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Other Characters
This is a partial character sheet for BanG Dream!. Visit here for the main character index. Subjective trope and audience reactions should go on the YMMV page.
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Afterglow
Hard Rock Performance of 5 Childhood Friends!
A band formed by five childhood friends as a way to always stay together, their powerful bond comes through in their music. They consist of Ran on lead vocals and rhythm guitar, Moca on lead guitar, Himari on bass, Tomoe on drums and Tsugumi on keyboard. Their songs have a rebellious and emotional alt-rock style.
General
- Breaking the Fellowship:
- In the middle of Afterglow's story, Ran's internal conflicts about wanting to justify herself and her band to her father lead to a heated argument with Tomoe (the first real fight that the band has had) and along with Tsugumi's collapse leads the band to stop hanging out together for a little while. The next few chapters are devoted toward the other girls trying to figure out how to get Ran and Tomoe to apologize to each other and how to get Ran to open up to her friends.
- Discussed between Ran and Tsugumi in Afterglow's first event as third-year students, with Tsugumi overheard Ran discussing with her father that Afterglow might disband as she notices from their group chats that each member are doing more activities to improve on their own. Therefore Ran wants the band to accomplish everything the best they can before graduating.
- Childhood Friends: Many characters, including Afterglow themselves, often mention how they've been close-knit since childhood. They started their band up in middle school.
- Color-Coded Characters: The band is associated as a group with red.
- Ran: Red
- Moca: Teal
- Himari: Light Red
- Tomoe: Maroon
- Tsugumi: Yellow
- Cool People Rebel Against Authority: Their band definitely has a rebellious feeling to it, fueled by Ran's own rebellion towards her dad.
- The Defroster: Moca, and by extension the other members of Afterglow, defrosted Ran back when they were small children. Not that Ran isn't still shy and awkward around people outside of the band.
- Four-Temperament Ensemble:
- Ran is Melancholic.
- Moca is Phlegmatic.
- Himari is Sanguine.
- Tomoe is Choleric.
- Tsugumi is Phlegmatic.
- Origins Episode: The "As the Evening Clears" event details how the girls came to form Afterglow three years ago.
- Primal Fear: During one event where they get locked in the school, four of the five bandmates are slowly overwhelmed by the fear of the school’s seven wonders, except for Moca, who brings them up in the first place.
- We Want Our Jerk Back!: "Jerk" is a bit of a strong word, but the conflict in Afterglow's second band story is caused by Ran believing that the other members want her to go back to how she was before the first band story because believing her no longer avoiding her flower arranging is affecting her lyrics. Ran is upset since her changing was the only way to keep the band together.
Ran Mitake
Ran Mitake
Voiced by: Ayane Sakura (Japanese), Courtney Lomelo (English)
Rebellious Red Noodle
Birthday: April 10 (Aries)
School: Haneoka Girls' High School
Year: 1st (Season 1), 2nd (Season 2), 3rd (Season 3)
The lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of Afterglow. Aloof and serious on the outside, she often struggles to express her true feelings. However, she holds a deep love for her friends and family as well as a fiery passion for her band. Her being placed in a different class from the rest of her friends in middle school, and her resulting loneliness, was what ultimately led to the creation of Afterglow. Her family runs a century-old flower arranging school, and Ran's love for her band places her into conflict with her father.
- Aloof Dark-Haired Girl: She can confuse people who don't know her very well because of her apparent aloofness, but typically beneath that she's just very awkward, as shown with her clumsy attempts at befriending Yukina during their "talks." There's also an in-game in-between comic panel that pokes fun at the mature, cool feeling she and Tomoe give while hanging out together.
- Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: Ran is frequently embarrassed by her Dad. When her band's first single went on sale, he showed up to buy ten copies
◊. And once, he bought deluxe snack waffles for the band, causing Ran to wonder if he really stood in line with the throngs of teen girls◊ who would ordinarily buy them. - Catchphrase: "Same as always." It's noted by the rest of Afterglow that this is actually praise, as it means she feels that everyone's done their best, as always.
- Demonic Possession: In Garupa Pico, Ran ends up getting possessed by a tribal entity known as "Babanbo-sama" as a result of her bandmates trying to find a quick cure for her fever when she gets sick. Unlike most examples though, it's not malevolent, as all it does throughout the gag series is to excitably project its own presence during Afterglow's concerts and nothing more.
