It started casually in September 2018 with me finding an anime song mobile rhythm game to play. BanG Dream was one of the games that appeared in my Play store search. The song “Butterfly” and “Secret Base” from the game screenshot is enough to convince me to download the game and give it a try. Initially, I did not bother about the game story and characters as I was skipping through them. My only intention was just playing the game. Soon, I found out the game also has an anime. This started my fall into the fandom, it made me interested with their characters. I started to pay more attention to the characters and stories in game, and original songs began growing onto me. Then I discovered some of the in-game bands are also real-life bands with the voice actresses (hereinafter referred to as “seiyuu”, the Japanese word for voice actor) representing their characters in real-life performing live. I then watched some of their live performance videos from previous concerts; It looked so hyped and so much fun, so I told myself I must attend their concert one day.
Half a year later, I found the community Discord group and this essentially sealed my soul in this fandom especially on the real-world side. I learned so much more regarding the franchise and the seiyuus. My appreciation for the seiyuus grew tremendously. Somehow, they have the time to voice record, practise their instrument, rehearse, appear on programmes related to the franchise and allocate time for work in other series. Within slightly over a year since I started, I attended my first concert from the BanG Dream franchise in November 2019. This was a joint concert from two bands in the franchise namely Roselia and Raise A Sullen (RAS), able to see two bands perform in one concert is a good deal for me, killing two birds with one stone.
I was supposed to return to Japan this year for another BanG Dream concert in May but Covid-19 happened and that event was postponed indefinitely. And just when I thought I could finally see my favourite band from the franchise Poppin' Party (Popipa) live next month, the country borders are still closed. 2020 be killing my hopes and dreams. I am not going to give up and will continue trying to attend a Popipa concert hopefully in 2021.
This month marks my 2nd anniversary with BanG Dream. This is the second mobile game that managed to keep me playing for two years. My playtime now is lesser than the first year but for the franchise as a whole, I am still very devoted to it especially to Popipa. I really love them. This is the first time I am actively part of the local fan community. Currently, a moderator for the local franchise Discord server, MYANDORI. Met so many great people there. I am uncertain for how long more will my love and support stay in this franchise, but while I am still into it, I will enjoy this journey and make memories.
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