Kasumi’s already started her recruitment drive for band members.

(Spoilers in this review) 

In this episode alone, she managed to win over a lonely genius (I’m talking about Arisa, who turns out to be the freshmen students’ representative and who did really well on the entrance exams) by basically following her everywhere. Turns out Kasumi can convince a girl to give her an expensive guitar for (essentially) free by accompanying her to school and home, eating at her breakfast table, helping her clean the warehouse, and by shedding a few tears when said guitar is accidentially damaged.

Okay, I’m being a bit pessismistic and it wasn’t quite that simple, but Arisa totally definitely didn’t have to give Kasumi the guitar. I mean, the guitar was potentially worth 300,000 yen… But friendship (and plot) demands that she willingly hands the guitar to Kasumi instead.

The episode ends with Rimi, who can play bass guitar and who was invited by Kasumi to join her band, telling her sister, the guitarist for Glitter*Green (the band that played in episode one) that she isn’t joining Kasumi’s band. That totally conflicts with what she told Kasumi earlier when she invited Rimi to join. Quite the change of heart!

Thoughts On This Episode:

• I can’t get over the fact that Arisa gave up the guitar for free like that. She must be really lonely and thankful that Kasumi went out of her way to befriend her.
• It turns out that Arisa was the one who put those star stickers all over the place. She used to play piano and would receive a star sticker whenever she played a piece correctly.
• Still, I’m a bit puzzled. Last episode she was claiming she was not a high school student and then in this episode she said she’s not Ichigaya. But she definitely is a high school student and her last name surely is Ichigaya. Perhaps she wants to be called Arisa by her peers in order to not feel so isolated? She gets more depressing the more I think about it.
• Arisa is a total sweetheart, though. The reason why she was so insistent to clean up the warehouse was so her grandma would hand her the key to the underground practice room. She was totally rubbing me the wrong way at first, but she really won me over by the end of this episode.
• Saaya obviously has some hang-ups with a band or something. Maybe she was in one with some of Arisa’s classmates. She accompanied Kasumi to Arisa’s classroom, but was quick to duck away from the door – as if she was afraid of being seen. She also froze up when Kasumi invited her to join her band. Saaya also was quick to advise Rimi to turn down Kasumi’s offer as if she thinks joining a band is meaningless. Hm.
• Rimi probably has an inferiority complex towards her sister, the guitarist from Glitter*Green. Or she wants to just support her sister. Either way, I’m pretty sure the next episode will have Kasumi convincing her to join the band.
• Can we talk about Kasumi? She is aggressively physical and not afraid to hug or rub cheeks with other girls, hooray! She also doesn’t really stop to ask the others about their goals and dreams, boo. She’s kind of just sweeeping them up in her own interest and hoping that they join her. It worked for Arisa, sure, but Arisa desperately wanted friends of her own age so she was easy pickings. It’ll probably be harder for everyone else.
• Speaking of which, Tae, the other guitarist (according to the OP), never appeared at all in this episode. Isn’t it sad, Tae-chin?