Geekscape Reviews ‘BanG Dream! Girls Band Party PICO Episode 20’
This week’s episode of Garupa PICO leaned fully into the death meme surrounding the show, leading us through a full fledged “murder” mystery. After Afterglow drummer, (and official best girl,) Tomoe Udagawa, is found unconscious, it’s up to her younger sister Ako to solve the case.
Except as usual with Pico, everyone is wildly incompetent, which is played up for maximum comedic effect. Ako’s investigation consists of accusing people of being the culprit, then letting them off the hook what they say they didn’t do it. Of course, this is after letting one of the suspects go simply because “she has rehearsal” as Ran disappeared into the snowy night.
The big twist at the end was that Ako’s companion and band mate, Rinko, was the culprit all along. But why did she systematically pick off each of the girls in the house? Who knows? We only have three minutes to fill, including the end credits!
In the end, it turns out that this incident all turned out to be Ako’s idea for a musical despite the lack of music, resetting everything to the status quo. But if we count this episode, the entire cast outside of four members of Roselia and two members of Afterglow have been incapacitated in some way. Let’s see who gets by unscathed as we approach the presumed finale.
Episode thoughts:
– Ran really didn’t seem to care too much about her childhood friend being attacked, did she?
– For someone who was just “unconscious,” suddenly placing a sheet over Tomoe’s body didn’t make their claim any more convincing.
– Ako and Rinko channeling their inner Master Betty with their sudden outfit changes.
– Kasumi, Eve and Marina join Michelle as characters who have died more than once throughout the course of the show.
– Rinko’s outfit reminds me that the Worldwide server of the game is still so far away from the MMORPG event.
BanG Dream: Girls Band Party PICO is a weekly gag anime placing the cast of the multimedia franchise in comedic situations over the span of three minute episodes. Find more at the official BanG Dream YouTube channel.
