Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today the curtain rises on the final performance of Ave Mujica, a band defined by mental illnesses so powerful they may well topple the titanic Togawa Group. After twelve episodes of wailing and collapsing and scratching at each other with passionate, loving fury, our girls have more or less coalesced, reuniting via an admittedly abridged resolution of Uika and Sakiko’s drama. Now the group stands united, ready to entrance all of Japan with the nightmare visions of their extremely chuuni rock band.
It has admittedly been a rougher ride to get here than for MyGO. Alright, I won’t sugarcoat it: Ave Mujica has been kind of a mess, more interested in audacious spectacle than human inquiry, and its characters have resultantly failed to rise beyond melodramatic caricatures. But given the contrast between MyGO’s confessional slam poetry and Ave Mujica’s ornate theater, I can’t say it’s terribly surprising the show has embraced such tonal excess off-stage as well.
I certainly wish characters like Uika and Umiri were handled better, but I can also more fundamentally admit that Ave Mujica is simply less my sort of thing that MyGO; I like stories about people, and Ave Mujica is more about a grandiose, indulgently self-destructive vibe than offering convincing character studies. Nonetheless, it’s been an entertaining and often shocking ride here, and I do love Nyamu dearly, largely sharing her “so this is how rich girls entertain themselves” view of her bandmates. With the chandeliers lit and blood generously pooling, let’s enjoy one last moonlit sacrament!
Episode 13
“Per asprera ad astra.” I’ll assume that’s a typo for “aspera,” which makes our final episode title “Through Hardships, to the Stars.” Hard to say the cast has entirely earned this victory, but they’re a fun crew, and I’m happy they’re doing better
We begin with the band back in their concert finery, ready for the reunion tour. I always forget how much taller Nyamu is than the rest of these shorties; Sakiko in particular being so short for someone with such an imposing presence is always a good gag
Match cuts of Sakiko and Anon’s hands lead us over to MyGO, who are apparently sharing this concert with them. Tragic that Anon doesn’t realize she’s being used for this match cut, I’m sure she’d appreciate the flattery of being framed as this group’s Sakiko
Anon demands they do a group huddle, which Taki then says should be led by Tomori. A neat encapsulation of their mutual essentiality within the dynamic – Anon’s the one who actually does the work to pull them together, but Tomori is the final binding
Really, after a season with Ave Mujica, it’s now all the clearer how crucial Anon is, how her demands for sincerity and group rituals draw the group together in spite of their hesitant individual natures
And yet they still all proceed at their own pace, as this hilarious staggered delivery of the “My… GO!” demonstrates
“Let us pluck the flower of today, and drown in tonight’s fleeting joy.” Meanwhile, Sakiko offers her own extremely Sakiko version of an inspirational speech
Love how closely Nyamu pays attention to Mutsumi/Mortis’ mannerisms, noting the lack of hesitancy in her excitement over the coming performance
That consideration is then contrasted with the other group’s cat, as Raana calls for her bandmates to get quiet when she sees Tomori getting into her performance headspace. Both group’s cats share the extremely cat-like combo of being highly observant, but mostly indifferent to the things they’re observing
And we open with a fresh MyGO song. Raana’s delight at running down this staggered melody is contagious; the song feels light in general, more upbeat and hopeful than the MyGO standard
“Even if we get hurt, I want to stay here just as I am.” A song that acknowledges things are never perfect, but nonetheless cherishes its present circumstances. A declaration of her contentment as a member of MyGO
Also love how both the melody and the guitar playing match Anon and Raana’s abilities and personalities. Anon delights in the big windmill strums, but for the most part just plays simple chords, while Raana is frequently dancing around while playing a borderline math-rock counterpoint to the main melody, amusing herself with the contrasting complexity of her part
Tomori also seems more confident as a singer than before, doing a better job of belting out the lower tones rather than constantly sing-speaking in her anxious head voice. She’s actually reveling in the performance, rather than simply acting as the conduit for feelings too painful to remain inside her
Oh dang, Anon’s gotten better! She actually holds her own in this faceoff with Raana; mostly just fingerpicking the chords she’s already playing, but nonetheless looking like a reasonable lead guitarist while Raana does her slides
It feels somehow wrong to see MyGO playing to a big crowd of adoring fans; their group is made for a disinterested bar room audience, with perhaps four or five people actually listening (but of course, those four or five will have their life changed as a result)
Extremely Tomori songwriting tic that her vocal part extends an unaccompanied beat beyond the rest of the group, like she still has more to say, but only just then realizes the song has ended
“The gentle ‘ton-ton’ sound before practice.” Tomori’s lyrics could be considered unpolished, but her writing is extremely well-observed; she has a knack for picking up on the incidental details that actually stick in memory, that define our relationships with each other. Many of the greatest lyricists I know work largely in this style, with small, incidental observations peppering the songs of The Weakerthans, Aimee Mann, or The Mountain Goats. I much prefer this poetry of the everyday to Ave Mujica’s weightless grandiosity
