Before I start Season 2, there’s an OVA released shortly after Season 1 that I need to rewatch and blog about. In this episode, Poppin’Party decide to take a break from their summer homework and go on a trip together, with the band settling on the beach as per Sāya’s suggestion. Coincidentally, Roselia are at a nearby cottage for some band practice. When Roselia’s vocalist, Yukina (Aina Aiba), struggles to compose a new song for Roselia, Lisa convinces her and the others to take a break at the beach. The two bands eventually cross paths with one another and decide to hang out together.
It had been years since I originally watched this episode and I was pretty dismissive of Bandori until I started MyGO so my memory of this was very hazy. I vaguely remembered this being the show’s obligatory beach episode and that certainly is an apt way to describe it. Much of this episode really is just silly beach antics and fluff. What surprised me on a rewatch is that this episode actually offers a pretty in depth look at Roselia. In fact, the vast majority of these characters’ screentime in Season 1 is concentrated in this episode. I kind of don’t get why this band gets the short end of the stick this season. They’re the second major band established in the franchise after Poppin’Party. You’d think they’d play a major role in the debut season but their presence ends up being very limited. How strange that it’s the beach-themed Blu-ray bonus feature where they finally get their due but I guess it’s better late than never.
Obviously, there still isn’t enough time to give everyone in Roselia much character development. The episode largely settles on providing a little arc for Yukina, where she learns the importance of taking a break and getting inspiration from others instead of staying cooped up in a room with her creative block. I wouldn’t call it amazing or anything but it has a nice message and it takes good advantage of the hangout between Roselia and Poppin’Party (without Yukina’s arc, the hangout would be complete filler). With everyone else, you at least gain a better understanding of their characters. The season finale previously established Ako as a silly goose though it’s this OVA where you see the full extent of her chūnibyō and Rinko’s ability to bounce off of it. I was pretty surprised by Lisa’s character this episode. In her first appearance, she seemed to be really hard on herself. That aspect is probably still true but here in the OVA, we see how lively she actually is and how much she looks after everyone, certainly Yukina at least. By far the most entertaining character this episode is Sayo (Haruka Kudō). I just love how unnecessarily serious she is, like when she tries to hide her love of French fries from her friends or when she changes to her swimsuit to play better in Roselia’s volleyball match against Poppin’Party. Frankly, this season completely slept on the comedic potential this character has to offer. I will admit that it was a little jarring to learn how goofy Roselia actually is. In their first appearance, they all came across as this highly professional band. To be fair, this all makes sense in context. Roselia has worked with the Owner many times prior so they likely know to not cause a lot of trouble for her. Here at the beach, they’re a lot more relaxed so their quirks would naturally manifest more often.
At the end of the episode, the local snack bar asks Poppin’Party to perform as part of a sound check ahead of a music event, allowing the OVA to provide the viewer with one more insert song. The arrangement is a bit awkward as there are drums for Sāya to play though this doubles as a decent excuse to have someone sing along with Kasumi. I like the song well enough but because Roselia has a prominent role this episode, it dawned on me that this season is sorely deprived of music by that band. You do get to hear one song by Roselia for the ED but man, one song? What a missed opportunity. Glitter☆Green got to perform more often than them and their discography is literally just two songs. As if that isn’t enough of a teases, the OVA even has Kasumi entertain a potential collab between Poppin’Party and Roselia, only for the OVA to end with just her band performing and the credits rolling shortly after. Again, the insert song we get is fine but not doing a collab is wasted potential. On the flipside, there’s more Bandori to catch up on so hopefully, it won’t be long before Roselia gets to perform some tunes.
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