I was pleasantly surprised to see this season already switch the OP to a new sequence featuring a song by Roselia, as opposed to the Poppin’Party one introduced in the premiere. It’d be cool to see this OP reused later in the season but if this is a one time thing, it makes for a cool change of pace and it kind of helps set the tone for what will likely be Roselia’s role this season.
So naturally, Poppin’Party now has to contend with planning out their self-sponsored live show. As it turns out however, Kasumi made that announcement entirely on a whim. Shocker, I know. Unsurprisingly then, the band is very clueless on what they should do for the event. Kasumi’s only idea at this point in time is having the band fly up into the sky when they perform. As much as I’d love to see that, it’s a very strong indicator that this event is doomed for now. Arisa discusses the live show with Rinko and Sayo and the latter two bring up the many logistics that they’ve spent a lot of time sorting out, completely overwhelming and worrying Arisa. I couldn’t help but chuckle when Arisa thinks to herself that Kasumi will be of no use for planning PoPiPa’s event. I mean, give Kasumi some credit where it’s due, she did manage to help plan a culture festival.
As sort of a way to show PoPiPa the ropes, Rinko invites the band to perform at Roselia’s show as guest performers. A funny little detail here is that PoPiPa meet up at a live house called CiRCLE to get approval from Yukina (as she has final say on the guest roster) but CiRCLE is not where Roselia’s show will be hosted. CiRCLE’s manager, Marina (Aya Suzaki), is perplexed by this decision as bands have apparently performed at CiRCLE in between seasons and she even tries to offer a reduced fee to get Roselia to change locations. I’m assuming that CiRCLE was featured before in the mobile game and the anime went ahead and assume that the viewer would already be aware of it. Kind of dumb for the show to assign a bit of homework but I must admit that Marina asking the bands to come back when I did not previously see them perform there is funny in its own way.
After Yukina approves of PoPiPa’s inclusion, Kasumi arranges for two tickets to the live show for Asuka (Yuka Ozaki) and Rokka. At the beginning of the episode, Rokka mentions to Asuka and Ako (Megu Sakuragawa) that she wants to form her own band. I’m vaguely aware that there are other bands established in between this and MyGO!!!!! so I’m assuming Season 2 will end with the creation of Rokka’s band. To be frank, I’m a little skeptical how this will pan out. There are already five bands in this season, I feel like the plot would struggle even more with a sixth one added into the mix. Still, I should reserve judgment until later. Aside from Asuka and Rokka, there’s also this pink-haired girl with headphones who plans on attending the live show. Not sure what the deal is with her but since the show put some emphasis on her, she’ll most likely become more prominent down the line.
On the day of the live show, PoPiPa learn some ropes from Roselia. Preparations don’t entirely go without a hitch. Roselia pass out at one point due to setting up the stage by themselves and they still work out the kinks even when the show is hours away. Overall though, you can tell that Sayo and Rinko were not kidding when they told Arisa that Roselia really planned out their live show. Really though, the big takeaway for PoPiPa comes during the show itself. Their guest performance is a success but then Roselia steps up to the stage and it immediately becomes apparent that the latter is at a different level, drawing in a much larger audience and delivering a concert that commands the people’s attention. I suppose the episode is cheating here by skimming over PoPiPa’s performance and actually showing the viewer Roselia’s but it does convey what the in-universe audience is feeling. PoPiPa is pretty good here but the band they’ll be remembering after the show is Roselia. Also, it sure is great to hear Roselia insert songs across two episodes back to back. It feels like the show is overcompensating for the zero performances the band did in Season 1 but I ain’t complaining.
Naturally, PoPiPa are now a bit doubtful about whether or not they can pull off self-sponsored live show. Kasumi still wants the band to try their best but Yukina tells her and the others that they’re nowhere near ready to pull off a show of their own. I doubt Yukina actually means to be rude here. Considering that she did approve of PoPiPa’s inclusion in her band’s show, she clearly respects their abilities to some degree. Still, it’s hard to deny that she’s awfully blunt here and maybe also riding on a high horse. I wonder what her bandmates think of her comments. I can’t picture them all being that harsh, certainly not Rinko or Lisa. Even if they do agree with Yukina, they must think their leader might’ve overstepped here.
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