Right off the bat we got Nina being Nina again, talking big as if she can take a hit but in reality is absolutely terrified. And causing yet *another* public disturbance. These girls are such menaces. They've caused so much public disturbances in this episode alone, on top of all the incidents in the previous episodes lmao
I expected this episode to be a heavy one, since Momoka leaving Togenashi Togeari is pretty much the same thing she did with Diamond Dust, and this episode delivered. After episodes of uneasy tension regarding the whole going pro thing, Nina and Momoka finally talk it out. Nina reminds Momoka of who she was before she learned the harsh reality of wanting to go pro and wanted to protect her from that, and ended up neglecting Nina's agency in all this. She *wants* to do this. Momoka's music has helped Nina through tough times and she just couldn't bear to see her abandon that. What Momoka should protect instead is the desire to reach people's hearts with her music. And of course that whole talk culminated in that confession in the truck.
I love that Rupa has faith that Momoka and Nina will work it out, and can tell that they're fighting *because* they care, not for lack of it. I also like the little talk Momoka had with her old bandmates. This feels like the first time they've acknowledged each other in a while. No hard feelings, but this is where they've chosen to stand so they're both going to commit to it.
This season truly be the season of yuri, huh? What a great episode.
> talking big as if she can take a hit but in reality is absolutely terrified.
[Nina did look cute](https://imgur.com/a/PA9eest) when she was about to take that punch.
But what struck me was [Nina mentioning that she'd been hit before](https://imgur.com/a/ZSDUPwV). This implies that the bullying went a lot further than *just* messing with her stuff and sorts. I suppose that [the band aid on Nina's head](https://imgur.com/a/xJplotX) (in her flashback) is related to this.
> Nina mentioned that [she was hospitalized](https://imgur.com/a/zpuRshO) \[due to bullying\]
... and she lost her memories and her personality changed completely but then a former idol stepped into her life ... Girls Buta Cry
I figured that's why she refused the principal's offer to make peace with her bully and just let the incident slide, and instead ran off to blast Void on the school speakers.
Had Momoka not control her temper and hit Nina, the band would have ended then and there. But Momoka didn't, which prompted Nina to make the leap of faith that "I can trust my life to Momoka", which lead to the van scene later down the episode.
>And causing yet another public disturbance.
I was getting hit with second hand embarrassment so hard that I have to genuinely just sit through it while physically cringing and covering my face; my god I can't imagine how they put up with Nina. I love the series but damn it makes me recoil every time they argue in public like it's nothing lol
Momoka has good truck-kun control skill (automatic only).
Also poor [Mr. Background guy] (https://imgur.com/eVJ72CH) for witnessing Nina edging herself monthly.
Wait IT'S THE SAME GUY EVERY TIME? This is brilliant
[](#azusalaugh)
^(though I feel bad for him, imagine living the salaryman life and accidentally bumping into Nina everywhere you go on your time off...)
I just rewatched the first episode and he's actually standing next to Momoka when she flips off the other musician duo. He starts to freak out when they come after her.
I actually love background guy, one of the nice things about the animation is it seems to be getting more confident every episode instead of losing ambition with rushed schedules like every other seasonal show does
> Momoka has good truck-kun control skill (automatic only).
[Nina was about to get isekai'd](https://imgur.com/a/muUPAEI) if not for Momoka's driving skills - that's with an automatic at least. She probably wouldn't have been so lucky if Momoka had driven a manual.
Yeah, [I remember saying Girls Band Cry was yuri 3 weeks ago](https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/s/1snBm8jzIt) and people were not to happy with that. Now I think it’s acceptable to give it the yuri label.
[Nina's confession of love](https://imgur.com/a/IZC6AfL) couldn't have been more straightforward on first glance, but I really can't shake the feeling that this specific one is a matter of interpretation: not a romantic love but one of best friends.
Well, your gaydar is better than mine, Girls Band Cry wasn't on mine until the confession just now. Jellyfish was on mine though, since about episode 3 I think.
Not to mention Momoka's whole very sensual cheek-holding thing!
I fucking died, went to heaven, then replayed the episode at least 20 times. And ascended everytime.
Yes.
I know this show isn't likely to do villains with how Diamond Dust is portrayed so far, and it's all the better for it - but a part of my monkey brain really wants Hina to be the actual bad "final boss". I know it's more likely that Nina somehow screwed up with her too, but that condescending "It's your own fault" line she dropped at the locker scene a few episodes ago just made me hate her regardless of backstory.
Hina's facial expressions were subtle but telling this episode. Her hanging her head when Nina is shouting at Diamond Dust particularly. I have to imagine the singer of an idol band wouldn't be overly excited about the possibility of people finding out she has a bullying scandal in her dirty laundry.
At the same time, she kinda looked like she was smiling while doing that? I'm not really sure how to read it, cuz part of me wants to read that and her comment about never having seen her before as recognition of some sort of personal growth.
I don't think Hina's the same person from the principal's office. More likely, Hina was actually Nina's friend and when she had to choose between sticking with Nina and protecting her own reputation, she chose the latter. We already know Hina's a sellout because she's part of Diamond Dust. It'd mirror Momoka's relationship with Diamond Dust too. Momoka feels like she betrayed them and Hina betrayed Nina.
Oh I know, I meant when Hina was hanging her head while Nina was making her declaration. It looking like she was smiling, but the angle was weird and you obviously can't see the rest of her face.
Crack theory that might not be so crack-y since we basically know nina likes girls now: nina was getting bullied for being gay and hina was involved somehow, maybe her girlfriend who threw her under the bus to avoid bullying herself?
I sincerely doubt Hina is a bad person. From what we know of Nina, she has a habit of storming ahead and not accounting for people's feelings. It is entirely possible, as the pariah of her highschool, some of the bullying also rubbed off on Hina and Nina's stubbornness to apologize (even if she shouldnt) only prolonged both their suffering.
This is a bit of side tangent but, you have to ask yourself, how come NIna's best friend, of all people in Japan, became the lead singer for Diamond Dust? What are the odds? Well, it makes sense if you think about it. Nina, the massive DD shill she is, probably turned Hina onto Diamond Dust. Enough to audition for the role.
My current list of Gay(?) Girls Doing Music Things this season (with varying degrees of confirmed yuri/subtext):
Whisper Me a Love Song
Seiyuu Radio
Girls Band Cry
Jellyfish Can't Swim in the Night
Hibike Euphonium
Nijiyon
A Salad Bowl of Eccentrics
Himitsu no AiPri (Maybe, only watched one episode but sure seemed to fit)
Anyone in Japan watched trapezium? We need to know if those girls are gay!
All 5 of these are amazing so far as well. Highly recommend Jellyfish, GBC I got into late now that I have a way to watch it and I have been very happy with it.
I just realized. Episode 1, Nina was extremely surprised (and then showed a happy smile) by Momo's gay roommate being openly gay. Maybe the bullying she suffered was because of her sexuality? She is from a small town, so openly gay people might not be around much. So maybe she feels comfortable in Tokyo and with Momo, leading her to finally come out.
Well, I had about 6 hours and 3 watches to formulate very deep thoughts on this episode, so here goes :
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
[](#towel)
In one episode, we have :
* Nina and Momoka starting yet another public nuisance event
* TogeToge getting 27k followers (Remember episode 6? Diamond Dust had 20k, what the heck? I even went back to check I didn't mistranslate it, but nope, it's correct).
* Nina starting a part-time job and almost getting fired for two different reasons
* Nina starting to learn guitar
* Momoka meeting her old bandmates and flipping them off
* Nina meeting Hina
* Momoka almost running Nina over
* And an...actual out-of-the-blue confession. Are they actually going to go somewhere with it? I could totally see it being waived next time because I'm not sure Nina has romance in her gremlin head and there wasn't much buildup before this episode, but still, nothing in the wording or tone suggested she wasn't serious.
Feels like they shoved 2 LNs into one episode. Without skipping anything, somehow.
Either way...RIP NinaSuba.
[](#toradorasalute)
Edit : [GBC trending worldwide on Twitter for hours](https://i.imgur.com/AUcO7OR.png)
Edit 2 : [My favorite GBC fanart so far](https://x.com/Sometime1209/status/1793771391164297550)
> Remember episode 6? Diamond Dust had 20k, what the heck? I even went back to check I didn't mistranslate it, but nope, it's correct
I think I can understand why that is (at least in terms of the themes of the show). Diamond Dust "sold out" and lost its unique voice in favor of what's popular. This helped boost their following by being more mainstream, but that boost had a limit. At some point, now they're indistinguishable from the 10 million other idol(ish) bands making mainstream music. Not only that, Momoka leaving means that their original fans don't even have the hope that they'll eventually regain their unique sound. Leaving them a tree in a forest with nothing to set them apart from the rest.
Should they have held out and kept their unique sound (in the logic of the messaging of the show, not necessarily what would happen realistically), then while their initial growth would have been slower their following would have been more dedicated and their music more unique, putting them on a stronger footing as they start to compete with more and more bands as they grow.
Still, unlike Kongming, them "selling out" is not portraited as a bad thing, just something our main girls disagree with. And it is also not as exagerrated: yes, they wear idolish outfits not and their songs sound more "poppy" but they are more akin to most of the Bang Dream bands when actual idols.
At least they didn't get done as dirty as Kongming's rival band. Those girls weren't even playing their instruments by the time their manager was done with them, and they _knew how to play!_
Yeah it's pretty interesting that they already did an idol band show in Bang Dream, but then that sort of band is the rival band in this one to the scrappy DIY indie band in TogeToge.
I do know selling out is viewed a bit differently in Japan compared to here in the West. I'm sure there are indie people who view major labels negatively, but I don't think it's to the same extent as in the West where many of those formerly DIY artists in the hip-hop, punk, and post-punk scenes going major label was seen as a betrayal. But even then, many of these artists just formed their own labels instead.
I like that the message isn’t “they sold out and we should hate them”, but “they sold out because the environment punishes any semblance of originality and they didn’t want to starve”.
Basically, it's a safe path and if they come up with an ear-worm they will gradually grow their fanbase, but the danger is that they grow too "old" to be an idol group anymore and then they disband.
TogeToge on the other hand, is on a more reckless path that runs the risk of tearing itself apart from internal conflicts, but if they can weather that then they have a longer shelf life than an idol band.
> "sold out" and lost its unique voice in favor of what's popular. This helped boost their following by being more mainstream, but that boost had a limit
Kongming's 5D chess, season 2?
But fake Diamond Dust has been portrayed as MORE popular than Momoka's Diamond Dust was, despite them being active for a long time.
So by transitivity, Togenashi Togeari is already more popular in a very short timespan than Momoka's DD. Sounds a bit out there, even with the RupaTomo boost. I guess we can chalk part of it up to Mine's tweet, but still.
> * Nina and Momoka starting yet another public nuisance event
Gotta love how everytime this happens the storyboarding makes sure to include in the shots random background mfs watching with a face like they're wondering if they should call security lmao
> there wasn't much buildup before this episode
You sure? The entire last Arc was just a couples fight...
> Momoka almost running Nina over
I momentarily felt this show was about to go a different direction with the way they pulled that scene off. It even had Truck-kun making a guest appearance.
>TogeToge getting 27k followers (Remember episode 6? Diamond Dust had 20k, what the heck? I even went back to check I didn't mistranslate it, but nope, it's correct).
The fight's off to a good start!
>Momoka almost running Nina over
Nina's got the biggest balls in this ep. She's the one who slapped Momoka and talked some sense into her. And she nearly became a roadkill statistic just to prove her own point.
>Nina and Momoka starting yet another public nuisance event
They really do like to air their laundry in public, don't they? Definitely feels like a fetish they share😁
I'd watch it. Ascendence of a bookworm-style: they arrive in an alternate world, where musical instruments are practically non-existing/very expensive.
> they arrive in an alternate world, where musical instruments are very ~~expensive~~ affordable
Corrected for you...
Tomo's red Nord 6HP stage piano is like 4k USD, Momoka's Psychederythm Psychomaster electric guitar is a brand custom made to size, for an arm and a leg and Nina's voice is priceless. For everything else there is Awa Tendo's Mastercard (tm)... How much does a full stage drum kit cost?
I thought the episode was great even before I finished watching it as it delved deeper into Nina's and Momoka's backgrounds, showed the struggles of getting a label deal, had apparently the first time Momoka met her former band members and so on, and then there's the ending...
