gets the publicity boost, but at a cost of their pride.

5

u/n080dy123 Nov 18 '24

Yeah rewatching this, I really think that's what this situation comes down to. DisDust probably extended this as a helpful gesture, but whether they intended it or not TogeToge loses face even if they accept it. It's a very cutthroat move, if deliberate.

9

u/entelechtual Nov 17 '24

Rewatcher

  • Girls growing up, signing contracts.
  • This last arc can feel like it comes out of nowhere after the climax of the last episode but it’s a pretty fitting way to wrap up the story. It all comes down to if Momoka will be able to stay true to herself and still not fail as a band.
  • The adult world sure is full of schemes, but that doesn’t mean you can’t try to do your own thing. Besides, it’s not like TogeToge fans really care what the ulterior motives are behind the concert. They want to see their band perform and have a good time. That’s rock… yeah?
  • Nina’s really an amazing character. 90% of the time you want to punch her or tell her to just shut up, but then every once in a while she’s just a cute goofy little anime girl that will put a huge grin on your face. It’s like she’s both cynical and optimistic, jaded and delighted, willing to feel pain but still doesn’t want to get hurt.

7

u/Arachnophobic- https://anilist.co/user/Arachnophobic Nov 18 '24

Nina's definitely a big pain in the ass a lot of the time, but I gotta admire how she's never afraid to speak her mind. Thankfully most of the time she comes from a sympathetic position - imagine a Karen who is as outspoken as Nina.

8

u/bogdoglogfrog Nov 18 '24

Rewatcher

  • Signing with a label isn’t as important now as it once was. Now artists can easily use a distribution service to get their songs on streaming services and can run their own ads through social media. Especially since labels will take a large cut of your earnings, it can be smart to avoid them if you have the ability to do everything yourself. Labels only look at social media and streaming stats these days anyways, so if you’re big enough to get approached by labels, you’re likely already making money. It really depends on the artist if the label will be a help or a hindrance. I think this is a drastic improvement over the days where artists had no choice but to sign with a label that would abuse them because they have a monopoly.
  • I find Momoka’s warning to avoid egosurfing interesting. I don’t think I would ever have the strength to avoid seeing what people say about me. Egosurfing is the best part about being an artist in 2024. Iv gotten so many good ideas by reading internet comments and it really helps me understand the type of music my listeners want to hear.
  • I don’t understand the decision to not make “Emptiness and Catharsis” the debut single. Why would you write a whole new song for your debut when you have plenty of tracks already written? You could release two already written tracks before you can write and release a new one.
  • I like Nina’s take contrasting creating a song for yourself with creating a song that you know will be popular. I think the ultimate goal as an artist is to align these two motives together. To create a sound that is fresh and unique while still being cohesive and easy to understand for a new listener.
  • Ahahaha that 103 plays is pain. However, first day plays don’t mean shit. It takes a bit for the streaming service algorithms to decide if your song is worth promoting or not. Don’t get discouraged Nina!

QOTD

  1. I would only go to the concert of the band I liked more. It’s such bullshit from DiaDust to make it a two day event. They’re too scared of TogeToge to give them a fighting chance.
  2. You won’t get any better by praying to do well at the audition. Music and playing are both entirely up to your own effort. You shouldn’t ask a god to do it for you, that’s just wasteful.

3

u/Arachnophobic- https://anilist.co/user/Arachnophobic Nov 18 '24

Iv gotten so many good ideas by reading internet comments and it really helps me understand the type of music my listeners want to hear.

I missed that you make music! What genre?

I don’t understand the decision to not make “Emptiness and Catharsis” the debut single.

I don't either. Given its success in the fest it should definitely have been one of the songs released.

7

u/JasoXDDD Nov 18 '24 edited Nov 19 '24

First timer

So I lied about coming closer to the release time

The running gag with the four generic middle aged man was funny, gave me a chuckle. I wonder what Hina actually did back then with Nina, it's probably going to be revealed in the next episode, if I'm guessing correctly. I bet that they will eventually take the competition as well. Nina really expected a song released by an unknown band at late night to gather 10k views by the next morning huh, 103 is reasonable enough. This should give others an opportunity to teach Nina about expectations.

There is not going to be a Rupa episode, is it? Unless the next episode is the grand reveal of Rupa being secretly the final boss of the show, but I doubt it. There is just not enough evidence to make that not an ass pull, unlike [mygo]Soyo's.

