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BanG Dream! Favorite List - 13

I was holding off from doing this again because… I actually don't know, so why not write a new list? Anyway, with millsage and Ikka Dumb Rock not only being confirmed but also getting some early-ish info on their members I felt it was a good a time as any to write another list again. Also, with Mugendai Mewtype's anime starting in a couple of months, I'll also be incorporating the Mugendai Mewtype girls on this list. Keep in mind that for these fifteen girls, their ratings and placements on this list should be taken with a bit of a grain of salt as they can change a lot over time (in contrast to the characters who were ranked in the previous list who would be more or less constant on these lists… with some caveats, but we'll get to that).

There will be a handful of changes to this list's format compared to the usual format I do with these lists. Most notably of these is that I liked the format of lowest ranked to highest ranked that I used for the ease-of-writing tier list a few months back, so we can end on a high note instead of ending on the stinkers. Also, spoilers for this list I suppose, but I will be talking about character(s) I rather don't want to talk about elsewhere… for two reasons. The first is that, with the introduction of new bands and BanG Dream! Our Notes right around the corner, I understand that new readers might not fully understand why I hate the character(s) I rather don't want to talk about elsewhere as much as I do. The second reason is that, well… it is only fair to bring up why I dislike those characters as much as I do so it is clear why I don't like talking about them at all.

This list will contain spoilers for the members of Mugendai Mewtype, millsage, and Ikka Dumb Rock. It also contains spoilers for the members of the other bands, I suppose, but those characters have been around for much longer so it should have been obvious that was the case. Also, this list is pretty long (the text behind the keep reading tag is longer than all my oneshots not named Flying Through the Skies Above), so get something nice to drink while you go through the list.

The "Void" Tier

Inspired by something one of the writers who inspired me to write fanfiction did, characters in this tier are characters I dislike so much that I do not want to talk about them if I can help it. I will talk about all characters who fall in this tier group on this list, but don't expect me to write about them going forward. Unfortunately for me, most entries in this tier I know are fan-favorites, and to that I say: this is my list and these characters belong in this tier. But also: Seta Kaoru escaped this tier back in late-2020 so it is possible that any of these girls can be saved, too. Is it likely? Admittedly, no, but in theory…

Misumi "Doloris" Uika (NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, 44, 45, VB)

Would you look at that, Uika is the first on the list! …oh wait, we're doing worst-to-best, so you never want to be first… oh well, sucks to be you, Uika.

There are two main reasons why I dislike Uika as much as I do. The first is the obvious reason that Uika isn't who she claims she is and has stolen the identity of somebody else, in her case that is her younger sister. Now while I know that in other franchises, some characters take on the persona of a dead family member as a means of coping with the grief… Uika… doesn't do that? Her younger sister wasn't (confirmed to be) dead; Uika just ran away from home and used her younger sister's identity to do so. To the point where all sources still refer to this character when they say "Uika", and not the younger sister who is actually Uika. That is the first reason but, ironically enough, it's not the main reason why I dislike this character so much. As a matter of fact, I guess I should update how I refer to this character: I do not dislike Uika as we've barely seen Uika on the screen. I feel sorry for Uika for having this character as a sister. The character I dislike is Hatsune.

The second, and main, reason why I dislike Hatsune as much as I do, is because of her obsession with Sakiko. And, sure, I get that having a character be completely obsessive and possessive of another character appeals to some fans, but… this really rubbed me the wrong way. Hatsune's obsession over Sakiko was at first depicted as a romantic obsession of Sakiko (i.e. Hatsune wanted to have Sakiko for herself and not share her with anyone, also shown in her desire to destroy all of Sakiko's connections that didn't include her, most notably where Hatsune confronted Anon about Sakiko's desire to reform CRYCHIC to try and get Anon's help to stop Sakiko from reforming CRYCHIC and fantasizing about pushing Mutsumi down a flight of stairs to severely hurt or even kill Mutsumi… just for being close to Sakiko and potentially "taking Sakiko away from Hatsune"). This "potential romantic obsession" would go down the drain when it was confirmed that Hatsune was Sakiko's aunt! And while Sakiko didn't know that they had a familial connection to each other, and one of the very few things I can't blame Sakiko for, Hatsune knew all along… Hatsune knew all along and proceeded with it. There really isn't an excuse for that…

What's even worse was the fact that Sakiko confronted Hatsune about it once Hatsune's facade came crumbling down and they not only had a talk about it, but they also… decided to move along and pretend like none of that had happened? Like… hello? Hatsune had willingly and knowingly lied to your face for years and approached you with the goal of keeping you all to yourself despite knowing that you two were related by blood… and you shrug all of that off? We'll get to that a bit when we get to Sakiko, but… come on, Hatsune, you could have been so much better… and instead you're an obsessive aunt who fantasizes about hurting and killing your niece's friends because you want your niece all to yourself. At least your singing voice is… decent, if still a little overwhelmed by your band's instruments… but as a character… not only do I "heavily dislike" you, but I'd go so far as to say that I "despise" you. So bottom of the list you will go. It also doesn't help that because of her obsession with Sakiko, Hatsune is surprisingly difficult to write because she is naturally distant and stand off-ish to all characters not named Sakiko… which wouldn't be a huge issue if Sakiko was at the top of the list, but… we'll get to Sakiko when we get to Sakiko, first I have to talk about my second most despised character of the franchise.

Takamatsu Tomori (NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, 41, 43, VB)

I'm sure that even if you are a new reader/follower of mine you have seen the jokes, and while I get that it is tiring to hear the same joke over and over and over again… at the end of the day, that is my main reason to dislike Tomori as much as I do. Takamatsu Tomori is relatively short but not the shortest of her band, has short hair, is the vocalist of her band, is the girl who writes the lyrics for her band, is a girl who is known to be lost in her thoughts a lot, and is quick to run away from difficult and/or stressful situations. This wouldn't be an issue had it not been for the fact that there are two other girls in this franchise who can be described the exact same way!

Tomori is way too similar to another character (two characters at that) in the franchise who I love infinitely more, so I had hoped that I would at least find Tomori… interesting… because there are definitely other characters in this franchise who heavily resemble other characters in this franchise (the Ikka Dumb Rock girls, for instance, are very obviously heavily inspired by the Afterglow girls… we'll get to the Ikka Dumb Rock girls when we get to them), but I still like both characters. And because Tomori is so similar to two other characters in this franchise, I know that that descriptor for a character can work. Does Tomori work out in my eyes? She's the bottom of this list second only to Hatsune, you tell me.

Tomori is… Tomori shares a ton of similarities with Mashiro and, to a slightly lesser extent, Ran. So not only does Tomori have to directly compete with one girl I really love, she has to compete with two girls I really love… in the same franchise! And, not to spoil where Ran and Mashiro are placed, but Tomori… fails to live up to those expectations in every single way. Which, again, because it worked for Ran and it worked for Mashiro, I had expected it would at least work decently for Tomori, but… here we are…

On top of failing as an inferior Ran and an inferior Mashiro, Tomori existing makes her bandmates, most notably Taki, drop what they are doing and stop being themselves just so they could protect and comfort Tomori. And if this happened like once or twice, okay, fine… but it happened every. single. frigging. time. Tomori kept crying… and running… and crying… and running… and crying while running… like every other scene she was in. And each and every single time she forced everybody around her to stop being themselves so that they could coddle and comfort the crybaby. Like… grow up, Tomori, come on, you're not the youngest of the franchise… heck, you're not even the youngest of your band… Shizuku is infinitely more mature than you and she is two years younger than you. Raana is infinitely more mature than you and she is a year younger than you. You have no excuse to be this much of a crybaby.

It also doesn't help that Tomori is by far the vocalist I like the singing voice of the least in the entire franchise… yes, this includes Roselia because at least Roselia had some good songs in the first year or two of their existence. I've gone on record to say that I like Mayoiuta, MyGO!!!!!'s debut song, more when it was sung by not Tomori in the Parallel Vocal Cover Project, which made me feel like Tomori is a bad choice for MyGO!!!!!'s vocalist. And it's not like Mayoiuta was the only stinker, either, as I've not been a fan of all of MyGO!!!!!'s songs so far at the time of writing this… the only song that MyGO!!!!! performed that I would go so far as to describe as "it's at least decent" is their cover of Teardrops. And that is more an indication of how good and iconic Teardrops is. And BanG Dream has multiple versions of Teardrops (the original Poppin' Party version, the accoustic Kasumi solo version, the Ritsu cover, and the MyGO!!!!! cover) and… it's the fourth best BanG Dream!-related version of Teardrops, I suppose. Fourth best out of four. So… yeah…

Unlike Hatsune, who not only has a decent singing voice but also is at least somewhat unique in this franchise character-wise, I have not one but two characters who are not only similar to Tomori but were done much much better than Tomori. So I dislike Tomori as a character, I dislike Tomori as a vocalist, and I have zero reason to use Tomori in my writing. What hope is there for Tomori? At least she's technically not on the bottom, I suppose? Which should speak volumes how much I despise Hatsune that she is ranked lower than Tomori (although it was pretty close in the end) despite the fact it feels like I complain more about Tomori. Speaking of terribly executed characters in the MyGO!!!!!/Ave Mujica era…

Togawa "Oblivionis" Sakiko (NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, 43, 44, VB)

Three of the biggest characters in the MyGO!!!!!/Ave Mujica era are in the bottom three of the Void… can you tell I am not a fan of the MyGO!!!!!/Ave Mujica era yet and that I feared it was the start of a downward trend for the franchise? Fortunately for the franchise, I don't think so anymore, but… we'll get to that when we get to the members of Mugendai Mewtype, millsage, and Ikka Dumb Rock, I suppose. First, Sakiko. Oh Sakiko, where do I even begin with you?

I think I should start by saying that I recognize and acknowledge that Sakiko had a terrible past and a terrible present which very likely is the cause for who Sakiko is as a character, the actions she takes, and the way that she takes action. However, there is a massive difference between "this explains why this character did this" and "this excuses why this character did this". Spoilers: what happened in Sakiko's past and Sakiko's present perfectly explains why she did the things that she did the way that she did them… but in no way, shape, or form did they excuse why she did the things that she did the way that she did them.

Let's start simple: Sakiko doesn't communicate what she wants or even how she wants what she wants done, but she expects everybody to just read her mind and know exactly what she wants and how she wants what she wants done… and when it doesn't go perfectly the way she wants it to happen (despite, again, not communicating how she wants it to happen so nobody but Sakiko herself knows how she wants it to happen) she throws a hissy fit and a temper tantrum. Does her past, where she learns to never trust anyone, explain why she did this? Yes. Did the writers write her this way to build suspense for the sake of suspense? Also yes. Does this excuse her not communicating and throwing a hissy fit and temper tantrum when things don't go perfectly her way without communicating the details in which she wants things done? Absolutely not. If Sakiko was an elementary kid then maybe it was excusable, but Sakiko is canonically in Senior High School!

