Ave Mujica – The Die Is Cast has as a completely different tone on its storytelling compared to the other Bang Dream anime. While the others have a colorful, heartwarming, and lovely story to spread positivity for their audience, Ave Mujica has a serious, psychological drama to feed its audience. That contrast atmosphere made people curious about what is going to happen in the anime.
I was fortunate enough to enjoy the show while it was ongoing since the beginning of January. This is probably the best BanG Dream plot I’ve ever seen. I love the way the author put so much effort in the characters. Making me feels like they’re as alive as a human being. The way they put different characteristic and emotion, how they build up the main conflict, and how it has a full episode dedicated only for a monologue. The writer cooked so hard in that season.
However, as much as I love the story, it still has some problem within it. I want to highlight the ending and the resolution of the conflict. I feel like the ending is rushed because they only have a few episodes left. There are some plot points being unsolved and some questions left unanswered.
I don’t regret watching Ave Mujica. The problem with the ending aside, ave mujica fed us with interesting plot and huge character development for a 13 episodes anime. This anime provides great drama for people who like that genre, but also provide more for people who likes BanG Dream in general. Overall, this is not a typical BanG Dream anime, this is the opposite of that, and that’s what make Ave Mujica great.
I think that’s enough for a spoiler-free section. I’d like to talk about some interesting things I found regarding Ave Mujica and other BanG Dream anime, such as how Ave Mujica solved a major problem within BanG Dream series, and more depth to how this “antithesis” work as an anime.
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__The Main Problem with BanG Dream Anime, and How Ave Mujica Solved It.
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One general problem I found while watching BanG Dream anime (season 1 – 4) is that they all lacks character development. Sure, there are some great character arcs such as Chu2 in season 3 and Minato Yukina in the Roselia Movie. Still, there are many characters left to be undeveloped.
Let’s take Afterglow and Hello, Happy World for example. These two bands didn’t have a certain arc to focused on themselves in the anime. Instead, from some sources that I found, BanG Dream explored their characters more in the game. Sure, they give some unique characteristic for each of them, but that’s all. Compared to Chu2 who have a great character arc in season 3, they don’t shine as much.
This is because BanG Dream anime focused on a lot of bands and characters at once. As a results, they will highlight more of interaction between different bands than be focused to highlighting one band in particular. Of course, Poppin’ Party aside since it’s the MC’s band so it will have more portion to be explore than the others.
Ave Mujica and its prequel, It’s Mygo, have solved this problem. Those two series focused only on one band as a main focus to be highlighted. As a result, these bands have more room to grow by utilizing every single episode of its anime. What comes out is a great plot that explores interaction between characters in that band.
Now people can relate more in each of the characters. We get more grasp on what each of them wants, their behavior, and sometimes their traumatic past that turn them into what they are now. Giving us more reason to like or dislike a character. This is a great change and I hope they could maintain these things when they introduce a new band.
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How the Antithesis Works Well__
As I mentioned before, Ave Mujica is a direct opposite of what people assumes BanG Dream anime is. To the point where some people jokes about it being a psychological horror anime instead of a usual drama anime. The question is, how does being contrast to the usual BanG Dream anime works on Ave Mujica?
First of all, people don’t need to watch all BanG Dream anime to enjoy Ave Mujica. They only need to watch its prequel, BanG Dream, It’s Mygo! And nothing else. Even the prequel didn’t require knowledge of the previous Bang Dream anime. This saves time for a lot of people who want to enjoy Ave Mujica.
Then comes how they keep the tension in Ave Mujica. People are clueless on what is going to happen in the future. In episode 7, for example, they made people thought that the drama is over and now we moved to the resolution by showing Crychic plays Haruhikage. By episode 8, people realized that the conflict is still on and we’re not on “happy ending” yet.
Then comes how they utilize both dialogue, monologue, and even song lyrics to add strength to its storytelling. In episode 11, we can see Uika doing Soliloquy. A performance meant for nobody but herself. Using that, she describes everything about herself and her relation to Togawa Sakiko in the most “Ave Mujica” way possible.
On episode 10, we got a new Ave Mujica song written (in the story) by Uika for Sakiko, Imprisoned XII. The lyric indirectly describes a nonhealthy obsession between Uika for Sakiko. How bad Uika want Sakiko to be with her, “I want you to know, how much I need you so, right now, madly so.” In contrast to episode 7, when Tomori writes lyric for Sakiko because she wants Sakiko to feel happiness.
Conclusion
BanG Dream: Ave Mujica, or Ave Mujica – The Die is Cast is a great show with awesome drama writing and memorable characters. Potentially be awesome, but has a major problem with how the writer give an incomplete resolution to the story. This anime provides us with a unique storytelling from BanG Dream franchise.
The way they utilize every form of storytelling, from dialogue, monologue, and even song lyrics is genius. The conflicts, dynamic, and tension are well executed. Ave Mujica deserves more views and discussion from a lot of people.
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