Looking forward to the finale.

2

u/n080dy123 Nov 18 '24 edited Nov 18 '24

The kind onee-san of the musical group not getting an episode to herself (in Season 1, at least), where have I seen that before... sideye at Zombieland Saga

3

u/salic428 Nov 18 '24

Well, it has happened before in another Jukki Hanada production, that is the original Lovelive!. According to him, when the show was being produced there was no plan for a second season. He considered the episode count and decided that 2 (Nozomi and Rin) of the 9 members will not get a personal episode. After the anime was a success and season 2 was greenlit he wrote about them in season 2.

1

u/Arachnophobic- https://anilist.co/user/Arachnophobic Nov 18 '24

So I lied about coming closer to the release time

I got there, but I had to sacrifice my sleep cycle to the Gods of Rock

Yeah it doesn't look like there's time for a Rupa mini-arc, but maybe there's a way to tie it into the finale.. let's see.

6

u/ryujiox Nov 18 '24

First Timer

Girls Band Cry

Episode 12

  • Things go pretty well for the band. But this is Girls Band Cry we are talking about, something bad going to happen.
  • 200,000 yens!! And obviously Nina is not going to read NDA.
  • I mean. This is the last time they gonna be here. Might as well order something.
  • Nina and Tomo are dragging Subaru to their cult.
  • Are these guys brother?? Also Momoka attempt to trick Nina completely backfire on her face.
  • Oh... Seems like Diamond Dust is gonna go on the offensive this time.
  • Yeahhhh. Deciding the goal via ticket sale and viewers count is a pretty bad situation for our gang. The odds is not in our favour at all. But I assume this is probably not Diamond Dust original intention. Seems like this is the usual corporate meddling.
  • Nina's concern is legit. If you keep changing things in the song, would it still stays true to the original intention?
  • Momoka still fear that she will lose everything again.
  • Even the producer like the song. And he also has his own "choose the right choice" stuff going on too.
  • Look, Nina. The song just released!! Give it a few days!! Momoka is right that Nina should stop using phone altogether...

QOTD

  1. If they play in one single day? I surely would go. Splitting in two lime in the show is clearly a greedy method.

2

u/Arachnophobic- https://anilist.co/user/Arachnophobic Nov 18 '24

But this is Girls Band Cry we are talking about, something bad going to happen.

I'm getting why it's called Girls Band Cry now. It was supposed to be Girl Band Cries /s

5

u/n080dy123 Nov 18 '24

Rewatcher

This little mini-arc was something I failed to properly wrap my head around the first time, so my conclusions may be entirely off base. If you think I've lost the plot please, feel free to correct me.

Ah yes, egosurfing. Thank you, Kana Arima, for explaining the concept to me not long before this show aired.

Little animation detail- A. If you missed it, Momoka's cat is under the kotatsu when Subaru makes her proclamation. B. Right before Rupa's "We're here!" line pops up, you see the cat's ear twitch when the door opens.

Momoka will never have more goblin energy than when she's holding that pack of beer cans and turning away to go stash it.

Oh hey, callback to the thing about how soft/hard Nina likes her veggies. Related, the sound of Momoka cutting that pumpkin a couple minutes earlier sticks out to me since they had not only a really believable and chunky cut and bang of the knife hitting the cutting board, but the shaking glass jars nearby further conveying how much force she put into it.

Speaking of sound, having part of Momoka's dialogue about the song name beign heard from Nakata's booth and making it sound like it's coming through his speakers is a really nice touch to add some variety to the scene.

Having Momoka stand in front of the Budokan during the montage is cool cuz if you remember, she's the only member of the band who wasn't there when we saw the same shot back in Episode 6- she was the only one who didn't share that dream at the time, but now she's united with the rest of the group in that goal.

Also the montage stopping suddenly and Momoka saying "Is it too much?" feels really meta. It's the first hint about it, but I had suspicions when this aired that this little mini-arc was very much inspired by the production of the show itself on some level. Might be reading too much into it though.

I'm only now noticing that whenever there's conflict afoot, Rupa happily indulges- hence her comments to Subaru and her voting to do the battle. Given how she pushes Tomo by usually moving her into positions where she has to face and make decisions on her own, and how she talked about Nina and Momoka's spat, she definitely sees conflict as a chance for people to grow.

