Jacen's Rants

Jacen's Ave Mujica Rewatch Reaction

April 13, 2025

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I've been pretty vocal about my dislike of Ave Mujica. Believe me when I say I really wanted to like it, but it just has way too many issues that I can't ignore.

Despite that, I committed to doing a second reaction post once Ave Mujica finished, and I want to document exactly why I hate it so much. So, I'll be chronicling my thoughts and writing my reaction to my second watch of each episode.

Episode 13

Wait, episode 13?

If you read my post on MyGO, you might remember that I mentioned that MyGO episode 13 was less of an episode of MyGO and more of an OVA for Ave Mujica. Since I didn't really go into it then, now seems like a good time to check out MyGO episode 13.

Unfortunately, episode 13 of MyGO is its weakest episode. The development that we get for MyGO isn't super engaging, and the majority of the episode is just the debut performance for Ave Mujica, without a lot of development for any of its characters. The concept for Ave Mujica itself is odd. Sakiko clearly wanted to throw together a band that could debut and rise to success quickly, so she picked several celebrities and other extremely skilled musicians. Yet, she refuses to leverage their fame, instead forcing them all to hide their identities. It feels counterintuitive to what Saki is trying to accomplish.

We do finally get a peek into Saki's home life, particularly the fact that her father seems to be a severe alcoholic, which brings me to what apparently is a bit of a hot take.

Saki's home life does not excuse her behavior.

Even if Saki was too embarrassed to reveal her home situation to the members of CRYCHIC, there were still ways for her to have left on less tense terms. Her actions severely traumatized Tomori and Soyo, negatively affected Taki, and managed to affect Anon by extension. Regardless of the reasons behind it, it's completely unfair to let her off the hook for so much collateral damage.

To put it simply, regardless of the extenuating circumstances, Saki's actions are completely selfish. It's a bit rich that she called out Soyo for the same thing.

Even on my first watch, this episode made me nervous about what was to come. Turns out, my gut feeling was right.

Episode 1

With that, we move on to episode 1 proper.

You might have noticed that MyGO had a bad habit of doing full-song performances rather than the shortened versions that other music anime (and older installments of Bandori) generally do. Ave Mujica continues this trend from the word "go". Get used to that; it's one of the primary ways the show stalls for time.

Once we finally get into the actual anime, there's friction almost immediately between Sakiko and Nyamu. The fandom quickly villainized Nyamu for her clear self-seeking tendencies. What the fandom never seemed to realize, however, is that Nyamu has a point. There's so much popularity potential being wasted by hiding the identities of the members of the band.

At long last, we finally get a proper look at Saki's past. The death of her mother, the events leading to the formation of CRYCHIC, and the events leading to its breakup. The catalyst turns out to be Saki's father being blamed for the loss of a large sum of money and being cast out of the Togawa family. I would once again like to reiterate that this is an explanation, not an excuse. Saki handled things extremely poorly, regardless of how much stress she might have been under.

At the end of this flashback, Saki's father snaps at her in a drunken fit. This causes Saki to storm out, leaving with Mutsumi for their upcoming Budokan tour.

With that, we switch gears completely, introducing MyGO to the fray. Anon, conveniently, has managed to acquire two tickets to Ave Mujica's upcoming show. With Tomori too nervous about the crowd and Taki uninterested, Anon's focus turns to Soyo as the recipient of the second ticket.

Also conveniently, Nyamu chooses this show to go off-script, unmasking all the member of Ave Mujica. This is the first major fumble of the show. The tension between Saki and Nyamu could have been drawn out much longer, creating an engaging plot arc. Instead, the plot device is triggered right at the beginning. To add insult to injury, in the long run, the removing of the masks doesn't really serve any purpose. All plot points related to it could have been rewritten with little to no effort. All it really does it pad out the show for an extra episode for no benefit.

