BanG Dream!

BanG Dream!, also known as , is a Japanese music media franchise owned by Bushiroad. Created by Bushiroad president Takaaki Kidani in January 2015 with original story by Kō Nakamura, the project began as a manga before expanding to other media. In addition to other manga, "BanG Dream!" includes an anime television series, live concerts, singles and albums, and the mobile rhythm game "BanG Dream! Girls Band Party!" by Craft Egg.
The franchise's premise is based around all-female bands whose members are also voice actresses in the anime and mobile game; , the project has seven groups, four of which are capable of playing their respective characters' instruments. The first band, Poppin'Party, was formed in February 2015, and further groups were introduced in 2017 with the launch of the mobile game: Afterglow, Pastel＊Palettes, Roselia, and Hello, Happy World!. In 2018, a backup band called The Third was renamed Raise A Suilen and joined the series, followed by a seventh unit named Morfonica in 2020. For live performances, Poppin'Party, Roselia, Raise A Suilen, and Morfonica's voice actresses play their own music, while the others are limited to vocals.
The anime, which follows fictional representations of the bands, has three seasons of 13 episodes each. The first season, produced by Issen (OLM with Bushiroad) and Xebec, aired from January to April 2017. Sanzigen took over production duties for the second and third seasons, which were respectively broadcast in winter 2019 and 2020. A movie "BanG Dream! Film Live" was released in 2019, with a sequel planned for 2021; three films focusing on Roselia and Poppin'Party are scheduled for theatrical releases in 2021 and 2022. Spin-off anime series include "BanG Dream! Girls Band Party! ☆ Pico" and its sequel "Pico ~Ohmori~" by Sanzigen with DMM.futureworks and "Pastel Life" by Studio A-Cat.
The series has enjoyed international popularity for its live performances and mobile game, while the anime has seen mixed but improving reviews with later seasons. In 2018, the franchise expanded to include a male-based counterpart "Argonavis from BanG Dream!"
Plot.
"BanG Dream!" follows Kasumi Toyama, a happy-go-lucky girl and a new student at Hanasakigawa Girls' High School. During her first weeks at the school, she tries out for numerous clubs in an effort to rediscover the "Star Beat", a "sparkling, heart-pounding" feeling she experienced while looking up at the stars in the night sky as a child.
One day, while returning from school, she spots a trail of star stickers that lead her to a pawnshop owned by her classmate Arisa Ichigaya. In the storage area, she finds a star-shaped guitar with glittery stickers on it and quickly becomes attached to it. The two later visit a local live house, SPACE, where Kasumi decides to create a band upon watching a performance by a group named Glitter*Green. She then recruits Arisa and three of their classmates – Sāya Yamabuki, Tae Hanazono, and Rimi Ushigome – to join her, though they are reluctant for personal reasons. Despite their initial misgivings, the five overcome many hurdles and ultimately agree to form the band "Poppin'Party". With her bandmates, Kasumi finds the excitement that she had been looking for.
During their first year of high school, Poppin'Party meets and befriends four all-girl bands at Hanasakigawa and nearby Haneoka Girls' High School, each of whom has their own stories: Afterglow consists of five childhood friends who maintain their friendship through music; Pastel＊Palettes is an idol group who are capable of playing their own instruments; Roselia strives to become the perfect band; and Hello, Happy World! is an eccentric band that seeks to spread happiness.
History.
Early history (2015–2016).
The premise for "BanG Dream!" was conceptualized in March 2014 by Bushiroad president Takaaki Kidani, who wanted to lead a music project after seeing the success of "Love Live! School Idol Festival", a mobile game published by his company. When a staff member attended "The Idolmaster Masters of Idol World!! 2014" concert at Saitama Super Arena, they took interest in guitarist Aimi and proposed having her in an all-female band. Figuring that such a concept would best be viable as a media franchise, Kidani concluded his new project's best method to gain success would be to have voice actresses who could play their own instruments. To differentiate it from similar music works, Kidani has stressed that "BanG Dream!" is not an idol franchise but a "girl band" series.