- Emo Teen: Definitely qualifies: she’s the aloof and occasionally broody vocalist of an alternative punk rock band that focuses on songs with emotional lyrics, has a red streak in her hair, usually wears black, and initially clashes with her father over pursuing band activites instead of flower arranging (which he calls “a phase”).
- Emotionless Girl: While she is pretty down-to-earth, it's more of an affectation. Ran tries to maintain a veneer of being unaffected at all times, but she has a habit of losing her cool and occasionally becoming embarrassed.
- Hot-Blooded: Despite her stoicism, in reality she's really passionate, and prickles at accusations towards Afterglow. She and Tomoe make a pretty good team in defending the band's honor whenever it's slighted.
- The Leader: Played With. She’s not the actual leader of the band (that role belongs to Himari instead), but she’s at the heart of Afterglow. Concern over her emotional problems bring the group together like family more than once, and all of them are aware that despite Ran's cool attitude, she has a strong inner fire, so they tend to defer to her for major decisions.
- Mellow Fellow: In a kuudere way, but emphasis on "cool" instead of "ice" like in Sugar and Ice Personality. Moca and her get along pretty fine because of this, according to Afterglow.
- Mirror Character: She and Yukina view each other as rivals, but they both want to impress their fathers with music and are aloof.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: After finding out that a live venue they auditioned to perform at judges bands based on their popularity, Ran is furious and lashes out at the producer. This unfortunately ends up causing Afterglow to develop a bad reputation among those unfamiliar with them, thus kicking off the conflict of their third band story.
- Nonconformist Dyed Hair: She added a red streak to her hair after she and her friends founded the band Afterglow as a sign of her rebellion against her father's desire to have her take over the family's flower arranging school. After her father accepted that she was serious about the band, he supported her, and she met him halfway by resuming her flower arranging lessons, but she kept the streak in her hair.
- No Social Skills: Sort of. She's bad at (or perhaps too stubborn about) getting across her actual feelings, as is particularly evident during school, around Yukina. It can be seen in Afterglow's band story too, though her friends know her pretty well by now.
- Not So Stoic: For someone whose aloof demeanor should probably make her more of a stoic, she gets fired up really easily.
- The Quiet One: A girl of few words, but when she wants to say something, she makes it count.
- Resort to Pouting: Season 2, during the "joint culture fest" between the two schools, an impromptu band was formed called the "Part Timers". During their performance, Ran can be seen with her arms crossed, a small pout on her face, as the temporary band has two of her own band's regulars, Tsugumi and Moca, performing. The other two members of Afterglow, Tomoe and Himari, are fine with it, cheering from the audience.
- She Cleans Up Nicely: On very rare occasions, she can rock a pretty dress◊ and look absolutely beautiful while doing so.
- Shrinking Violet: She was something of a shy crybaby as a child. She still has hints of her childish shyness in the present, but it's now well masked by her aloof and stoic demeanor.
- Tomboy with a Girly Streak: She’s rebellious, has a punkish fashion style, and initially prioritizes band activites over flower arranging. She eventually starts partaking in flower arranging more often after Afterglow’s first band story, she has a lot of knowledge of flower language, and a few of her cards depict her in dresses.
- Tsundere:
- Not as temperamental as Arisa, but she still has the qualities of one, as she’s very easy to fluster in spite of her aloof personality and tries to deny her embarassment whenever this happens.
- She's a particularly big one to Yukina. Some of Ran's clumsy attempts to befriend and talk to Yukina at school can come off as hostile despite her genuinely good intentions, confusing Yukina in the process.
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: She only wants her father to appreciate her and what she does.
- What the Hell, Hero?: She is not happy with Tomoe in “Growing up Sisters”, as she avoids being straightforward about her newfound issues with Ako.Ran: So you’re only a “cool big sister” because Ako depends on you? Your coolness relies on someone else being around? That sounds pretty lame if you ask me. [...] I don’t wanna hear about Ako! I want to know what you think, Tomoe! You! If Ako said she didn’t need you anymore, would you just smile, nod, and stop being her sister? Just like that?