Regardless, Anon and Soyo now know that Mutsumi and Saki are members of Ave Mujica. Surely, this can't have any consequences, right?

Episode 2

A lot happens extremely quickly this episode. Taki is informed about Saki and Mutsumi, and the tensions between Nyamu and Saki certainly haven't improved. Despite Anon's best efforts Tomori finds out about Saki from her classmates. Taki confronts Umiri about her role in the band. Soyo does the same with Mutsumi, grilling her for information, which is shared with the rest of MyGO. Ave Mujica have their own strategy meaning in the aftermath of the last show. The members are invited to Mutsumi's home for reasons that aren't really well explained. Regardless, Nyamu and Mutsumi's mother, Minami Mori, quickly hit it off, although Nyamu has her own agenda. Ave Mujica shortly after has a TV interview where Mutsumi accidentally manages to create a rumor about a potential breakup of the band.

If all of this seems extremely fast-paced and difficult to follow, that's because it is. Ave Mujica has multiple problems with pacing, which show up first as moving way too quickly.

One thing that was lost in that whirlwind is that Ave Mujica's schedule has Mutsumi making a disproportionately large number of public appearances. While Umiri is responsible for the schedule, this is an early indicator that Saki might not be the most effective leader. It's not really the first indicator; at this point it's clear the masks strategy and her handling of Nyamu might have also been indicators, but this is the first point where it's abundantly clear.

Uika finds out that Saki has been sleeping at the office of Ave Mujica's agency, since she's decided not to live with her father anymore, and she's seemingly still too stubborn to move back in with her grandfather. Uika invites Saki to live at her apartment instead.

As Ave Mujica prepare for their next show, no one seems to notice just how much Mutsumi is struggling, yet another mark against Saki's leadership capabilities. For someone who asked the members of the band to entrust their lives to her, Saki isn't really taking very good care of them. The overwhelming pressure Mutsumi is under culminates in her being unable to play as the music starts.

A lot happened very quickly, and it's not entirely clear what direction things are going.

Episode 3

The most frustrating part of Ave Mujica is the glimpses of potential it gives us. Episode 3 was one of those glimpses.

Saki manages to skillfully, if a bit sloppily, play off Mutsumi's behavior as part of the show. Unfortunately, nothing is done to attempt to improve Mutsumi's mental state. We do, at least, finally get a loot inside the mind of Mutsumi Wakaba. There are three key takeaways here: Mutsumi does not like being compared to her parents, she has a deep-seated fear that she isn't able to play the guitar properly, and her statement that "I've never had fun playing in this band, not even once." was apparently entirely unprompted by Saki.

"I'm the one who ruined CRYCHIC"

We also get a quick peek into the mind of Nyamu, particularly her jealousy of Mutsumi's inadvertent acting skills. Keep this in the back of your mind for later.

Mutsumi's performance has become such a smash hit that Ave Mujica receive a lot of requests to recreate it. This is against Saki's vision for the band, but she's pretty well outnumbered by the other members who don't see a problem with it. Tensions run high, with Saki eventually snapping at Mutsumi for not siding with her. This turns out to be the breaking point for Mutsumi's fragile mental state, and she has a complete personality shift in Ave Mujica's next live broadcast.

Suddenly, Mutsumi Wakaba has gotten a lot more interesting.

Episode 4

It's a bit difficult to pin down exactly what has caused such a drastic change in Mutsumi's demeanor, but the other members of Ave Mujica have rallied behind her, except for Sakiko. Saki still refuses to accept that the band is moving in a direction different from the one she envisioned.

Another sign that Saki isn't that great of a leader: her inability to adapt, especially when it becomes obvious that this new direction is working.

Nyamu has her own frustrations with being overshadowed, and we get a short scene of Nyamu talking to her family that doesn't really serve any long-term purpose other than killing time.