Kidani approached novelist Kō Nakamura to create the characters and story, and he partnered with Aya Ishida for the franchise's first work "BanG_Dream! Star Beat"; the manga started serialization in the "Monthly Bushiroad" magazine in January 2015. According to an August 24, 2016 post on Nakamura's Livedoor blog, the name "BanG Dream!" stemmed from the idea of "shooting" toward one's dreams. "Star Beat", which was also adapted into a light novel by Nakamura, contained differences in character personalities and world setting that were changed with later developments in the franchise. Nakamura would also write song lyrics for Poppin'Party and is credited as the franchise's original story creator; certain aspects of the plot were inspired by his high school life such as the desire and efforts to form a band, the guitarist finding the instrument in a pawnshop, and band meetings being held in a warehouse. To produce music, Kidani enlisted Noriyasu Agematsu of Elements Garden, who was skeptical of the franchise's concept due to the difficulties in balancing voice acting with practicing musical instruments but subsequently signed on to the project. Prior musical experience was not a prerequisite for voice actresses as their primary responsibility was to portray characters for in-universe media, though they remained committed to playing their instruments, a mindset that Kidani felt grew the series' charm with fans; in 2019, he noted that some cast members practiced for ten hours daily.
At her ~Love Generation~ concert on February 28, 2015, Aimi announced she had aligned with "BanG Dream!", which included creating a band and serving as its guitarist and vocalist. Rimi Nishimoto and Ayasa Itō joined the band in April, and the three hosted the franchise's first live concert on April 18. In June, Aimi performed a solo concert at CharaExpo 2015 in Singapore, the franchise's first performance outside of Japan. The group was officially named Poppin'Party during the month, and Sae Ōtsuka and Ayaka Ōhashi completed the band lineup later in the year. In addition to live performances, the five would voice their own characters in other media such as an anime series and animated music videos; the character designs were also loosely modeled after their voice actresses to better reflect their ability to sing and perform.
Poppin'Party's debut single "Yes! BanG_Dream!" was released on February 24, 2016. A music video for the song was produced by Issen, a joint venture formed between Bushiroad and OLM, Inc. in 2015 that was also tasked with developing the anime. To lead the animation, Nakamura served as writer while Agematsu and Pixiv artist Hitowa managed music production and character design, respectively. Poppin'Party conducted the franchise's first in-character live on April 24; the group's early performances were inspired by fellow all-female group Silent Siren, and the two bands would later collaborate for the Battle of the Bands-style "No Girl No Cry" concert at MetLife Dome in May 2019. Poppin'Party's third single "On Your New Journey / Tear Drops" ranked tenth on the Oricon Weekly Singles Chart in December, marking the first time an anime music group appeared in an Oricon chart's top ten prior to their show beginning broadcast.
Launch of anime and game (2017–2019).
In 2017, "BanG Dream!" expanded to include the anime and the mobile game "BanG Dream! Girls Band Party!". Prior to the latter's release, the franchise struggled to attract further fan support; in the spring, media attention was drawn to an official "dōjinshi" (self-published works like manga) event that saw only nine registered circles (a group of artists creating a certain work) despite organizing for 400 available circles. A lukewarm reception to the anime prompted Kidani to refocus his scope on the game; by its launch on March 16, "GBP" had attracted over 560,000 pre-registered players. Kidani attributed its eventual success to the collaboration with Craft Egg and Elements Garden and the inclusion of cover versions of popular songs. Four more bands—Afterglow, Pastel＊Palettes, Roselia, and Hello, Happy World!—were introduced with the game's arrival.
Roselia, who first appeared at Tokyo Game Show 2016, released its first single "Black Shout" on April 19, 2017. The group then enjoyed success in May 2018 when its debut album "Anfang", which contained the band's first five singles, was first on the Oricon Weekly Digital and iTunes album charts; the album also sold 25,000 copies in the first week of release, the second-most on the Oricon Weekly Albums Chart. The band went through two member changes in 2018, with Yuki Nakashima replacing the retiring Yurika Endō as bassist Lisa Imai in May and Kanon Shizaki taking over for Satomi Akesaka, who left the project in September due to sensorineural hearing loss, as keyboardist Rinko Shirokane in November. In March 2020, Roselia won the 14th Seiyu Awards' Singing Award.
