As our main characters resume band practice again, Rāna is already raring to go for another live performance. I’d call it presumptuous but then again, Rāna barely understands the plot of her own show so I’m not at all surprised she dismisses her friends coming off of a huge emotional high. Fortunately for her but awkward for everyone else, Tomori still has one last performance scheduled in RiNG’s schedule so the gang could actually perform in a manner of days. The only obstacle is what songs they should perform. The last song was improv’d and everyone wants to honor Soyo’s request to not use “Haruhikage” again. Their only viable optoin is “Hekiten Bansou”, the first insert song from Episode 7, and that still leaves them one song short. Despite the potential difficulty, the gang decides to make a new song from scratch.
In terms of tone, this episode is maybe the closest to the original Bandori. A lot of the drama has been sorted out at this point so the tone has gotten a lot lighter and the characters therefore get to banter more. You have Anon giving Tomori and Soyo nicknames, presumably as a way to better fit in with the group. I had a good chuckle when Tomori gives Anon a nickname as well but with Taki, she’s still just plain old Taki to her. For once, I kind of feel bad for Taki because her only nickname is the one Anon gave her, “Ricky”, and that remains as patronizing as it’s always been. There’s also the girls ensuring that Rāna actually sticks around by feeding the girl her favorite candy. A bit random but Taki has been calling Rāna a stray cat so I guess the show may as well lean into it some more. Come to think about it, this episode is probably where Rāna is with the band the most in-universe.
I complained how, as good as the last episode is, it could’ve done more with Taki’s role in patching things up. To Episode 11’s credit, you do get more of the girls patching things up with each other. Taki acknowledges and praises Anon for practicing guitar even when she called it quits. She also forgives Soyo for using Anon and Rāna, admitting that she more or less used Soyo to keep Tomori in the band. Because this is Taki I’m talking about here, she of course stumbles with her words and she isn’t as forward as she should be. Still, it’s nice to see her reflect on how she contributed to the drama and begin to make up for it, particularly with her past treatment towards Anon.
During one of the brainstorming sessions, Anon accidentally breaks her guitar pick, leading Rāna to give Anon one of her own. The pick happens to have the logo of Space, the live house featured in the original Bandori‘s first season. It’s soon revealed that Rāna is actually the granddaughter of Space’s owner. If you did not see at least that original season then yeah, this deep cut will go over your head. On its own, it also just feels extremely late to explore Rāna’s character. Still, at least we finally got something. Anything. Space’s closure causing Rāna to develop attachment issues does explain why she keeps coming and going. Also, while we’re on the topic of callbacks, I do want to acknowledge the cameo by O-Tae (Sae Ōtsuka), who I recall was my favorite character from Poppin’Party. She’s still the lovable goofball that I remember.
Something random but possibly relevant is the brief appearance of Anon’s favorite content creator, Nyamu-chi (Akane Yonezawa). This character appeared very briefly in Episode 5 and I didn’t think much about it. But seeing as she’s shown up again, I feel I should take note of it. I’ve noticed in MyGO that it likes to introduce seemingly minor characters that gradually take a larger role as time goes on. It happened with Uika and Umiri so I feel I should assume the same might happen with this character, perhaps to a lesser extent since there’s only two episodes left.
While Tomori and Taki work on the new song, Anon decides to brainstorm a band name and work on costumes for everyone to wear for the live show. Taki and Soyo scoff at Anon and for once, I get why. A name and a bunch of costumes would just be more work for the band, more so since they’re on a tight schedule. It also encourages Anon to act vain again, albeit to comedic effect. Anon does have a point, however. This far in, it is getting ridiculous that the band has no name at all. If they are committing to the band more, they may as well carve more of an identity for themselves. What’s great about this development is that Anon actually does come up with a legitimate name for the band. Tomori notices how all five of them are girls trying to find their way, leading Anon to look back at the former’s notes and pitch one of the phrases she wrote down, “Maigo” (or “lost girls”), as the band’s name. Given the show’s title, we can assume that the girls later use a bit of wordplay to the turn name into “MyGO”.
So yeah, we finally know the name of this stinking band and why this show is subtitled “MyGO“. I suppose it’s kind of obvious that the band’s name and the subtitle would be one and the same. With a phrase such as “My Go”, there’s no reason to use it unless it’s the namesake of something in the story. But dang, this show took its sweet time to get there. I don’t know if it’s a record but eleven episodes is certainly up there. To be fair, I think it is the right call to save the name drop towards the end. The show needed to establish its theme of feeling lost and how that relates to all five characters. Without any of that, I don’t think the reveal would’ve worked nearly as well.
Watch BanG Dream! It’s MyGO!!!!! on Crunchyroll
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