It also doesn't help that so much of the MyGO!!!!! and Ave Mujica season 1 can be perfectly described as "this happened because Sakiko (didn't) want this". Why was CRYCHIC formed? Because Sakiko wanted to form CRYCHIC and dragged others into becoming part of CRYCHIC, some more forcefully than others. Why was CRYCHIC disbanded despite most members wanting to maintain CRYCHIC? Because Sakiko wanted to disband CRYCHIC. Why was Ave Mujica formed? Because Sakiko wanted to form Ave Mujica and dragged others into becoming part of Ave Mujica, some more forcefully than others. Why was Ave Mujica disbanded? Because Sakiko wanted it to. And, again, I get that it is good to have suspense and drama in a story, but… come on, Sakiko, you can be better than be a tyrant who rules over your subjects with an iron fist.

The only positive thing I can say about Sakiko, when compared to Tomori and Hatsune, is that Sakiko is at least interesting bad and not annoying bad like the other two are. To the point where I can at least undestand why someone might say to me that they like Sakiko. Doesn't change the fact that Sakiko is third worst on this list of mine, but… it's a concession.

Minato Yukina (21, 26, 28, 29, 25, 34, VB, VB, VB, VB, VB, VB, VB)

Ironically enough, the character who has been in the Void the longest is also the character who is… likeliest to escape it again. Not necessarily because I like you, but because I don't know how I feel about having this many characters in the Void… Now why do I dislike this character so much? Well… back in the day, Roselia was introduced to us as the professional band that was the picture of perfection and all the other bands had to strive to keep up with them, let alone catch up to them. And, at one point in time, Roselia did perform at that level; I begrudgingly admit that Roselia wasn't just "good", but they did reach that level needed to live up to that title. There was even a time where I, the big Afterglow fan that I am, even considered Roselia to be a better band than Afterglow (at least in terms of the two bands' music at the time). But that time had long since passed; after Imai Lisa and Shirokane Rinko lost their original VAs, the quality of Roselia songs dropped significantly. And while "enjoyment" of something is very subjective, this list is very subjective, so… while it wasn't necessarily Roselia's fault because losing like half your members in a matter of months was very unfortunate… the fact of the matter is that I haven't enjoyed a Roselia song since PASSIONATE ANTHEM which, for reference, was released back in 2018 (it was the last Roselia song where Akesaka Satomi still voiced Shirokane Rinko… we'll get to Rinko on this list, oh don't you worry…).

And while Yukina definitely takes the biggest hit on this list for Roselia's fault… Roselia is pretty much tied to Yukina more so than any of the other members so it is justified. Also, Yukina was not only hypocritical in the anime calling out CHU2 for not discussing plans with her bandmates only to announce a live show without discussing it with her bandmates (Lisa was right next to Yukina at that time, too, and Yukina completely ignored Lisa before making that announcement and forcing all of her bandmates to adjust their schedules on a whim for Yukina's sake)… but Yukina also ruled over Roselia with an iron fist forcing Sayo to push herself beyond her breaking point… and instead of Yukina using this as a wake-up call to change her behavior, Sayo felt forced to apologize to Yukina for… not living up to the vocalist's expectations? Definitely rubbed me the wrong way. The only thing I can say positively about Yukina is that she has strong ties to Afterglow, but… nowadays, there are so many characters who have strong ties to Afterglow from Eve and Fusuke to Taki and Saaya… it's not much of a strong point anymore like it was a decade ago, so it doesn't really help Yucky Nya maintain relevance… she's maintaining relevance because I despise her, but that's probably not a good reason to maintain relevance if you ask me.

The "Dislikes" Tier

Pretty self-explanatory: I dislike these characters. Not enough to be classified in the "Void" tier, however.

Shirokane Rinko (7, 6, 6, 5, 5, 6, 6, 8, 10, 17, 40, 42, 57)

Keep in mind for Rinko, and everyone else remaining on the list, that the increase in number is slightly misleading: we've gotten 15 new girls on this list, so of course the numbers can move a lot. But anyways, on to Rinko, and… where do I even begin with Rinko? As you can see from the numbers, even ignoring new bands being introduced, she's been all over the place (and in near free fall since the last couple of lists). There are two main reasons for that.

The first reason is the elephant in the room: the VA shift. Now, I will preface this by saying that I wasn't a huge fan of Akesaka Satomi prior to Bandori, not so much because I didn't like her but because I wasn't too familiar with her (the only roles I know of her prior to Bandori were Katekyo Hitman Reborn's Chrome, Akame ga Kill's Esdeath, and Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V's Ayukawa Ayu; I didn't get into KHR enough to learn more about Chrome, I wasn't a huge fan of AgK, and Ayu is a minor supporting character at best). However, in my opinion, Akesaka Satomi was perfect for Shirokane Rinko and she really brought Rinko to life. Then she had to leave the franchise for health reasons and we got Shizaki Kanon to replace Akesaka Satomi as Rinko's VA. And while I know I shouldn't complain too much about Shizaki Kanon here, I will say the obvious and say that while I don't think Shizaki Kanon is a "bad" VA or a "bad" singer… I do think that she wasn't the best choice for Akesaka Satomi's replacement for Shirokane Rinko specifically. That has to do with the fact that my enjoyment of Roselia started to drop after Akesaka Satomi left. Shizaki Kanon is a good singer, but she always sings Rinko's lines as Shizaki Kanon, and not as Shirokane Rinko… and when you're a professional VA the least I expect of you is to perform as your character and not as yourself. That is also ignoring the obvious fact that Rinko's voice changed significantly between Akesaka Satomi and Shizaki Kanon. And regardless of how I feel about the voices, such a drastic change is naturally going to ruffle some feathers here and there.

The second reason is another elephant in the room: my ex. My ex's favorite character in the franchise was Shirokane Rinko. Part of the reason why I ended up liking Rinko was because my partner-at-the-time loved Rinko and part of the reason I wrote so much Rinko was because of my partner-at-the-time. However, you probably noticed something important here: I described this person as "my ex" and "partner-at-the-time", and not as "my partner". To make a long story very short, this person who I thought would be my partner for life ended up betraying me, taking advantage of my trust, stabbing me in the back, and doxxing me. Suffice to say that this person is no longer in my life, and that my enjoyment of Rinko has taken a significant hit as a direct result of this person's (in)actions.

Which creates a big problem when it comes to ranking Rinko for me. Technically speaking, I never liked Rinko for who Rinko was, I liked Rinko because of reasons associated with Rinko. Similarly, now that those reasons were taken away, I also don't dislike Rinko for who Rinko is, I dislike Rinko because of reasons associated with Rinko. Because of this, Rinko avoids entering the Void tier because it's not Rinko I dislike but reasons associated around Rinko, and for a character to enter the Void tier I feel like I have to dislike the character for the character. You are safe, Rinko. For now.

I should also confirm this now: I had a lot to talk about the five characters we've talked about so far, I should have less to talk about the remaining characters… until we get to the characters I really like at which point you get to read me talk about how much I adore those characters. But we're not there yet…

Nagasaki Soyo (NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, 42, 41, 56)

Soyo has the fun distinction that there isn't anything specific I can point at to be the reason why she is ranked this low. It's just unfortunate that there are a lot of little tiny reasons that on their own would be no issue whatsoever… but together, it adds up to become a huge issue that drags Soyo all the way down to this tier. As described in the 11th version of this list which you can read here: I don’t like how she went behind her friends’ back to effectively demand something that only she wanted when the other parties made it clear they wanted to leave that in the past. I don’t like how dishonest she is with her feelings. I don’t like how she treats some of her fellow bandmates, Anon in particular I suppose. I don’t like how she’s a self-centered hypocrite. Had she only have one of those traits, she would probably not be in this “tier group”, but Soyo has all of them so… here she is. And while I understand that she hasn’t had the perfect childhood, just like Sakiko, that is no excuse to treat others the way that this character did. Again, the whole "this explains why she did the things that she did the way that she did them, but it in no way, shape, or form excuses the things she did and the way that she did them" thing.

All right, I am done being negative on this list, time to be more positive about the characters remaining on this list. And as we climb up the rankings, it'll be more and more positive, so let's go.

The "Below Neutral" Tier

Pretty self-explanatory: these characters are between "I am neutral towards these characters" and "I don't like these characters".

Ushigome Rimi (28, 28, 27, 26, 28, 32, 32, 33, 33, 38, 40, 55)

Rimi is in this unfortunate position where she is just… there. She didn't really stand out personality-wise in my eyes, she got barely any character growth over the years, and even within her own band she got overshadowed… what's worse, Rimi falls under the category of being a relatively shy and soft-spoken girl, a category that I have historically struggled writing… and a category that contains many other girls I enjoy(ed) writing more in this franchise, most notably Rinko back when I still enjoyed writing Rinko. So Rimi is the perfect example of "I don't dislike you, but I also see no reason to pay attention to you as you don't provide me a good enough reason to incorporate you into my stories".

Kitazawa Hagumi (29, 29, 29, 28, 29, 33, 33, 31, 30, 39, 39, 54)

Hagumi is also in an unfortunate position because unlike Rimi, who I just… don't care about… I do want to care about Hagumi. She's a cute energetic girl and she is relatively unique in the franchise being as sporty as she is. However, Hagumi is the perfect example of a character being overshadowed by another character (at least until Tomori, I suppose): there is another character in this franchise with very similar character traits to Hagumi who I enjoy a lot more. Now, unlike Tomori, I do not think that Hagumi does anything wrong necessarily other than be very unlucky to have that comparison be made, which is why Hagumi avoids a lower ranking.

The character who overshadows Hagumi is, of course, Tsurumaki Kokoro… which is very unfortunate because I think Hagumi could be a pretty interesting character had it not been for the fact that Hagumi is in the same band as Kokoro. I can't even write Hagumi in a bubble with her band to avoid this issue as the character who overshadows Hagumi is in her band. Do I understand why Hagumi is put in the same band as Kokoro? Yes. Would I have liked to see Hagumi be put in a different band so we could see Hagumi be Hagumi without being directly overshadowed by someone in her own band? Also yes. Admittedly, I don't know which band I would put her in as my first thought of Poppin' Party wouldn't work because then Hagumi would be overshadowed by Kasumi, resulting in the exact same result, but you get my point… I hope…

As it stands, while I can say that there are scenarios where Hagumi can be used over Kokoro, Hagumi will always be in Kokoro's shadow… and the fact that we won't see Kokoro on this list for a while should tell you enough as to why Hagumi can't be placed any higher than this…

Hanazono Tae (18, 19, 21, 23, 26, 30, 32, 32, 32, 35, 38, 53)

I don't know what I can say about Tae without seeming like I just copy-pasted from the Rimi section, but in short… Tae is very similar to Rimi in that both girls didn't really stand out personality-wise nor got a lot of character growth over the years. At least with Tae they tried to give her some growth with the whole "partnering with RAISE A SUILEN" mini arc of the anime which is enough to put Tae above Rimi, but… not enough to push Tae into the next tier group, I'm afraid. It also doesn't help that Tae can be relatively difficult for me to write, which limits possible opportunities for me to use her. Tae inherently slows down the pace of writing, and while I don't want to rush my stories, I also don't want to slow them down to the point where Tae can keep up with the pace of the story, either.

