BanG Dream! YUME∞MITA Episode 11 Teaches About Online Flame and Breakups

Episode 11 of BanG Dream! YUME∞MITA taught a valuable lesson about the online space: when people try to bring you down, make up stories about you, clip farm you, throw ridiculous allegations at you, or even put words in your mouth, sometimes the best thing you can do is simply ignore them.

Mugendai MewType has now stood out from the rest of the BanG Dream! franchise as the band most closely connected to the online world. Even though that was pretty obvious from the moment it was revealed that MewType would be a VTuber band, so it makes sense that the anime would explore the same space. What I really appreciate, though, is how accurately the series portrays the way online communities can twist narratives and turn people against one another.

Viola is the ultimate mastermind when it comes to twisting stories and making people believe in fake truths and she honestly feels like a pretty spot-on representation of the kind of people who will find any possible way to bring you down, even when you’ve done nothing wrong in the first place.

People like Viola do exist in real life. Most likely, anyone trying to make a name for themselves online will eventually encounter someone like her. There will always be people trying to rain on your parade, “criticize” your every move, or throw allegations at you, sometimes so absurd that you wonder how they even came up with them. 

So what do you do with those people? Sometimes the only option is just to ignore them. And I love how almost every member of MewType did that. At this point, it’s just another Tuesday for them. Well, except for one person and it’s none other than Miyako (my goat).

She has finally woken up. Miyako has finally realized that she fell in love with a snake and I really feel so bad for her after everything she’s been through. Yeah, she caused a lot of trouble for the band but she was also just doing her best. Like give her a break (for real). The girl is juggling three lives at once as a mangaka, a student, and a keyboardist. Seeing her finally let everything out and confront Viola was such a satisfying moment, especially because it feels like the beginning of her redemption arc. And of course, Miyako still manages to make the whole thing hilarious by the end. That’s just my goat.

With Miyako finally starting to make amends, Yuno was another major highlight of the episode. For starters, she finally stopped using ChatGPT in her replies which is already a good start. But more importantly, she finally confronted her past and came to an even greater realization about what happened with her former band supremacy. Just because a band breaks up doesn’t mean the people you shared that dream with suddenly stop supporting you.

Koharu’s words, “Believing in one’s own dream can push towards your own, isn’t that awesome?” helped Yuno realize that she wasn’t being left behind. Everyone was moving forward on their own paths, carrying their own dreams with them while still remaining connected. And how amazing must it have been for Yuno (the real-life one) to record this exact scene with her kamioshi, Maaya Uchida, the voice of Koharu?

Once again, the casting in BanG Dream! continues to deliver because the impact of the scene becomes even greater knowing that the people recording it can relate to the emotions behind it. There’s something genuinely special about that. And with that, Yuno has grown so much, even outside the anime.

To sum up Episode 11, this was an episode about what happens after a breakup. At first, naturally, it’s going to be painful like how Miyako is feeling that pain right now. But eventually, time heals and gives you the chance to look back and realize that a breakup doesn’t necessarily mean everything is over. Sometimes, it creates opportunities for something new. Yuno is the perfect example. After supremacy’s breakup she’s now have the opportunity to play with MewType. As she said, “breaking up isn’t the end, but the start of something new.” I love this line from Yuno so much and made me appreciate the journey of BanG Dream! YUME∞MITA so far. 

Episode 10 showed us MewType finally beginning to feel like a real band and Episode 11 takes that feeling even further. And what sealed the deal for me wasn’t them ignoring the backlash online. It wasn’t the members finally realizing their mistakes. It wasn’t even the picture they took together or the fact that they went out for ramen. For me, it was Arale’s smile right before they took the picture. That was it. This is MewType.

Screenshots were taken from Muse Asia.
© BanG Dream! Project