Unfortunately, the new Mutsumi hits a bit of a snag: she can't play the guitar, claiming she's never even touched one before. This is a big clue to unraveling the mystery of exactly what's changed with Mutsumi. Saki snaps again, and the ensuing conversation reveals exactly what's happened.

If you've been paying any amount of attention, you may have noticed that this new Mutsumi refers to Saki as "Sakiko-chan", while Mutsumi usually uses "Saki-chan". You probably also remember the scene at the end of last episode with Mortis engulfing Mutsumi. Saki puts two and two together, and manages to hit the heart of the matter.

"Mutsumi-chan is already dead."

Let's break it down. Mutsumi has some form of dissociative identity disorder. The Mutsumi personality has been put to sleep, replaced by her interpretation of Mortis. This explains the massive personality shift, as well as the scenes in the last episode where Mutsumi has having conversations with dolls. Mortis leaves Saki with a final warning:

"If Sakiko-chan keeps being like this, Mutsumi-chan might never be back."

Like with the masks in episode 1, we have all the setup for an incredible story arc. Unfortunately, we are once again moving way too quickly, and Ave Mujica fumbles the execution once again.

The members of Ave Mujica, sans Mutsumi, discuss what Saki has just discovered. Their meeting is interrupted by Mutsumi herself, and they discuss what the next step for the band is. Saki proves once again what an ineffective leader she is, and Nyamu takes matters into her own hands, forcing Saki's decision.

"I'll quit."

Complain all you want, but Nyamu is the catalyst this show needs for anything to get done. Without her, these characters would just wallow in indecision forever. She's the only person who is truly honest with her feelings and has no fear of voicing her opinion. She is the only entity capable of keeping this show from flying completely off the rails. Easily, Nyamu is best girl.

Mortis apparently did not think things through very well, not expecting that her inability to play guitar would lead to the band falling apart. With Saki unwilling to kick Mutsumi from the band, things fall completely apart, and Saki, Nyamu, Uika, and Umiri decide to break up the band, much to Mutsumi's dismay.

We're only four episodes in, and we're already in endgame territory. Something needs to change because there are way too many episodes left to pick up the pieces at this point.

Episode 5

This is a dead episode.

Very little of relevance actually happens. It's intentionally limited on background music, and Saki notably has one line of dialogue in the entire episode. While these are all stylistic decisions, it doesn't make the episode any more interesting. The first four episodes moved way too quickly, and the pacing if paying for it by being forced to slam the brakes.

The biggest event of significance is Saki moving back in with her grandfather. On my first watch, I had mistakenly assumed that Ave Mujica was formed as a way to make money to support her father. However, the fact that she was willing to let the band break up with little to no resistance proves that theory wrong. Regardless, Saki's grandfather convinces her to move back in with the Togawa family.

The second half of the episode plays out more like an episode of MyGO, with Tomori trying her best to reconnect with Saki. It's generally not a good sign when the quality of your anime improves because it feels like an episode of a completely different anime.

Anon and Tomori invite themselves to the Togawa residence, allowed entry to Saki's car simply by saying that they're friends of hers. I guess CEOs in Japan are less likely to be gunned down in the street, so security is a bit more lax.

The episode ends with Tomori making a heartfelt and emotional request:

"Saki-chan! Let's be in a band!"

It took so much work to get MyGO to the still-precarious state it finds itself in, and Ave Mujica is threatening to undo an entire season's worth of work in just a couple of episodes. Certainly, not the direction I would have gone in.

After the credits, Soyo decides to pay a visit to Mutsumi, who is clearly not doing well. Soyo is terrified by the state she finds Mutsumi in, but Mutsumi (or rather Mortis) reaches out with a cry for help.

"Please... Wake Mutsumi-chan up..."

Episode 6

Picking up where we left off, Saki quickly shuts down Tomori and asks them to leave. This confrontation could have just taken place at school, and we could have saved some time, but I guess episodes need padding if we're going to make it to 13.