Moca Aoba
Moca Aoba
Voiced by: Sachika Misawa (Japanese), Cat Thomas (English)
Birthday: September 3 (Virgo)
School: Haneoka Girls' High School
Year: 1st (Season 1), 2nd (Season 2), 3rd (Season 3)
The lead guitarist of Afterglow. An unflappable, sleepy-natured girl who seems to take life at her own pace, she often says exactly what's on her mind, whatever it may be. The members of Afterglow share a strong bond, but Moca's friendship with Ran is especially powerful, and she is the best at handling their aloof vocalist. Despite her easygoing and sly personality she can often be transparent with her worries.
- Ambiguously Gay: Beyond the Boyish Short Hair and her style of dress, Moca says things to Ran (specifically Ran) that would be interpreted as open flirting if not for her personality easily excusing it as her messing around. In one 4koma she gives Ran her number when she buys things from the convenience store Moca works at, only for Ran to remark that, obviously, she already has Moca’s number.
- Big Eater: She loves the pastries at the Yamabuki bakery and keeps point cards to her favorite restaurants.
- Brilliant, but Lazy: She's rather lazy about most matters but when it comes to the things she's truly passionate about, namely her friends and the band, she gives her all. In one event Tsugumi tells Sayo that Moca is able to replay a melody after hearing it once.
- Cloudcuckoolander: Her passion outside of playing the guitar seems to be an intense investment "point card"-collecting, she's fallen asleep while standing, and in casual conversations, such as in the clickable talks, has a high tendency of speaking in non-sequitur.
- Foil: Moca's easygoing nature, her tendency to say anything that pops to mind, especially if she gets a chuckle out of it, and her ability to do whatever she wants without mind of the consequences helps her stand in stark contrast with Ran, who's emotionally reserved, very particular about her words, and suffers under the pressure of her family history to act against what she wants. Moca also has the well-acknowledged ability to "handle" Ran whenever she's being difficult, which helps draw out the emotions Ran tries to keep under wraps.
- The Gadfly: She's the one who has a tendency to tease or mess with the characters she encounters most, especially within her main circle of Afterglow, but drops it whenever Tomoe or someone scolds her.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She's rather transparent when it comes to worrying about people, and is shown to frequently do so over Ran. Although she teases Himari a lot, she also shows genuine interest in her ideas at times, too.
- Mellow Fellow: She's a pretty relaxed person—though when she does feel emotional, such as concern over something, it's very quickly obvious.
- Mischievous Body Language: Moca Aoba often sports a mischievous grin on her face, alerting her band members that she might be up to something. Usually, Moca will settle for playful teasing or Romantic Ribbing, but it is not uncommon for the other members of Afterglow to wonder what she's up to when she starts grinning. A good example is when the band went to the school at night to retrieve Himari's homework and Moca decided it was the perfect time to tell ghost stories.
- Never Gets Fat: Tomoe once remarked on how Moca never gains weight despite how it seems that all she does is sleeping and eating. Moca jokingly responds that she sends all the calories over to Himari.
- The Nicknamer: Calls Himari "Hii-chan", and nicknames a few other girls such as Tsugumi as "Tsugu".
- Perfectly Cromulent Word: Moca Aoba tends to make up words using the names of her various friends. "Tsugurific" seems to have found a permanent place in lexicon of her band, Afterglow. Tsugumi, for whom it was coined, in one strip◊, suggests Moca is taking it a bit far.Moca: I'm Tsugurific. I'm Mocatastic, too, baby~.
- Sleepyhead: She sleeps on occasion during class and has even fallen asleep while standing up.
- Stepford Smiler: Unlike the other Afterglow members, she has not made peace with Ran changing in the second bandstory and even blames herself for it but acts like her usual laidback self in order not to burden the others.
- Tomboy: Primarily due to her Boyish Short Hair and choices in clothes (hoodies and shorts).
- Trademark Favorite Food: She loves bread, and her visiting the Yamabuki Bakery to get her daily fill led her to becoming friends with Saaya.
- The Troublemaker:
- Moca is a downplayed example…usually. She is mostly looking for ways to get the others to help her fill out her point cards to get more free food, pokes at Himari's Weight Woe, or engages in Romantic Ribbing with Ran.
- One time, the girls were planning a trip to China Town for Lisa. Moca roped in Kokoro and Hina in order to figure out the logistics and finance it. Her bandmates in Afterglow compare her to an evil chancellor.