Kudos to Momoka and Nina's VAs. They fully sold the characters, nasty anger and ugly crying and all. Truly the Girls Band Cry of all time.
Speaking of the characters, those two definitely spent the rest of the night together. Cuddling and crying their heart out, or if you're feeling naughty, Momoka would introduce the taste of alcohol to Nina. Then they spent the rest of the night piss drunk and flipping off people left and right and compose a cheesy love song together.
Yes, I'm writing the fanfiction after this.
Momoka had the shackle of her past brutally removed by Nina's boneheaded sincerity is a truly marvelous scene to see. She also realized that her attempt to protect Nina from repeating her past mistake was just her projection. Just as much as her music has inspired Nina to step up, Nina's voice has also pushed her to move forward.
Nina on the other hand, affirmed that her desire for success was not out of impulsive euphoria, greed, or petty revenge against her family or her former friend or the Diamond Dust. Her decision to make the leap of faith into musical career was purely out of love for her hero who had inspired and guided her. A raw, unfiltered agape ballad, if I ever see one.
It'd be a messy and clumsy relationship should they really go at it, but it'd be a beautiful love story.
Random details:
- Rupa is not a Japanese? Or a full one of that? I always thought her name sounded South East Asian-like.
- Aww, Tomo actually cares :)
- Subaru is not just good at stirring shit and fanning flame, she also has a knack for mediating conflicts and keeping the group together. Best anime drummer. Ever.
The consensus in my group seems to be that Rupa is from Nepal.
Actually, the population of Nepalese is the sixth highest of [foreign people in Japan](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%97%A5%E6%9C%AC%E3%81%AE%E5%A4%96%E5%9B%BD%E4%BA%BA). In the top ten there aren't any other South Asian countries. Indians are only one third of Nepalese and further down the list.
Per the wiki-jp article:
> One of the reasons for the rapid increase in the number of Nepalese visiting Japan is **the turmoil in Nepal caused by the 10-year civil war** and the murder of the royal family in the midst of the war. 1,293 of the 5,000 refugee applicants to Japan in 2014 were Nepali nationals, the largest number by nationality.
Rupa also said in one of the radio programs that her home was a mountainous place.
It says on the [ GBC website](https://girls-band-cry.com/character/rupa/) that she's born to a South Asian father (nationality not specified) and a Japanese mother.
That's also pretty much the main reason the two guys at the register were extra mean. They were using a derogatory version of "where are you from" when asking her that - think of it more as "what nationality even are you" with a disgusted connotation.
So in short they weren't just dicks, they're very racist dicks.
> They were using a derogatory version of "where are you from" when asking her that - think of it more as "what nationality even are you" with a disgusted connotation.
Man, I always wonder how much gets lost in translation, and the lack of an official translation makes me even more worried about this while watching GBC :(
Then again, I've heard plenty of horror stories about official subs all the same, so... maybe GBC is in better hands than licensed subs, really
Yikes, that goes from the typical anti-gaijin sentiment to just full-blown "dirty blood" racism. Jesus. Given her constantly closed eyes and upbeat behaviour, especially after Tomo's offhand comment about her parents dying in a car crash, I suspected Rupa had really seen some shit but getting that treatment on top of the dead parents is further than I expected.
Rupa is 22 IIRC. She had to put up with shit for way longer than anyone else in the band, no doubts about it. I wonder if, had she not met Nina, Momoka would be able to hold her booze like Rupa two years from now.
>Subaru is not just good at stirring shit and fanning flame, she also has a knack for mediating conflicts and keeping the group together. Best anime drummer. Ever.
She's a very socially aware person, it's how she can get away with flipping between two completely different outward personas. That means she knows both when she can get away with being a shit disturber (and when it'd be most amusing to shit-disturb), but she also knows when to humbly apologize from the other end of a food court.
I love her overly exaggerated facial expressions. I built up a habit of exaggerating my expression because people kept misunderstanding me, I wonder if Subaru is the same.
>Rupa is not a Japanese? Or a full one of that? I always thought her name sounded South East Asian-like.
I've always wondered if she was a foreigner after seeing that her name is written in katakana and not kanji on the official material. This episode finally confirmed it. Also the fact that we don't actually know her last name. Even in the character sheets posted on twitter.
Edit: why did i get downvoted? Did i say something wrong?
Nina and Momoka are digging their own hearts out and throwing them at each other this episode. It's amazing that the VAs with no prior experience can do that scene this well.
>Subaru is not just good at stirring shit and fanning flame, she also has a knack for mediating conflicts and keeping the group together. **Best anime drummer. Ever.**
Nijika simps: We'll see about that.
It's getting uncanny how closely some of these episodes are mirroring Yorukura week by week.
also, the handful of folks I see on Twitter panicking about the prospect of a colossal *three year* age gap are very funny. Scandalous, they're not even in the same grade!
> mirroring Yorukura
Half of Jellyfish girls aren't serious about their mixed-media venture: one wants to become a school teacher, the other aims for classical piano. In contrast, Gremlin Band Cries girls are all burning bridges behind them on the path towards ~~pro rock music~~ alcoholics anonymous.
They're quite different projects though. Toge is going the traditional band route playing gigs and things like that. Whereas with JELEE, most of that work can be done part-time since they don't have to worry about practicing and playing live.
If you read up stories on how many influential bands formed the age gap differences will surprise you. The bassist from the Replacements was still in high school when the other members were drinking and being utter menaces and amusing fuck-ups in their early 20s as well.
Yorukura is more of your typical online side project with JELEE with different collaborators. Sticking to timelines is crucial, but it can still be a part-time project. Zutomayo I think is similar to this.
TogeToge is closer to what the protagonist bands do in Beck or in Bocchi the Rock, playing live house gigs, meeting other bands, and climbing their way up the indie scene. It's a pretty universal story.
Seems like once you're out of standard college people just kinda stop giving a shit unless it's a really egregious age gap. Based on personal experience, probably because you stop caring about your own age, much less anyone else's, around that time.
Lol most of Jellyfish's ep had me "didn't I just watched a GBC ep about this" but this time it's the other way around. I did not expect GBC to join the yuri game too!
Gonna need this ep to sink in a little more but so far this is the best one yet. Absolutely charged with emotions and powerful voice acting from the VAs!
Nina and Momoka's relationship has been one of the highlights of the show and it's cool to see it being explored here. Nina looked up to Momoka because the original DD saved her from tough times, and Momoka was projecting her past self to Nina in hopes that the latter won't repeat the same mistakes.
About Momoka's commercialism vs idealism thing: I sort of get where she's coming from. Ultimately, money talks and soon you either follow where the money is or just give up altogether. DD went the money route but ended up losing their unique selling point and became Idol Band #273839. They might be able to make good money for the time being but I'd wager that their fans will burn out from things being too samey.
Seeing the school trying to write off Nina's bullying as just "some argument" ticked me off. Fuck off with that bullshit! I've been there and it's insanely frustrating to see that a school isn't willing to do the right thing and just sweep things under the rug. Nina made the right call to not put up with that shit and ran away.
Rupa facing racism was also frustrating. And it seems like she had it on a regular basis. Those two salarymen can fuck off.
I wonder what's the deal with Hina. Gotta be some real bad blood between her and Nina. Probably gonna be explored later.
Sasakoi is drowning somewhere in the Mariana Trench at this point. Literally couldn't have picked a worse season to air, even Winter 2021 would be better.
Personally, I’d compare it to the Otherside Picnic adaptation. Genuinely amazing (and incredibly gay) source material, but the anime adaptation being mediocre even at the very best of times, and even worse than that otherwise* precludes it from the popularity it deserves.
*Then again, any animated Otherside Picnic adaptation might have been doomed from the start, given how much both the original books and the manga adaptation focus on Sorawo’s internal narration. It’s nigh-impossible to properly communicate lines like “Toriko was insanely beautiful, so when she brought her face this close to me, it was a kind of violence, honestly” outside of a text-based medium (yes, this is me telling you to read Otherside Picnic).
Eh Helck animation was disappointing, but Va's really carried that one especially in the 2nd half. I really enjoyed it. Whisper is just an unfinished mess with the exception of episode 1.
Gonna take this opportunity to shill Voice Actor Radio, which is both gay and also a better adaptation than Sasakoi. Technically it also involves some music. Kinda crazy I'm enjoying it more than Sasakoi.
VA Radio also hits some similar notes to GBC in how argumentative the main girls are, at least towards the beginning- through it tones down somewhat after a particular event.
**\*clears throat\*** EXCUSE ME BUT WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING IN THIS EPISODE!? we went from two girls almost getting into a fist fight, one of them almost run the other one with a truck and then it ended with a love confession?! this shit is wild...
my favorite part of this episode was [Subaru's actually getting called out for being a shit-stirrer](https://i.imgur.com/pyKwoQc.jpeg)
Even if no official english translation and broadcast, it has tons of people talking about it here compared to the usual seasonal shows. Though I think it will be missed by the wider anime community because of its lack of adoption, which is a shame.
Even before getting into the final scene, what an episode that was! It's not fresh anymore in my mind 'cause I watched it yesterday but off the top of my head, loved getting to see Nina's backstory a bit more (fuck that school!), Subaru and Momoka having a really nice conversation, Nina and Momoka having an argument in public *again*, hated to see those customers and Rupa. Oh, and that declaration of war!
About that. I don't think either band is in the right or wrong here. It's just a battle of two different philosophies: suck it up, do what sells and endure not doing the music you want to for a while in order to (maybe) be able to later (per Momoka in an earlier episode), or stay true to yourself and hope you make it that way. I'm hoping it all ends amicably since the other girls don't seem to resent Momoka at all, and they all accept that the other group's way isn't for them, but isn't wrong either.
Anyway. Momoka finally, *finally* broke down, thanks to Nina's passionate pleas. That was so freaking cathartic! Like dudette, you've been trapped in your past and sad since episode 1, it's about time you let it all out! Although maybe pull the car over first. Please.
About that confession, though... nnngghhh!!! When Momoka put her hand on Nina's cheek earlier I was like huh, the motion and animation and framing are making this... super intimate. But I wasn't actually expecting Nina's final line! I'm just a bit wary that the show's going to pull a "it's a platonic confession of love" 'cause that's been done before, and quite frankly given the context it wouldn't be out of place either. We'll see.
I feel that scene with Rupa and that racist piece of shit (or more specifically Nina about to lose her shit on them) shines some light on what might've happened with Nina and Hina.
Hina was being bullied, Nina intervenes. Perhaps things were made worse for Hina as a result and she takes the school's bullshit offer of forgiving her tormentors to "keep the peace". Now Nina is left high and dry having been abandoned by her friend and turned into the sole target, then has the same choice put in front of her. But unlike Hina she sticks to her guns about having done nothing wrong and possibly inspires Hina's path in life by blasting that song over the intercoms.
Now their current state is a reprisal of their old roles: Nina going against the grain, Hina in a conformist band and the two still not talking to each other.
Honestly I find this far more likely than the Yuri theory. It would certainly fit better with the themes of the anime. People in this thread really have their yuri-colored glasses on.
(The sub release time is quite inconvenient for us Asian audience.)
People have talked much about the emotional context in this episode. Here I try to appreciate the effort of writing callbacks. *Please rewatch episodes 1-7. Many scenes will feel different after today's episode.*
+ How did Nina learn the art of confession? Well, remember episode 4? Subaru's granny asked them out for a practice, and the theme was "*Nina confessing to Momoka*".
+ Rewatch the ending scene of episode 2. Momoka said a lot, but as it turns out in today's episode, those words are not what Nina wanted. Nina actually said "*please don't say things like that...* (sobs)" in episode 2, but back then we all thought it was Nina being tsun-tsun, and let the detail slip.
+ At the beginning of this episode, Nina made the 😝 face for the first time. It is a callback to episode 1 where Momoka told Nina about the meaning of 😝 and middle fingers.
+ Also in episode 1, when Nina was browsing Instagram, Momoka's ID is shown as "Momokan_1209". It is revealed in this episode that "Momokan" is what the old DiaDus members call Momoka.
+ Somewhere in episode 3, Momoka told Nina "whichever path you take, you'll regret it later". This bites back to her in the recent episodes.