Meanwhile, Soyo is still stuck taking care of Mortis. As much as Soyo pretends not to, she really does care a lot for her friends. Eventually, she does convince Mortis to leave her room, bringing her along to RiNG.

Remember when I said that Rana's eavesdropping would have consequences later? This gag was too good to not carry over from the last post.

Rana somehow immediately picks up on Mutsumi's DID. Unfortunately, Rana also immediately gets bored and leaves, with Mortis chasing after her. The two of them hit it off pretty well once Rana finally comes to a stop. With how much Rana is fumbled in MyGO, it's nice to see her get some focus for a change.

Soyo fills in the rest of MyGO on the situation with Mutsumi. Taki decides to interrogate Umiri on some of the details. Umiri's indifference rubs Taki the wrong way, leading to a very pointed question.

"Umiri, were you really part of Mujica?"

Back at RiNG, Rana, in Rana fashion, randomly decides to start playing guitar. Hearing this awakens Mutsumi again, much to Mortis' delight. Unfortunately, Mutsumi and Mortis don't get along very well, both fighting for dominance of their body. Also, apparently Mortis isn't super familiar with how to use stairs. Fortunately, this is a girls band anime, not a boys band anime, so she shrugs off the fall without any issues.

Mutsumi's performance attracts a lot of attention outside RiNG, and Soyo once again shows off just how much she cares by trying to shield Mutsumi from onlookers.

The video of Mutsumi's breakdown manages to make its way back to Saki, who finally realizes the extent of what she's responsible for. Tomori and Anon find her, trying to convince her to reconnect with Mutsumi. Saki does not take this confrontation well.

"CRYCHIC... Ave Mujica... I don't know anything like that."

"I also... don't know Mutsumi."

In case it wasn't already abundantly clear, each of Ave Mujica's stage names are significant. "Mortis" is related to the death of Mutsumi, and "Oblivionis" is related to Saki's desire to forget, first foreshadowed as far back as MyGO episode 7.

"Uika, please... Make me forget everything."

Soyo is once again taking care of Mortis, who has locked the Mutsumi personality away again. Soyo decides to confront Saki directly. Both she and Mortis are unaware that Saki has actually moved out of her old home. Soyo finally gains an understanding of what Saki's old home life was like and reports it back to the rest of MyGO.

Yet again, I want to reiterate that this is an explanation, not an excuse, and Saki still handled things poorly. I'll keep saying that until it gets through everyone's heads. Fortunately, before the show can go too far in the direction of exonerating Saki, Anon lets slip that Saki denied knowing CRYCHIC or Mutsumi. Soyo does not this information well. A confrontation is inevitable.

Things are once again starting to move in the right direction. Don't get used to it; our regularly scheduled fumble-fest will resume shortly.

Episode 7

We start off quite strong, with the expected confrontation between Soyo and Saki. Once Soyo reveals everything she knows, she manages to drag Saki to Mutsumi's house to meet with her. Unfortunately, Mortis is less interested in meeting with Saki than Mutsumi is, kicking everyone out.

From here the episode fizzles out, primarily consisting of the characters waiting for Mutsumi to return and come out. Taki eventually takes an interest and comes to help out.

A problem with Ave Mujica to this point is that it relies a bit too heavily on the characters from MyGO to resolve their conflicts. The two bands are inexorably linked, and I get that Ave Mujica is a sequel to MyGO, but it still feels like it relies too much on letting MyGO solve Ave Mujica's problems rather than letting Ave Mujica figure things out on its own.

In any case, Mortis finally agrees to let Mutsumi out to talk to Saki. With the tension abruptly resolved, Mutsumi also meets with Tomori, who has written a new song for CRYCHIC. The five of them spend the rest of the episode having a reunion performance, effectively turning the remainder of the episode into another dead episode.

Notably, Umiri comes across the CRYCHIC reunion. Presumably still upset by Taki's words from last episode, she confronts Saki and Mutsumi.

