Hi ! you remember last time so i won't waste page space here. i tend to listen to music from Love Live, Bandori and other series themed around music differently than i do pretty much any other album, so it felt like it made sense to talk about it seperately.
No Brand Girls is the first song that i think of going for a favorite Love Live song. and i know this is one of the more popular ones, but you'll see how little that matters with the last μ's song here... anyway, No Brand Girls means so much to me. coming at the point in the story it does, the harder guitar edge compliments the mounting drama of the end of School Idol Project's first cour perfectly. The song is about desperately trying for self expression to the world while struggling to find an identity in the work. "i have so much to say, but what makes that special ?" that's what the "No Brand" in the title means. and i get that very deeply; as i write this i've collapsed on my mattress and still writing on my phone because i can't bear to keep my feelings to myself where i might forget them. but the song isn't too mired on that tug-of-war between slacking and burnout. it's also, as expected from idols, very focused on being motivating. It'll be evident later on (Believe Again, RAS) but this kind of soundscape energizes me a lot more than something more traditionally idol pop. It just feels like it gets it, you know ? this kind of thing can't be too shiny or self-assured. there'd be a dissonance in the reckless emotions and the feel of the sound. that frantic path to burnout can't be too pretty and it certainly shouldn't look effortless, like dancing with a smile. it has to be fast, rough guitars and a shouted countdown–i'm talking from experience.
Garasu no Hanazono is just such a sweet song of forbidden love. It's relatively self-explanatory, especially in the context of the show and the relationship between Nozomi and Eli. on the meta level, the series was yet to get as comfortable with textual yuri as it would with Nijigasaki and Superstar, so its "forbidden love" in a very classic sense. in the role NozoEli play to the rest of μ's, they have to be more restrained and mature than their kouhai and Nico. i wouldn't say its a strain, but its definitely (in at least Nozomi's case) imperative she project dependability and maturity. everything about both of them as "group moms" really comes out here. they express their restraint so fully and beautifully it seems like a contradiction. there's so much complex inner strength to Eli's unexpected warmth and the way Nozomi came to her reliability–i admire them both deeply, and love their love, so of course Garasu no Hanazo would blow me away.
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