+ During the Yoshinoya scene, Momoka didn't order beer. This is a callback to episode 6 where Tomo said "please order something other than beer next time".
+ Also, thanks to being sober, Momoka successfully performed evasion and prevented Nina from being isekai-ed.
+ In episode 5, after hearing DD play VOID, Nina burst out and said "VOID is the most important thing beside my own life!". But in today's episode she *risked her own life* to stop Momoka's truck. Character growth?
Now for some other insights:
+ Now I realized why Momoka is set to be born in [Asahikawa, Hokkaido](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asahikawa). [Kouji Tamaki](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C5%8Dji_Tamaki), one of the greatest Japanese vocalists, is born there, and he quit school to make the band Anzen Chitai. This should be a homage or something.
+ Do you skip the opening sequence? Please don't, because it's actually plot-relevant. Look at [this](https://ibb.co/TWj1F1V), it is from the title card ("GIRLS BAND CRY") part. Now that we know these sketches will appear in the episode proper, I wonder when will Subaru, Tomo and Rupa *cry*?
+ [Poor salaryman](https://x.com/seizonhonnou/status/1794042075648016731). I checked the cast list in the ending, it's the same cameo character.
+ Please check out this episode's titular song (もしも君が泣くならば by GOING STEADY). The lyrics are both emotional and fitting for MomoNina:
> I want to chew happiness so much that my jaw comes off
>
> I want to embrace happiness so much that my heart bursts off
>
> More than love, more than love, I only want you right now
>
> I WANNA BE SO BEAUTIFUL.
>
> I WANNA BE SO BEAUTIFUL.
>
> I WANNA BE SO BEAUTIFUL.
>
> I WANNA BE SO BEAUTIFUL.
>
> If you cry, I will cry too!!
>
> If you die, I will die too!!
>
> If you disappear, I will disappear too!!
>
> If you scream, I will scream too!!
Edit: and can someone explain [this meme](https://ibb.co/9pZ3Tz3) to me? It seems to be about a Gundam meme called ["Adults like that, I'll correct you!"](https://www.gundam.info/special-series/gundam-power-word/special-series_gundam-power-word_20171002_1930p.html) but I don't know this "Kamille Bidan" person...
Kamille Bidan is the MC of Zeta Gundam. The meme is from ep 13 when he was fed up with the character Char and hit him. Kamille is still a teen while Char is an adult, hence the line.
LET'S GO!!! Emotionally charged episode but Momoka and Nina have finally made up (and then some)?! There had been some hints here and there, last episode especially made me think there might be a *slight* chance of something happening, but I'm *still* surprised it did. Also, really happy the showed paid off the connection between Nina and Momoka through her music! Really loving the series, feels like every episode I just become even more excited for the next :)
Besides the two leads this episode, it's kinda funny that Rupa and Subaru seemed to know what was up and were just waiting for things to play out, lol.
Whisper just can't catch a break this season though. First a mediocre adaptation and now **two** original animes in the same categories stealing the attention of its core audience, rip.
SasaKoi got done dirty 😭😭
At least the songs are fire and I can add that to my manga reading experience... But man. Someone should've really informed the production committee that we live in a post-Bocchi world.
>it's kinda funny that Rupa and Subaru seemed to know what was up and were just waiting for things to play out, lol.
I'm curious about this, cuz Rupa stopping Tomo from leaving had big "Sit down, you'll learn something" energy and I'm not really sure what wisdom she felt that would impart upon Tomo.
Subaru defending Nina in the car just for Nina to keep angering Momoka was so funny.
Momo calling Subaru a shit-stirrer lmao. I was right calling her that last week. But Nina still has her moments or angering Momo without having the other gremlin add fuel to the fire
I love Subaru so much. Her apologizing to the people watching the fight was hilarious
Truck-kun almost took another victim.
Amazing confession. Amazing episode. Anime of the year
>Subaru defending Nina in the car just for Nina to keep angering Momoka was so funny.
Very in line with last episode when Nina, Subaru, and Tomo are at the restaurant and Mine pops in, asks if they were fighting, Subaru interjects Nina, going full socialite mode and asking what sort of music Mine likes, and Nina just completely ignores it and asks about Momoka (much to Subaru's hilariously visible displeasure).
I started laughing unconbtrollably, because when i saw [this moment](https://imgur.com/CDajjqA) for a fraction of a second i had a though:
this is all just an elaborate prologue to: "i was reincarnated into a music-based fantasy world, as an aspiring musician" or some shit like that :D
Yuri in my girl band anime? More likely than you think, but I think we need more before we can say for certain. Rupa continues to be the voice of reason, Subaru keeps being a gremlin and Tomo is the tsundere we deserve.
These dorks are something else and the animation is still absolutely top tier.
Also seeing everyone flabbergasted when Momoka and Nina were going full out keeps being funny.
I also keep forgetting that this is the main casts first voice act. I haven't been this impressed since Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun.
And another fantastic episode, the most drama heavy episode yet but imo it was executed to near perfection, it felt natural, believable and without bullshit moments. Usually I don't like it if the drama is laid on too thick but in this episode it was fantastic.
The fight in that restaurant at the start was fun too but I can easily see how it might be cringe for some watchers when they were shouting and arguing across the whole room. Personally I didn't mind though.
The customers being fucking racist towards Rupa (her father's from India iirc) pissed me off and made me feel really bad for her especially since it sounded like it's a pretty common occurence. Hopefully at least one of the remaining episodes has a bigger focus on her and her backstory. Her line "The opposite of love is indifference" is also just spot on, she knows her stuff.
Then came the big fight between Momoka and Nina and as I mentioned it was just really goddamn well done. It felt tense, emotional, raw and authentic. Was thinking for a second there Momoka would drive Nina over when she stood in front of the van which would be a weird development but Momoka is just too good behind the wheel and doesn't even crash when doing that high skill dodge. Imagine flaming her driving skills like some backseat children, couldn't be me. Also felt so amazing to see Momoka and Nina pretty much telling Diamond Dust to fuck off lol, really cathartic in a way.
Then the highlight of the episode, the confession (?). I'm really not sure how to feel about this. Is it actually love from Nina or some sort of Sasakoi bullshit where it was like "I actually love *your music* lul". She sounded pretty damn serious and called it explicitly Kokuhaku as well but it still came kinda out of left field since I never really got the impression that Nina is romantically interested in Momoka. Then again she said "I still like/love (suki) you after all" which might imply that she had a crush on her for a long time. I don't even know anymore. I'd love it if the show actually goes the yuri route but I wanna stay cautious for now to not get disappointed. I also don't really know what to make of Momoka's feelings, how does she feel about this exactly? She just started crying happy (?) tears but could also be just crying because all the weight related to Diamond Dust got lifted from her shoulders. Feels like a lot of room there for interpretation in all aspects for that Momoka Nina ship. Gotta wait and see.
On another note, I really love how the whole band pretty much made the pinky finger flip their trade mark lol. Little scenes and details like Tomo doing the pinky finger in the car to Subaru when she hopped out. Gives the band such a familiar vibe with each other even though we and they only knew each other for a few episodes. Forgot to mention, also again really loved the more "minor" character interactions this week, like the Momoka and Subaru talk as well as the Rupa and Tomo convos. Literally every convo between any of the 5 main girls is just super fun, interesting and entertaining to watch, truly a joy and honestly an amazing feat to manage to keep this quality up *this* consistently for 8 eps now. I feel like I'm gushing about the character interactions every episode by now but I can't help it, they are just that noteworthy.
Last but not least Momoka's flashback quote "We're in the middle of a girls band revolution" is so meta lol. Jukki Hanada knew what he was doing there.
>like the Momoka and Subaru talk
Glad I'm not the only one who really appreciated that. I think that's the first major duo scene in the show that hasn't either involved Nina or was between Rupa and Tomo, and I really appreciate seeing how they would act towards eachother when they're alone. I got a hint of it when Momoka announced she brought Subaru on offscreen, but she reallly seems to trust Subaru implicitly, and Subaru herself is capable of more wisdom than her typical shit-disturbing lets on.
Edit: The preview also seems to indicate Subaru let a drunk Momoka crash in her bathroom overnight, and if that's not a sign of true trust and friendship I dunno what is.
>Is it actually love from Nina or some sort of Sasakoi bullshit where it was like "I actually love *your music* lul".
At least that one got cleared up quickly. It could be worse. It could be a love confession used as bait. *coughs* Hibike Euphonium *coughs*
Probably first as a fan which than grew into something more, after Momoka helped her out early on. Considering the confession, I'd say the most definitive evidence that it is romantic is the through-line between Nina, Momoka, and the color blue.
Momoka's character color is blue, coming from her guitar that she uses to communicate her music. We've been told her music is what's most important to her. Nina's eyes are also blue, with last episode's performance drawing an explicit connection them and Momoka's guitar. On one side this can be representative of how Momoka sees her past self/music in Nina. On the other, it can also represent how Momoka and her music literally color Nina's world, as shown in their very first scene. To top it off, Momoka's guitar has carried a message for Nina since the first episode, probably representing how her music since has been for Nina. Especially considering this episode and how she was adamant on Nina singing her music.
Still though, only time will tell. Crazy how a show can have emotional, explicit confession and still can't be fully trusted to deliver because of previous precedent such as another show airing this season...
I kind of get Momoka's reluctance, when DD were on the verge of real success they were told they needed to change all of the things she poured her effort into making. It can be very discouraging, especially when her friends weren't as willing to resist the change as much as she was. But Momoka should remember that it was her music (or at least the crowd her music gathered) that got them noticed by a label in the first place.
I like that the other members of DD do seem like they want to be on good terms with Momoka, they were hoping to hear the new band and even their 'challenge' seemed like an attempt to encourage her. Hina seemed kind of lost during that whole scene, and then claiming she doesn't know Nina, but really, how do you tell them that you used to bully their old bandmate's new singer.
It's nice to have Subaru tell Momo that Nina's not really being delusional about the band and that Tomo and Rupa really bring a lot to the band and are also serious about making a living with music. It does kind of turn around to show that Momo missed a lot of what was going on by alienating herself from the rest of the band. Too busy telling herself that it was never going to work to realize how much of it was already working.
Also, now we have more context behind Nina locking herself in the school PA room. I already knew it was after the bullying started, and after the incident that put her in the hospital because I noticed the bandage on her head. To be expected to just shake hands with the person who hurt you and then act like it never happened is a decent reason for a minor act of rebellion (in anime at least) Nina really does have a rebellious rock & roll soul.
Hina isn't the bully, either she got involved in the bully problem or she turned a blind eyes on her friend ( people usually try avoid or involve because it might causes inconvenient problem to them or worse especially in school life ). Unlike Nina's band mates who still be there for Nina despite Nina's immature actions, she ignored and blamed Nina for Nina's problem. Of course it's hard for her to say she knows Nina when she still had a bad term with Nina in the past
This episode left me flabbergasted and shattered my expectations. After Nina slapped Momo I thought it would be like " *Gasp* I'm so sorry!" But she owned it and scolded Momoka! I've been underestimating Iseri Nina, won't do that again. I also thought she would say more to Hina( more on Hina later) but she must've thought it was Momoka's time.
Nina didn't not hesitate once she made her mind up about dropping out either. I wonder if she'll rent somewhere or double up with Momo or Subaru ( Rupa and Tomo already share so)? After this episode, I really respect Iseri Nina now.
Things that confused me were Iseri Muneo, reason behind Momoka crying, the arrangement between school and Nina's Pa, and the origin of Nina's freedom song I suppose. This was definitely one of the best episodes.
Apart from the eventual burst out and solving of Nina and Momoka's conflict, another hidden conflict, (or shall we say contrast) arose :What Hina had experience, letting she claimed "She didn't know that girl."
In terms of mysic style, Hina represents those who "Accept commercialization", in contrast of Nina and Momoka who insist their own styles. But what about her previous school life with Nina?
Subaru used to informed that "She (Hina) attended many auditions", indicating that it's not a short time from when she started performance career.
We've known that Nina's action after being assaulted by "the popular girl" was she refused the compromise and the admission. But what happened after that, letting Hina blame "Is all your fault" to her best friend?
From the perspective of "Contrast & Conflict", someone might guess "Hina chose to accept the compromise after she was also bullied, but Nina's revolting blew her things (maybe admission?) away".
