Hello folks, and welcome the heck back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m happy to announce we’re returning to the stage of nightmare and delirium that is Ave Mujica, as our heroines attempt to exorcise their demons and find a place where they belong through their collective surrender to visual kei theatrical music experience. Surprisingly, as of eleven episodes in, this doesn’t seem to have worked; practically every member of the group is actually in a worse place than they started, whether professionally, psychologically, or a healthy combo of the two.
Our last to reveal her particular blend of self-hatred, obsession, and dissociation was Uika, born Hatsune Misumi, the daughter of Sakiko’s grandfather and unacknowledged black sheep of the Togawa group. Forced to grow up like a princess constrained in a faraway tower, Natsume developed a fascination with the darling heir Sakiko that saw her claiming the identity of her little sister Uika, a version of herself that she could allow to betray her father’s directives, and actually become friends with the golden child.
Between her own forlorn existence and Sakiko’s seemingly irresistible aura, Uika’s curiosity soon turned to obsession; and when Sakiko’s life collapsed in the wake of Uika meeting with her father, she was swift to break Sakiko’s fall, her love for her double only matched by her hatred of herself. Now we’ve got Uika in Togawa Jail, Sakiko being shipped off to Switzerland, and our three other foundlings left in a practice room with no AC or music on. Let’s see if Sakiko manages to single-handedly end Swiss neutrality as we return to Ave Mujica!
Episode 12
Our episode title is “Fluctuat nec mergitur,” or “she is tossed by the waves, but does not sink.” An appropriate title for our concluding act, reflecting equally well on each of our storm-wracked heroines
We open with a plane taking off, implying Sakiko is already on her way to terrorize Switzerland
Nope, it was a fakeout, she’s actually just arriving at the airport. The Swiss are safe for now
“So I’m to leave with nothing but the clothes on my back?” “That was what the master instructed. If you have any requests, I’ll be available later.” An exchange that sums up Sakiko’s position as a privileged doll, handled carefully but offered no agency
“What an anticlimactic ending.” All of our heroines are perpetually editorializing, comparing their lives to how they imagined them, seeing themselves as protagonists of poorly written tragedies. Compared to MyGO, the girls of Ave Mujica are far more concerned with “perfection” – they aren’t just seeking community or happiness, they need this community, this happiness
“No matter how hard I fight, everything gets swept away by the raging current.” An apt description of her life, perpetually tossed this way and that by forces beyond her control, as well as an echo of the episode title
Sakiko declares she’s not getting on board, turns to flee, and swiftly faceplants. Yeah, that’s pretty much how her personal endeavors have universally turned out
She thinks back to Uika’s crestfallen look when her father ordered her to go home. A perfectly Ave Mujica turn, that she would only start to consider Uika’s feelings now, after they’ve been ripped apart. How Uika has longed for this sort of consideration!
And then we open with the ED, still frames detailing the masks each of our heroines have hid behind – Sakiko’s mother’s doll (the austere example she wishes to embody), Mutsumi’s plush one (the soft kindness she desires in her life), Nyamu’s makeup and cameras (the vision of perfection that brings the love of all), Umiri’s carelessly stashed makeup and jewelry (the hole where she hides her loneliness), and Uika’s stage mask (the magic that makes Hatsune into Uika on-stage)
We next see Sakiko on a ferry, headed to that destined island. Seems we’ve got a “bringing the band back together” process to get through, beginning with the captive princess Uika
To complete this pilgrimage, Sakiko must abandon her perfection, her position hanging above the fray. Thus the camera focuses on her skinned knees and blistered feet, the flesh-and-blood indications that she is no longer a doll, she is her own person
She finds Uika at last, who runs from that name, but stops at Sakiko’s hesitant “Hatsune.” Though Nyamu forcefully removed their on-stage masks in the first episode, it is only now that they are ready to shed their personal masks
“You are Hatsune-san, then. Is ‘Uika’ your alias?” A tricky question to answer
Classic tricks of blocking divide them through this composition; the two are framed at maximum possible distance from each other across this room, a separation further emphasized through the vertical lines of the fireplace and support beam dividing them
“I was scared everyday.” “Is it because I asked you to join?” “No, I was happy. Even if it was in the place of someone else.” Ah, so much gratifying honesty! See, this is what happens when a group doesn’t have Anon there to sit her bandmates down and force them to talk it out, we end up going a whole season without Hatsune admitting to her feelings of detachment in her own life, or her certainty that she is just a surrogate for Uika, Tomori, or whoever else Sakiko truly desires
“Everyone has a secret or two. Even if you don’t share everything, it doesn’t mean you’re betraying them.” A key realization from Sakiko; these girls may well be too anxious and self-doubting to ever reveal all their secrets, but that doesn’t mean they can’t genuinely care for each other in spite of that
But there’s one secret Hatsune is not willing to hide – her assumed culpability in Sakiko’s father’s demise
Instead of heading to the last ferry, Sakiko treks up the hillside, to the clearing where she and Uika once stared at the stars together
“You’ll get dirty!” Uika is so protective of Sakiko’s perfection, but Sakiko has at this point “already stumbled” in both a literal and metaphorical sense. She may no longer be seeking perfection, and thus finally able to seek happiness
“It all belongs to Uika. Not me.” Meanwhile, Hatsune is still maintaining a separation between the rightfully condemned black sheep and the girl who gets to laugh lightly, go on adventures, and seek her own happiness. Hatsune could never allow herself happiness, but Uika was freer to pursue her dreams
“I think I can keep going because of these memories.” “All you think about is yourself.” Thank you, Sakiko. It’s true – Hatsune is entirely wrapped up in her own self-pity, at this point basically in love with her suffering
Thus Sakiko forcefully drags Hatsune back to Tokyo, saying “you can just blame me for dragging you along.” Sakiko is tired of being tethered down by things she can’t control – if she’s going to get blamed anyway, she might as well do what she wants
“Shall we pretend it never happened?” “What do you mean?” “The misfortune and regret that surround you and me.”