The "Neutral" Tier

Pretty self-explanatory: I have no strong feelings about these characters one way or another.

Seta Kaoru (VB, VB, VB, VB, VB, VB, VB, 34, 34, 33, 33, 37, 52)

Why hello, original member of the Void Tier who has since escaped that fate. To explain why Kaoru was in the Void for so long, there were two main reasons: (1) I wasn't a big fan of Kaoru's over-the-top flirtatious nature back in the day. And (2) Kaoru kept spooking in my pulls in the first two years of the game. As I stopped playing the game, Kaoru couldn't spook me in my pulls anymore. And as I despised Yucky Nya more than Kaoru (this was before MyGO!!!!! and Ave Mujica debuted), I took a moment to look at Kaoru again and… while I wouldn't say I "like" Kaoru, I will admit that she is an interesting enough and surprisingly deep character despite her over-the-top flirtatious attitude. The fact that Kaoru is surprisingly easy for me to write despite despising her so much for so long was definitely a pleasant surprise, too.

Udagawa Ako (19, 18, 20, 20, 19, 23, 25, 30, 31, 31, 31, 36, 51)

Ako is… unfortunate… because on the one hand, she has a lot going for her. She is a fairly fun character with her chuunibyou tendencies, being the only girl in the franchise so far to have them (at least, prior to millsage and Ikka Dumb Rock as we don't know enough about them to rule out the possibility of any of them having chuunibyou tendencies). Ako also has very strong ties to Afterglow which is a good thing, meaning that Ako has a lot of potential to be used in stories. On the other hand… Ako looks up to Yucky Nya, being one of very few characters in the game who can physically look up to Yucky Nya… short jokes… and is best friends with Rinko, two characters who are in the bottom five… and that strong connection has definitely had a significant negative impact on Ako by association. Which, speaking of…

Imai Lisa (5, 5, 5, 6, 6, 5, 8, 17, 23, 27, 29, 35, 50)

Lisa is probably hit the hardest of all the Roselia members as a result of the fall of Roselia, and to emphasize the impact that Roselia's fall has on this list: four of the five Roselia girls have already shown up on this list… in the bottom eleven… anyway, let's start with the elephant in the room: the VA shift. Even before Rinko had her VA change, Lisa had her VA changed from Endou Yurika to Nakashima Yuki and… at risk of angering the Endou Yurika fans, I have to admit: while I could tell that there was a difference between the two Lisas, they were similar enough that I couldn't tell that there was a significant difference in my enjoyment of the character. And that just goes to show how well Nakashima Yuki did to carry on the torch (and highlights the, for lack of a better term, disaster that was Rinko's VA shift). Lisa also has some very strong ties to Afterglow which has definitely helped Lisa maintain relevance in my eyes, and she is a fun character to see on the screen. She is also a fairly easy character to write because she doesn't have too many different sides to her personality, making her very predictible albeit fairly limiting in how I can use her in my stories.

But at the same time, Lisa also has the strongest ties to Yucky Nya, so with Yucky Nya dropping into the Void, Lisa got dragged down with her along the way. Fortunately for Lisa, I do feel like Lisa has stabilized a bit from the free fall, but… yeah… you have strong ties to that vocalist, you're not going to do well here. And before you talk about Ran: Ran isn't Roselia, which helps her avoid the same fate that Lisa has faced.

The "Above Neutral" Tier

Pretty self-explanatory: these characters are between "I am neutral towards these characters" and "I like these characters".

Izumi Houka (NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, 49)

The first new character on this list, and I'll say this now once more as this holds true for all the millsage and Ikka Dumb Rock (and, to a lesser extent, Mugendai Mewtype) girls on this list so I don't have to repeat myself: we technically don't know too much about them, so this can be seen as more of a preliminary placement. What we do know about Houka is that she is a refined and well-mannered girl who has a strong fascination with "talent", whatever that means. She also looks like Anon's older sister despite Anon being a month and a half older than Houka. Like I said, not much to be said about Houka; she seems interesting enough and I don't have any alarm bells go off when I look at her. Let's just hope that her "strong fascination" doesn't end up going the Hatsune route, because we all know how that ended up in my eyes…

Yamato Maya (27, 26, 26, 27, 27, 31, 27, 27, 29, 29, 28, 34, 48)

And here we get to the curious case that is Yamato Maya. I will preface this by saying that I have nothing against Maya and that I think that she can be pretty interesting and fun on the screen. The reason I can't put Maya very high on the list is actually pretty simple: I looked into Maya relatively late, and by that point in time I already grew attached to most of the other characters in the franchise already. So Maya suffered by coincidence here. Had I paid more attention to Maya early on she might have ranked higher, but… it is what it is, I guess.

Wakana "LAYER" Rei (25, 20, 15, 11, 13, 13, 18, 18, 18, 18, 26, 32, 47)

If I were to be objective (or, at the very least, as objective as is possible in a subjective list like this), then I would say that RAS has the best vocalist. No, I would say that RAS has the most consistent vocalist. Rei has incredible vocal skills, a lot of power behind her voice, and the vocal range to take full advantage of the power behind her voice. If I were to rank Rei as a vocalist in the franchise, she would be second place, no questions asked. However… this is where my praise for Rei stops. In stark contrast to her amazing vocal skills, Rei… is very bland as a character. She barely has a personality and she barely grows as a character, to the point where I would almost go so far as to argue that she is more static than characters like Rimi and Tae, an achievement in itself. If it weren't for her vocal skills, I would probably not even look at Rei again. Despite that, her vocals are what keeps Rei from falling further, and while she doesn't have a lot of personality and character growth… she also doesn't have any personality traits that makes me feel like she deserves a lower place on this list, either.

Minetsuki Ritsu (NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, 46)

Ritsu actually shares a lot in common with Maya of all people in that I don't not like the character in question. However, relative to the other girls in their respective bands, I looked at this girl last which affected her placement on this list. I don't dislike Ritsu at all. It's just… I looked at her last amongst the members of her band, so Ritsu's placement suffers… the fact that one of the favorite Bandori characters of the person behind Ritsu is Tomori, however, does impact Ritsu's placement… at the same time, I also know that the person behind Ritsu likes listening to Afterglow song which does impact Ritsu's placement in the opposite direction. And while I know it isn't 100% fair to judge a non-vocalist for their singing skills, I have to admit that I like Ritsu's covers the least amongst the members of her band. Not because I dislike Ritsu's singing, but because I like her bandmates' singing more. So… between those reasons and my hopes for Mugendai Mewtype with their anime right around the corner, I feel that this is a fair placement for her. Who knows? Maybe we'll see her go up the list after the Mugendai anime starts.

Yashio Rui (NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, 24, 29, 29, 19, 20, 27, 33, 45)

Rui shares a lot of similarities to Rei: they're both relatively uninteresting characters who are held up by the fact that their musical performances are so memorable (Rei having one of the best vocals in the franchise and Rui being the only violinist in the franchise). What ended up helping Rui stand apart from Rei, however, is the fact that Rui has some fun and interesting interactions with her bandmates, whereas Rei doesn't really stand out even in her own band. Or Chiyu's band if we're being technical. So that is why Rui is a couple spots above Rei now.

Matsubara Kanon (23, 25, 24, 24, 23, 26, 28, 26, 28, 28, 25, 30, 44)

Oh Kanon, how I struggle to write stumbly fumbly characters and you're probably one of if not the most stumbly fumbly character in the entire franchise. Not a good start… however, despite this, Kanon does have a lot going for her. She's the usual voice of reason in her band, she has some fun interactions both inside and outside her band, she's Misaki's lifeline to maintain the younger girl's sanity, and the times when we see a serious and confident Kanon (which is happening more and more these days), it's a lot of fun to watch Kanon take charge. An overall pretty interesting character to see on the screen who gets held back by the fact that she is pretty difficult for me to write.

Shiomi Hotaru (NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, 43)

I know I am going to anger some Tomori fans if I say this, but I probably already angered those Tomori fans when I put Tomori in the Void, so here goes: millsage is what MyGO!!!!! should have been music-wise. Kishi Kaisen, millsage's debut song, is what Mayoiuta should have been music-wise if MyGO!!!!! was a band that was enjoyable. And Kishi Kaisen isn't even close to being my favorite debut song for a band of this franchise (that honor goes to Daylight in case people are curious, with Mugen My World and Homie's Tie being a pretty close second and third respectively; for those wondering where That Is How I Roll is, that song would be fourth on that hypothetical list). Hotaru's vocals, despite being a little unrefined still as she is still relatively new to the franchise, are pretty good. If this is the level she achieved now, I look forward to see how well millsage's songs will end up after she has developed and grown as a vocalist. Hotaru is also unique in that she is a vocalist who also plays a keyboard, being the first and so far only character in the franchise to do so (all other vocalists who play an instrument played guitar or bass). The main reason why I am not putting Hotaru any higher is actually quite simple: I am not a huge fan of her design. White skin, white clothes, white hair, white (and gray) flowers, pale almost-white eyes… give the girl some color, Bushiroad, come on… if "monochrome" was the theme for millsage, it wouldn't be that big of an issue, but all the other millsage girls got colorful hair to help contrast the otherwise monochrome white-and-gray aesthetic they got going for them, so why not Hotaru?

The "Likes" Tier

Pretty self-explanatory: I like these characters.

Izawa Natsume (NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, 42)

As will be a running theme with the other new girls going forward on this list, I am being… cautiously optimistic where I place these girls. Not because I don't have high hopes for them, but because I got burned pretty badly with MyGO!!!!! and Ave Mujica, and so I'd rather give the girls a lower rating now and potentially bump them up later than hype them up and be disappointed again later. Case in point: Natsume. Natsume feels very interesting because she shares some pretty obvious overlaps with two other characters we already have (something that you will hear me say again with more characters on this list): Tamade Chiyu and Satou Masuki, two girls who we have yet to see on this list so that should tell you how I feel about Natsume already. However, because there are only two lines to describe Natsume's personality and character as well as her visual appearance, there isn't much else I can go for when it comes to ranking Natsume (which is, obviously, also true for all the other millsage and Ikka Dumb Rock girls, so I will try to not repeat this sentiment, but keep that in mind anyway). I really like Chiyu and I really really like Masuki, so… hopefully Natsume can live up to expectations? Or, at the very least, hopefully Natsume doesn't follow the Tomori route… a low bar to overcome, yes, but… it happened before with Tomori that the bar wasn't cleared so I feel it is worth bringing up.