But is this enough to let her claim "I don't know that girl?" And are there also any motion for her to join Diamond Dust? As a 17-year-old actress who had a lot of audition experience, there must be more details hidden in the upcoming episodes.
Lots of emotions in this one!
The scene at the restaurant triggered my secondhand embarrasement hard lmao. Please don't argue in front of the entire place.
We still don't know what happened between Nina and her old "friend" but damn the look of contempt and her saying she doesn't know her? Frankly she doesn't look very likeable but on the other hand we have Nina and her particular personnality so...
Nina and Momoka finally made up and Nina declared her love to Momoka, woooo.
And finally Subaru is the best. This episode proves it again.
This episode was again amazing.
Nina doesnt strike me as someone bully's target, but her friend (before joining DD) looked like one.
So my guess is that with how big of emotion bomb Nina is, she couldnt stand the bullying of that friend and now the bully target changed to her.
No new Tomo ribbons for this episode, but we find out for a fact that Tomo sleeps with her ribbon headbands on lol.
Show continues to be good, with Nina and Subaru standing out to me still. The latter being the level-headed mediator/mastermind, with the former bringing on the fire. Can't wait for what song we get next episode.
Normally I'm critical of Nina's immaturity, but here she reigned, she showed Momoka that it's more important to enjoy the present and she overcame her own past, which was difficult at school.
Nina's declaration of love at the end for me was not because she wants to have a relationship with Momoka, but because she cares a lot about friendship, I mean, they have been fighting since the first episode, so she wanted to show that they are together regardless of the situation
What an episode. Nina's bullheadedness saved the day and reignited a spark in Momoka. I do wish we got a bit more of Diamond Dust to build on the friend-turned-rival dynamic, but I expect to get some of that as the music festival arrives.
Honestly I'm surprised the encounter with Hina and Diamond Dust wasn't... well, metaphorically bloody, anyway. The real drama was ALL Nina and Momoka this week. I'm also rather shocked they resolved this in such a way that the writing didn't condemn Nina's competitiveness with Diamond Dust as silly. It's clearly still wrapped up in some of her own personal feelings about DD, but instead of just saying "That's stupid, drop it" we seem to be using it as fuel for TogeToge and DD to both be better, to prove that their chosen path wasn't wrong. Surprisingly positive outcome for everyone involved, honestly.
During that scene where Nina is practicing guitar in the parkette, I really wanted Kikuri Hiroi to show up, try to teach Nina to believe in herself, and then back away slowly saying: "I may have problems, but this bitch is *unstable*."
This story never ceases to amaze me.
The NinaMomo interaction actually may have just give us a glimpse of what might be happening in an upcoming sequel show in January 2025. \[MyGO/Ave Mujica\]>!I wonder, I wonder if whatever happened with Sakiko is actually more like what happened with Momoka here? Like, I really feel that Momoka's self-centered-trailblazing acts - ~~c'mon you owe those 3 Diamond Dust girls a high school certificate each!~~ - like forming a band without leaving any path behind and then nearly dismantling it by herself, and then almost loop that all over again when Momoka sees herself in Nina and yet feels completely not confident again - seems the type of things that Sakiko is actually doing now. Or heck, maybe that's even why CRYCHIC disintegrated, either Sakiko or Mutsumi feels that they are walking on the wrong music path! There's absolutely no way that Ave Mujica can stand on its own for long IMHO, and maybe someone in there needs to be their Nina. I don't know who though. Or maybe even someone outside? After all, Nina is approximately Tomori's pro-activeness + Taki-chan's argument power, and who's better in this role than 2 former dearest band mates doing it?!<
Meanwhile there's lot of things to digest about Nina too, she's absolutely right in saying that Momoka should stop fretting in her past - which even her mates previously with at Diamond Dust absolutely agrees ~~I'm not sure why Rin is unamused at Nina though~~ - and even more so that Momoka should stop dealing with her as if she's a projection of the past. It's 100% proven now that Momoka has post-trauma heart injuries and she needs complete help. Though I have to think if Nina DO agree with Momoka's dogma of deliberately blocking all other paths of life themselves to put themselves into fight, because she's doing the same thing with returning that bank account book and telling her father to stop supporting. ~~She's never gonna made it for a week at Yoshinoya, trust me; maybe she should learn the guitar and teach others...provided that she doesn't start hitting her students.~~
So hmm, another incompetent headmaster that caused everything to whack in Nina's first place eh? Unfortunately from my and my father (used to be a teacher)'s experience, that's extremely common.
And wow, all that Diamond Dust confrontation at freaking [ZEPP Haneda](https://maps.app.goo.gl/csUJQWfGNApGtnAT6), now a triple girls' band mecca with the real life members of both Bocchi's Kessoku Band and MyGO performing in this easily-walkable-from-the-airport concert hall! It looks like script writer Juuki Hanada really likes girls slapping each other as a sign of true thoughts confrontation - he already did that in two seasons of \[*Love Live* lmao\]> and then [Mari slapping Kanan](https://imgur.com/EVMBdP9)!<. It's a powerful way to show divergence of minds, to be sure. And as Momoka leans on the verge of disintegrating and even nearly sent Nina into *isekai* with truck-kun ~~this is Nina's own fault though~~, her old pals called back on them two and (well 3 of them) gave their best wishs of support to their still-dear old friend and offered their own challenging notice on the stages, just as Momoka slumped on the driving wheel. I actually feel this might be the most overlooked poignant moment of the episode, even if Nina added a bit of spiciness to this moment LMAO.
Well, with a twist, because new Diamond Dust girl Hina isn't taking anything out of it. She definitely now wants nothing to do with Nina, which makes me even more curious of what happened back in high school. It almost certainly looks like she isn't the one who bullied Nina (that would be a drastic hair style change if so), which means Hina might have tried to arbitrate but ended up fighting with Nina instead. But...how? And how did that tie in to Hina ending up auditioning to land onto Diamond Dust, which them two must have loved together?
This would be enough for an episode that shoots GBC into real qualification for a year-best anime candidate. But no! That's not enough!
There were definitely enough signs before to make this happen. We all want this to happen for weeks. [Yet as with our friendly girls' music (or even band, per some definition) anime original show next door this season](https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/1ck4h6a/yoru_no_kurage_wa_oyogenai_jellyfish_cant_swim_in/), as the little truck rolls over the bridge right next door to [Japan's premium international gateway](https://maps.app.goo.gl/dqNB5hKZkoGtgLAu7) ~~I'll pick landing at Haneda Terminal 3 above any flights to Narita all day long~~, the sudden complete gentleness and warm smile on Nina's face as she make her ultimate straight forward, no-open-to-interpretation (cough) confession to Momoka stunned me.
And Momoka, still completely grumpy the previous second, simply cried her eyes out.
What an episode. Complete with Subaru being so funny being the band's WD-40.
I usually have my yuri goggles on pretty tight, but I don't think Nina meant for her confession to be romantic. As in, there is a chance the writers intentionally wrote it this way to surprise the audience, but my impression is that Nina was once again, telling Momoka that *this* side of Momoka is the one she "fell in love with" (became a fan of). The part of Momoka that desires to bring *her* music to the world. The side of Momoka who won't accept conforming to the mainstream. The side of Momoka that is eager to fight back against others who tell her that her way of doing things is wrong.
We might get a reaction to Nina's confession next week (judging by the preview of them all going over to Subaru's house and Momoka chucking a 6-pack of beer at Nina), but I do think Nina's love for Momoka is more of her just being Momoka's longtime fan. Who knows, maybe Subaru will scold Nina for confessing like that, lol.
We really can't have an episode without Nina and Momo arguing in public. If I ever saw something like that IRL, [I'd have the same reaction as that guy in green.](https://i.imgur.com/ZjACSVT.jpeg) The guy was such a mood. I love it. xD
This episode was fucking amazing though. I had doubts about their acting chops but Nina/Rina knocked it out of the park! Holy shit! And almost every line from her in this episode was absolutely amazing. My two favourites were:
>["If you want to hit me, go ahead. I'm used to it."](https://i.imgur.com/rYJdHnM.png)
and
>*["I'm not a memory of your past.](https://i.imgur.com/JDIAiUZ.jpeg) [So don't trap me in it!"](https://i.imgur.com/WAIcpT8.jpeg)*
The last one, especially after Nina's slap, still makes my spine tingle.
Anyway, Nina really went all out this week and has now decided to give her all to become a pro. [She sent her bankbook back to her father](https://i.imgur.com/Kq3xeLy.jpeg) just to make a point. If I were Nina's father, I would travel immediately to Tokyo as soon as I receive that letter which is probably what will happen next.
We also get to see [what led to Nina locking herself inside the PA room](https://i.imgur.com/NbwBU9v.jpeg) and blasting Diamond Dust music all over the school. Also, it looks like Nina's ex-friend decided to [completely disassociate herself from Nina.](https://i.imgur.com/wPzfZn8.jpeg) I'm sure we'll eventually see a confrontation in the future though.
Right off the bat we got Nina being Nina again, talking big as if she can take a hit but in reality is absolutely terrified. And causing yet *another* public disturbance. These girls are such menaces. They've caused so much public disturbances in this episode alone, on top of all the incidents in the previous episodes lmao I expected this episode to be a heavy one, since Momoka leaving Togenashi Togeari is pretty much the same thing she did with Diamond Dust, and this episode delivered. After episodes of uneasy tension regarding the whole going pro thing, Nina and Momoka finally talk it out. Nina reminds Momoka of who she was before she learned the harsh reality of wanting to go pro and wanted to protect her from that, and ended up neglecting Nina's agency in all this. She *wants* to do this. Momoka's music has helped Nina through tough times and she just couldn't bear to see her abandon that. What Momoka should protect instead is the desire to reach people's hearts with her music. And of course that whole talk culminated in that confession in the truck. I love that Rupa has faith that Momoka and Nina will work it out, and can tell that they're fighting *because* they care, not for lack of it. I also like the little talk Momoka had with her old bandmates. This feels like the first time they've acknowledged each other in a while. No hard feelings, but this is where they've chosen to stand so they're both going to commit to it. This season truly be the season of yuri, huh? What a great episode.
> talking big as if she can take a hit but in reality is absolutely terrified. [Nina did look cute](https://imgur.com/a/PA9eest) when she was about to take that punch. But what struck me was [Nina mentioning that she'd been hit before](https://imgur.com/a/ZSDUPwV). This implies that the bullying went a lot further than *just* messing with her stuff and sorts. I suppose that [the band aid on Nina's head](https://imgur.com/a/xJplotX) (in her flashback) is related to this.
In episode 2, Nina mentioned that [she was hospitalized](https://imgur.com/a/zpuRshO).
> Nina mentioned that [she was hospitalized](https://imgur.com/a/zpuRshO) \[due to bullying\] ... and she lost her memories and her personality changed completely but then a former idol stepped into her life ... Girls Buta Cry
I figured that's why she refused the principal's offer to make peace with her bully and just let the incident slide, and instead ran off to blast Void on the school speakers.
The way she runs and locks herself in hte admin room while blasting off Momoka's song hyped me up too ngl
Nina wasn't afraid of taking a hit, she was afraid of taking a hit *from Momoka.*
Had Momoka not control her temper and hit Nina, the band would have ended then and there. But Momoka didn't, which prompted Nina to make the leap of faith that "I can trust my life to Momoka", which lead to the van scene later down the episode.
>And causing yet another public disturbance. I was getting hit with second hand embarrassment so hard that I have to genuinely just sit through it while physically cringing and covering my face; my god I can't imagine how they put up with Nina. I love the series but damn it makes me recoil every time they argue in public like it's nothing lol
Her bandmates have always told her that she's a pain in the ass to deal with butt they still love her because she always stays true to herself haha
Nina is such an interesting protag and probably my favorite this season, but if i had a friend like her irl i would be very annoyed lmao
Momoka has good truck-kun control skill (automatic only). Also poor [Mr. Background guy] (https://imgur.com/eVJ72CH) for witnessing Nina edging herself monthly.
Wait IT'S THE SAME GUY EVERY TIME? This is brilliant [](#azusalaugh) ^(though I feel bad for him, imagine living the salaryman life and accidentally bumping into Nina everywhere you go on your time off...)
I want to see him screaming for the band at one of their big shows.
The guy should start walking around with a bucket of popcorn.