The vocalists for Afterglow (Ayane Sakura), Pastel＊Palettes (Ami Maeshima), and Hello, Happy World! (Miku Itō) were revealed during a presentation at Sunshine City, Tokyo on December 7, 2016. Afterglow's remaining cast members confirmed their involvement later in the month, while the voice actresses for the other bands were announced in a promotional event at EX Theater Roppongi on February 24, 2017. The three bands released their debut singles in 2017: Pastel＊Palettes' "Shuwarin☆Dreaming" (released July 12) ranked the highest on Oricon's weekly charts in fourth, followed by Hello, Happy World!'s "Orchestra of Smiles!" (August 2) and Afterglow's "That Is How I Roll!" (September 6) in ninth and 18th, respectively.
On January 13–14, 2018, the five bands participated in the Garupa Live and Garupa Party! at Tokyo Big Sight, which included activities to promote "Girls Band Party!" and performances. The Third (Beta), a backup band that provided instrumentals for Afterglow, Pastel＊Palettes, and Hello, Happy World! at the event as their voice actresses were not musicians, eventually became a standalone unit; the tentative name was a reference to being the third live-action band in the franchise after Poppin'Party and Roselia. The group's first live took place in March, and it was officially renamed Raise A Suilen (stylized as RAISE A SUILEN) in July.
"BanG Dream!" saw its first dual-single release day on February 21, 2018 with Poppin'Party and Roselia releasing their ninth ("CiRCLING") and fifth singles ("Opera of the wasteland"), respectively. A triple release took place on December 12 with Poppin'Party's "Kizuna Music♪", Roselia's "Brave Jewel", and Raise A Suilen's "R・I・O・T"; the three singles recorded top-ten Oricon Weekly Chart placements.
Poppin'Party's first album "Poppin'on!" came out January 30, 2019; consisting of the group's first 11 singles, it peaked at fourth on Oricon's album chart. On February 20, the franchise simultaneously released six singles, one from each band at the time; the tracks placed in the top ten on Oricon's daily chart for February 19, with Roselia's "Safe and Sound" being the highest in third.
Expansion (2020–present).
In January 2020, Poppin'Party's "Initial / Straight Through Our Dreams!", whose tracks serve as the theme music to the anime's third season, became "BanG Dream!" first single to top Oricon's Weekly Single Sales Chart after selling 27,000 copies from January 7 to 11. Shortly after the single's release, the franchise surpassed two million total music sales. Five months later, the "BanG Dream! Girls Band Party! Cover Collection Vol. 4" ranked first on Oricon's Weekly Albums Chart with 2,231 first-week sales. Poppin'Party ("Breakthrough!" on June 24), Roselia ("Wahl" on July 15), and Raise A Suilen ("Era" on August 19) also released albums during the summer. "Initial / Straight Through Out Dreams!" (86th), Roselia's "Promise" (87th), and Raise A Suilen's "Drive Us Crazy" (97th) were among "Billboard Japan" best-selling singles in 2020, while "Wahl" (62nd), "Era" (86th), and the fourth (93rd) and third cover collections (94th) were among the year's top albums; "Wahl" and "Era" were also respectively ranked 67th and 94th on "Billboard" Hot Albums of 2020.
A seventh unit called Morfonica was introduced on March 1, 2020 to commemorate "Girls Band Party!" three-year anniversary. Morfonica is the only band in the franchise with a violinist, a distinction that was conceived by Craft Egg to better differentiate it from the others. The group's debut single "Daylight", which was released on May 27, sold over 15,000 copies in its first week and peaked at second on the Oricon Weekly Singles Chart. Morfonica's first live, Cantabile, took place on October 7.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, various franchise-related events since 2020 have been impacted. "Breakthrough!" was intended for a June 3 release before being pushed to June 24. The BanG Dream! Special☆LIVE Girls Band Party! 2020 was originally scheduled to take place on May 3 until it was postponed to June 5–6, 2021, before being delayed again as cases rose in Japan. A stage play focusing on Raise A Suilen titled "We are Raise A Suilen -BanG Dream! The Stage-", which consisted of nine performances at the Tennozu Galaxy Theater from July 15 to 19, was streamed online with unused tickets being refunded. The BanG Dream! 8th☆Live Summer Outdoors 3DAYS, held August 21–23, admitted only a quarter of the venue's capacity. On January 9, 2021, the franchise announced Shizaki had tested positive for COVID-19, forcing her to miss the project's Raukure! and Asuhamo events at Tokyo Dome City Hall two days later.
Poppin'Party's 16th single "Photograph", which was released in January 2021, became the band's second single to rank first on the Oricon Weekly Chart.
Media.