Yakura Yomogi (NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, 41)

Yomogi is potentially the most interesting character in Ikka Dumb Rock because she is so significantly different from the other girls in so many ways. She's not confident, unlike Raika or Chieri, and she is far from calm, unlike Miku or Shizuku, despite being the oldest in the group by a significant margin (she's like five years older than Shizuku, for context). She's also the only girl in the band who sounds differently from what I expected she would sound like based on her design and personality. That's not necessarily a bad thing, it's just… different from what I expected. However, being "significantly different from the band" isn't always a good thing for my enjoyment of the character, as both Rui and Rei are significantly different from the other girls in their respective bands and we've already seen both of them on this list. She has some unique traits going for her that could help her stand out, some of which she shares with Ran of all people so let's hope Yomogi doesn't follow the Tomori route… but being part of the Afterglow-themed band in Ikka Dumb Rock should at least keep her relevant? Hopefully?

Which, on a related note, I should address the elephant in the room here since I already implied it: I recognize that Ikka Dumb Rock is very similar to Afterglow in so many different ways. They are both a group of childhood friends, their respective characters share obvious similarities to one another, and yet… I am positive about Ikka Dumb Rock (as Yomogi is the lowest ranked Ikka Dumb Rock girl and we're already in the "Likes" tier) but I put Tomori in the Void, why is that? Well… there's nothing inherently "wrong" with being similar to other characters. What I have issues with is the fact that Tomori is so similar to other characters who worked perfectly yet Tomori herself failed miserably in my eyes. I don't feel like the Ikka Dumb Rock girls "failed" just because they are so similar to Afterglow. As a matter of fact, despite their similarities to Afterglow, I also feel like the Ikka Dumb Rock girls are different enough to stand on their own alongside Afterglow. And that is more than enough to help the Ikka Dumb Rock girls be relevant in my eyes and for me to be optimistic about their potential moving forward. Besides, Homie's Tie, the debut song of Ikka Dumb Rock, is such a bop, and if that is the level they reach in their debut then I would be lying if I said I wasn't looking forward to see how they will develop going forward!

Yuutenji "Amoris" Nyamu (NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, 37, 29, 40)

Nyamu is an interesting character because on the one hand, she is two-faced in not a good way, hiding how she truly feels from everyone and anyone around her. As somebody who has had issues with people being two-faced in the past, this is not a good start. On the other hand, Nyamu is arguably the character I can see develop the most in Ave Mujica because, spoilers for Umiri and Mutsumi, I feel like Umiri and Mutsumi are relatively "complete" characters already so there isn't much growing they can do. And you should know how I feel about Hatsune and Sakiko by now… which, speaking of… Nyamu being the only one to call out the bullshit in Ave Mujica definitely gave her more brownie points.

Shiina Taki (NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, 36, 31, 39)

Taki is a very interesting character because she is a complete character, she has an amusing personality that bounces off pretty well with Anon, Raana, and Umiri, she's an Afterglow fan, and she is a very easy MyGO!!!!! character for me to write, second only to Raana… with a caveat! The main reason why I held off from liking Taki more was because Taki would drop whatever she was doing and stop being Shiina Taki whenever Tomori was around to cry and/or run away in front of Taki… because Taki needed to protect Tomori. And, as you can guess, that was absolutely infuriating. However, now that Tomori is in the Void and doesn't exist anymore, I can completely ignore that part of Taki and we are left with a pretty interesting character. Case in point: the event where Taki helped out at the Hazawa Café was perfect in showcasing what kind of character Shiina Taki is when she is far away from Tomori: a very fun and interesting character who is very easy to write, too! Maybe in the future Taki can climb even further up the list once the fact that Tomori doesn't exist has truly settled in. Also, unironically, Taki is a better singer than Tomori as I enjoyed Taki's version of Mayoiuta so much more than Tomori's.

Ichigaya Arisa (15, 17, 17, 17, 18, 19, 21, 23, 24, 24, 23, 28, 38)

Another pretty interesting character, it's almost as if we're in the category of characters I like! …wait a second. Anyway, yeah, Arisa is an interesting character because she's the kind of character you think can be narrowed down to just a single sentence to describe her but she also does a lot of things behind the scenes to help her stand out. Arisa doesn't like being the center of attention, so it is fun to watch how Arisa is able to support her friends from the background. Nothing else needs to be said, really.

Yahata "Timoris" Umiri (NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, 34, 27, 37)

Umiri is a very fun character because she reminds me a lot of Satou Masuki of all characters, who we have yet to see on this list. She is a serious character who we didn't really get to see much of until later in the band's lifespan, at which point it was revealed she had a lot of fun and silly sides that helps her stand out in the crowd. Being directly compared to people like Sakiko and Hatsune makes Umiri look even better, but then again… I would be worried if Umiri was in the same conversation as Sakiko and Hatsune. Anyway, Umiri's interactions with Taki were also really cute and funny despite both girls being as serious as they are, Umiri was one of the few people who helped Mortis out when she was around, and there is overall nothing about Umiri I can really complain about. The only thing I can say what I am worried about when it comes to Umiri is that she already feels like a relatively complete character, and there's only so much that a "relatively complete character" can do to grow and develop… that being said, that is also what I thought when it came to Masuki and just look where Masuki is at now. I mean… you don't know where Masuki is on the list yet, but you will… eventually…

Hikawa Sayo (17, 16, 18, 18, 17, 17, 19, 20, 21, 21, 18, 25, 36)

And here we have the final member of Roselia. Or Ripelia as I have been calling them in my friend group since 2019. It should speak volumes how much I've come to dislike this band that none of the members are even in the top 50% of this franchise anymore… on the other hand, I do genuinely like Sayo despite being part of Ripelia as I feel she was the only character who attempted to resist the fall of Roselia, so the fact that Sayo doesn't make top 50% should also be an indication of how top heavy this list is. Anyway, Sayo… the girl with the most character growth and development over the years, and very good character growth and development over the years. A very fun and amusing character to see because she has her obvious serious moments but also her fun and silly moments. For instance, I love how she went from not knowing how to play a game to be a gamer at a level equal to Ako and Rinko in a matter of months. Also, Sayo attempted to resist the fall of Roselia by pushing back on Yucky Nya, which gave Sayo brownie points just like how Nyamu pushing back on Sakiko gave Nyamu brownie points. Unfortunately, Sayo is still tied to Ripelia so… there's only so much you can do there, Sayo…

Fuji Miyako (NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, 35)

MIyako is a funny case because, like Ritsu, I didn't pay too much attention to her at the start. That being said, Miyako is a cute and gentle character and while I don't know too much about her, she does seem like a fun and calming character going forward. Also, having Taki as your favorite character over Tomori also helps being placed higher on this list of mine given where I ranked the two MyGO!!!!! girls on my list. In a weird way, I think another reason that helps Miyako be memorable for me is because she almost feels like what Rinko should or perhaps could have been after the VA shift given the visual similarities between the two keyboardists. Which, ironically enough, with Rinko falling off further and further, actually gives Miyako some extra points here.

Tsurumaki Kokoro (16, 15, 19, 19, 20, 20, 24, 25, 27, 26, 24, 26, 34)

Kokoro is a fun character. Not only will there never be a dull moment while Kokoro is around, but she is genuinely a fun character to see on the screen with a noble goal to make everybody happy. I can complain about how it is unhealthy for people to always be happy, but this should be a segment where I highlight why I like these characters given we are in the "Likes" tier right now, so… Kokoro is a lot of fun to watch on screen and her crazy antics are always amusing to watch, too. Plus, she's same birthday girl which, while not necessarily exclusive to Kokoro as I can think of like seven or so other characters from other franchises who also share my birthday, it is fun to see a character share a birthday with you. The main reason why I can't put Kokoro much higher is actually something that has come up several times when discussing Kokoro: she is arguably the hardest character for me to write in this franchise. …after Tomori, I suppose, who I absolutely never ever want to write again, but that character is in the Void so I never ever have to write her again… so Kokoro becomes the hardest character for me to write… which severely limits my opportunities to use the bundle of energy in my writing… it is also a shame that I am not a huge fan of the Hello, Happy World genre because I do know that Kokoro's VA is a phenomenal VA and a phenomenal singer and I wish I could enjoy listening to her songs more in BanG Dream… oh well. Still a great character, though!

Kotohira Nagi (NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, 33)

When I first saw the millsage guitarists, I was afraid that they would be too similar to each other. Now, I am afraid that they will be made to be mirrors of each other especially with how their poses mirror each other in their first promotional art. Either way, I do hope that Nagi will be significantly different from Natsume to help the two girls stand apart. But back to Nagi, I like her design, her darker hair contrasts nicely with the white theme that millsage has going on and helps Nagi stand out, especially when compared to the almost exclusively white Hotaru. I also really like the potential that Nagi has being a calm and refined girl that she is, which I can see can contrast with both Natsume and, to a lesser extent, Houka. Also, Nagi's casual outfit is really nice, probably my second favorite casual outfit amongst her bandmates. Yeah, there isn't much that can be said about Nagi for now, but I feel like she is a character I'll end up liking so here she is.

Shirasagi Chisato (22, 22, 22, 21, 22, 27, 26, 19, 20, 19, 19, 24, 32)

The ever-so-difficult-to-write Chisato. I like her presence in her band as she contrasts really nicely with her bandmates, most notably Aya and Hina. Also, I like how serious and hard working Chisato is, especially when she has had a past where she had to struggle to get where she is today. Unfortunately for Chisato, I can't rank her much higher than this because, as stated earlier, she is surprisingly difficult for me to write. Not only that, but many of the characters one would think of associating with Chisato outside of her band like Kanon and Kaoru are also relatively difficult for me to write…

Shinomiya Shizuku (NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, 31)

Ah Shizuku, the adorable youngest girl in a band build around childhood friends who is surprisingly mature for her age and plays the keyboard, where do I even begin with you? While I said that Yomogi was potentially the most interesting Ikka Dumb Rock girl because she is so different from everyone else, Shizuku is potentially the one with the most potential because she has the most question marks relating to her character still. At least when compared to her bandmates, anyway. Depending on how well those question marks get answered going forward, Shizuku can climb up the ranks pretty easily. We've seen how well Tsugumi can work, so do your best Shizuku! As long as you don't go the Tomori route, I'm sure you'll do fine.