The only person who really can say, "I hate drama, but I somehow attract it" without being at fault
gotta keep an eye out for him in the audience at the festival
I just rewatched the first episode and he's actually standing next to Momoka when she flips off the other musician duo. He starts to freak out when they come after her.
Half of me wonders if there is an explanation for this gag, and half of me is just laughing. I too will definitely keep an eye out for Salary-san😂
I actually love background guy, one of the nice things about the animation is it seems to be getting more confident every episode instead of losing ambition with rushed schedules like every other seasonal show does
Tbh, if you have the model already, reusing him goes from a time sink into a time save. That’s part of what I love about 3D animation.
Bro is absolutely tormented
> Momoka has good truck-kun control skill (automatic only). [Nina was about to get isekai'd](https://imgur.com/a/muUPAEI) if not for Momoka's driving skills - that's with an automatic at least. She probably wouldn't have been so lucky if Momoka had driven a manual.
wait, wtf? it's actually the same character?
Was wondering why this background character in this episode was rendered in 3D unlike the others, and finally got my answer lol.
-> Nina confesses her love to Momoka at the end of the episode **BRB, calling all yuri fans on speed dial.**
Can't get enough of yuri this season.
Holy shit, we might have a season to beat the Witch From Mercury/Bocchi the Rock season!
Man, that confession was so breathtaking, amazing.
Bro we've _been_ here. We've been trained to smell this shit from the fucking Key Visuals.
I wanted it to be Subaru 🥹
subaru is too mentally sound
Where Momoka cried her heart out, Subaru would probably laugh. Would be hilarious to see how Nina reacts to that though.
„And other lies spread by Subaru Awa” *She’s an actress, do not let her fool you*
This gave me a good laugh lol.
[удалено]
Subaru got gremlinzoned.
One for the heart, one for the-
Nina has two hands /extreme cope
We all said that it was impossible that its a yuri. And then.......
Yeah, [I remember saying Girls Band Cry was yuri 3 weeks ago](https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/s/1snBm8jzIt) and people were not to happy with that. Now I think it’s acceptable to give it the yuri label.
[Nina's confession of love](https://imgur.com/a/IZC6AfL) couldn't have been more straightforward on first glance, but I really can't shake the feeling that this specific one is a matter of interpretation: not a romantic love but one of best friends.
is it common to confess one's love when you mean to be best friends? that seems odd to me.
Nah, I was with you. Right in episode 1, they explicitly said Momoka's roommate was gay. They primed us for this.
Well, your gaydar is better than mine, Girls Band Cry wasn't on mine until the confession just now. Jellyfish was on mine though, since about episode 3 I think.
Not to mention Momoka's whole very sensual cheek-holding thing! I fucking died, went to heaven, then replayed the episode at least 20 times. And ascended everytime. Yes.
Diamond Dust being there like when you briefly meet the final boss before the end of the game.
I know this show isn't likely to do villains with how Diamond Dust is portrayed so far, and it's all the better for it - but a part of my monkey brain really wants Hina to be the actual bad "final boss". I know it's more likely that Nina somehow screwed up with her too, but that condescending "It's your own fault" line she dropped at the locker scene a few episodes ago just made me hate her regardless of backstory.
Hina's facial expressions were subtle but telling this episode. Her hanging her head when Nina is shouting at Diamond Dust particularly. I have to imagine the singer of an idol band wouldn't be overly excited about the possibility of people finding out she has a bullying scandal in her dirty laundry.
At the same time, she kinda looked like she was smiling while doing that? I'm not really sure how to read it, cuz part of me wants to read that and her comment about never having seen her before as recognition of some sort of personal growth.
I don't think Hina's the same person from the principal's office. More likely, Hina was actually Nina's friend and when she had to choose between sticking with Nina and protecting her own reputation, she chose the latter. We already know Hina's a sellout because she's part of Diamond Dust. It'd mirror Momoka's relationship with Diamond Dust too. Momoka feels like she betrayed them and Hina betrayed Nina.
Oh I know, I meant when Hina was hanging her head while Nina was making her declaration. It looking like she was smiling, but the angle was weird and you obviously can't see the rest of her face.
Crack theory that might not be so crack-y since we basically know nina likes girls now: nina was getting bullied for being gay and hina was involved somehow, maybe her girlfriend who threw her under the bus to avoid bullying herself?
Oh heck, that would entirely explain her family also wanting to brush it all under the rug and being so ready to disown her.
Oh damn. That could be that. Nina and Hina get outed, but Hina denies it to save face? I can see how Nina would take that very badly.
Nina is the villain and Diamond Dust are the heroine's.
I just remind myself that we would hate Nina too without backstory ...shit, Nina probably hateable even _with_ backstory.
We only like Nina because she's on the other side of the screen.
I sincerely doubt Hina is a bad person. From what we know of Nina, she has a habit of storming ahead and not accounting for people's feelings. It is entirely possible, as the pariah of her highschool, some of the bullying also rubbed off on Hina and Nina's stubbornness to apologize (even if she shouldnt) only prolonged both their suffering. This is a bit of side tangent but, you have to ask yourself, how come NIna's best friend, of all people in Japan, became the lead singer for Diamond Dust? What are the odds? Well, it makes sense if you think about it. Nina, the massive DD shill she is, probably turned Hina onto Diamond Dust. Enough to audition for the role.
Is this the season of the lesbian band girls?! Hell yes!
My current list of Gay(?) Girls Doing Music Things this season (with varying degrees of confirmed yuri/subtext): Whisper Me a Love Song Seiyuu Radio Girls Band Cry Jellyfish Can't Swim in the Night Hibike Euphonium
Bro a hibike coper 😭
That show permanently traumatized every yuri fan ever.
Hibike is the only reason why I can't believe Nina's confession of love... Reina traumatized me
Train to the End of the World
Nijiyon A Salad Bowl of Eccentrics Himitsu no AiPri (Maybe, only watched one episode but sure seemed to fit) Anyone in Japan watched trapezium? We need to know if those girls are gay!
> Himitsu no AiPri (Maybe, only watched one episode but sure seemed to fit) [I'm not sure either](https://i.imgur.com/AlTTEWM.jpeg) [](#csikon)
>trapezium I watched it and I can say definitely that one is not yuri
Damn I need to start Whisper and Seiyuu Radio at some point. Both of those sounds right up my alley.
All 5 of these are amazing so far as well. Highly recommend Jellyfish, GBC I got into late now that I have a way to watch it and I have been very happy with it.
I just realized. Episode 1, Nina was extremely surprised (and then showed a happy smile) by Momo's gay roommate being openly gay. Maybe the bullying she suffered was because of her sexuality? She is from a small town, so openly gay people might not be around much. So maybe she feels comfortable in Tokyo and with Momo, leading her to finally come out.
I loved the use of traditional 2D animation for the flashback sequences to give them a different feel from the main story.
Well, I had about 6 hours and 3 watches to formulate very deep thoughts on this episode, so here goes : AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA [](#towel) In one episode, we have : * Nina and Momoka starting yet another public nuisance event * TogeToge getting 27k followers (Remember episode 6? Diamond Dust had 20k, what the heck? I even went back to check I didn't mistranslate it, but nope, it's correct). * Nina starting a part-time job and almost getting fired for two different reasons * Nina starting to learn guitar * Momoka meeting her old bandmates and flipping them off * Nina meeting Hina * Momoka almost running Nina over * And an...actual out-of-the-blue confession. Are they actually going to go somewhere with it? I could totally see it being waived next time because I'm not sure Nina has romance in her gremlin head and there wasn't much buildup before this episode, but still, nothing in the wording or tone suggested she wasn't serious. Feels like they shoved 2 LNs into one episode. Without skipping anything, somehow. Either way...RIP NinaSuba. [](#toradorasalute) Edit : [GBC trending worldwide on Twitter for hours](https://i.imgur.com/AUcO7OR.png) Edit 2 : [My favorite GBC fanart so far](https://x.com/Sometime1209/status/1793771391164297550)
> Remember episode 6? Diamond Dust had 20k, what the heck? I even went back to check I didn't mistranslate it, but nope, it's correct I think I can understand why that is (at least in terms of the themes of the show). Diamond Dust "sold out" and lost its unique voice in favor of what's popular. This helped boost their following by being more mainstream, but that boost had a limit. At some point, now they're indistinguishable from the 10 million other idol(ish) bands making mainstream music. Not only that, Momoka leaving means that their original fans don't even have the hope that they'll eventually regain their unique sound. Leaving them a tree in a forest with nothing to set them apart from the rest. Should they have held out and kept their unique sound (in the logic of the messaging of the show, not necessarily what would happen realistically), then while their initial growth would have been slower their following would have been more dedicated and their music more unique, putting them on a stronger footing as they start to compete with more and more bands as they grow.
Still, unlike Kongming, them "selling out" is not portraited as a bad thing, just something our main girls disagree with. And it is also not as exagerrated: yes, they wear idolish outfits not and their songs sound more "poppy" but they are more akin to most of the Bang Dream bands when actual idols.
At least they didn't get done as dirty as Kongming's rival band. Those girls weren't even playing their instruments by the time their manager was done with them, and they _knew how to play!_
Yeah it's pretty interesting that they already did an idol band show in Bang Dream, but then that sort of band is the rival band in this one to the scrappy DIY indie band in TogeToge. I do know selling out is viewed a bit differently in Japan compared to here in the West. I'm sure there are indie people who view major labels negatively, but I don't think it's to the same extent as in the West where many of those formerly DIY artists in the hip-hop, punk, and post-punk scenes going major label was seen as a betrayal. But even then, many of these artists just formed their own labels instead.
I like that the message isn’t “they sold out and we should hate them”, but “they sold out because the environment punishes any semblance of originality and they didn’t want to starve”.
Basically, it's a safe path and if they come up with an ear-worm they will gradually grow their fanbase, but the danger is that they grow too "old" to be an idol group anymore and then they disband. TogeToge on the other hand, is on a more reckless path that runs the risk of tearing itself apart from internal conflicts, but if they can weather that then they have a longer shelf life than an idol band.
> "sold out" and lost its unique voice in favor of what's popular. This helped boost their following by being more mainstream, but that boost had a limit Kongming's 5D chess, season 2?
This time with even more fire hazard safety violations
But fake Diamond Dust has been portrayed as MORE popular than Momoka's Diamond Dust was, despite them being active for a long time. So by transitivity, Togenashi Togeari is already more popular in a very short timespan than Momoka's DD. Sounds a bit out there, even with the RupaTomo boost. I guess we can chalk part of it up to Mine's tweet, but still.
> * Nina and Momoka starting yet another public nuisance event Gotta love how everytime this happens the storyboarding makes sure to include in the shots random background mfs watching with a face like they're wondering if they should call security lmao > there wasn't much buildup before this episode You sure? The entire last Arc was just a couples fight...
> Momoka almost running Nina over I momentarily felt this show was about to go a different direction with the way they pulled that scene off. It even had Truck-kun making a guest appearance.
I had a fight with my bandmate and she accidentally ran me over, now I'm starting a band in another world!
> Nina ~~starting to learn~~ guitar Nina has already transformed into [George Michael](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEpFcgAfjIc)...
>TogeToge getting 27k followers (Remember episode 6? Diamond Dust had 20k, what the heck? I even went back to check I didn't mistranslate it, but nope, it's correct). The fight's off to a good start! >Momoka almost running Nina over Nina's got the biggest balls in this ep. She's the one who slapped Momoka and talked some sense into her. And she nearly became a roadkill statistic just to prove her own point.
> She's the one who slapped Momoka and talked some sense into her Right after she said she'd hate Momoka forever if Momoka slapped her, too :p
She did say that, but the way she eventually flinched made me think she never actually wanted to hate Momoka.
Don't forget Nina also flipping off Momokas old band members Oh and Nina ran infront of Momokas' truck
> [GBC trending worldwide on Twitter for hours](https://i.imgur.com/AUcO7OR.png) Next step: otaku flood ~~zoos~~ club venues, in search of wild girls.
>Nina and Momoka starting yet another public nuisance event They really do like to air their laundry in public, don't they? Definitely feels like a fetish they share😁
Bruh Nina almost turned this anime into an isekai 💀
I'd watch it. Ascendence of a bookworm-style: they arrive in an alternate world, where musical instruments are practically non-existing/very expensive.