Live concerts.
The voice actresses of Poppin'Party, Roselia, Raise A Suilen, and Morfonica play their respective characters' instruments during live concerts, while the other groups are limited to providing vocals. In a 2019 interview with "Billboard Japan", Roselia's Haruka Kudō and Megu Sakuragawa described this distinction of being a "voice actor's band" as helping the franchise gain popularity among those unfamiliar with the game and anime, while the anime's second- and third-season director Kōdai Kakimoto explained in 2020 that his staff implements events from the live-action concerts into the show to "portray the connection between real life and anime." For example, the third season's final episode features references to the BanG Dream! 7th☆Live as both take place at the Nippon Budokan. The first season under Issen also incorporated elements of the performances into the plot, such as Kasumi losing her voice in one episode being based on the same occurring to Aimi during the franchise's first show. 
The first "BanG_Dream!" concert, titled I Started a Band in Spring! and held at Shimokitazawa Garden, took place on April 18, 2015 with Aimi, Nishimoto, and Itō; the three played mainly cover songs with the exception of the original song "Yes! BanG_Dream!". In 2016, the BanG Dream! First☆Live Sprin'Party 2016! on April 24 marked the first performance since the franchise's rebranding to "BanG Dream!". The shows' increasing popularity was marked by the Second☆Live Starrin'Party 2016! selling out much of its tickets shortly after opening sales, while the 4th☆Live Miracle Party 2017! at the Budokan sold out its 11,000 tickets prior to general sale; Live Viewing Japan simulcasted the performance in 41 Japanese theaters, with showings also taking place in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Delayed screenings would also be provided for later lives; for instance, the BanG Dream! 5th☆Live in 2018 was shown in select North American and Australian theaters by Azoland Pictures and Madman Entertainment, respectively.
In December 2020, the franchise began streaming "Sound Only Lives", online concerts with exclusively song audio and interactions between the voice cast, on its YouTube channel. The first, Afterglow's As ever, took place on December 19 and 20, followed by Pastel＊Palettes' Flowerful＊ on February 27 and 28, 2021. Hello, Happy World!'s Sound Only Live, titled Welcome to OUR MUSIC ♪, is scheduled for May 15–16.
Print.
"BanG_Dream! Star Beat" by Ishida and Nakamura debuted in "Monthly Bushiroad" on January 8, 2015. Featuring numerous differences in character traits from the current series, the manga consisted of twelve chapters and ran from the magazine's February 2015 to January 2016 issues. A light novel by Nakamura and illustrated by Hitowa, which follows "Star Beat" story, was published on August 25, 2016 by ASCII Media Works under their Dengeki Bunko imprint.
A second manga series, "BanG Dream!" by Mami Kashiwabara and Nakamura, was serialized in "Monthly Bushiroad" from April 2016 to February 2019. Shogakukan Asia acquired the rights to translate the manga into English in February 2017; although the company first released the manga in Southeast Asia, its license was not exclusive to the region. 2016 and 2017 saw the release of two four-panel manga with Hakuto Shiroi's "Yonkoma: Bandori!", which debuted in ASCII Media Works' "seinen" manga magazine "Dengeki G's Comic" and concluded in 2017, and the surrealist "Banban Doridori" by Nyaromeron in Sogakukan's "Coro Coro Aniki".
In 2017, the first non-Poppin'Party-centric manga, "BanG Dream! Girls Band Party! Roselia Stage", was written by Pepako Dokuta and circulated in Overlap's magazine "Gardo Comics" from February to September. On March 2, 2020, Tokyopop announced it had licensed the series for North American release. Raise A Suilen also received a series, titled "RAiSe! The story of my music", by Nakamura and art by Ryū Shihara; "RAiSe!" began in 2019 in "Monthly Bushiroad".
An anthology series manga of the chibi anime spin-off "BanG Dream! Girls Band Party! ☆ Pico" was published by Bushiroad and released by Kadokawa Corporation on March 14, 2019. Officially titled "BanG Dream! Garupa ☆ Pico Comic Anthology", the book is a compilation work from 17 artists.
Anime.
, the franchise's anime television adaptation consists of three seasons. Sentai Filmworks licenses the series for digital and home release in regions like North America, Oceania, and Europe; the company also simulcast the second and third seasons on its HIDIVE platform. In Southeast Asia and South Asia, Muse Communication holds the show's rights.