Miyanaga Nonoka (NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, 30)

The ever energetic Nonoka, it's your turn to shine now. I dunno, she just seems like a fun character to watch on the screen with an infectious energy to her character. I can potentially see that Nonoka's energy can be stifling and overwhelming, but at the same time I also feel like Mugendai needs Nonoka's energy as Ritsu, Miyako, and Yuno are relatively mellow in comparison. Also, little known fact, but I am a huge fan of the OreGairu franchise, and Nonoka's cover of Yukitoki, the first opening song of OreGairu wasn't just "good", it was "absolutely stunning"! One of the best covers of the song I've heard so far. And it's not even like her Yukitoki cover was the only good cover she sung, either. A great character and a great singer, especially for a non-vocalist! And to think we've only just entered the top 50%…

Hikawa Hina (24, 23, 25, 25, 24, 29, 30, 28, 26, 25, 21, 23, 29)

I've always bounced around trying to figure out which Hikawa was my favorite over the years, and while I used to give the edge to Sayo partly because I started looking into Roselia before I looked into Pastel✽Palettes… now that it has settled a bit I think I am giving the edge to Hina. Especially after seeing how much Hina has worked to try and close the gap between herself and her sister. Not being as associated with Ripelia helps her out a lot, I suppose. Having an irl friend with the same name also helps Hina out a lot, too. What's there to say about Hina that isn't obvious already? She's a fun character and she has some fun interactions with other characters. Writing her can be a challenge every once in a while, but she's still a fun character to try and write.

Toyama Kasumi (26, 24, 23, 22, 21, 25, 23, 24, 25, 23, 20, 22, 28)

As far as protagonists for franchises of this genre go, Kasumi is a relatively deep character who goes beyond the usual "somewhat airheaded but well meaning, positive, and hard working energetic leader" trope. Her struggling to keep up with her bandmates and pushing herself beyond her breaking point were very memorable moments. As a band, Poppin' Party, as is to be expected from the main protagonist band, is very flexible and has a surprisingly good pool of good songs to listen to. Granted, part of that has to do with the fact that, as the main protagonist band, they get to spin the wheel a lot and get more chances to release more songs than the average band in the franchise, but that doesn't take away from the fact that Poppin' Party has a lot of great songs with a great vocalist to make use of said songs. It's also fun to see not only Kasumi having a younger sister in BanG Dream, but also Kasumi's VA having a younger sister in BanG Dream (for those who don't know: Natsume's VA is the younger sister of Kasumi's VA).

Hamasaki Mahoro (NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, 27)

And here we have the final member of millsage. Yeah, I know that the general fandom is excited for millsage, but of the three new bands on this list… I'm probably least excited for millsage; not to say that I am not excited for millsage, I'm just more excited for Mugendai Mewtype and Ikka Dumb Rock. That being said, Mahoro looks to be like she is going to be a very fun and interesting character. I've always had a soft spot for the gentle and supporting character who keeps the group together, and Mahoro is exactly that. Ironically enough, Nagi seems to have a gentler voice than Mahoro, but… still. Also, Mahoro's casual outfit is by far my favorite amongst the millsage girls, so that helps her a lot, too.

The "Loves" Tier

Pretty self-explanatory: I love these characters.

Chihaya Anon (NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, 32, 21, 26)

Once upon a time, I heard that BanG Dream would not only be getting a new anime but also a couple of new bands in MyGO!!!!! and Ave Mujica. The character who caught my attention the most at the time was a certain white-ish haired guitarist who loves to eat a lot, has a very obvious favorite food to eat and a very obvious least favorite food to eat, speaks in a unique way, and goes at her own pace. For no reason whatsoever. But alas, Raana didn't fully debut in the anime until halfway through the first MyGO!!!!! season, so I had to find someone else to keep my interest until Raana's debut. And it sure as heck wasn't Tomori, I can tell you that much. Taki was busy running after the crybaby, Mutsumi wasn't interesting until after Mortis debuted halfway through the first Ave Mujica season, you should know how I feel about Sakiko ruling over her subjects with an iron fist by now and Soyo, well… Soyo was there, I suppose, but I also didn't like Soyo even all the way back then. So the only one left to step up to the challenge was Anon. And she sure as hell succeeded to keep my interest in the franchise until Raana debuted. And that is why Anon, in my opinion, deserves to be this high up the list.

Which is very interesting because, as I have said multiple times before, Anon is an anomaly; I shouldn't like Anon in a bubble because she has a non-zero amount of traits that I would normally not be a fan of. From her self-centered eagerness to her overly bubbly and enthusiastic personality being almost suffocating. But somehow I can't dislike Anon. She's a fun character, and the fact that I would very likely have dropped MyGO!!!!! and, by extension, Ave Mujica, and potentially even drop the franchise as a whole, if it weren't for Anon… yeah, Anon deserves to be here. I guess her competition in the MyGO!!!!!/Ave Mujica era wasn't very competitive as three of the girls in Anon's era are in the Void, but still… that doesn't take away from the fact that Anon is a great character. Great job, Anon!

Sengoku Yuno (NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, 25)

When I first learned of Mugendai Mewtype, Yuno was actually my favorite girl of the band (she is now second place, as Arale has yet to show up on this list). I love her color scheme, I love how aloof yet serious she is and can be respectively, especially when compared to her bandmates, I love her covers, and she succeeded in making me do something that I didn't think was possible: she made me listen to a Ripelia song. I mean, ZEAL of Proud is a surprisingly good song… when Yuno sings it. Anyway, let's move on…

Nakamachi Arale (NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, 24)

Speaking of Arale, hello, Arale. Arale is a fun character, kinda reminiscent of Aya between her good vocal skills yet being stumbly fumbly to the point of breaking into tears… though not enough to be described as a crybaby, I don't think. The range in Arale's vocals is also really impressive, as she can do songs from Mugen My World to Kohaku to Tuning to Gradient. Also, like Yuno, Arale did something that I didn't think was possible: she made me listen to an Ave Mujica song. Okay, joking aside, I thought KillKiss was pretty decent when Ave Mujica performed it, but somehow Arale's performance of it was so good that it almost felt like the song was designed for Mugendai Mewtype instead of Ave Mujica. A fantastic showing of Arale so far, and I'm looking forward to see how she will develop going forward.

Okusawa Misaki (10, 11, 13, 16, 14, 16, 20, 21, 22, 22, 17, 20, 23)

We have finally reached Misaki, and… there is so much that can be said about Misaki. In a bubble, Misaki is a very fun and interesting character. She is sarcastic, she takes jabs at the people around her, she is a very hard worker behind the scenes, she has a lot of potential when it comes to writing her with other characters, and she is a very easy character for me to write. So… why isn't Misaki ranked higher? Well, the elephant in the room is that she is in Hello, Happy World. And while I do understand why Misaki is in Hello, Happy World… on a selfish level, I wish Misaki wasn't in the band that she is because the other characters in her band are all characters I am not confident writing (with the exception of Kaoru who I lack the experience writing since she was in the Void for so long). Had Misaki been in a different band, she could have been placed higher, but as it stands… she's a fantastic character held back by the band that she was placed in. Very Sayo-like in that regard (or, better phrased, Sayo is Misaki-like in that regard, but… whatever).

Maruyama Aya (9, 9, 9, 10, 10, 12, 14, 13, 16, 15, 19, 22)

Aya is a very fun character, from her stumbly fumbly nature to her fumbly stumbly nature, Aya is great. It's also great watching Aya forced to act like the mature and reliable senior to the likes of girls like Kasumi and Himari where you can't help but want to cheer Aya on to do her best. Aya is also a fantastic vocalist and is more so limited by the genre of her band than her skills as a vocalist. And, most importantly, Aya is surprisingly easy to write, too. There's not much else that needs to be said about Aya, she's great and she more than deserves to be here.

Wakamiya Eve (11, 10, 11, 13, 12, 14, 15, 14, 17, 16, 16, 18, 21)

And here we have one of the first characters who I can talk about who gets a significant buff in the rankings for a very simple reason: she is related to Afterglow. With her relatively strong ties to Afterglow, Eve will always be relevant for me as she is always a realistic option to be used for a background character at minimum in my stories revolving around the Afterglow girls. But even beyond the Afterglow connection, Eve is a very fun character on her own. I love her energy, I love her determination, I love her fascination with the culture as a foreigner in the BanG Dream universe, and I love how Eve is one of those girls who just gets incredible art after incredible art after incredible art. She is absolutely amazing! Also, a fun piece of characterization that got lost in translation is that Eve calls everybody by their katakana spelling which I always thought was a cute touch.

Kaname Raana (NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, 30, 17, 20)

All right, here we go, the girl who I was most looking forward to when I first entered the MyGO!!!!!/Ave Mujica era. While Tomori fails to live up to the expectations and standards set by Ran and Mashiro, Raana not only makes great use of her similarities with Moca but she is developed enough and has unique enough sides to her character where I can make use of Raana in certain stories over Moca. Also, I like how surprisingly deep of a character Raana is; she was the only girl (or, at the very least, one of the very few) who was able to quickly identify Mortis' true identity and distinguish her from the Mutsumi everybody knew. It's also a lot of fun to watch Raana interact with the other girls, most notably Taki, because Raana is so different. These differences mean that the girls need to find different ways to communicate with each other, and it is a joy watching how they get there. The fact that Raana and Taki found a way to properly communicate and get through to each other shows that both girls at least want to succeed in the communication. Overall, Raana is a very fun character to write, an easy character to write, and a character with a ton of potential and possibilities for stories. What more can I ask of a new(-ish) addition to the franchise?

Nyubara "PAREO" Reona (14, 14, 14, 15, 16, 15, 13, 12, 14, 13, 14, 16, 19)

From a very easy-to-write character to a fairly difficult-to-write character, hi, Reona. Good thing "difficulty in writing" doesn't necessarily affect your placement in how much I enjoy you as a character, so all the way up here you go. Reona is always fun to watch, whether as Reona or as PAREO, and while her dedication to Chiyu and her band can be a bit… much… at times, it is at least commendable how far Reona is willing to go for the band. Doesn't she commute a couple hours just to practice with her bandmates? I also like how colorful Reona is, and I mean that literally for once as she continuously appears with different hair colors. While it is unfortunate that she isn't consistent because she keeps showing up with different hair colors, it is also fun to have a character show up with a different color scheme each time.

