Since Saya is the last remaining character who has yet to join the band, this episode and the next two centers around her. I vaguely recall liking Saya’s arc the most but it has been years since I’ve previously watched this season and on a rewatch, I’ve come to realize that there’s plenty to like about the other characters’ episodes. I guess we’ll see if this three-parter remains on top.
Episode 6 opens up with a flashback revealing that Saya was previously the drummer for a band she formed with three of her friends during her middle school years. Obviously, Saya isn’t part of the band now so one has to wonder what made her quit. The flashback is quite vague on the matter. Saya is shown to be getting along with her bandmates quite well. If she had a fallout with them, it isn’t shown here.
Back in the present, Hanasakigawa is preparing for its upcoming culture festival. Somehow, Kasumi has become the president for the Culture Festival Planning Committee (and I believe that’s for the whole school and not just her homeroom). I honestly could not tell you how she pulled this off. I guess people picked her for her high energy but I don’t know, Kasumi planning something? What’s next? She becomes the student council president? It’s a good thing then that Kasumi chooses Saya as her vice president. As you see in a couple of scenes later in the episode, Kasumi struggles to deal with the busywork without Saya keeping her on task. Honestly, Saya is the only one in Kasumi’s circle fit for the job. Arisa could maybe pull it off but I doubt she’d be interested. I don’t think Rimi could bring herself to boss Kasumi around. There absolutely is no way Kasumi would get anything done with Tae.
Since she’s part of the committee, Kasumi of course meets up with her homeroom on what they would like to do for the festival. As they brainstorm, the class leans towards running a cafe. Rimi musters the courage to suggest that they sell goods from bakery Saya’s family runs. I like how Rimi has been growing a bit more assertive as the show goes on. Saya asks her parents and fortunately, they agree to help. Every once in a while, Kasumi and the others would visit the bakery to try out some potential candidates for the menu. Kasumi even stays there for one night to get some of the paperwork done (which leads to a good joke where Arisa couldn’t make her jealousy any more obvious). Something that sticks out during all this planning is that Saya occasionally asks her mother if she’s doing okay and if the all the work hasn’t been too taxing. Saya has been established to be very close with her family so this isn’t that out of ordinary. Still, it’s pronounced enough that you have to wonder if something happened to her mother beforehand.
Meanwhile, we see Kasumi’s band prepare for their very first live performance, which will of course take place during the culture festival as Kasumi has hoped. The band plans on using a new song composed by Rimi and Tae. Thanks to Arisa, the band finally gets its official name: “Poppin’ Party”. Considering that Arisa was the first skeptic of the band, it says a lot that she’s the one who comes up with its name in-universe. She really is more attached to the band than she wants to admit. It’s also funny that she does this avoid going with whatever silly name Kasumi would’ve come up with instead. Also interesting is that Saya helps Arisa with creating the band’s name. It’s definitely indicative of her current relationship with the band: an outsider but still very involved with the group’s formation.
As the culture festival approaches, the gang puts up posters advertising their upcoming concert. Curiously, Kasumi took the liberty to put Saya’s name on the posters with the actual, official band members’. When Saya’s former bandmate, Umino Natsuki (Misato Fukuen), asks about it, Saya denies her inclusion in the band and instead insists that Kasumi made a mistake. Admittedly, it’s a little dumb for Kasumi to include Saya on the posters. She’s assuming yet again that a friend of hers is on board with her dream and she’s making an important decision for them. In this very episode, during the sleepover scene, Kasumi asks Saya to perform with the band, even if it’s just a one-time thing, and Saya answers that she’d like to perform with them someday. Evidently, Kasumi assumes that “someday” is the same thing as the very next day. That all said, I can’t say I blame Kasumi for acting presumptuous. As mentioned before, Saya has never been an official member of the band but she’s nevertheless been involved with its formation in some way. At the very least, she is the very first person to support Kasumi in chasing after the star beat and she’s never given a strong rejection to the idea of joining the band. It’s somewhat fair for Kasumi to think that Saya would be on board. Even if part of the blame is on Kasumi, I have to admit to admit that it does sting to see Saya deny being a member of the band. I can understand feeling conflicted at the moment but Saya does come across as a little too dismissive of Kasumi’s feelings.
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