Come on, did anyone think I'd write reviews for Bandori but not review ARGONAVIS? Didn't think so.
And yes, it is my second favourite series. I just have a much stronger emotional connection with Bandori.
Any major plot points past ep3 (the full formation of the band) are under spoiler tags.
A quick note and helpful reminder: While the series and the main band technically share the same name, the band's name is in title case, while the series name is in full uppercase. Hence, for any times I talk about either, the band is "Argonavis" (or, for short, "Argo," as I use in this review) and the series as a whole is "ARGONAVIS."
Music:

When it comes to the bands' music overall, I find Argo's are hit-and-miss, but the anime really just has their hits~ And the aforementioned meh songs.
A couple of their songs – particularly the ones in episode 9 and 10 – just have so much meaning to them, too, which is just–
And the other band that shows up? They have very few inserts but they are some of their best songs overall~ And the opening and ending they do too are just–
The performance in episode 8 is, visually and musically, my favourite in the show~ That song was literally my favourite from the series for a while and even now is... probably my third or fourth favourite~ Maybe fifth, since the true climax insert in ep13 has just been creeping up on the spot of best in the anime, though visually it's not as stunning...~
Yeah, they use one of the less-awesome songs, Goal Line, a lot to the point that, more than the opening, it could be considered the theme song of this part of the series. But it's still a pretty good song, though not amazing...~ Also it just means a lot to me...~
And, the "meh" insert I mentioned earlier is... a pretty relevant one, with some strong emotions, despite its mediocrity.
Story:
Honestly it's kinda rushed at the start, but it slows down later to give the main drama time to work well, unlike the "drama" of the first couple episodes.
Arguably the main band quickly finding the members could be a plus, to mostly avoid the opening/ending animation(s) spoiling anything, say, halfway in to the season...
But when in episodes 2 and 3 the existing members were reluctant to let the other characters in the opening animation join, that argument loses its value.
I mentioned this issue in my review on Bandori s1. Though at least here they rush through that and get some actually good parts a bit quicker~
The actual drama starts around episode 6 and it's mostly character-focused, so I'll go into it later. Episode 10 brings in some less-character focused drama...
Now, some of you may notice, in my note, I say it has six out of nine common music anime cliches/tropes I've noticed. But do remember this – *cliches and tropes are never inherently bad.*
Besides... literally only one of them is actually a seriously plot relevant one. And, the key part, the way they handled that plot point was vastly different to the other instances I've seen. In the way it was brought in, in the way everyone handled it... I felt it when seeing a different instance of it play out. How different the drama was even though the source was literally the same, because of the different characters and different circumstances and stuff...
Now... the biggest flaws in the story. One, is just how much they try to do in such little time. Some plot points don't have as much focus as they might have needed, ideally, and a couple characters, too. As for the second big flaw... which I'd say is probably the bigger one – the ending.
So this tag's going to be going in-depth about the finale:
Characters:
First off, this show doesn't have a generic cheery, always bubbly, super-extroverted main character!
But rather, that personality type goes to the guitarist and leader of the main band, Yuuto.

How about the main character, Ren?




As for the other band? Only really one or two of them have any plot relevance, so I'll just go over them briefly. There's a pretty guy who constantly gets annoyed at his bandmates and is kinda fun, a Chuunibyou ~~(who needs more focus)~~ and... sigh a flirt whose lines are pretty much all about women. Oh how I hate him. There's also the serious, calm, glasses-wearing guitarist and leader whose plot relevance is doubtable.
Then the one who certainly has relevance. The vocalist, Nayuta, who is incredibly cold, harsh, blunt and obsessed with perfection. There is certainly a bit more to him, but I think that's a bit of a spoiler and... I don't have much to discuss about that aspect of his personality so I don't feel like adding a tag for it...~

They also briefly introduce the other three bands at the end but it's so brief it doesn't really matter. Like seriously they don't even get animated in 3D, if they even physically appeared at all, they had such a minor role.
Overall:
It's a brilliant and emotional story. It's got a couple funny moments and some heart-warming ones, exciting moments and some sad ones, paired with brilliant inserts and some pretty good characters~ It's got everything you'd want in a show of its genres and does it all pretty well, though it's far from the best.
The first three episodes might not be great and it takes a while to truly pick up afterwards... but when it does it is really amazing. Episode 8 has the best music, then episodes 9 and 10 have such brilliant emotions– it really does become amazing there~
Please, just try it~ It'll make Ryo happy too~! ~~I think. Probably.~~

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