Tamade "CHU2" Chiyu (13, 13, 16, 14, 15, 11, 11, 10, 12, 12, 13, 14, 18)

From one RAS girl to the next, it's also funny how we went from Reona to Chiyu. As I think most people are aware of by now, Chiyu is (or at least was back when she debuted) one of the more polarizing characters in the franchise. One group of people hated her guts and found her annoying and were rooting for Roselia to crush her. The other group of people enjoyed Chiyu's interactions and wanted to see her grow and develop throughout the years. With how it is common knowledge how I feel about Roselia these days, I think it is pretty obvious how I feel about Chiyu by now… but even beside that, I like how Chiyu has several layers to her personality, I like her dedication and drive to reach for the top, and unlike another band who keeps claiming that they will reach the top I do feel like RAS at least has the musical repertoire to back up their lofty claims of reaching for the top. And, perhaps most importantly, because Chiyu is such a complex character relatively speaking, it helps in creating pathways to not only discover and learn more about the various sides to her personality but also allows fans to sit back and analyze her character and motives a bit better. Also, Chiyu has shown time and time again that she deeply cares for and worries about her bandmates, which is very important as the leader of the band who pushes the others to try and reach for the top…

Suga Raika (NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, 17)

Ah yes, a guitarist-and-vocalist with dark hair she partially dyed a different color and is in a band with childhood friends… I can tell the Tomori fans are judging me already, but hear me out. First of all, Ikka Dumb Rock's debut song, Homie's Tie, is a bop, so that is already a huge point in Raika's favor. Secondly, while Raika shares some similarities with Ran, she already feels different enough to Ran (most notably, Ran is a serious introvert whereas Raika feels more Himari-like being the energetic and cheerful girl trying to keep the group together), so I don't directly compare Raika to Ran as much as some people might think that I do. Thirdly, and I know this is ironic given my earlier comparison to Tomori, but Raika also shares similarities with Mashiro because both girls' VAs were relatively young when they debuted in BanG Dream and yet performed phenomenally despite their young age… so I am hoping that Raika can walk in Mashiro's footsteps and live up to those expectations. Yes, I have high expectations of Ikka Dumb Rock and I am genuinely looking forward to see how they will develop if this is the level they have reached already. I don't want to put Raika too high as we don't know enough about her for me to feel comfortable to do so, but… Raika's great, and so is Ikka Dumb Rock, and I am already in love with them. Speaking of Ikka Dumb Rock…

Umezato Chieri (NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, 16)

Ah yes, an energetic-looking pink-haired girl who tied her hair in two bundles while wearing a see-through crop top and a skirt, who wants attention but also messes up a lot, and doesn't get discouraged despite messing up a lot. Yeah, Chieri has more overlap with Himari than Raika does with Ran, I can't deny that… that said, as is true to her in-universe descriptor, I can't hate Chieri. She seems like such a fun girl and, knowing that Himari worked, I do hope that Chieri can work out, too. Which, yes, was what I thought with Tomori and just look what happened there, but… somehow, I don't get any alarm bells when I look at Chieri. When I look at any of the Ikka Dumb Rock girls, for that matter. Will I potentially eat my words if it turns out that Chieri (or any of the Ikka Dumb Rock girls for that matter) follows in Tomori's footsteps? If that happens then yeah, I will, and I'll drag Chieri (or whoever followed in Tomori's footsteps) down the list. But with what we know so far, I don't believe that Chieri will go down that road so I am happy with placing her all the way in the "Loves" Tier.

Asahi "LOCK" Rokka (12, 12, 12, 12, 11, 10, 12, 11, 13, 14, 12, 13, 15)

Rokka is adorable. That's it. That's my reasoning for putting her here.

Realistically speaking, that's all she needs to be to be placed all the way up here. She also doesn't have any traits or characteristics or anything that would deserve placing her lower, so… yeah, a very boring description for me placing her here, but… I don't know what else to say here? She's adorable as Rokka, she's cool as LOCK, and she has some fun interactions with girls both inside and outside her band like Masuki and Mashiro respectively.

Mahashi Miku (NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, 14)

Ah yes, a white(-ish) haired guitarist who is the second tallest girl in the group. And that is all for her resemblances with Moca. Anyway, when I first looked up Ikka Dumb Rock I think I ranked Chieri above Miku, but after hearing Homie's Tie (because remember: Miku is also a vocalist for Ikka Dumb Rock), I ended up bumping Miku's placement up as a result. Yeah, Homie's Tie is that good. Because Shizuku is a lot of question marks still at the time of writing this post, Miku is the one I know will act as the (or, at the very least, a) voice of reason and reign in the cheerful Raika, the unstoppable Chieri, and the panicked mess that is Yomogi. But even beyond that, I like how Miku's profile already showcases what kind of person Miku is supposed to be: "gentle and easy to get along with" and "doesn't pry too deeply into others, and prefers they do the same". Miku is a respectful young lady, and I can respect that. I even wanted to put her in the next tier, but I'll hold off from doing that until we know more about Miku.

The "Favorites" Tier

Pretty self-explanatory: these are my favorite characters in the franchise.

Wakaba "Mortis" Mutsumi (NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, 22, 15, 13)

Characters with Dissociative Identity Disorder are generally speaking very interesting to me as we get to see how the host reacts to and interacts with their alter(s), how the alter(s) react to and interact with the host, and how everybody around them react to and interact with both the host and the alter(s). As a matter of fact, in almost every franchise that I have interacted with where there was a character with dissociative identity disorder, that character would be ranked in the top five. Mutsumi is unique in two ways: (1) she isn't ranked in the top five as you can tell, only making it to lucky number 13 (…that is more an indication how much I like the remaining twelve characters on the list, admittedly), and (2) while most other characters have one maybe two alters, Mutsumi… in practice, I know that she only has Mortis now, but she was confirmed to have tens if not dozens of alters. That alone already speaks volumes about the trauma and mental anguish that Mutsumi had to endure to give rise to that many alters. And as the writer of stories like The Final Glow of Afterglow and Their First Date, I would be lying if I said I wasn't at least a little interested to find out more about that.

Mutsumi does share one major thing in common with most of the other characters with DID I have interacted with, though: I like the alter more than the host. Mortis is a big reason why Mutsumi is ranked this high; I love Mortis and so, by association, Mutsumi gets pulled along with her. Mortis being there also helps cover for one of Mutsumi's biggest weaknesses in her strong ties with not one, not two, but three of the bottom six girls on this list. Four if we squint, I suppose. Because Mutsumi has Mortis to interact with, I don't have to put her in the same story as characters I, at best, dislike… and I can actually use Mutsumi in my stories! Which, speaking of… I had assumed Mutsumi would be a relatively tricky character for me to write, but in the 10th Anniversary Countdown series where I wrote for every character who had appeared in a BanG Dream anime at that time… Mutsumi was surprisingly easy for me to write. Speaking of girls who are easy to write, are the shortest in their respective bands, and weren't part of the original cast of characters when I first interacted with BanG Dream back in February 2017…

Futaba Tsukushi (NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, 18, 17, 16, 11, 11, 11, 12, 12)

Hello, Fusuke. As you can tell, I love Touko's nickname of the shortstack here; I've exclusively called her Fusuke in everything other than my fanfiction that featured her to the point where calling her Tsukushi almost feels wrong to me now. Anyway, where do I even begin with Fusuke? I guess I can start with what I was talking about with Mutsumi: Fusuke is easy to write. Fusuke is so easy to write, in fact, that she easily is the easiest character for me to write amongst the girls who weren't around back in February 2017. Which is quite the achievement since by this point we have more girls who weren't part of the cast back then than those who were.

I'll get back to this again when we get to an Afterglow girl, however long it might take for us to do that, but Morfonica is one of those bands where none of the girls feel like they overstay their welcome. Like all five members are not only needed but necessary for the band to reach its full potential. Greater than the sum of its parts and all that. And while Rui-rui didn't get a very high spot on this list, even Rui-rui is an important and necessary member of the band. When many other bands have at least one character in them who I generally disregard, Morfonica doesn't. And Fusuke, being Morfonica's leader, should get some credit for that. Way to go, Fusuke!

But to talk more specifically about Fusuke… I love how expressive and fun Fusuke can be on the screen and in her interactions with her fellow bandmates, definitely living up to the title of leader of her band. Despite being known to stumble every so often, the times when we get to see a confident Fusuke who knows what she is doing are a great treat. And I love how Fusuke canonically travels a lot with her family so she is the perfect gateway to incorporate references in my stories. And, very notably, Fusuke is the only member of Morfonica to have a direct connection to Afterglow. Which is very special because there is only one girl in the entire franchise who is part of my second favorite band and the only girl of that band to have a direct connection with my favorite band. Speaking of my favorite band…

Udagawa Tomoe (8, 8, 7, 8, 8, 9, 10, 9, 9, 9, 9, 11, 11)

While I have often gone on record to say that Tomoe is my least favorite member of Afterglow, that in no way, shape, or form means that I dislike Tomoe. As a matter of fact, Tomoe being eleventh should give you an indication of how competitive the top ten really is that even Tomoe fell short off the top ten. But that is enough talking about the list, let's talk about Tomoe specifically.

Tomoe has had the unfortunate fate of naturally clashing with Ran, and this is something that already happened all the way back when the members of Afterglow first met around the time they entered elementary in the two living landmarks fighting over who gets the color red. Because so many stories were written from Ran's perspective, Tomoe, who naturally clashes with Ran from the get-go, is often depicted in a more antagonistic role. Additionally, while I wouldn't say that Tomoe is a "boring" character, I can't deny that she is relatively "static" after not receiving a lot of character growth over the years. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but when compared to characters like Ran, Moca, and even Himari… it's an uphill fight for Tomoe on this list for sure.

But what do I love about Tomoe to put her on the eleventh spot? I love her energy and determination, something that Afterglow definitely needs to keep them motivated. I love how Tomoe can be considered the mature one of the group, being the voice of reason more often than not when the others stumble and/or fumble… unless, of course, Tomoe is the one who stumbled and/or fumbled. And I love how, despite being seen as the mature one in the group, Tomoe has had her moments of silly throughout the years. The Crazy Halloween!! -Beware Tricksters- event from three years ago on the global server (I don't remember playing in that event as the last event I vividly remember playing was Ragtime of the Wind and Sea from four years ago) was a very fun and amusing event that perfectly displayed Tomoe's silliness and ability to read the room. Finally, I also love how Tomoe has a subtle but still noticeable difference in how she talks to everybody in her band. It's not as obvious as somebody like Moca who literally has a unique way to refer to all of her bandmates, but it's still fun to look at the differences when Tomoe talks.

Again: despite being my least favorite member of Afterglow, I still absolutely adore Tomoe. She's a fantastic character, and having a VA like she does definitely doesn't hurt at all.

Hiromachi Nanami (NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, 28, 22, 22, 7, 7, 8, 10, 10)

And here we have the umpteenth character in this franchise who makes me think "wow, you make me think of Aoba Moca". The funniest part about that is that Nanami is arguably the closest to Aoba Moca amongst that pool of characters I was referring to. And while you might think that is a detriment to Nanami, it's actually quite the opposite. I have yet to talk about Moca which means you already know that she is at least 9th on this list, and Nanami is able to take what works for Moca and apply it in a completely different way… that manages to work and show a side that would never work with Moca. I should probably talk more specifically about Nanami now and get back to Moca when I get to Moca, though…

Anyway, I like how Nanami is a genius and prodigy but she tries so desperately to fit in the crowd. It is always hilarious to see the reactions of those around her, most commonly Fusuke, when Nanami accidentally shows her genius in the hopes that it is a perfectly normal result (the scene that always comes back to me is the 1Koma loading screen where Nanami is showing off to Fusuke how she got All Normal in a game of Garupa with almost a thousand notes, a feat that is probably even more impressive than getting All Perfect). There's honestly not much to say about Nanami now that I think about it; she's a great character, she's a fun character, and there's nothing about her that I can complain about despite sharing so many similarities with another character we have yet to see on this list.