"How about reuniting with me as well?"

With the primary conflict resolved, things are starting to wind down to a satisfying conclusion.

...What do you mean, "There are still six episodes left"?

Episode 8

Remember when I just said that the primary conflict was resolved? I lied.

Mortis is still alive, and is apparently worried that Mutsumi is going to kill that personality. Saki has declined Umiri's invitation to reform Ave Mujica, meaning there isn't really a purpose for Mortis existing.

We had a perfectly serviceable conclusion to the Mortis arc last episode. There really isn't any reason to put Mortis at risk of disappearing. This is just a side effect of moving too quickly in the first half of the show. Now we need to find ways to pad out the show by adding extra unnecessary drama.

Umiri confides in Taki about her plans to reform Ave Mujica and the fact that Mutsumi and Saki dumped her. Taki explains:

"After all, Umiri, you're just too untrustworthy."

This is a very impactful line, but it isn't really well explained. My only guess is that it's related to how nonchalant Umiri was about the breakup of Ave Mujica. However, I'd say she's proven that she truly did care about Ave Mujica based on the fact that she's putting in effort to reform it. It's strange that, with how much this line informs Umiri's actions in the rest of the show, it isn't actually explored at all.

In any case, Saki is trying very hard to rekindle her connection with Mutsumi, skipping classes and spending her free time keeping Mutsumi company and helping her study. The two of them find themselves in the karaoke bar that played a major role in CRYCHIC's backstory back in MyGO. There, Mutsumi and Mortis clash again. Mutsumi wants to reform CRYCHIC, while Mortis (rightfully) believes that Ave Mujica should be revived. In her attempt to convince Saki to talk Mutsumi down, Mortis adds another layer to the complex mystery that is Mutsumi.

"'Mutsumi-chan' has never existed from the beginning."

Nyamu, trying to get on Minami's good side, gets a similar explanation from her about Mutsumi's past.

I'm generally pretty open-minded about poor parenting; in the world of Project Sekai, I've privately defended both Toya's father and the Shinonome siblings' father. Minami, however, is just irredeemable. She considers her own daughter to be a monster for her very obvious mental issues, stating that being around her child makes her miserable.

At her core, Mortis just wants to live. It's a very understandable desire, and it's compounded by the fact that Mortis is more correct than Mutsumi is. CRYCHIC is gone, and trying to remake it will just cause trauma for unrelated parties. Like I said earlier, we spent an entire season getting MyGO to its current still-precarious position, and Mutsumi and Saki have no right to undo all of that work.

Mutsumi does make a good point when Mortis tries to claim that she's protecting Mutusumi my taking control.

"Everything you've done is not what I wanted."

Every step of Mortis' plans to protect Mutsumi have failed. She broke apart Ave Mujica, and she shut Mutsumi out after going through all the effort to wake her up again. Everything that Mortis has done for the sake of protecting Mutsumi has been short-sighted and ultimately failed.

"I don't need you."

Meanwhile, Umiri, still struggling with Taki's words, treats herself to some retail therapy before having an impromptu meeting with Nyamu, where she reveals her attempts to revive Ave Mujica. We get a short backstory of Umiri's past, which ultimately serves no meaningful purpose other than padding time. Nyamu's utter disinterest proves that she is, once again, best girl.

"Timoris" would be Umiri's fear of being rejected as being untrustworthy.

For the moment, Mortis has taken over, and agrees to Umiri's request to rejoin Ave Mujica. Since she doesn't know how to play guitar, Umiri agrees to teach her.

"You will become something real."

This is the first of several episodes where it simultaneously feels like a lot of important things happened and nothing of note happened. That's not really what you want your viewers to feel like.

Episode 9

Saki reaches out to Tomori and Anon, asking Tomori to help reform CRYCHIC. I've already gone over why this is a stupid plot point, but it does still apply here. Anon shares this information with the others who, fortunately, seem disinterested.

