your interpretations in some of the plot points (full of spoilers)

I believe that if Sakiko decided to create Ave Mujica, it was primarily for the sole purpose of forgetting Crychic. This is precisely what she asks Uika over the phone because she needs to stop thinking about that former group, where she had found a kind of refuge and a safe place to reside. From the very beginning, Ave Mujica was founded as "the only thing she would have left" since she had lost everything in her life. By creating Ave Mujica, she could also keep Mutsumi by her side, as she was one of the last friends who would remain with her. Everything was about starting anew, driven by the will to forget.


For Mutsumortis, I saw it as a moment of mutual acceptance. During the performance, Mortis suddenly stops playing the guitar, relinquishing her role as Mutsumi, which creates a moment of silence. In doing so, she externalizes the emptiness left by Mutsumi’s absence instead of trying to futilely fill it. When she then throws herself into the void, Mortis sacrifices two things she held dear: her performance and, ultimately, her very existence. This act is her way of confronting that same emptiness. Without the guitar, Mortis would have been unable to reunite with Mutsumi. The guitar became a point of contention between them—something they both needed to define their existence. Even before that, this instrument had served to humanize Mutsumi. The moment she became a guitarist, "Mutsumi-chan" was born—not as a doll, but as a human being. When Mortis took Mutsumi’s guitar, she also stripped her of her humanity. Returning it, then, was not just about giving back an instrument but restoring an essential part of Mutsumi’s existence. Furthermore, because the guitar symbolized the awakening of Mutsumi’s self-awareness, it also allowed Mortis to find peace with her own unresolved feelings. In this way, the instrument became a bridge between their two consciousnesses. What once divided them ultimately brought them back together. Their embrace signifies their willingness to coexist openly and their acceptance of one another. They complete each other, forming a whole—one they can finally love unconditionally after enduring so many hardships and conflicts.
At least, that’s how I perceived it. I think we’ll have to wait for the final episode to get a clearer idea of the true meaning behind this scene.

Mortis was the embodiment of Mutsumi's suppressed and desired emotions. So it is obvious that when she completely "absorbed" them into herself, she was metaphorically just accepting the suppressed part of her emotions. This is particularly hinted at by Nyamu, who implies several times that Mortis' talents and personality are Mutsumi's talents and personality, and not just a separate personality within her.

@RobertBobert
i kinda agree and kinda disagree, one of the few but really important things that are outright said in the series is that when Mutsumi picked up the guitar, all her "roles" dissapeared, everyone aside from the one that would become Mortis, as the last "protector" of Mutsumi in case something went wrong

so i dont think it was necessarily her represed emotions, but more so Mortis was her last refuge, the one that came out when Mutsumi hit her limit to avoid her being completely broken


but then again, i know nothing nor do i care for psychology, so im betting againts my opinions

As for Ave Mujica, the first time she formed him it was out of desperation and to make him forget crychic from the wrong point. The reunification of Ave Mujica that led us to chapter 10 was carried out by the feeling of "sick" responsibility that Sakiko has, it could be said that she was forced because at no time does she look happy or comfortable. and now we have the last chapter where we see a Sakiko determined to relaunch Ave Mujica and from a point of personal growth (or at least I hope so) and real. As for Mutsumi / Mortis, well, it's quite complicated. I would say that the Mutsumi Chan that we knew and the Mortis that we know have created a new Mutsumi, but anyway, as in chapters 11 and 12 Mutsumi has taken a back seat, so there's no confirmation. I praise the director and screenwriters for their intentions with this story, but creating a psychological drama with dark overtones and giving depth to no less than five characters in just 13 episodes is very complicated. They focused too much on the drama, without delving deeply enough into the characters to understand them, and the drama became more of a fan service than something believable. This is a very personal opinion . Even so, anime has been enjoyable. greetings

@Hormigo
im with you there, i think the script is way too ambitious for 13 episodes, even then they decided to "tie" some of the plot points of MyGo, eating more time from Mujica
the series is enjoyable, but i think its a huge step down from MyGo, but then again, Bandori is known for putting one good season, and a bad one

@Mikarin_Enjoyer yeah, i had somewhat similar feelings too. they put alot of effort in intricate details, with plenty of interesting concepts that people have never seen in bandori before. yet it felt like they bit more than they could chew


Anyway, Bandori is known for putting one good season, and a bad one? i did like season 1, although it wasn't that spectacular, it got lots of soul. season 2 had many "play the game" episodes but overall still pretty nice and a major step up. Both of them heavily emphasized the forging bond between the popipa members and i really like that concept, simple and effective. What do u think?

@Okami_doge
i like S1 too, although i was under the impression most fans didnt like itl, glad to know im not alone in that
and S2 yeah, its basically an all stars season, where the season assumes you know ALL the girls from ALL the bands and know about a lot of scenarios from the game, basically, its not that good for anime onlys, and even then, fans of the game didnt like it too much either because its a mess

S3 is without a doubt good, maybe the best out of the original 3, since its laser focused on RAS

and well, MyGo is the best the franchise has seen

@Mikarin_Enjoyer The first season is considered a huge failure because it was essentially just an adaptation of the first chapters of Poppipa's story and ignored other groups. Even Bushiroad themselves commented on how much effort they had to put into rebooting the franchise and the adaptation.

@rionji
i like how you think, i still personally think the script was bigger than their alloted screen time allowed them, specially throwing CRYCHI and MyGo into the mix, so a lot of things feel "not quite complete" imo
no doubt this will continue in the band stories of both MyGo and AM on the game... but i truly dont wanna start another gacha game lmao


i had hoped we'd see something linking AM to Mugendai since i like them so much, but that would just eat more screen time... so ill accept something like a girl watching one of the livestreams on the train or something as an easter egg

@Mikarin_Enjoyer Honestly, I think it would be a huge mistake to remove Mortis after giving her so much screen time in just a single season. So, following that logic, it's obvious that she'll still be there in Thursday’s episode.

@rionji Mortis had already returned to Mutsumi as part of her original personality in Episode 10. This was essentially the conclusion of the latter's character arc.

@Mikarin_Enjoyer I don't think it was bad or that bad season either. But I literally remember an interview with Kidani where he straight up said that the first season almost killed the franchise because "you can't have a popular media franchise with bad anime".

@RobertBobert yeah, thats what im referring to...
the anime didnt come out exactly when the franchise started (i remember Popipa existing 2 years before the project really started) but the series as a whole wasnt popular enough as a multimedia project until the game came out, may be the oversaturation on the idol market, but it wasnt clicking, the anime doing bad didnt help them either

fans were very happy with the game and music tho, Kidani was right too, a lot of people probably never gave the franchise another chance after the anime


glad it survived, i saw some of the character designs and really liked them since the start, so im glad were not in the timeline where bandori died an early death