BanG Dream! 星の鼓動〈スタービート〉

BANG DREAM!: STAR BEAT

Music

MANGA

STATUS
COMPLETE
VOLUMES
2
RELEASE
December 8, 2015
CHAPTERS
12

DESCRIPTION

Toyama Kasumi, a first year high schooler with a shy personality, can no longer sing and express her emotions ever since she was made fun of her singing her favorite song. She is lonely and could not make friends even after entering high school. The only time she could show her emotions is through an exchange diary on her desk with a mysterious person named "Saaya" (サアヤ). Saaya seems to attend classes at a fixed time.

On one of her melancholic days, Kasumi saw star-shaped stickers pointing to a direction which she followed and end up at a pawnshop where she found a star-shaped guitar named "Random Star." Seeing the guitar, Kasumi wants to change herself and "shoot for her dreams".

Ichigaya Arisa, the girl she met at the pawnshop, offered Kasumi an alternative. Instead of buying the guitar, Kasumi will get the guitar in exchange of joining Arisa's game called "BanG_Dream!"

(Source: BanG Dream Wikia)

CAST

Arisa Ichigaya
Kasumi Toyama
Tae Hanazono
Saaya Yamabuki
Rimi Ushigome
Wataru Yamabuki

CHAPTERS

RELATED TO BANG DREAM!: STAR BEAT

ANIME ComedyBanG Dream!

NOVEL MusicBanG Dream!

MANGA ComedyBanG Dream!

MANGA ComedyMore! Girls Band Life

REVIEWS

patkarunungan
60/100
The beta version of BanG Dream may be dark but it's still consistent with the ethos of early BanG Dream.
__BanG_Dream! Star Beat is the beta version of early BanG Dream, which is why this manga and the corresponding light novel are dubbed by fans as betadori__.

The story has the same outline as Season 1. The big difference is how it features characters with sad backstories. (Beta) Kasumi is a depressed, introverted girl who was bullied when she was younger, whereas the canonical Kasumi is extremely extroverted and genki. (Beta) Saaya's mom actually died, whereas canonical Saaya's mom was merely sickly.

I was under the impression that it was proto-MyGO, but it's not exactly like that. It didn't feel like MyGO at all. Despite having these sad backstories, it feels more consistent with the ethos of early BanG Dream, in which we suppose that BanG Dream means 'shooting for one's dreams.'

Speaking of the name itself, BanG Dream is initially presented as something specific related to (Beta) Arisa. Later on, BanG Dream takes a different referent. I won't spoil it. Suffice it to say that this manga does explain well why it's called BanG Dream in the first place, something that I don't think the anime or game has explained so well.

The character designs feel antiquated even in 2015. It is said to be inspired by the designs of the early 2000s. Anyone picking this manga up won't realise that these cute characters have sad backstories until they are on their way reading.

It explained chords twice. If this were longer, it might have featured panels explaining different musickal terms, and this would have been so educational. The anime and game stories focus so much on the little bit of drama and the emotional side that you would barely learn any musickal term at all.

Finally, despite their sad backstories, it can be comedy gold, thanks to (Beta) Rimi. I find its comedy even better than the one in Season 1.

It didn't feature as much drama as I had expected. Ironickally, Season 1 had better drama than this one. Season 1 might have removed the sad backstories, but it contains plenty of potential dramas, albeit not taken to their logickal conclusion.

Despite Betadori not exactly confirming my hypothesis that the original form of bandori is something like AveMyGO, I still think that Season 1 and later pre-AveMyGO seasons had their breaks on and prevented the writing from reaching the sustained drama found in AveMyGO, because they didn't feel that the market was ready for it. After all, this manga flopped, so the early incarnations of BanG Dream had to make it seem like K-On but with potential for drama.

In conclusion, for anyone who likes the early kirakira dokidoki versions of BanG Dream, this manga is worth reading. It reminds you that even if life is tough on you, it's still worth dreaming.
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