Mortis (NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, 8, 9)

Like I said back when I was talking about Mutsumi, the main reason why I like Mutsumi so much is because of Mortis. So it makes sense to place Mortis above Mutsumi, continuing the trend of me liking the alter more than the host. Mortis was the big surprise of the MyGO!!!!!/Ave Mujica era, and I am not just saying that because I didn't know Mutsumi had DID prior to entering that era. Mortis is amazing and, potentially, everything I could have asked for in a new character. New-ish character, I suppose. She has a very fun personality, she has some very fun interactions with characters like Mutsumi and Umiri, she calls out Sakiko's bullshit which gives her a lot of brownie points as well, she has noticeable flaws that she could work on to become an even better character and, most importantly, she actually grows as a character in the story! Mortis actually experienced relevant and significant growth as a character despite being the character with the shortest amount of screen time.

My main complaints when it comes to Mortis… boil down to the fact we don't know what Mortis' fate will be going forward as they were relatively vague about it… and that she is tied to Ave Mujica. And while I don't need to limit myself to using characters with other characters in their band, it does have an impact if I can't use them with other characters in their band. Granted, Mortis doesn't suffer as much as someone like Misaki or Sayo because Mortis still has Mutsumi, Mortis still has Umiri, Mortis still has Nyamu even if Nyamu probably has a stronger connection to Mutsumi than Mortis. And with Our Notes on the horizon, hopefully Mortis will get an interesting connection with one of the other girls in that game. I know Raana is an option, for instance, as the stray cat managed to successfully identify and differentiate Mortis from Mutsumi, something that even Mutsumi's childhood friend Sakiko failed to do right away if I remember correctly.

Kurata Mashiro (NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, 21, 16, 15, 15, 10, 10, 9, 8)

Remember how I described Tomori as "an inferior copy of Ran and an inferior copy of Mashiro" and you might have wondered why that was relevant? Well… look at where Mashiro is ranked and tell me why I should use Tomori when Mashiro, the first of the two characters I compared Tomori to because of the obvious similarities, is all the way up here?

I even tried to not push Mashiro's placement up by too much given my dislike of Tomori, but I feel like 8th is a fair placement given who Mashiro is. Mashiro… genuinely, she has almost everything I could have asked for in a character. A very fun and interesting character that, despite the obvious similarities to Ran of all people, is still significantly different from Ran to the point where Mashiro can stand on her own and there are stories where I can use Mashiro over Ran. As a matter of fact, there are stories where I genuinely should use Mashiro instead of Ran. A very good start, but what else does Mashiro have?

A very good growth in her character going from the shy and introverted girl to the… significantly less shy and less introverted girl. She has a lot of fun interactions with both her fellow bandmates of Morfonica and characters outside of her band. And her vocals are amongst the best in the entire franchise, if not the best in the entire franchise, with Daylight being by far my favorite debut song for a band. And it's not like Morfonica fell off music-wise later, either, as I've liked most if not all of Morfonica's songs since Daylight. And to think that Mashiro's VA was only fifteen when she started as Mashiro back in 2020! Absolutely phenomenal! She might not be as consistent as Rei, but the highs of Morfonica were definitely higher than the highs of RAS in my opinion. And it's not like Morfonica had terrible lows, either, it's just that they had a bit more fluctation is all bouncing between "great" and "phenomenal".

The only thing I can complain about when it comes to Morfonica is that Morfonica completely invalidated Roselia in my eyes; Ripelia was struggling, RAS then debuted and blew them out of the water, and despite Ripelia's dedication to aim for the top… they got beaten by a literal fifteen-year-old. On the other hand, that also shows how amazing Kurata Mashiro, Shindou Amane, and Morfonica as a whole are that with a literal fifteen-year-old performing as their vocalist they managed to utterly demolish "the professional band that was the picture of perfection and all the other bands had to strive to keep up with them". And unlike Ripelia, Morfonica managed to maintain the hype to this day with banger after banger after banger after banger.

Mashiro is a fantastic character and a fantastic vocalist for a fantastic band. What's more to ask? She (and her band by association) are even butterfly-themed which, with Seele Vollerei and Veliona from Honkai Impact 3rd quickly rising up my overal favorites list to reach second and first respectively since four years ago, is just the added cherry on top.

Kirigaya Touko (NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, 22, 9, 6, 6, 6, 7, 7, 7)

Speaking of Morfonica, hi Touko. And speaking of Ripelia… the best way for me to describe Touko would be "take Imai Lisa, take away the strong connection to the Yucky Nya, put her in a band that Falneou17 absolutely adores with other characters that Falneou17 absolutely adores, and you have Kirigaya Touko". Touko has the important role of being her band's moodmaker, which is even more important when you remember who her bandmates are: Mashiro and Fusuke have a tendency to quickly panic while Nanami and Rui-rui will likely say something that can make things even worse. Touko will know what to say to raise the mood and she will go for it. Also, if it weren't for Touko, I wouldn't have the nickname Fusuke to call Fusuke with, so thank you, Touko, for your services.

The other notable thing that I can say about Touko is that I like how she is humble enough to admit and accept that she isn't good enough and go out of her way to try and improve herself. In Touko's case, this involved enlisting the help of the more experienced guitarists in Sayo, Kaoru, and Tae to help teach her to become a better guitarist. Ironically, three characters who are significantly lower than Touko on this list, but the sentiment still stands. Touko is already a prideful girl, but to go that far… it definitely left an impact, yeah. And while I know that it should be expected for both people and characters to accept and acknowledge that they aren't good enough when there is room for improvement, but… just look at Sakiko… it's not exactly a given, now is it?

Satou "MASKING" Masuki (20, 21, 10, 9, 9, 7, 4, 4, 4, 4, 5, 5, 6)

Masuki is the highest ranked girl on this list who wasn't around back in February 2017, which is already very impressive… is what I would say if everybody in this tier group so far minus Tomoe also weren't around back in February 2017. This also means that you now know that four of the five girls in the top five are all Afterglow girls. Feels bad for Tomoe but, again, it's very competitive up here. Anyway, back to Masuki… Masuki is a ton of fun. I love the gap moe of her looking like a delinquent on the outside but loving cutesy things on the inside, hinted at as early as her first appearance when we saw Masuki was wearing a jacket with Hanyo Usagi. I also love how Masuki is the resident baking-loving gal; you'd think it would be Reona or even Rei, but no, it's Masuki.

Also, like Tomoe who Masuki shares a part-time job with (making Masuki the RAS girl with the strongest direct connection with Afterglow, giving the mad dog extra brownie points), Masuki also has a noticeable difference in how she talks to each of her bandmates. Again, like Tomoe, not as obvious as Moca, but still noticeable. I also really love how Masuki changes her speaking pattern to mimic Maya's speaking pattern whenever Masuki talks to her idol. Something that was really difficult for me to depict in Hanging Out With Your Idol given the time constraints, but still a part of Masuki's character I really enjoy.

Overall, a fantastic character, absolutely incredible. Even more impressive for Masuki because Masuki jumped so much in the rankings. And while, yes, the Morfonica girls in this tier group also jumped a lot, the Morfonica girls were ranked low initially because I didn't know too much about them so I was ranking them cautiously. Masuki, on the other hand, was the last girl in RAS to get a chance a shine, which put Masuki in the shadows for the longest time… in other words, Masuki was nobody back in the day… until Masuki got a chance to appeal to all of us and we all got to see how fantastic of a character Masuki is.

Uehara Himari (6, 7, 8, 7, 7, 8, 7, 7, 8, 8, 6, 6, 5)

We're starting the top five with the only girl who was never in the top five before: Himari. As a matter of fact, the other four girls in the top five never left the top five, so… Quite the achievement for Himari to be competitive with them, but she is the leader of my favorite band so she deserves some respect and recognition. Himari is a fun character who works hard and tries her best, even if things don't always go her way. She's the band's mood maker, just like Touko I talked about a few spots earlier, making her a vital piece of the machine that is Afterglow. Unlike Touko, however, Himari sometimes lacks the confidence in her abilities to be the moodmaker and falters, but that also makes you want to cheer Himari on to get back up and try again. Which, to Himari's credit, she does more often than not.

Himari is well known to be the butt of the joke, something that is not only well-known by now but is also something that should be expected if you are friends with Moca, Tomoe, and Ran. Heck, Tsugumi's tendency to speak before thinking often inadvertently ends up adding fuel to the fire, too. But what often goes overlooked when it comes to Himari is that Himari is not only able to take that punishment but is also capable of dishing it right back with jabs of her own. And, perhaps most importantly, Himari is a good sport about it because she's obviously still as close with her childhood friends as ever. Meaning that no matter how much her friends end up pushing her buttons, Himari always shrugs it off. She might whine and complain about it at first, but she'll eventually shrug off the punishment she is receiving from her friends. Which is also a great indication of how close the members of Afterglow are that the other four girls (three if we exclude Tsugumi who doesn't do it on purpose) are comfortable with pushing Himari's buttons; if they weren't that close, then they probably wouldn't tease and joke around Himari as much as they do. I'll get back to this again when we get to the biggest offender in Moca.

Overall, Himari is a fantastic character and I cannot imagine Afterglow without her. Granted, I can say the same to the other four members of Afterglow, but… details shmetails… the one minor complaint I have when it comes to Himari is how her catchphrase in the English version (Hey, Hey, Hoh) just doesn't have the same ring to it as her catchphrase in the Japanese version (Ei, Ei, Oh). But that is a minor nitpick and technically not Himari's fault…

Hazawa Tsugumi (4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 5, 5, 5, 5, 4, 4, 4)

Ah, Tsugumi, where do I begin with you? I guess I could start with "shame on everybody else for losing to the most normal girl in the franchise"? I'm just kidding. But yeah, Tsugumi ranking this high shows that you don't need to have a crazy set of personality traits for me to end up liking you as a character. As long as you are a good and fun character who is well-liked, that can be good enough. Just look at Tsugumi being fourth on this list. But yeah, Tsugumi is the most normal girl of her band, perhaps even the most normal girl in the entire franchise… and while that might seem like a disadvantage for Tsugumi, it is, ironically enough, a big benefit for Tsugumi. In Afterglow specifically all of her bandmates really stand out in one way or another, so having a more normal, more grounded girl in Tsugumi helps keep the band from going into the deep end.

