Now that everyone (well, mostly everyone) is committed to the upcoming concert and practice can finally begin in earnest, the band discusses over what songs they should perform. Taki proposes “Haruhikage” though curiously, Soyo is reluctant to use it for the concert. Tomori reveals to the band that she has completed new lyrics for them to use. Though fairly new to song composition, Taki volunteers to create instrumentals for the lyrics. Rāna shows up during one of the practice sessions and she once again flexes her skills, leading Taki to formally recruit her into the band.
As the episode progresses, Taki grows frustrated with how her bandmates are doing. Anon makes significant progress with her guitar playing but she still has a long way to go, leading Taki to constantly criticize her and relegate her to practice in a corner of the studio the band is renting. Meanwhile, Rāna inconsistently attends practice, making it difficult for the band to get practice as a whole group and for Taki to narrow down a final version of her composition. To this episode’s credit, you understand why Taki is so frustrated. She’s under a lot of pressure to get the instrumentals right and she can’t help but compare her skills and leadership to Sakiko. Combined with Taki not being a people’s person and her grudge against Sakiko, it’s easy to see where she’s coming from. Still, some of Taki’s actions rub me the wrong way. I get being annoyed with Rāna because seriously, what is this girl’s deal, but her bossing Anon around feels unfair. Like, Anon is actually trying this time around; cut her some slack. It’d also be so easy for Taki to accommodate for Anon’s skill level but she chooses not to do that. That this episode ends without Taki attempting to get along with Anon is pretty aggravating.
While all this is going on, there’s a subplot where Soyo invites Mutsumi to join her band and she makes a couple attempts to invite Sakiko as well. Soyo also mentions how CRYCHIC was more stable than her band (the big fallout at the end notwithstanding). It sounds like Soyo wants all her old bandmates back and effectively reform CRYCHIC. Anon and Rāna admittedly complicates that plan but I get the impression that Soyo doesn’t actually care about them. She certainly at least to agree to form a band with Anon only because that drew Tomori back in. I can honestly see her trying to kick those two out in favor of her old friends. I could very well be wrong but honestly, Soyo being extremely toxic despite her kind demeanor would be the obvious thing to do with her character. Regardless of Soyo’s intent, it appears that Mutsumi and especially Sakiko aren’t keen on forming a band with her again. They plan on attending the concert to give Soyo a piece of their mind. I can see that being used as a cliffhanger ending for the next episode.
Overwhelmed by the pressure, Taki begins to skip practice. It’s worth mentioning now that there’s occasionally a scene where Taki talks to a classmate of hers about what’s going on. Considering that MyGO!!!!! is bothering to give this girl some lines, I assumed that she might be important down the line. After a very brief wiki search, that appears to be the case but I don’t know anything more than that. Anon and Tomori confront Taki at the front gate, leading to a silly but fun chase. Once everyone cools down, they learn that Rāna is a third year junior high student at Taki’s school, Hanasakigawa. I’m only now realizing that Taki and Rāna attends the same school as Poppin’Party did (or does, I don’t know if they graduated or not). Not sure if there’s any significance but it’s a nice bit of continuity at least. Putting that aside, I just love the punchline. This whole episode, Taki struggles to contact Rāna and get her to show up for practice, only for her to find out that she could maybe talk to her during school this entire time. I hope in the next episode, Taki tries to pick Rāna up, only to find out that she actually showed up at the studio like she’s supposed to.
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