The first season, which was animated by Issen and Xebec and directed by Atsushi Ōtsuki, aired from January 21 to April 22, 2017 on Tokyo MX. The 13-episode series follows Poppin'Party's creation and the band performs the show's opening and ending theme music "Tokimeki Experience!" and "Sparkling Dreaming ~Sing Girls~". The anime was streamed on the Anime Network and by Crunchyroll, and was later released across seven Blu-ray and DVD volumes. An original video animation episode received advanced screenings before being available on the seventh BD/DVD volume released on November 22.
Sanzigen replaced Issen and Xebec for the second and third seasons, which saw a shift to primarily computer-generated animation; in comparison, the first season only used CGI during performances to better show the nuances in playing instruments. Although CGI was the focal animation type under Sanzigen, certain aspects like various props were still drawn by hand, and motion-capture acting was utilized for performances. "BanG Dream!" was the first non-science fiction production by Sanzigen, who prepared for the anime by creating a music video for the Roselia song "Neo-Aspect". Kōdai Kakimoto took over as director while staff members like composition and script writer Yuniko Ayana continued their roles.
Airing from January 3 to March 28, 2019 and simulcast on Crunchyroll and HIDIVE, "BanG Dream! 2nd Season" increases its scope to include Afterglow, Pastel＊Palettes, Roselia, Hello, Happy World!, and Raise A Suilen. Unlike its predecessor, the season features a larger emphasis on concerts, which Sanzigen reflected by titling each episode after songs (the first season used "fun and cute" titles that followed a subject and verb sentence structure). It had two opening themes with "Kizuna Music♪" by Poppin'Party and "Brave Jewel" by Roselia, and two ending songs in Poppin'Party's "Jumpin'" and Roselia's "Safe and Sound". An English dub of the season was released on Blu-ray and began streaming on HIDIVE on April 21, 2020; the dub was directed by John Swasey and licensed by Sentai.
The third season was originally scheduled for October 2019 before being delayed to January 2020. It details Poppin'Party's participation in the BanG Dream! Girls Band Challenge and the growth of Raise A Suilen; the premise of a competition had been entertained by the animation staff prior to beginning production on the second season. With more focus on the bands' individual development, the season's episode titles were taken from lines stated by the characters in the episodes. "BanG Dream! 3rd Season" aired from January 23 to April 23, 2020, though the first episode came out on January 7 as it was bundled with a limited-edition Blu-ray release for Poppin'Party's "Initial / Straight Through Our Dreams!". The single's tracks are also the season's theme music, with "Initial" as the opening and "Straight Through Our Dreams!" as the ending. Kakimoto and the previous season's staff returned for the new installment. HIDIVE's simulcast began with the January 7 premiere date, while VRV also assumed streaming rights.
Outside of the main series, two chibi spin-offs called "Pastel Life" and "BanG Dream! Girls Band Party! ☆ Pico" aired in May and July 2018, respectively. Studio A-Cat worked on "Pastel Life" with leadership from Tommy Hino, while "Pico" was animated by Sanzigen in conjunction with DMM.futureworks and directed by Seiya Miyajima. A second season of "Pico" titled "BanG Dream! Girls Band Party! ☆ Pico ~Ohmori~" premiered on May 7, 2020.
"BanG Dream! Film Live", a movie animated by Sanzigen and starring the original five bands, premiered on September 13, 2019. The movie was directed by Tomomi Umetsu with script by Nakamura; in addition to the main cast, Kazuyuki Ueda and Elements Garden returned to reprise their roles as character designer and music producer, respectively. After opening in 56 theaters, the film grossed approximately at the box office in its first month. After acquiring its license in August 2020, Sentai conducted limited cinematic screenings of the movie in addition to home release. A sequel, "BanG Dream! Film Live 2nd Stage", adds Morfonica and Raise A Suilen to the cast and will be released on August 20, 2021.
A two-part film series focusing on Roselia called "BanG Dream! Episode of Roselia" (each subtitled "Promise" and "Song I am.") will see a theatrical release in 2021; "Promise" premiered on April 23, while "Song I am" will come out on June 25. Online streaming platform Eventive will carry both movies in the United States. The two movies The following year, a Poppin'Party-centric movie titled "BanG Dream! Poppin'Dream!" will open in theaters.
Mobile game.
