Welcome to the world of the Girl Band, soon to become Girl Band vs. Girl Band as the BanG Dream franchise expands. Season One is actually the origin story of Poppin’ Party, a five-gal troupe formed by Kasumi who enters the picture as a carefree newbie high schooler and non-musician. Growing up, Kasumi had a fascination for the night sky and is inspired to take up the guitar because she has found one in the shape of a star. Not your typical rocker … but the story must start off somehow.
Complications seem to drive the storyline of the 13-episode season. The star-guitar Kasumi desires is owned by Kasumi’s classmate and friend, Arisa. She plans to sell it on eBay and Kasumi only has to beat the present 200K yen bid (how many are even now asking, “Alexa, how much is 200,000 Yen?” following that up with “Wow!”). Kasumi virtually enslaves herself to Arisa to gain the instrument. Once Kasumi gets the guitar, she must learn to play it. Enter Tae, the main guitarist who is the soul of patience in getting Kasumi to understand her basic chords. Then the bass guitarist … Rimi seems too small to wield the bass, and the instrument she plays seems too small to be an actual bass guitar. But she wails on it in her cute, shy manner. Then we learn Arisa is not as proficient on the keyboard as she claims. The prospective drummer, Saaya, has dropped from one group because of her concern for her anemic mother. Kasumi’s hope to have her on the band seems remote. After a successful gig at the school’s cultural festival, Kasumi’s band, Poppin’ Party (or Po-Pi-Pa for short) has its next goal; it's to play at the local performance venue, SPACE. A first audition fails. The Owner, a hard-bitten she-rocker from an era long ago, pushes the girls to their limits. She announces that she will close SPACE within the year. At the second audition, Kasumi’s nerve and voice fails. They can have only one more chance to audition. The final two episodes are a frantic chase to make the slate for SPACE’s final night.
As one continues viewing the next seasons and spin-offs, be sure to pack a good memory for names, who is related to whom, musical styles … stuff like that. New groups as Roselia (the drummer, Ako, tends to be freaky … if she can pass off a decent goth aura), Afterglow, Hello Happy World (the DJ, known only as ‘Michelle’ … how do we know? … oh, heck, keep watching). New musical genres from pop, to metal, to goth, to whatever. It promises to be a wild musical ride … girl style.