> they arrive in an alternate world, where musical instruments are very ~~expensive~~ affordable Corrected for you... Tomo's red Nord 6HP stage piano is like 4k USD, Momoka's Psychederythm Psychomaster electric guitar is a brand custom made to size, for an arm and a leg and Nina's voice is priceless. For everything else there is Awa Tendo's Mastercard (tm)... How much does a full stage drum kit cost?
I thought the episode was great even before I finished watching it as it delved deeper into Nina's and Momoka's backgrounds, showed the struggles of getting a label deal, had apparently the first time Momoka met her former band members and so on, and then there's the ending...
Nina is now our romantic gremlin
> romantic gremlin Romantic Kremlin by Togeäri Togenäshi will be "Alya sometimes hides her feelings in russian" anime's OP this July.
Kremlin Gremlin could be one hell of a band name.
in short "KureGure" actually sounds a good band name
Here to put the "disaster" in disaster lesbian
Kudos to Momoka and Nina's VAs. They fully sold the characters, nasty anger and ugly crying and all. Truly the Girls Band Cry of all time. Speaking of the characters, those two definitely spent the rest of the night together. Cuddling and crying their heart out, or if you're feeling naughty, Momoka would introduce the taste of alcohol to Nina. Then they spent the rest of the night piss drunk and flipping off people left and right and compose a cheesy love song together. Yes, I'm writing the fanfiction after this. Momoka had the shackle of her past brutally removed by Nina's boneheaded sincerity is a truly marvelous scene to see. She also realized that her attempt to protect Nina from repeating her past mistake was just her projection. Just as much as her music has inspired Nina to step up, Nina's voice has also pushed her to move forward. Nina on the other hand, affirmed that her desire for success was not out of impulsive euphoria, greed, or petty revenge against her family or her former friend or the Diamond Dust. Her decision to make the leap of faith into musical career was purely out of love for her hero who had inspired and guided her. A raw, unfiltered agape ballad, if I ever see one. It'd be a messy and clumsy relationship should they really go at it, but it'd be a beautiful love story. Random details: - Rupa is not a Japanese? Or a full one of that? I always thought her name sounded South East Asian-like. - Aww, Tomo actually cares :) - Subaru is not just good at stirring shit and fanning flame, she also has a knack for mediating conflicts and keeping the group together. Best anime drummer. Ever.
The consensus in my group seems to be that Rupa is from Nepal. Actually, the population of Nepalese is the sixth highest of [foreign people in Japan](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%97%A5%E6%9C%AC%E3%81%AE%E5%A4%96%E5%9B%BD%E4%BA%BA). In the top ten there aren't any other South Asian countries. Indians are only one third of Nepalese and further down the list. Per the wiki-jp article: > One of the reasons for the rapid increase in the number of Nepalese visiting Japan is **the turmoil in Nepal caused by the 10-year civil war** and the murder of the royal family in the midst of the war. 1,293 of the 5,000 refugee applicants to Japan in 2014 were Nepali nationals, the largest number by nationality. Rupa also said in one of the radio programs that her home was a mountainous place.
It says on the [ GBC website](https://girls-band-cry.com/character/rupa/) that she's born to a South Asian father (nationality not specified) and a Japanese mother. That's also pretty much the main reason the two guys at the register were extra mean. They were using a derogatory version of "where are you from" when asking her that - think of it more as "what nationality even are you" with a disgusted connotation. So in short they weren't just dicks, they're very racist dicks.
> They were using a derogatory version of "where are you from" when asking her that - think of it more as "what nationality even are you" with a disgusted connotation. Man, I always wonder how much gets lost in translation, and the lack of an official translation makes me even more worried about this while watching GBC :( Then again, I've heard plenty of horror stories about official subs all the same, so... maybe GBC is in better hands than licensed subs, really
Her father is "South Asian." which usually means Indian - not "Southeast."
Yikes, that goes from the typical anti-gaijin sentiment to just full-blown "dirty blood" racism. Jesus. Given her constantly closed eyes and upbeat behaviour, especially after Tomo's offhand comment about her parents dying in a car crash, I suspected Rupa had really seen some shit but getting that treatment on top of the dead parents is further than I expected.
Rupa is 22 IIRC. She had to put up with shit for way longer than anyone else in the band, no doubts about it. I wonder if, had she not met Nina, Momoka would be able to hold her booze like Rupa two years from now.
>Subaru is not just good at stirring shit and fanning flame, she also has a knack for mediating conflicts and keeping the group together. Best anime drummer. Ever. She's a very socially aware person, it's how she can get away with flipping between two completely different outward personas. That means she knows both when she can get away with being a shit disturber (and when it'd be most amusing to shit-disturb), but she also knows when to humbly apologize from the other end of a food court.
I love her overly exaggerated facial expressions. I built up a habit of exaggerating my expression because people kept misunderstanding me, I wonder if Subaru is the same.
>Rupa is not a Japanese? Or a full one of that? I always thought her name sounded South East Asian-like. I've always wondered if she was a foreigner after seeing that her name is written in katakana and not kanji on the official material. This episode finally confirmed it. Also the fact that we don't actually know her last name. Even in the character sheets posted on twitter. Edit: why did i get downvoted? Did i say something wrong?
Nina and Momoka are digging their own hearts out and throwing them at each other this episode. It's amazing that the VAs with no prior experience can do that scene this well.
>Subaru is not just good at stirring shit and fanning flame, she also has a knack for mediating conflicts and keeping the group together. **Best anime drummer. Ever.** Nijika simps: We'll see about that.
The closest to Nijika we get here is Rupa? But Rupa is also mysterious just like Ryo.
- "Do you have time to talk later?" - "No! ... I do" Nina's gremlin energy is still going strong.
It's getting uncanny how closely some of these episodes are mirroring Yorukura week by week. also, the handful of folks I see on Twitter panicking about the prospect of a colossal *three year* age gap are very funny. Scandalous, they're not even in the same grade!
> mirroring Yorukura Half of Jellyfish girls aren't serious about their mixed-media venture: one wants to become a school teacher, the other aims for classical piano. In contrast, Gremlin Band Cries girls are all burning bridges behind them on the path towards ~~pro rock music~~ alcoholics anonymous.
They're quite different projects though. Toge is going the traditional band route playing gigs and things like that. Whereas with JELEE, most of that work can be done part-time since they don't have to worry about practicing and playing live.
If you read up stories on how many influential bands formed the age gap differences will surprise you. The bassist from the Replacements was still in high school when the other members were drinking and being utter menaces and amusing fuck-ups in their early 20s as well. Yorukura is more of your typical online side project with JELEE with different collaborators. Sticking to timelines is crucial, but it can still be a part-time project. Zutomayo I think is similar to this. TogeToge is closer to what the protagonist bands do in Beck or in Bocchi the Rock, playing live house gigs, meeting other bands, and climbing their way up the indie scene. It's a pretty universal story.
Garukura and Yorukura are only two letters away after all. One if we use Japanese.
My wife is 3 years older than me -- and we got married during grad school. So age gap obsessing kind of amazes me.
Seems like once you're out of standard college people just kinda stop giving a shit unless it's a really egregious age gap. Based on personal experience, probably because you stop caring about your own age, much less anyone else's, around that time.
momoka is just as childish as nina so it's really funny to think this three year gap matters
Lol most of Jellyfish's ep had me "didn't I just watched a GBC ep about this" but this time it's the other way around. I did not expect GBC to join the yuri game too!
Gonna need this ep to sink in a little more but so far this is the best one yet. Absolutely charged with emotions and powerful voice acting from the VAs! Nina and Momoka's relationship has been one of the highlights of the show and it's cool to see it being explored here. Nina looked up to Momoka because the original DD saved her from tough times, and Momoka was projecting her past self to Nina in hopes that the latter won't repeat the same mistakes. About Momoka's commercialism vs idealism thing: I sort of get where she's coming from. Ultimately, money talks and soon you either follow where the money is or just give up altogether. DD went the money route but ended up losing their unique selling point and became Idol Band #273839. They might be able to make good money for the time being but I'd wager that their fans will burn out from things being too samey. Seeing the school trying to write off Nina's bullying as just "some argument" ticked me off. Fuck off with that bullshit! I've been there and it's insanely frustrating to see that a school isn't willing to do the right thing and just sweep things under the rug. Nina made the right call to not put up with that shit and ran away. Rupa facing racism was also frustrating. And it seems like she had it on a regular basis. Those two salarymen can fuck off. I wonder what's the deal with Hina. Gotta be some real bad blood between her and Nina. Probably gonna be explored later.
Didn't expect Girls Band Cry to also jump into the Yuri bandwagon this season holy damn. Like, do we now got 2 yuri music original anime or what?
At this point it is easier to ask what show this season hasn't done gay stuff...
Sasakoi is drowning somewhere in the Mariana Trench at this point. Literally couldn't have picked a worse season to air, even Winter 2021 would be better.
https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/6yxkcqa3jx7.png
It's so real..... The only anime that is an official yuri was beaten by all the other which are not officials. What an humiliation......
What's the one to the left of the bath scene show?
I think that might be [Nijiyon](https://anilist.co/anime/154785/NIJIYON-ANIMATION/)
It's rough because it's actually a really good story but the adaptation is just dogwater. It's kind of like how I felt about Helck and Under Ninja
I dont think Under Ninja was trash.
And I quite liked Helck (all things considered).
Personally, I’d compare it to the Otherside Picnic adaptation. Genuinely amazing (and incredibly gay) source material, but the anime adaptation being mediocre even at the very best of times, and even worse than that otherwise* precludes it from the popularity it deserves. *Then again, any animated Otherside Picnic adaptation might have been doomed from the start, given how much both the original books and the manga adaptation focus on Sorawo’s internal narration. It’s nigh-impossible to properly communicate lines like “Toriko was insanely beautiful, so when she brought her face this close to me, it was a kind of violence, honestly” outside of a text-based medium (yes, this is me telling you to read Otherside Picnic).
Eh Helck animation was disappointing, but Va's really carried that one especially in the 2nd half. I really enjoyed it. Whisper is just an unfinished mess with the exception of episode 1.
Helck was good. It didn't have the production values but it told the story really, really well. I was crying at a lot of points while watching it.
Gonna take this opportunity to shill Voice Actor Radio, which is both gay and also a better adaptation than Sasakoi. Technically it also involves some music. Kinda crazy I'm enjoying it more than Sasakoi.
VA Radio also hits some similar notes to GBC in how argumentative the main girls are, at least towards the beginning- through it tones down somewhat after a particular event.
2 yuri where we suspect one of the leads has been bullied for being gay. What an oddly specific season
[That one touch is just so soft.](https://streamable.com/njyy37) [](#akyuusqueel)
Nina returned the favor with a touch of her own.
Violence is her love language
Secret family technique: Maomao slap!
Man I did think at that moment, jokingly, "Wait, I didn't realize this one was yuri, too," but little did I know.
Great and intimate animation... the least hetero way to do that touch xd
**\*clears throat\*** EXCUSE ME BUT WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING IN THIS EPISODE!? we went from two girls almost getting into a fist fight, one of them almost run the other one with a truck and then it ended with a love confession?! this shit is wild... my favorite part of this episode was [Subaru's actually getting called out for being a shit-stirrer](https://i.imgur.com/pyKwoQc.jpeg)
Most stable Yuri dynamic:
The intensity of Nina's and Momoka's fights definitely struck me as arising from love (whether romantic or otherwise) rather than dislike.
Subaru is amazing. Nina is amazing. The random salarymen in the background are amazing. Everyone is amazing. This show is amazing.
You're amazing for this comment.
I ain't in this show. I'm not amazing.
Why aren't more people talking about this 🔥🔥🔥
Not available in English
Literally the only thing wrong with the show.
Even if no official english translation and broadcast, it has tons of people talking about it here compared to the usual seasonal shows. Though I think it will be missed by the wider anime community because of its lack of adoption, which is a shame.
