What’s it about? Mugendai Mewtype wasn’t planned—it was thrown together at the last second. Yet its members are talented and have strong personalities, even if they don’t have the unity needed for their performances. Will these digital divas rise to the top, or are they destined to become lost media in the corners of the internet?
Aw shit, here we go again, but like… that’s absolutely a positive because I’m getting to kick it with BanG Dream! again on a professional level. Also because BanG Dream! YUME∞MITA was a three episode drop that feels like seeing Vtubers debut, and kind of is.
We start off in a pastel netscape where four girls—Arale Nakamachi, Nonoka Miyanaga, Yuno Sengoku, Fuji Miyako—have come together to make MewType, a new band that’s… not too thrilled to be a group and would rather be their own things. Everyone’s pretty immediately put off by the notion of being one group of faces in a sea of girl groups, but they’re contractually obligated so… time to form a band!
What ensues is an exploration of getting the group to be a group before you can even get them together. Each girl has a reason why she’s the way she is, after all. Arale is deeply motivated but fears failure and being too much after an incident that broke up her former band; Fuji is constantly exhausted from her work as an illustrator; Yuno is seemingly emotionless, at least to others who aren’t in her head; and Nonoka is the only one with an inkling of viable fame from when she was a child. Together, they’re… kind of a hot mess. But bands aren’t made overnight: they’re made through effort, and if these girls can get it together, then they might make their mark on music and overcome their past trauma.
I mean, we all know I liked this, right? Like, BanG Dream! has really become a franchise I love, and seeing it get a series that feels like it neurodived into my dreams when I watch too much K-Pop and then have a small bowl of peanut butter cup ice cream truly is the wonderfully mortifying ordeal of being seen. But why is this opening arc of this new entry in this music franchise so damn good?
Honestly, it comes down to the characters. While I’ll be the first to admit that Arale feels a bit extreme in terms of her personality, I also beg you to remember what it felt like to be a fifteen year old who was deeply into being cringe, and let that mindset liberate you because the cast is immediately engaging. You know all four of the girls’ personalities within the first five minutes of Episode 1: the additional runtime across all three episodes only further develop the fact that these four girls have great potential, if only they can figure out a way to just, well… just be.
But I have zero concerns for this entry as a whole: BanG Dream! understands how to handle the concepts of intersecting fame, something that is immediately intimidating to Arale, who is kind of just a nobody in terms of digital celebrity. Plus, she comes with heaps of past trauma that results in something of a cliffhanger before episode four comes out this week. It’s this trauma that really shapes the opening arc: immediately, before fame can even be something Arale desires, her previous bandmates, Viola and Ritsu, encounter her. Viola is on the offensive, openly mocking her for her new band—and hinting that she knows it’s destined to fail. And yeah, sure, the stakes are zero because this isn’t a real band, but there’s just something in that BanG Dream! sauce that immediately has me invested in seeing another group of girls to the other side of their pain.
And yes—like, these are high schoolers, but still. Those are really intense, emotional years, and the thought of being in a band and having it all fall apart because of high emotionality also is very relatable. Girlhood is already hard enough, but when you combine the sudden change from friends to socialized competition, emotions run high and friendships get intense. In fact, that was a large part why I struggled to understand my queerness: my friendships with girls often mirrored deep, romantic relationships in their intensity, even if I was a child just like the girls of MewType. I think that is really well captured in this premiere, and it’s a big reason why I remained fully engaged. I genuinely can’t wait to see how YUME∞MITA engages with everyone—including rival group Fairy Bouquet—coming into their own while also going through just being teenagers as well.
Also like, the yuri potential here is already strong, so… there’s that. But also, all the really big thinky thoughts I had too.
Part of why I feel so passionately about idols and music anime, and music in general, is in my opinion, because it’s one of three truly universal languages. There’s food, which speaks to our body; laughter, which speaks to our mind; and music, which speaks to our hearts. You don’t have to know a language to enjoy music. One of my favorite genres is Brazilian phonk, and I don’t speak a lick of Portuguese. But when I listen to the beats, let my body move, and allow music to fill my brain, it doesn’t matter that I’ve never visited the country or don’t understand the words. I’m connected regardless, speaking the language of movement and laughter, and that’s enough.
It’s the same here with BanG Dream! YUME∞MITA. I know the members of MewType only exist when I watch them on Crunchyroll or listen on my phone. I know that they’re not real. But because music is real, so is the emotionality packed into these three episodes, and I think that matters, especially when you’re making a series that’s directly in conversation with what it means to create, to be heartbroken by the process, but still want to pick up the pieces and be a better version of yourself.
So it should come as no surprise that I’m recommending you watch all three episodes. Like, set aside ninety minutes, get your snacks and your hydration, and just enjoy what is already one of the most promising anime this season, and dare I say, another win for BanG Dream! lovers all around the world.
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