In the “age of warring girl bands”, only one rival band can stand supreme. That’s the premise of the debut episode of Bang Dream! Girls Band Party PICO, (or Bandori Garupa PICO to preserve my finger joints), a micro sized gag anime featuring the characters of the recently released mobile game. Foregoing the more traditional art style of the main anime series, PICO tells its lighthearted stories using a super-deformed style reminiscent of the main map in the mobile game. As expected, hilarity ensues when you get all 25 girls in one room, especially when the space is so cramped you have to crash through a window to get in.
Serving as an introduction to the series, most of the episode is dedicated to introducing each of the five main bands. Afterglow, the alt-rock group of childhood friends, Pastel Palettes, the pop idol group, Hello Happy World, the eccentric band built on the whims of an eccentric billionaire, Roselia, the dedicated goth J-Rock group, and Poppin’ Party, the up and coming band that shine like the brightest stars, all arrive in dramatic fashion for practice at CiRCLE. Except there’s not nearly enough room for everyone, causing PoPiPa front-woman, Kasumi, to shift their attention to, “a family restaurant.” You can’t get much rehearsing done there, but at least there’s space to move around!
As a first episode, it does a good job of generally introducing the bands to new and familiar audiences alike, but with the strict three minute run time, there’s not a whole lot of time for character exploration. Yet, during the brief run time, a few things are immediately apparent. First, Kasumi’s lucky to not have a face full of glass after failing to stick the landing when breaking into CiRCLE. Second, this show is setting up its adorable charm quite nicely, especially with the ending theme animation. Lastly, in the main game, Hello Happy World and PoPiPa are the only overtly silly bands in the game, but with these introductions being as strange as they were, it’s clear that even the likes of Afterglow and Roselia are going to be at their comedic best going forward. Hopefully the show can keep up with the laughs!
Episode Thoughts:
– Marina should really have a booking system to prevent everyone from showing up at the same time for rehearsal.
– Does PoPiPa have a thing against doors? Or was busting through the window just the cool thing to do? Maybe they were in a rush to get out of the rain.
– Speaking of, I wonder how often Marina needs to pay for building repairs with clientele like that.
– The best way to rehearse is to do so in full costume if HHW and Roselia are examples to go by.
– Afterglow and Pastel Palettes don’t seem to notice the rain storm outside, especially the latter showing up in shoulder-less dresses.
– How much longer will it be before Arisa is fed up with the stupidity that surrounds her? I’m guessing not long.
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.