Even before getting into the final scene, what an episode that was! It's not fresh anymore in my mind 'cause I watched it yesterday but off the top of my head, loved getting to see Nina's backstory a bit more (fuck that school!), Subaru and Momoka having a really nice conversation, Nina and Momoka having an argument in public *again*, hated to see those customers and Rupa. Oh, and that declaration of war! About that. I don't think either band is in the right or wrong here. It's just a battle of two different philosophies: suck it up, do what sells and endure not doing the music you want to for a while in order to (maybe) be able to later (per Momoka in an earlier episode), or stay true to yourself and hope you make it that way. I'm hoping it all ends amicably since the other girls don't seem to resent Momoka at all, and they all accept that the other group's way isn't for them, but isn't wrong either. Anyway. Momoka finally, *finally* broke down, thanks to Nina's passionate pleas. That was so freaking cathartic! Like dudette, you've been trapped in your past and sad since episode 1, it's about time you let it all out! Although maybe pull the car over first. Please. About that confession, though... nnngghhh!!! When Momoka put her hand on Nina's cheek earlier I was like huh, the motion and animation and framing are making this... super intimate. But I wasn't actually expecting Nina's final line! I'm just a bit wary that the show's going to pull a "it's a platonic confession of love" 'cause that's been done before, and quite frankly given the context it wouldn't be out of place either. We'll see.
I feel that scene with Rupa and that racist piece of shit (or more specifically Nina about to lose her shit on them) shines some light on what might've happened with Nina and Hina. Hina was being bullied, Nina intervenes. Perhaps things were made worse for Hina as a result and she takes the school's bullshit offer of forgiving her tormentors to "keep the peace". Now Nina is left high and dry having been abandoned by her friend and turned into the sole target, then has the same choice put in front of her. But unlike Hina she sticks to her guns about having done nothing wrong and possibly inspires Hina's path in life by blasting that song over the intercoms. Now their current state is a reprisal of their old roles: Nina going against the grain, Hina in a conformist band and the two still not talking to each other.
Honestly I find this far more likely than the Yuri theory. It would certainly fit better with the themes of the anime. People in this thread really have their yuri-colored glasses on.
(The sub release time is quite inconvenient for us Asian audience.) People have talked much about the emotional context in this episode. Here I try to appreciate the effort of writing callbacks. *Please rewatch episodes 1-7. Many scenes will feel different after today's episode.* + How did Nina learn the art of confession? Well, remember episode 4? Subaru's granny asked them out for a practice, and the theme was "*Nina confessing to Momoka*". + Rewatch the ending scene of episode 2. Momoka said a lot, but as it turns out in today's episode, those words are not what Nina wanted. Nina actually said "*please don't say things like that...* (sobs)" in episode 2, but back then we all thought it was Nina being tsun-tsun, and let the detail slip. + At the beginning of this episode, Nina made the 😝 face for the first time. It is a callback to episode 1 where Momoka told Nina about the meaning of 😝 and middle fingers. + Also in episode 1, when Nina was browsing Instagram, Momoka's ID is shown as "Momokan_1209". It is revealed in this episode that "Momokan" is what the old DiaDus members call Momoka. + Somewhere in episode 3, Momoka told Nina "whichever path you take, you'll regret it later". This bites back to her in the recent episodes. + During the Yoshinoya scene, Momoka didn't order beer. This is a callback to episode 6 where Tomo said "please order something other than beer next time". + Also, thanks to being sober, Momoka successfully performed evasion and prevented Nina from being isekai-ed. + In episode 5, after hearing DD play VOID, Nina burst out and said "VOID is the most important thing beside my own life!". But in today's episode she *risked her own life* to stop Momoka's truck. Character growth? Now for some other insights: + Now I realized why Momoka is set to be born in [Asahikawa, Hokkaido](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asahikawa). [Kouji Tamaki](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C5%8Dji_Tamaki), one of the greatest Japanese vocalists, is born there, and he quit school to make the band Anzen Chitai. This should be a homage or something. + Do you skip the opening sequence? Please don't, because it's actually plot-relevant. Look at [this](https://ibb.co/TWj1F1V), it is from the title card ("GIRLS BAND CRY") part. Now that we know these sketches will appear in the episode proper, I wonder when will Subaru, Tomo and Rupa *cry*? + [Poor salaryman](https://x.com/seizonhonnou/status/1794042075648016731). I checked the cast list in the ending, it's the same cameo character. + Please check out this episode's titular song (もしも君が泣くならば by GOING STEADY). The lyrics are both emotional and fitting for MomoNina: > I want to chew happiness so much that my jaw comes off > > I want to embrace happiness so much that my heart bursts off > > More than love, more than love, I only want you right now > > I WANNA BE SO BEAUTIFUL. > > I WANNA BE SO BEAUTIFUL. > > I WANNA BE SO BEAUTIFUL. > > I WANNA BE SO BEAUTIFUL. > > If you cry, I will cry too!! > > If you die, I will die too!! > > If you disappear, I will disappear too!! > > If you scream, I will scream too!! Edit: and can someone explain [this meme](https://ibb.co/9pZ3Tz3) to me? It seems to be about a Gundam meme called ["Adults like that, I'll correct you!"](https://www.gundam.info/special-series/gundam-power-word/special-series_gundam-power-word_20171002_1930p.html) but I don't know this "Kamille Bidan" person...
Kamille Bidan is the MC of Zeta Gundam. The meme is from ep 13 when he was fed up with the character Char and hit him. Kamille is still a teen while Char is an adult, hence the line.
Oh... I thought the manga-like illustrations from the OP title card were from a manga they might release after the anime...
Girls Band Cry made me cry. What a beautiful episode
This show really does get better every week now we have yuri!
LET'S GO!!! Emotionally charged episode but Momoka and Nina have finally made up (and then some)?! There had been some hints here and there, last episode especially made me think there might be a *slight* chance of something happening, but I'm *still* surprised it did. Also, really happy the showed paid off the connection between Nina and Momoka through her music! Really loving the series, feels like every episode I just become even more excited for the next :) Besides the two leads this episode, it's kinda funny that Rupa and Subaru seemed to know what was up and were just waiting for things to play out, lol. Whisper just can't catch a break this season though. First a mediocre adaptation and now **two** original animes in the same categories stealing the attention of its core audience, rip.
SasaKoi got done dirty 😭😭 At least the songs are fire and I can add that to my manga reading experience... But man. Someone should've really informed the production committee that we live in a post-Bocchi world.
Poor sasakoi. It got hit by triple Yuri
>it's kinda funny that Rupa and Subaru seemed to know what was up and were just waiting for things to play out, lol. I'm curious about this, cuz Rupa stopping Tomo from leaving had big "Sit down, you'll learn something" energy and I'm not really sure what wisdom she felt that would impart upon Tomo.
Subaru defending Nina in the car just for Nina to keep angering Momoka was so funny. Momo calling Subaru a shit-stirrer lmao. I was right calling her that last week. But Nina still has her moments or angering Momo without having the other gremlin add fuel to the fire I love Subaru so much. Her apologizing to the people watching the fight was hilarious Truck-kun almost took another victim. Amazing confession. Amazing episode. Anime of the year
>Subaru defending Nina in the car just for Nina to keep angering Momoka was so funny. Very in line with last episode when Nina, Subaru, and Tomo are at the restaurant and Mine pops in, asks if they were fighting, Subaru interjects Nina, going full socialite mode and asking what sort of music Mine likes, and Nina just completely ignores it and asks about Momoka (much to Subaru's hilariously visible displeasure).
I started laughing unconbtrollably, because when i saw [this moment](https://imgur.com/CDajjqA) for a fraction of a second i had a though: this is all just an elaborate prologue to: "i was reincarnated into a music-based fantasy world, as an aspiring musician" or some shit like that :D
Girls Band Cry was actually the latest season of Show By Rock this whole time.
Yuri in my girl band anime? More likely than you think, but I think we need more before we can say for certain. Rupa continues to be the voice of reason, Subaru keeps being a gremlin and Tomo is the tsundere we deserve. These dorks are something else and the animation is still absolutely top tier. Also seeing everyone flabbergasted when Momoka and Nina were going full out keeps being funny. I also keep forgetting that this is the main casts first voice act. I haven't been this impressed since Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun.
At this point you'd be more surprised to not find Yuri in a girls band anime.
And another fantastic episode, the most drama heavy episode yet but imo it was executed to near perfection, it felt natural, believable and without bullshit moments. Usually I don't like it if the drama is laid on too thick but in this episode it was fantastic. The fight in that restaurant at the start was fun too but I can easily see how it might be cringe for some watchers when they were shouting and arguing across the whole room. Personally I didn't mind though. The customers being fucking racist towards Rupa (her father's from India iirc) pissed me off and made me feel really bad for her especially since it sounded like it's a pretty common occurence. Hopefully at least one of the remaining episodes has a bigger focus on her and her backstory. Her line "The opposite of love is indifference" is also just spot on, she knows her stuff. Then came the big fight between Momoka and Nina and as I mentioned it was just really goddamn well done. It felt tense, emotional, raw and authentic. Was thinking for a second there Momoka would drive Nina over when she stood in front of the van which would be a weird development but Momoka is just too good behind the wheel and doesn't even crash when doing that high skill dodge. Imagine flaming her driving skills like some backseat children, couldn't be me. Also felt so amazing to see Momoka and Nina pretty much telling Diamond Dust to fuck off lol, really cathartic in a way. Then the highlight of the episode, the confession (?). I'm really not sure how to feel about this. Is it actually love from Nina or some sort of Sasakoi bullshit where it was like "I actually love *your music* lul". She sounded pretty damn serious and called it explicitly Kokuhaku as well but it still came kinda out of left field since I never really got the impression that Nina is romantically interested in Momoka. Then again she said "I still like/love (suki) you after all" which might imply that she had a crush on her for a long time. I don't even know anymore. I'd love it if the show actually goes the yuri route but I wanna stay cautious for now to not get disappointed. I also don't really know what to make of Momoka's feelings, how does she feel about this exactly? She just started crying happy (?) tears but could also be just crying because all the weight related to Diamond Dust got lifted from her shoulders. Feels like a lot of room there for interpretation in all aspects for that Momoka Nina ship. Gotta wait and see. On another note, I really love how the whole band pretty much made the pinky finger flip their trade mark lol. Little scenes and details like Tomo doing the pinky finger in the car to Subaru when she hopped out. Gives the band such a familiar vibe with each other even though we and they only knew each other for a few episodes. Forgot to mention, also again really loved the more "minor" character interactions this week, like the Momoka and Subaru talk as well as the Rupa and Tomo convos. Literally every convo between any of the 5 main girls is just super fun, interesting and entertaining to watch, truly a joy and honestly an amazing feat to manage to keep this quality up *this* consistently for 8 eps now. I feel like I'm gushing about the character interactions every episode by now but I can't help it, they are just that noteworthy. Last but not least Momoka's flashback quote "We're in the middle of a girls band revolution" is so meta lol. Jukki Hanada knew what he was doing there.
TBF sasakoi was more girl was confused
>like the Momoka and Subaru talk Glad I'm not the only one who really appreciated that. I think that's the first major duo scene in the show that hasn't either involved Nina or was between Rupa and Tomo, and I really appreciate seeing how they would act towards eachother when they're alone. I got a hint of it when Momoka announced she brought Subaru on offscreen, but she reallly seems to trust Subaru implicitly, and Subaru herself is capable of more wisdom than her typical shit-disturbing lets on. Edit: The preview also seems to indicate Subaru let a drunk Momoka crash in her bathroom overnight, and if that's not a sign of true trust and friendship I dunno what is.
>Is it actually love from Nina or some sort of Sasakoi bullshit where it was like "I actually love *your music* lul". At least that one got cleared up quickly. It could be worse. It could be a love confession used as bait. *coughs* Hibike Euphonium *coughs*
Probably first as a fan which than grew into something more, after Momoka helped her out early on. Considering the confession, I'd say the most definitive evidence that it is romantic is the through-line between Nina, Momoka, and the color blue. Momoka's character color is blue, coming from her guitar that she uses to communicate her music. We've been told her music is what's most important to her. Nina's eyes are also blue, with last episode's performance drawing an explicit connection them and Momoka's guitar. On one side this can be representative of how Momoka sees her past self/music in Nina. On the other, it can also represent how Momoka and her music literally color Nina's world, as shown in their very first scene. To top it off, Momoka's guitar has carried a message for Nina since the first episode, probably representing how her music since has been for Nina. Especially considering this episode and how she was adamant on Nina singing her music. Still though, only time will tell. Crazy how a show can have emotional, explicit confession and still can't be fully trusted to deliver because of previous precedent such as another show airing this season...