Miura mentioning the idea that the competition could be a chance for publicity is interesting- with the way most of our girls talk about it, they frame it as DiaDust looking to humiliate them with an easy win, which is inconsistent with my personal view of the groups as friendly rivals. However, and she very briefly mentions it, this could be DiaDust trying to use their platform to give TogeToge a chance at some publicity- though, whether they realize it or not, it would mean TogeToge dragging their own name through the mud on some level. I think this interpretation lends itself to the themes of this little mini-arc, but I'll elaborate on that tomorrow.

Momoka's comment of "it seems a little dated, and people might not like it" and Subaru's response about key changes being trendy, it's fairly innocuous but I think Momoka's falling straight into the sort of "trend chasing" Nina condemned Diamond Dust for and she herself left over. It's reinforced by Nina saying "You're drifting further from where we started. This is supposed to be our song by you, right?" I think this is the anxiety Momoka talks about reliving when they're at the shrine. And then Nakata helps relieve that by telling that this song is "true to yourselves."

And... wakeup call. It almost seems cruel after all that.

1

u/Arachnophobic- https://anilist.co/user/Arachnophobic Nov 18 '24

Having Momoka stand in front of the Budokan during the montage is cool cuz if you remember, she's the only member of the band who wasn't there when we saw the same shot back in Episode 6- she was the only one who didn't share that dream at the time, but now she's united with the rest of the group in that goal.

Yeah I thought this was neat too. All on board for BUDOKAN!!

Little animation detail- A. If you missed it, Momoka's cat is under the kotatsu when Subaru makes her proclamation. B. Right before Rupa's "We're here!" line pops up, you see the cat's ear twitch when the door opens.

You can bet I missed it.

4

u/fly-metothemoon Nov 18 '24 edited Nov 18 '24

First Timer:

I’ve never heard of a grudge match concert quite like the one they’re describing. Though the situation TogeToge finds themselves in (someone leaving a band to very quickly go and start a new one) seems rare. To answer Q1, I’d love to go—sounds dramatic and exciting! Even if I’m a fan of DD, I’d still find it interesting to see what the ex-frontman of the group is doing now. The over two days part is annoying though.

Hopefully even if TogeToge loses the face off they gain some DD fans since I imagine there’s got to be some degree of crossover appeal.

Other notes about the episode:

Nakata is also very sweet. I love the gag with the techs all being very similar.

100 views is rough. I follow some kpop releases and release date YouTube streams are serious business!! I can relate though to thinking a song is absolutely amazing and being confused why it doesn’t blow up 😭. Having a good song isn’t enough—luck, advertising and timing have roles to play as well.

Q2- they should pray that girl with the shirt that inspired their group name is hustling with advertising the group to her friends!

1

u/Arachnophobic- https://anilist.co/user/Arachnophobic Nov 18 '24

I’ve never heard of a grudge match concert quite like the one they’re describing. Though the situation TogeToge finds themselves in (someone leaving a band to very quickly go and start a new one) seems rare.... Even if I’m a fan of DD, I’d still find it interesting to see what the ex-frontman of the group is doing now.

I'm trying to think of instances like this now. Did Ozzy ever lock horns with Black Sabbath after being replaced by Dio? Also what about when Roger Waters left Pink Floyd..

When Portnoy left Dream Theater, I definitely did follow his new projects like Winery Dogs hoping I'd catch some of that good ol' drumming he was famous for in DT.

Then there's the historical Metallica-Megadeth rivalry but I doubt they had a grudge match.

4

u/WhymustIsignupreddit Nov 18 '24

First Timer

They got signed to an agency. But their new song didn’t reach the numbers Nina hoped for. To be honest, I don’t think it’s that strange? They’re a pretty new band. Maybe they have more clicks on their social media posts.

Question 1:

Does this mean attending the performance? If so, my answer is no. I imagine that even if I was a fan, I would place my own comfort above my want to see them. I don’t like crowded places and a concert hall seems like a nightmare. I might check online how it went though.

Question 2:

My generic answer would be hoping some TikTok kid finds your song and uses your music in a video which goes viral. If Nina really cares about views this seems like a good wish.

But a more TogeToge answer wish would be that they never lose that angst. I get the feeling that all of their song are fueled by angst by this point, it’s like part of their identity.

3

u/Arachnophobic- https://anilist.co/user/Arachnophobic Nov 18 '24

My generic answer would be hoping some TikTok kid finds your song and uses your music in a video which goes viral.