“Soyo-chan’s hand was a little colder than before, marking the change in seasons.” Another perfectly observed detail, a theoretically simple statement that carries within it the hope that while time passes, their closeness will remain
We then transition to one of their frantic spoken word songs, as drums thunder and duel guitars wail while Tomori makes a rambling plea for connection. A touch of post-rock in this style, like an anxious dream you can’t wake from
Love this call-and-response pre-chorus, demonstrating how the band has gotten much better at integrating Tomori’s spoken word sequences into larger song structures
I suppose one obvious reason I prefer MyGO to Ave Mujica is that I find MyGO’s songs nostalgic and compelling, while Ave Mujica’s stuff is just not what I seek in music
They even manage to fit in a classic Anon-Taki interaction, as Anon mugs for the crowd while Taki scowls behind her
Raana once again showing off with the shredding and high kicks. I very much relate to her; I tend to vacillate between sleepy inaction and committed passion, generally just sorta zoning out until we’re Doing The Thing
Oh man, they’ve even reached the point where Tomori can let the crowd repeat the chorus as she adds a spoken word counterpoint over them. You’ve made it, girls
We then shift to Ave Mujica’s performance, with the girls play-acting being puppets on strings, as you do
And of course, everything is huge compared to MyGO – the stage design and ornamentation, the venue itself, hell, even the camera movements are more exaggerated and dramatic, like we’ve shifted from handcams held by audience members to drones specifically intended to create this show’s tie-in videos
Amazing that Nyamu can still one-hand her cat claw pose while drumming. She’s an excellent drummer, working in a genre that requires faster playing and far more complex rhythms than Taki’s indie and pop rock
In contrast, their guitar parts are actually pretty simple relative to Raana’s leads; this sort of operatic quasi-metal generally leans on palm-muted power chords to get that “heavy” sound, leaving the difficult stuff for the solos
Dear lord, this venue is huge! They’re in some kind of genuine stadium, with three separate balcony tiers rising above the floor
Second song similarly has a pretty straightforward, power chord-based melody contrasted against a complex drum rhythm. I appreciate how Nyamu’s tremendous off-stage efforts are reflected in these performances; as with in her personal life, she has to work twice as hard to get the same recognition
“A different face that looks just the same,” as Mortis winks from behind Mutsumi-chan’s performance. Glad to see they’re getting along
Excellent active camerawork as well; the swerving shifts in framing feel as essential to the end result as the songs themselves. The girls of Ave Mujica never quite got over “seeking perfection” rather than simply enjoying what they have, and that ambition plays out in the distance between MyGO’s “just put the camera wherever” performances and Ave Mujica’s tightly honed synergy of music and framing
“I won’t reveal my real heart.” Another brief appearance by Mortis, looking extremely smug. Mortis deserves the world, I’m happy she’s doing well
Fun seeing them do a more uptempo, dance-adjacent track like this. The whole group seems be having an excellent time
The cameraman clearly has an Umiri bias, or I suppose more specifically an Umiri’s Butt bias
Once again appreciate the CG smear technology they developed just for Nyamu’s drumsticks
Sakiko also appears to be more confident and happy, actually letting traces of a smile through as she joins in the call and responses with Uika
During their next spoken word interlude, Nyamu demonstrates that she’s hit a more confident level of integrating her usual personality with her Amoris persona. A key lesson poached from Mutsumi – the best performances are the ones you believe in, the ones that hold true to some common humanity you share with your persona
Amoris and Mortis’ performance mirrors their actual relationship – Nyamu casually leading Mutsumi in a dance until Mutsumi flips the script, taking control and leaving Nyamu off-balance. They are an extremely fun couple, as cursed as they are compelling
“Please, make me forget this love that fills me with envy and hate!” Nyamu drawing deep of her real emotions to inform her duet with Mutsumi
Oh shit, they gave Sakiko a sword
“No matter how many times I grant you forgetfulness, you always return to paradise.” Their performance echoes Uika’s journey, her inability to forget Sakiko
As is appropriate for Uika’s love song, the background projects an array of constellations, calling back to that night under the stars with Sakiko
Of course, Anon grabs center position for MyGO’s own final bow
And Done
Whew! So that was Ave Mujica, huh? Well, I can’t say it benefitted from being billed as a sequel to MyGO, as the two are fundamentally very different sorts of stories; MyGO absolutely excelled as a piercing, detail-oriented character study, while Ave Mujica was all about shock and bombast, veering from one revelation to the next with nary a moment to breathe. Nonetheless, I became quite fond of this crew over the course of their preposterous adventures, with Mortis and Nyamu in particular counting among my favorite characters in either cast. Life is messy, our feelings are messy, and a messy show about both is far from a bad thing; Ave Mujica might not have achieved the insight or holism of its predecessor, but it was still a satisfyingly raw expression of passion, stuffed with fun performances and endearingly off-kilter character dynamics. My heart rests with the barroom bands, but I can’t deny the appeal of calling to the moonlight in a fog-drenched stadium. Sometimes feelings are just too big for anything but gothic theater to contain them!
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