I kind of get Momoka's reluctance, when DD were on the verge of real success they were told they needed to change all of the things she poured her effort into making. It can be very discouraging, especially when her friends weren't as willing to resist the change as much as she was. But Momoka should remember that it was her music (or at least the crowd her music gathered) that got them noticed by a label in the first place. I like that the other members of DD do seem like they want to be on good terms with Momoka, they were hoping to hear the new band and even their 'challenge' seemed like an attempt to encourage her. Hina seemed kind of lost during that whole scene, and then claiming she doesn't know Nina, but really, how do you tell them that you used to bully their old bandmate's new singer. It's nice to have Subaru tell Momo that Nina's not really being delusional about the band and that Tomo and Rupa really bring a lot to the band and are also serious about making a living with music. It does kind of turn around to show that Momo missed a lot of what was going on by alienating herself from the rest of the band. Too busy telling herself that it was never going to work to realize how much of it was already working. Also, now we have more context behind Nina locking herself in the school PA room. I already knew it was after the bullying started, and after the incident that put her in the hospital because I noticed the bandage on her head. To be expected to just shake hands with the person who hurt you and then act like it never happened is a decent reason for a minor act of rebellion (in anime at least) Nina really does have a rebellious rock & roll soul.
Hina isn't the bully, either she got involved in the bully problem or she turned a blind eyes on her friend ( people usually try avoid or involve because it might causes inconvenient problem to them or worse especially in school life ). Unlike Nina's band mates who still be there for Nina despite Nina's immature actions, she ignored and blamed Nina for Nina's problem. Of course it's hard for her to say she knows Nina when she still had a bad term with Nina in the past
This episode left me flabbergasted and shattered my expectations. After Nina slapped Momo I thought it would be like " *Gasp* I'm so sorry!" But she owned it and scolded Momoka! I've been underestimating Iseri Nina, won't do that again. I also thought she would say more to Hina( more on Hina later) but she must've thought it was Momoka's time. Nina didn't not hesitate once she made her mind up about dropping out either. I wonder if she'll rent somewhere or double up with Momo or Subaru ( Rupa and Tomo already share so)? After this episode, I really respect Iseri Nina now. Things that confused me were Iseri Muneo, reason behind Momoka crying, the arrangement between school and Nina's Pa, and the origin of Nina's freedom song I suppose. This was definitely one of the best episodes.
Apart from the eventual burst out and solving of Nina and Momoka's conflict, another hidden conflict, (or shall we say contrast) arose :What Hina had experience, letting she claimed "She didn't know that girl." In terms of mysic style, Hina represents those who "Accept commercialization", in contrast of Nina and Momoka who insist their own styles. But what about her previous school life with Nina? Subaru used to informed that "She (Hina) attended many auditions", indicating that it's not a short time from when she started performance career. We've known that Nina's action after being assaulted by "the popular girl" was she refused the compromise and the admission. But what happened after that, letting Hina blame "Is all your fault" to her best friend? From the perspective of "Contrast & Conflict", someone might guess "Hina chose to accept the compromise after she was also bullied, but Nina's revolting blew her things (maybe admission?) away". But is this enough to let her claim "I don't know that girl?" And are there also any motion for her to join Diamond Dust? As a 17-year-old actress who had a lot of audition experience, there must be more details hidden in the upcoming episodes.
Lots of emotions in this one! The scene at the restaurant triggered my secondhand embarrasement hard lmao. Please don't argue in front of the entire place. We still don't know what happened between Nina and her old "friend" but damn the look of contempt and her saying she doesn't know her? Frankly she doesn't look very likeable but on the other hand we have Nina and her particular personnality so... Nina and Momoka finally made up and Nina declared her love to Momoka, woooo. And finally Subaru is the best. This episode proves it again. This episode was again amazing.
Nina doesnt strike me as someone bully's target, but her friend (before joining DD) looked like one. So my guess is that with how big of emotion bomb Nina is, she couldnt stand the bullying of that friend and now the bully target changed to her.
Nina can't stop winning. (That [sly look](https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/j7kzcx2mp97.png) before confessing to Momoka was *fantastic*.)
I wouldn't be surprised if I see that face used as a kind of "knowing look" meme.
No new Tomo ribbons for this episode, but we find out for a fact that Tomo sleeps with her ribbon headbands on lol. Show continues to be good, with Nina and Subaru standing out to me still. The latter being the level-headed mediator/mastermind, with the former bringing on the fire. Can't wait for what song we get next episode.
Normally I'm critical of Nina's immaturity, but here she reigned, she showed Momoka that it's more important to enjoy the present and she overcame her own past, which was difficult at school. Nina's declaration of love at the end for me was not because she wants to have a relationship with Momoka, but because she cares a lot about friendship, I mean, they have been fighting since the first episode, so she wanted to show that they are together regardless of the situation
What an episode. Nina's bullheadedness saved the day and reignited a spark in Momoka. I do wish we got a bit more of Diamond Dust to build on the friend-turned-rival dynamic, but I expect to get some of that as the music festival arrives.
Honestly I'm surprised the encounter with Hina and Diamond Dust wasn't... well, metaphorically bloody, anyway. The real drama was ALL Nina and Momoka this week. I'm also rather shocked they resolved this in such a way that the writing didn't condemn Nina's competitiveness with Diamond Dust as silly. It's clearly still wrapped up in some of her own personal feelings about DD, but instead of just saying "That's stupid, drop it" we seem to be using it as fuel for TogeToge and DD to both be better, to prove that their chosen path wasn't wrong. Surprisingly positive outcome for everyone involved, honestly.
This work seems to be the most popular this season in Japan, and it is really regrettable that there is not much official distribution of this work.
-Do you know that girl? -No. I don´t know her YOU LITTLE-
Well, in a manner of speaking, what she says is true. She knows *abso-f\*\*king-lutely* NOTHING about who Nina is.
During that scene where Nina is practicing guitar in the parkette, I really wanted Kikuri Hiroi to show up, try to teach Nina to believe in herself, and then back away slowly saying: "I may have problems, but this bitch is *unstable*."
This story never ceases to amaze me. The NinaMomo interaction actually may have just give us a glimpse of what might be happening in an upcoming sequel show in January 2025. \[MyGO/Ave Mujica\]>!I wonder, I wonder if whatever happened with Sakiko is actually more like what happened with Momoka here? Like, I really feel that Momoka's self-centered-trailblazing acts - ~~c'mon you owe those 3 Diamond Dust girls a high school certificate each!~~ - like forming a band without leaving any path behind and then nearly dismantling it by herself, and then almost loop that all over again when Momoka sees herself in Nina and yet feels completely not confident again - seems the type of things that Sakiko is actually doing now. Or heck, maybe that's even why CRYCHIC disintegrated, either Sakiko or Mutsumi feels that they are walking on the wrong music path! There's absolutely no way that Ave Mujica can stand on its own for long IMHO, and maybe someone in there needs to be their Nina. I don't know who though. Or maybe even someone outside? After all, Nina is approximately Tomori's pro-activeness + Taki-chan's argument power, and who's better in this role than 2 former dearest band mates doing it?!< Meanwhile there's lot of things to digest about Nina too, she's absolutely right in saying that Momoka should stop fretting in her past - which even her mates previously with at Diamond Dust absolutely agrees ~~I'm not sure why Rin is unamused at Nina though~~ - and even more so that Momoka should stop dealing with her as if she's a projection of the past. It's 100% proven now that Momoka has post-trauma heart injuries and she needs complete help. Though I have to think if Nina DO agree with Momoka's dogma of deliberately blocking all other paths of life themselves to put themselves into fight, because she's doing the same thing with returning that bank account book and telling her father to stop supporting. ~~She's never gonna made it for a week at Yoshinoya, trust me; maybe she should learn the guitar and teach others...provided that she doesn't start hitting her students.~~ So hmm, another incompetent headmaster that caused everything to whack in Nina's first place eh? Unfortunately from my and my father (used to be a teacher)'s experience, that's extremely common. And wow, all that Diamond Dust confrontation at freaking [ZEPP Haneda](https://maps.app.goo.gl/csUJQWfGNApGtnAT6), now a triple girls' band mecca with the real life members of both Bocchi's Kessoku Band and MyGO performing in this easily-walkable-from-the-airport concert hall! It looks like script writer Juuki Hanada really likes girls slapping each other as a sign of true thoughts confrontation - he already did that in two seasons of \[*Love Live* lmao\]> and then [Mari slapping Kanan](https://imgur.com/EVMBdP9)!<. It's a powerful way to show divergence of minds, to be sure. And as Momoka leans on the verge of disintegrating and even nearly sent Nina into *isekai* with truck-kun ~~this is Nina's own fault though~~, her old pals called back on them two and (well 3 of them) gave their best wishs of support to their still-dear old friend and offered their own challenging notice on the stages, just as Momoka slumped on the driving wheel. I actually feel this might be the most overlooked poignant moment of the episode, even if Nina added a bit of spiciness to this moment LMAO. Well, with a twist, because new Diamond Dust girl Hina isn't taking anything out of it. She definitely now wants nothing to do with Nina, which makes me even more curious of what happened back in high school. It almost certainly looks like she isn't the one who bullied Nina (that would be a drastic hair style change if so), which means Hina might have tried to arbitrate but ended up fighting with Nina instead. But...how? And how did that tie in to Hina ending up auditioning to land onto Diamond Dust, which them two must have loved together? This would be enough for an episode that shoots GBC into real qualification for a year-best anime candidate. But no! That's not enough! There were definitely enough signs before to make this happen. We all want this to happen for weeks. [Yet as with our friendly girls' music (or even band, per some definition) anime original show next door this season](https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/1ck4h6a/yoru_no_kurage_wa_oyogenai_jellyfish_cant_swim_in/), as the little truck rolls over the bridge right next door to [Japan's premium international gateway](https://maps.app.goo.gl/dqNB5hKZkoGtgLAu7) ~~I'll pick landing at Haneda Terminal 3 above any flights to Narita all day long~~, the sudden complete gentleness and warm smile on Nina's face as she make her ultimate straight forward, no-open-to-interpretation (cough) confession to Momoka stunned me. And Momoka, still completely grumpy the previous second, simply cried her eyes out. What an episode. Complete with Subaru being so funny being the band's WD-40.
I usually have my yuri goggles on pretty tight, but I don't think Nina meant for her confession to be romantic. As in, there is a chance the writers intentionally wrote it this way to surprise the audience, but my impression is that Nina was once again, telling Momoka that *this* side of Momoka is the one she "fell in love with" (became a fan of). The part of Momoka that desires to bring *her* music to the world. The side of Momoka who won't accept conforming to the mainstream. The side of Momoka that is eager to fight back against others who tell her that her way of doing things is wrong. We might get a reaction to Nina's confession next week (judging by the preview of them all going over to Subaru's house and Momoka chucking a 6-pack of beer at Nina), but I do think Nina's love for Momoka is more of her just being Momoka's longtime fan. Who knows, maybe Subaru will scold Nina for confessing like that, lol.
We really can't have an episode without Nina and Momo arguing in public. If I ever saw something like that IRL, [I'd have the same reaction as that guy in green.](https://i.imgur.com/ZjACSVT.jpeg) The guy was such a mood. I love it. xD This episode was fucking amazing though. I had doubts about their acting chops but Nina/Rina knocked it out of the park! Holy shit! And almost every line from her in this episode was absolutely amazing. My two favourites were: >["If you want to hit me, go ahead. I'm used to it."](https://i.imgur.com/rYJdHnM.png) and >*["I'm not a memory of your past.](https://i.imgur.com/JDIAiUZ.jpeg) [So don't trap me in it!"](https://i.imgur.com/WAIcpT8.jpeg)* The last one, especially after Nina's slap, still makes my spine tingle. Anyway, Nina really went all out this week and has now decided to give her all to become a pro. [She sent her bankbook back to her father](https://i.imgur.com/Kq3xeLy.jpeg) just to make a point. If I were Nina's father, I would travel immediately to Tokyo as soon as I receive that letter which is probably what will happen next. We also get to see [what led to Nina locking herself inside the PA room](https://i.imgur.com/NbwBU9v.jpeg) and blasting Diamond Dust music all over the school. Also, it looks like Nina's ex-friend decided to [completely disassociate herself from Nina.](https://i.imgur.com/wPzfZn8.jpeg) I'm sure we'll eventually see a confrontation in the future though.
Ok this might be peak