Remember Uika? The other members of Ave Mujica managed to remain relevant throughout the last three episodes, but she only got a single cameo toward the end of episode 8. Finally, she gets some spotlight back.

Apparently deciding the best way to get in contact with Saki again was through MyGO, Uika makes a connection with Anon. Leaky as usual, Anon lets her know about the recent performance CRYCHIC had. Unsurprisingly, Uika does not take this well.

Nyamu has her own struggles. She wants to get into acting, but the continued memory of Mutsumi throws her completely off.

Taki meets with Umiri to grill her about Mutsumi. Uika interrupts to inform Umiri that she's willing to rejoin Ave Mujica.

From there, Uika goes on a bit of a rampage, trying to brute force the revival of Ave Mujica. There is, apparently, some other powerful force preventing the agency from greenlighting the reformation of the band. More on that later.

Ave Mujica's stage outfits have, apparently, already been destroyed, presumably under Saki's orders.

Umiri comes to Nyamu's apartment to discuss reforming Ave Mujica, since she's fulfilled her promise of bringing Mutsumi on-board. Nyamu refuses unless there's a reasonable chance of the band's success.

Mortis falls asleep, allowing Mutsumi to take over again, and she meets with Tomori, who invites her to the planetarium. Conveniently, Uika happens to be there as well. She exits as the two of them are entering and confronts Mutsumi about reforming CRYCHIC. Tomori offers support in the one way she knows how: through lyrics. In this case, however, it isn't really helpful, only driving Uika further down the path of insanity.

Meanwhile, the fight between Mutsumi's personalities comes to a head, with Mortis managing to accidentally kill Mutsumi.

Saki meets with all of MyGO to discuss reforming CRYCHIC. Umiri, Uika, and Mutsumi interrupt, each with their own agendas for trying to reform Ave Mujica. Mortis does her best to emulate Mutsumi's mannerisms to hide the fact that Mutsumi is dead, but Nyamu also interrupts, seeing right through things.

This was another whirlwind. If there was this much ground left to cover, why did we need to have things drag out so much the past few episodes?

Episode 10

Nyamu is the catalyst this show needs for anything to get done.

Nyamu's appearance manages to break up the meeting, with everyone going their separate ways. From there, Nyamu takes control, forcing Uika to send some lyrics she had written in the Ave Mujica group chat and dragging her to Saki's house. Interestingly, it seems to be Uika's presence that gains the two of them entry. Once again, more on that later.

Once inside, Nyamu reminds Saki of the words that triggered the beginning of Ave Mujica:

"Give me the rest of your life."

Saki requested the members of the band give up their lives for her, and now she's abandoning her responsibility, and she's realizing it. She finally agrees to reform the band, bringing things to a little too tidy of a conclusion. Ave Mujica reform, and the rest of the episode is padded with Uika's song.

"Amoris" is related to Nyamu's jealously, specifically of Mutusumi's effortless acting skills. She's enamored with Mutsumi in a way that could be considered a kind of love.

With the primary conflict resolved, things are starting to wind down to a satisfying conclusion.

...Wait, I feel like I just did this gag.

Episode 11

We ended last episode with Saki's grandfather showing up and referring to Uika as "Hatsune". Episode 11 is dedicated to explaining that.

This is not a dead episode, but it's somehow less interesting than the two dead episodes we had previously. While it dumps a lot of important information on us, it does it in an extremely uninteresting way.

The most frustrating part is that this show knows how to make an engaging info dump episode. MyGO episode 3 had a full episode flashback that would have been the perfect format for conveying all the information contained in this one. Instead, we get a monologue from Uika that does nothing to try to keep the viewer's attention.

Regardless, there's a lot to unpack in this episode, so let's break it down.

"Uika" is actually Hatsune, the illegitimate daughter of Sadaharu Togawa, Sakiko's grandfather. That would make her Saki's aunt, for anyone keeping track. How that affects your stance on shipping, I'll leave to your discretion.