"BanG Dream! Girls Band Party!", also known as "Garupa", is a free-to-play mobile rhythm game developed by Craft Egg and published by Bushiroad's Bushimo for the Android and iOS platforms. Revealed at Tokyo Game Show 2016, it was first released in Japan on March 16, 2017. An English-language global version was launched in Singapore on March 29, 2018, followed by a worldwide release on April 4. The game was also released in traditional Chinese in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macao on October 19, 2017, with Mobimon Inc. serving as publisher; mainland China received its own version by bilibili on May 30, 2019. A Korean-language edition was published by Kakao Games on February 6, 2018.
The gameplay consists of tapping notes as they scroll toward the bottom to the rhythm of a selected song. Playable tracks include original pieces from the series and cover versions of popular anime music, the latter of which was inspired by their popularity during the "BanG Dream!" lives. Kidani compared the inclusion of covers to the use of mainstream series in Bushiroad's "Weiß Schwarz" card game as "drops in momentum" are canceled out by "the addition of popular titles." Some covers were spawned by collaborations between the game and other series such as the anime "Is the Order a Rabbit?" and "".
An augmented reality application based on the game titled "Bandori! Garupa AR!" was distributed for a limited period starting January 9, 2018. In 2019, "Girls Band Party!" partnered with SCRAP Co. to organize "Find the Random Star!", an escape room-like game in which participants search for Kasumi's lost guitar by solving riddles located throughout the city. The event ran from December 4, 2019 to February 29, 2020 in Tokyo, Nagoya, and Osaka.
A Nintendo Switch port will be released on September 16, 2021.
"Argonavis".
In May 2018, Bushiroad revealed a male-centric project titled "Argonavis from BanG Dream!" (stylized as "ARGONAVIS"). Despite sharing the "BanG Dream!" name, Kidani emphasized that "Argonavis" takes place in a different world from the main series, meaning there would be no interactions between the characters of both projects. The titular band began performing in December; like their female counterparts, Argonavis plays their own music in addition to portraying characters. Argonavis also overlapped with the main franchise at the BanG Dream! 7th☆Live on February 22, 2019, where they served as the opening act for Raise A Suilen's Genesis concert. Manga artist Hikaru Miyoshi designed the characters and Nobuhiro Mōri wrote the story.
An "Argonavis" anime series produced by Sanzigen debuted on April 10, 2020. The "Argonavis from BanG Dream! AAside" mobile game, a sequel to the anime that adds additional bands, was released on January 14, 2021.
Reception.
"BanG Dream!" has received worldwide acclaim for its live concerts and "Girls Band Party!". In 2017, Jessica Liong of ComicsVerse described the "biggest appeal" of the franchise as being "its live performers. The key, it seems, is to draw people in with anime girls and keep them with the glamor of real-life concerts." After Poppin'Party's debut single "Yes! BanG_Dream!" sold less than 1,500 copies in its first week and their second song "Star Beat! Hoshi no Kodou" had 3,414 in the same time frame, performances such as at Animelo Summer Live 2016 helped boost the initial-week sales of their third single "Hashiri Hajimeta Bakari no Kimi ni / Teardrops" to 11,301. By 2018, the band's singles regularly saw over 10,000–20,000 sales in their opening weeks.
The series has become a financial boon for Bushiroad. In 2018, it averaged over in annual revenue, making it one of the company's top-producing intellectual properties. From August 2017 to July 2018, Bushiroad's "Weiß Schwarz" brand experienced record sales after adding "BanG Dream!" cards to its collection. "Girls Band Party!" grossed () between 2017 and 2018, including in 2017 and in 2018; during the latter year, the game was the 15th-most successful mobile game and the second-most successful rhythm game in Japan in terms of revenue, only behind "". "BanG Dream!" has also collaborated with various entities for promotions like Pacific League baseball, the Lawson convenience store chain, and Seiko watches.
Anime.
The anime has garnered mixed but gradually improving reception over time. Although the first season had lukewarm responses, the second and third have been regarded in a more positive light by reviewers. Chris Beveridge of The Fandom Post, who reviewed the first two seasons, praised the franchise's preparation for the anime's later seasons by producing other media to flesh out the setting rather than hastily creating additional seasons.