“Who’s not forgiving you?” Finally sick of Hatsune’s incessant self-hatred, Sakiko screams her frustrations off the edge of the ship. She can’t use Sakiko’s pain as an excuse not to forgive herself and pursue happiness! Sakiko’s already forgiven you, so just live already!
It’s frankly a pretty weak turning point for Hatsune, but Hatsune has proven herself this group’s weakest character in general, so it’s not terribly surprising. Ave Mujica attempted to juggle perhaps one too many melodramas, and leaving Hatsune’s story to be a third-act twist means she just never got the time to develop as a character
On the bus to Tokyo, Hatsune reads a message from her father, demanding she return Sakiko immediately. Time to be brave, Hatsune – not to simply imagine a fantasy life for Uika, but to claim a happier future for yourself
They at last confront Sakiko’s grandfather at the Tokyo estate
“You don’t understand the terrifying power of the Togawa group-” “You’re the one who’s afraid!” Having her grandfather repeat this exact line with this exact framing just sorta turns the whole concept into comedy. Must we all fear the wrath of the Togawa group falling on… an heiress who wants to perform in a theatrical music group? Sure, when it looked like the group was destroying everyone’s brains, that was one thing, but the base concept doesn’t seem that threatening or worthy of censure
“I won’t be obedient to you anymore,” Sakiko states, clutching Tomori’s notebook, finally brave enough to declare her feelings as directly as her old friend
And afterwards, Hatsune actually smiles looking at the notebook, no longer feeling jealous of Tomori’s place in Sakiko’s life. I like how their relative feelings about bugs serve to define Hatsune and Tomori as two essential poles in Sakiko’s life – what she loved and can salvage from the past, and what is guiding her towards the future
“This world is full of things that can’t be helped, and there’s nothing certain, nothing unshakeable. Are you scared?” “Not as long as Saki-chan is with me.” It is up to them to decide whether uncertainty is frightening, or whether to be overwhelmed by what they cannot change
A gentle epilogue sees bridges being rebuilt, bonds being mended. A nice contrast, these quiet moments of reconciliation that seem so minor, so incidental, yet actually achieve the work of making and bolstering bonds that Ave Mujica’s music made sound so painful, so impossible. Love isn’t spilling your blood on a stage in agony, it’s remembering your friend’s favorite coffee flavor
Sakiko’s long-awaited letter to Tomori binds these various revelations, while also tying our conclusion back to the beginning of MyGO
“I may not be able to do it like you, but I will protect my band in my own way.” No longer lamenting a treasured past, but working to preserve a treasured present
“Go ahead, Amoris.” “Ain’t no way I’m gonna lose to you!” Mutsumi now confident enough to actively play her role against Nyamu, and Nyamu now confident enough to see Mutsumi as a rival, not an unreachable idol
For their next meeting at RiNG, Sakiko actually wears her current school uniform, no longer hiding her current life
“There is no need to meekly accept fate. There is no such thing as God. So… I will become God myself.” There’s the Sakiko we know and love
And Done
Thus our quintet rises in rebellion, as Sakiko wields her Togawa power without fear of what her grandfather might think! I hadn’t expected “Sakiko declares her will to become God” from this episode, but you know what, that’s precisely the sort of melodramatic deliciousness I love from her, all the more satisfying now that she’s acting out of genuine passion, rather than as a self-scouring lament for what could have been. Things are in general ending more tidily and abruptly than the scale of Ave Mujica’s drama would presumably have warranted, but that’s sort of a natural consequence of this show always swinging for the bleachers, always thinking what would be the most dramatic way a situation could turn, without necessarily much forethought as to how that drama might later be resolved. Through this, it has proven itself far less structurally cohesive or psychologically insightful than MyGO, meaning it also can’t earn those big emotional payoffs – but all in all, it’s nonetheless been a highly entertaining ride, full of juicy curveballs and profoundly endearing disaster girls. Onward to the final performance!
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