She was raised on an island to prevent causing trouble for the Togawa family. She had a step-sister named Uika, who apparently looked similar to Hatsune.

In MyGO, we had a brief flashback of Uika and Saki playing together as kids at the Togawa villa that happened to be on that island. It turns out that it was primarily the real Uika who interacted with Saki during that trip, with Hatsune taking her sister's place on Saki's last day. Apparently, that simple interaction was enough to awaken something unhinged in Hatsune.

The second catalyst was the death of Hatsune's step-father. After a fight between Hatsune and Uika, Hatsune decided to run away to the mainland and take her sister's identity to try to reconnect with Saki. She did, however, choose to give her agency the real name of her father, Sadaharu Togawa.

As it turns out, Saki's father was framed for the large loss of money for daring to suggest that Sadaharu should treat his own daughter as a human. Vilifying Sadaharu this much seems unnecessary. He's been such a minor character, and this show doesn't really need an overarching evil character to keep it engaging. It's a curveball for the sake of having a curveball, and it smacks of poor writing.

Really, this entire arc is a masterclass in poor writing. It comes out too late to be explored the way it deserves to be, and it doesn't really serve a meaningful purpose in the grand scheme of the anime.

Regardless, this explains the interference preventing Ave Mujica from being reunited, as well as why Uika/Hatsune's presence granted herself and Nyamu access to the Togawa estate.

It does, however, give Sadaharu an excuse to continue being a villain, demanding that Saki not see Hatsune again and sending her to Switzerland to study.

Remember when I said that the primary conflict was resolved? Apparently, Ave Mujica decided it needed to pull a new primary conflict out of its ass for us.

...I feel like I just did that gag, too.

Episode 12

"What an anticlimactic ending."

Saki's words fit in a meta sense as well. This episode simply handles cleaning up the loose ends that episode 11 left behind without actually exploring anything.

For the sake of continuity, I'm going to continue referring to Hatsune as "Uika", particularly since the real Uika doesn't serve any purpose in the show now that episode 11 is over.

Saki somehow manages to run away from her entourage on a live runway without being caught and makes her way to the island where Uika currently is. From here, this episode immediately serves to make episode 11 completely pointless by recapping every detail that was described there.

To make a long story short, Saki and Uika reconnect, Saki drags Uika back to the mainland, Saki breaks ties with her grandfather, and Ave Mujica reunites for real this time. Notably, Saki decides to declare herself as being a god, which is a bit off the rails and not really explored.

"There is no such thing as God. So... I will become God myself."

Notably, the Mutsumi personality seems to be back without any explanation. I guess that fall wasn't as bad as it looked.

"Doloris" would be Uika/Hatsune's sorrow for the trouble she caused Saki and Saki's father, as well as her sorrow stemming from being apart from Saki.

With the primary conflict resolved, things are starting to wind down to a satisfying conclusion.

Don't worry, I'm serious this time.

Episode 13

Once again, episode 13 plays out more like an OVA than an episode. It exists solely to show off new songs for both MyGO and Ave Mujica. If you don't care about the music, it's basically skippable.

There are two minor details of note. First is the looks of disdain that Soyo and Taki give to Anon throughout the MyGO performance. Whether those are just part of the band dynamic or a sequel hook for the third season remains to be seen.

Second, Mortis is notably alive and well within Mutsumi, which is good because she's by far the better of the two personalities.

Conclusion

To quote myself, "Bushiroad learned a lot from the success of MyGO. Unfortunately, they took completely the wrong lessons from it." The drama was ramped way too high, the pacing was all over the place, and the story just doesn't really add up at the end. They took Bandori and turned it into something that isn't Bandori anymore.

This doesn't give me a lot of confidence for the third season in the MyGO/Ave Mujica era of Bandori. I would love to be proven wrong, but time will tell.