The first season was one of the most-discussed shows on Japanese social media during the winter 2017 season. However, it received mediocre reviews with particular criticism aimed at its plot. In a "C–"-grade critique, Anime News Network's Christopher Farris described the story as being "one of the downright emptiest [he had] seen in anime in a long while", citing the lack of true adversity faced by the characters. Opinions on the animation and design were divided, with Farris calling it "a great-looking product overall" while "Otaku USA" writer Brittany Vincent—who noted other music shows like "Love Live!" also use CGI—wrote they "don't look particularly great". Although Vincent praised the show for having "a lot of heart", she added "there are more inspired choices out there" for music anime. Beveridge expressed his pleasure with the cast's realism, though he stressed the viewer's opinion of the characters "will make or break the show." He ultimately described "BanG Dream!" as a "solid and serviceable show that felt like a lot of other girl band shows." In a 2018 interview with "Real Sound", Kidani admitted the unenthusiastic reception from Japanese audiences led him to shift his investment to promoting "Girls Band Party!" before its release.
Among Western reviewers, the second season was generally seen as an improvement story- and animation-wise. In an article for "Polygon", Julia Lee listed the season as one of "six new anime series to watch this winter", praising the emphasis on the new bands and the switch to CGI "without losing much of the artistic style that made the first (season) pop." Farris questioned the inclusion of new characters without much introduction, writing it was a jarring transition for those unfamiliar to "Girls Band Party!". Nevertheless, he commended its emotional impact and increase in musical numbers, grading the season as a "C+" as he felt there were "still a lot of caveats to iron out before it can be called a true success for all but the most devoted." Beveridge praised the season's performances for its fluid animation and "infectious energy" in the songs, and added that although he was not invested in the individual characters, he found it "incredibly easy to be engaged from episode to episode and enjoy the journey."
The third season enjoyed favorable responses from writers like Farris and The Fandom Post's Shawn Hacaga, the former issuing a "B+" grade and the latter—who considers himself a fan of the franchise—writing reviews for each episode. Describing the season as "a generally solid show in its own right," Farris praised the storyline for its concrete emphasis on the three main bands (Poppin'Party, Roselia, and Raise A Suilen) and its success in promoting the franchise's premise that "playing in a band with your friends for fun is the ultimate goal of performing". Hacaga lauded Raise A Suilen's story, prompting him to regard the season as exceeding his expectations in his review of the fourth and fifth episodes, and described the bands' growths throughout the season as "an absolute joy" to watch in his final critique.
Discography.
Eight bands (Poppin'Party, Roselia, Raise A Suilen, Morfonica, Afterglow, Pastel＊Palettes, Hello Happy World, and Glitter*Green) have each released singles and albums, the latter of which include original and cover songs. Glitter*Green's lone single "Don't be afraid!", which was used as an insert song for the anime's first season, was released in collaboration with "Tantei Opera Milky Holmes". Kō Nakamura and Elements Garden's Asuka Oda serve as the franchise's lyricists, with the former writing lyrics for most Poppin'Party songs while the latter does so for the others; Elements Garden's other members such as Noriyasu Agematsu and Junpei Fujita also compose and arrange music for the series.
Various songs from "BanG Dream!" have been used as theme music for other Bushiroad properties. Poppin'Party's "Excellent (Hey, Let's Go!)" and "B.O.F." served as an opening and ending theme for the "Future Card Buddyfight" series, respectively; Aimi and Nishimoto also voiced characters in the show. In 2020, Raise A Suilen performed the opening "Sacred world" for the anime "Assault Lily Bouquet". The following year, RAS' "Exist" and "Embrace of light" were the themes to "". Poppin'Party and Argonavis will perform the theme songs for "Bokutachi no Remake"; Aimi and Argonavis' Masahiro Ito also starred in the show.
The "Cardfight!! Vanguard" series has also made regular use of the franchise's music for theme songs. Its 2018 reboot saw Roselia perform the opening "Legendary" and ending "-Heroic Advent-" (the latter appearing in the ' arc), while RAS was responsible for one of the reboot's endings "Unstoppable" and ' themes with "Invincible Fighter" and "Takin' My Heart". In 2021, "Cardfight!! Vanguard overDress" featured Roselia's "ZEAL of proud" and Argonavis' "Y" as its opening and ending, respectively. The 2018 "Cardfight!!" spin-off "" had the Pastel＊Palettes song "Wonderland Girl" as its opening.