As for Tsugumi herself… Tsugumi is a kind girl who is a hard worker, perhaps to an unhealthy degree given she's pushed herself past her breaking point and collapsed from exhaustion in the past, but she has learned from her earlier mistake. Tsugumi's efforts and hard work are well known in Afterglow to the point where Tsugumi's friends, most notably Moca, make jokes about how hard Tsugumi is working (to the point where Moca has multiple jokes about Tsugumi working hard in Super and Hyper Tsuguteru). It is also impressive how much she is able to balance her schedule, from school to band practice to student council duties to part-time job at her family's café… which, speaking of… I should probably address something.

It is funny to me because nobody has noticed or, at the very least, nobody has brought it up in the past nine years and counting, but since I am writing a "full" tier list this time around I might as well come clean myself: I have been calling the Hazawa family café the "Hazawa Café" all this time instead of its actual name in "Hazawa Coffee". There are two things I can say about why I've always called it "Hazawa Café" instead of "Hazawa Coffee" all this time. The first is that one of the first translations I saw regarding Tsugumi's bio back in the day called it "Hazawa Café" (despite the fact that you can clearly see "Hazawa Coffee" spelled on the outfits of the workers at the café), so the name stuck. The second is, as somebody in the Netherlands, calling the café "Hazawa Coffee" almost felt like calling it a "Coffee Shop"… and let's just say that a "Coffee Shop" is not a place for high schoolers to go with their friends and families to drink some coffee. I know the setting is in Japan so that shouldn't be relevant, but it still felt… weird… for me. And since nobody noticed or brought it up I guess that bit of incorrect information flew under everybody's radar. Should I have not brought that up and continued going under the radar? Potentially, but my conscience is clear now that I talked about it. Will I switch to calling the café "Hazawa Coffee" from now on? Anyway, let's get back to Tsugumi and her role in the Hazawa Café.

I also really love how kind and supportive Tsugumi is, always there to give some words of encouragement and motivation to whoever she is talking to. This is especially true when she is interacting with the other part-timers in the Hazawa Café, that being Eve and later Fusuke and, for a limited time, Taki. Fusuke and Taki I want to put extra emphasis on because both girls joined the Hazawa Café later. Both girls struggled at first, but with Tsugumi supporting and encouraging them, they quickly managed to get their bearings again before succeeding at the task at hand. As expected of the wonderful Tsugumi.

Yamabuki Saaya (1, 2, 2, 2, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 3)

While I don't dislike Poppin' Party, Saaya has a big uphill battle needing to compete with Afterglow; all five Afterglow girls are in the top eleven, the next highest ranking Poppin' Party girl is all the way down on twenty-eight with Kasumi. Not having another girl in your band near the top is a detriment for Saaya as that severely limits my ability to use Saaya in my writing… even if I don't limit myself to just the "usual" pairings or within their bands or anything, as Saaya can interact positively with almost all if not all of the girls in the tier group. It's still a bit of a detriment being unable to use Saaya with the "obvious" girls to pair her with, though… or, better phrased, it is harder for me to use Saaya with her bandmates than most of the other girls in this tier group with their bandmates.

What do I like about Saaya? Well… as long-time fans and followers will know, I've often referred to Saaya as "Ruiko Jr." because of how similar Saaya was to my then-favorite character of all time Saten Ruiko from the Raildex franchise. Which is funny because Ruiko is canonically younger than Saaya in their respective universes, but I "met" Ruiko before Saaya so… yeah… anyways, both girls are very mature, very caring girls who know how to support and take care of their friends who mean everything to them. I know I should be more specific here to show off how amazing Saaya is, but… the overall package that is Saaya is just amazing. That's all.

Saaya is an incredible character, highlighted even more by the fact that my only complaint about her is that I wish I liked her bandmates more. And unlike characters like Misaki and Sayo where the presence of her bandmates had a negative impact on either my enjoyment of the character or my ability to use the character in my stories, Saaya doesn't. …okay, I would prefer to not write Tae or Rimi, but they don't actively drag Saaya down or anything, either.

Mitake Ran (3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 2)

Remember how I described Tomori as "an inferior copy of Ran and an inferior copy of Mashiro" and you might have wondered why that was relevant? Well… look at where Ran is ranked and tell me why I should use Tomori when Ran, the second of the two characters I compared Tomori to because of the obvious similarities, is all the way up here?

Ran has… close to everything I could hope for in a character. She is a very interesting character having multiple sides to her personality from her strong rebellious side to arguably being a bigger scaredy cat than Himari, arguably the widest range in vocal skills in the entire franchise (which, admittedly, is more a praise for Sakura Ayane than for Ran, but still), and Ran actually grew as a character over the years. All of these factors not only make Ran very fun to write but also very easy to write as I've gotten a very good grasp on who Ran is as a character. It helps that my understanding of who Ran is as a character is so strong even all the way back when Garupa first started and we had barely any resources to go off. As if that wasn't enough, Ran is also part of my favorite band full of other characters I not only really love but also find very easy to write. The best of both worlds.

We will ignore the fact that she technically also regressed as a character in a certain way when Garupa created that multi-event event story starting in 2024 I believe where Afterglow threatened to disband as Ran was on the verge of running away from Afterglow only for them to come together once again later… a plot that was heavily explored in The Times We Lost which got published in 2017… but I digress. But I do want to toot my own horn there for a bit, because that shows how well I understood the Afterglow girls even all the way back then. As, remember, The Times We Lost's first chapter was published (published, not written) before we had any event in the game that even featured any of the Afterglow girls (the first chapter was published on 10 April 2017, and the first event that featured an Afterglow girl didn't start until almost three weeks later with the Searching for Stars event on 30 April 2017).

I will begrudgingly admit that Afterglow's music has been a little inconsistent over the years, especially in more recent years, but I don't think Afterglow has dropped below "good" so all's well that ends well. And that also shouldn't take away from the fact that Afterglow's bangers are absolute bangers. Ran is still a fantastic vocalist and Afterglow is still a fantastic band, the standard to which I judge every other band that has come since.

That being said… Ran isn't my favorite character in this franchise. I think you should know who that is by now, but the only character in this franchise I like even more than Ran is… probably the most obvious number one there could ever be.

Aoba Moca (2, 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 1, 1, 1)

Once upon a time, people would assume that Moca was my favorite character of the franchise, and while they were incorrect back then… by now, Moca has perfectly established her spot on the top. To the point where I would argue that the gap between 1 and 2 on this list is bigger than the gap between 2 and 13. And while the competition between Saaya and Moca was pretty close even back then, there is one thing that has kept Moca relevant time and time and time again: she is by far the easiest character for me to write. Definitely in BanG Dream, potentially even of all time (the only other character who comes to mind in that conversation is Silver from Pokémon Special… and I haven't written Silver in seven years, so take that however you want… admittedly, that is more because I didn't want to write in Pokémon and not because I didn't want to write Silver, but still).

Which is kind of ironic given that Moca should be one of the hardest characters to write in the franchise given how wide of a character she is. But over the years, I've written Moca enough to the point that it's no longer an issue for me. As a matter of fact, it's only a benefit as I can take full advantage of one of Moca's greatest assets: she has a ton of personality traits, which makes her an extremely flexible character in terms of how you want to write her. A character like, say… Tsugumi is pretty straigthforward to write because she only has a handful of personality traits at most, so predicting how Tsugumi would react to any given situation is fairly straightforward. However, because there are only so many personality traits that Tsugumi can take advantage of, there are also only so many scenarios in which it becomes realistic to write her. Moca is the exact opposite of that. It is really challenging to predict how Moca would react in any given situation if you don't have experience writing Moca, but once you get comfortable writing Moca you have so many different scenarios and settings you can write her in and make full use of her. There is a very good reason why Moca is not only the BanG Dream character I've written for the most but also the character I have written for the most. Period. To the point where writing for other franchises now becomes harder because I can't use Aoba Moca. There are often Aoba Moca-like characters in other franchises, but there is no Aoba Moca exactly in other franchises.

I am not going to list all the reasons why I love Moca as much as I do or else we'll be here all day, and this post is long enough already as is, but I'll try to list at least a couple to give you an idea. I love how Moca has a unique way to refer to everybody in Afterglow, including herself ("Ran" is first name, "Moca-chan" is first name + -chan, "Hii-chan" is shortened first name + -chan, "Tomo-chin" is shortened first name + -chin, and "Tsugu" is shortened first name; notably, Moca was the first character in the franchise to call Himari and Tomoe this way until it was later revealed that Ako and Hagumi called Himari "Hii-chan" and Hagumi called Tomoe "Tomo-chin", too). This already shows how flexible Moca is, but also highlights how difficult it is to write Moca as it becomes increasingly difficult to predict how she will refer to any given girl. The only thing I can complain about when it comes to Moca.

I love how much Moca makes fun of her friends when it is time to make fun of them and how Moca is not against calling out her friends for mistakes they have made as early as the first Afterglow Band Story. At the same time, I also love how Moca never takes things too far and, when it becomes clear that she is pushing against a boundary, she apologizes, stops the joking, and takes a step back. I love how Moca knows when it is time to be joking and silly and when it is time to be serious. I love how much Moca works behind the scenes to support her friends and how she actively adjusts her behavior so she doesn't make those around her feel (too) uncomfortable. I love how subtle yet noticeable her growth has been over the years and how much that growth has helped Moca to develop into a better character.

It also helps that even within the group of characters that is Afterglow, who was already well known for having very popular and well established VAs even before BanG Dream, Moca's VA Misawa Sachika was my favorite VA going into the franchise. She has done a phenomenal job breathing life into the character, and Moca wouldn't be half the character she is today if it weren't for her.

Overall, not only is Moca a fantastic character, but she is everything I could have asked for in a character and so much more. For every other character where I said something along the lines of "this character reminds me of Moca because they share this specific trait" or "this character resembles Moca in this way", it was said as a compliment. To be compared favorably to Moca is to be compared favorably to the best of the best, and if you are compared favorably to the best of the best then you know that you did at least something right.

I like doing these lists because it puts into perspective that despite some bad apples, the franchise has a ton of amazing characters. The main reason I don't write such lists more often, aside from the fact that not a lot of movement happens on these lists to begin with without "big moments" like major event stories or new anime series, is because it takes forever to write my reasonings for placing the characters where I placed them. For context, this post in total was 19k words (see proof below).

To end this long post, I want to highlight this: only 6 characters in the franchise I have a lot of negative things to say (for comparison, there are more than double that at 13 characters in the Favorites tier group alone!), and only 9 characters I am not a huge fan of at best. That is only 9.84% and 14.75% of the entire franchise respectively. On the flipside, 42 of the 61 characters on this list are in the "Likes" tier or better, accounting for 68.85% of the entire franchise. So despite how vocal I can be about how much I dislike certain characters, it is important to remember that many of the characters here are fantastic!

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