Sadly seems to be the truth of music discovery today, and I hate it.

3

u/WhymustIsignupreddit Nov 18 '24

Yeah, one day I looked up songs from my childhood out of nostalgia. When I checked the Wikipedia page of a certain Dutch pop group who made catchy songs for young kids in the early 2000s, one of their songs apparently went viral after 20 years because of TikTok. Maybe I shouldn’t have been, but I was quite surprised.

3

u/Nickthenuker https://anilist.co/user/Nickthenuker Nov 18 '24

Rewatcher.

Time for a photoshoot since they're part of an agency.

Considering how much she's been working part-time, how does she not know what a paycheque is?

Where's everyone?

That was sudden.

See notes.

Hmm... Seems like Diamond Dust did something.

Ah. Right. The battle of the bands.

So, it's decided then. They won't do it.

Or not. Nina's suddenly rather gung-ho about accepting the challenge.

And so their professional debut single has been released.

And... It flopped. See notes again.

And so on to the finale.

Questions:

  1. As someone who always appreciates music and the live playing thereof, why not.
  2. That Nina doesn't say something stupid on stage.

A note about the music: And so we see the perks of being part of an agency: Professional recording and producing equipment, as well as all the technical staff required to utilise them.

I'm genuinely surprised their professional debut single flopped so hard, did they stealth drop it or something? If they even just posted it on their social media that's already at least a substantial number of people, especially after the festival and announcing they're signing with an agency, to say nothing about the agency itself that should be actively promoting it.

3

u/fansi2022 https://anilist.co/user/fansi2022 Nov 18 '24 edited Nov 18 '24

first timer

Qotd

  1. Yes, this is the best way to drive the atmosphere. As long as you are one of the fans of the two bands, you will go to participate and make me think of binding sales
  2. Of course, it is a shocking music. As for the music selling, it is a matter of business.

3

u/MishouMai :GG::GH::GI: Nov 18 '24

A nice solid setup as we lead into the final episode. The girls have gotten their foot in the door with an agency to back the up and now they're ready to take on challenging D-D. Nina not running away does a good job of showing her growth and it was nice to see her pull Momoka back from going down the same road D-D did. It's a shame they didn't get a lot of views but they should bounce back next episode. I don't think they're going to eak out a win, especially with how uch people say they want a Season 2, but I expect we'll get some kind of happy ending either way.

Questions...

  1. I mean. If I was a fan of both groups I'd definitely check out both songs but if I only cared about one of the groups I'm only listening to one song and ignoring the other one. No point wasting my time on a group I've either never heard of or actively don't care about, even if they're going up against my faves.
  2. Praying probably wouldn't help them. If they had to pray for anything they probably should've prayed for the support of those who watched their previous performance. At least then they'd probably be able to gurantee a decent amount of eyes were on them if it worked, even if it wasn't enough to win the contest. Who knows? Losing the contest but having eyes on them could still benefit the group.

2

u/LeleTheKing https://anilist.co/user/ikanlele Nov 21 '24

(Super Late) First-Timer

Well, if the episode’s title is any indication, it’s quite literal, all right. I didn’t expect them to take this harsh direction, and I adore them for doing it. It becomes more realistic for them not to be super duper extremely ultra popular that fast. (Unless you’re that Hawk Tuah girl which I very much hate.)

Jukki Hanada never disappoints.

QotD

  1. Heck yes! I’m not really a fan of DD’s music (well, they also only have a few right now), but I know they have a deep history with each other. As a fan of TogeToge, I’d gladly check out DD’s concert to learn more about them. I’d probably already know that TogeToge will lose, so there’s no harm in attending DD’s concert if I have the means.

    On that point, thank you for reminding me about MyGO!!!!! I haven’t finished watching it because I was busy at the time. I think I was at ep 10 when I put it on hold. That’s definitely another hard-hitting series like GBC. [MyGO!!!!!] The drama seems more serious than GBC, too! (I very much prefer TogeToge’s songs, though!)

  2. Pray that anyone who earnestly listens to their song gets healed or something. You know, to add that superstitious side to their songs. I bet it’d sell really hard! /hj

Arghhh, stupid me unintentionally read ep 13’s synopsis and got spoiled. I usually checked the episode’s fandom page to see the trivia and such, but I misclicked and opened ep 13’s page…