Last time, Poppin’ Party did not pass the audition and Kasumi wonders why. Is Kasumi in denial about her performance after the owner tells her what’s wrong?
As expected, the owner plans on closing down the shop and Kasumi wants to know why her band didn’t pass. They saw ChiSPA pass despite not having a perfect performance. Aside from good team work, the band had faith in their performance thanks to their strong bonds and passion despite mistakes.
In comparison, Poppin’ Party simply does not have that since they just formed their band. These bonds are important because each member has to trust each other to do their part to give a good performance with passion. Without this, they will never have a good performance. Of course, this cannot be accomplished without good leadership. To me, I don’t think Poppin’ Party is ready and the reason why is obvious.
The problem why Poppin’ Party can’t pass the audition is clear. For a while now, Kasumi has been hogging the spotlight and haven’t shown herself as an effective leader. Sure, she is energetic and has passion for music, but that isn’t enough. Sure, she is best friends will all the members, but I don’t think they trust each other to give a good performance. Arisa is having her doubts on whether or not she is having fun playing music for the sake of passing an audition.
I think the main problem is that Kasumi is in complete denial. She inists that there is nothing wrong and she can simply keep auditioning and practicing until they pass. I think the owner was right to tell it as it is and that Kasumi performed the worse from her band.
It’s obvious to see why. Kasumi only wants to play just to pass an audition instead of playing music with passion. Kasumi could have accepted this and tell her friends why she didn’t play to her full potential. Then, she could work with them to gain their trust. However, she doesn’t do it and instead hides the problem that the owner just revealed.
Kasumi’s denial continues when her friends started noticing something strange. Arisa was the first to notice that something is wrong with Kasumi, especially with her excessive practicing. When Arisa asks what the band has to do to make Kasumi satisfied, Kasumi is still dead set on playing at Space.
While the girls won’t give up, I felt that Kasumi still didn’t address why her performance was lacking and work with her friends to work with her. As they say, bands should play music with passion, not just to pass an audition. Also, it’s okay to move on and audition for another venue. It doesn’t have to be Space, although it won’t be the same.
As audition day comes, everyone seems ready, except for Kasumi. When they started performing, Kasumi lost her ability to sing. This made it obvious to Arisa, Tae, Rimi and Saya that something is obviously wrong with Kasumi. It’s clear that Kasumi completely lost her passion, but she keeps on trying. Surely the owner won’t be happy, but her friends will find out the truth that Kasumi hid from them soon enough.
I felt really bad for Kasumi and hoped they would find a reasonable solution.
This episode confirmed Hina’s status as a treasure.
Yes, it’s sad to see Kasumi this depressed. Maybe the pressure got to her given that they don’t have many tries. Then again, the owner had to tell Kasumi so she can fix her flaws at some point.