Himari Uehara
Himari Uehara
Voiced by: Emiri Katou (Japanese), Chaney Moore (English)
Birthday: October 23 (Scorpio)
School: Haneoka Girls' High School
Year: 1st (Season 1), 2nd (Season 2), 3rd (Season 3)
The bassist and leader of Afterglow. A cheerful, ditzy girl who gets easily emotional. Wants to be cool like her bandmates, but seems more suited toward being cute. Although she's the band's coordinator, her suggestions often get her teased (with love) by her fellow members.
- Ambiguously Gay: She'll scream things like "I'll rest in your arms~" with heart eyes at Kaoru, but does seem to focus on the princeliness, and at one point says something like "If you were a boy, I'd fall for you" to Tomoe (to which Tomoe thinks 'I hear that a lot.') to the consternation of shippers.
- Authority in Name Only: She's supposed to be the face of the band and its leader, but Ran is the lead singer and the one they all defer to, mentioned in their band story. Out-of-universe, it's easy to forget that she's the leader due to the marketing heavily advertising Ran.
- Birds of a Feather: She and Rimi often bond over how much they fangirl towards Kaoru.
- Butt-Monkey: Gets teased the most, and a lot of her ideas either come off odd or embarrassing to most of the Afterglow girls—but usually they adopt them in some manner, regardless. It even happens outside of Afterglow, but in either case Tomoe's around to defend her.
- Catchphrase: "Hey, hey, hoh!" She wants it to catch on, but her friends won't bite.
- Cleavage Window: A lot of her cards in the game subject her to this.
- The Ditz: While not as bad as other examples of this trope, she does act like this at times, like suggesting ideas the more self-conscious Afterglow members find embarrassing, mistaking a statue of Michelle for a dog, or attempting to sign Afterglow up for a live that takes place in the middle of the night.
- I Just Want to Be Badass: She actually has a bit of this—while she likes cute clothes just as much, she's shown in some talks with Tomoe and others to think she can't pull off looking "cool" like her, but seems to want to.
- In-Series Nickname: Moca calls her Hii-chan.
- Ms. Fanservice: Not to the extent of, say, Lisa, but many of Himari's cards do emphasize her bust quite often.
- Nobody Loves the Bassist: Despite being the leader of Afterglow, she often isn't taken seriously due to her ditzy nature, and she's a frequent victim of Moca's teasing.
- No-Respect Guy: Tomoe and Tsugu try to be there for her, at least.
- Rose-Haired Sweetie: A sweet and cheerful girl that always does her best and is a Nice Girl to everyone.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: The cheery, sensitive, and ditzy girly girl to Tomoe's tomboy.
- Weight Woe: She's concerned with her weight and is often teased about it by Moca.
Tomoe Udagawa
Tomoe Udagawa
Voiced by: Yōko Hikasa (Japanese), Celeste Roberts (English)
Birthday: April 15 (Aries)
School: Haneoka Girls' High School
Year: 1st (Season 1), 2nd (Season 2), 3rd (Season 3)
The drummer of Afterglow. A reliable and mature girl who often works hard for the sake of others, she serves as the emotional bedrock of her band. She is often seen helping out around the shopping district and plays the taiko drums in the town festivals. She is the older sister of Ako, the drummer for Roselia, and is loving and supportive of her younger sister, if a bit bemused by her antics.
- Anger Born of Worry: Explodes at Ran for not opening up about her troubles to the rest of the band and telling them that it's none of their concern, causing Ran to angrily storm off. They both regret it immediately afterward.
- Big Sister Instinct: Despite seeming rough around the edges, she's very much a kind older sister who doesn't deride Ako's Chuunibyou hobbies, though she doesn't really understand it.
- Boyish Short Hair: She had this in middle school, which is fitting for one of the franchise's more masculine girls.
- Cool Big Sis: Pretty much idolized by her younger sister for her coolness, and the girls of the cast can always rely on her when the going gets tough.
- Even the Girls Want Her: In a way. In one in-game single-panel comic, Himari says something like "if you were a boy, I'd fall for you," and she smiles wryly and thinks to herself, "I hear that a lot."
- She is shown to be popular with girls other than Himari. In the "Hectic Happy Valentines" event, it is revealed that she ends up receiving chocolate to the point where she can't carry it all in her bag.
- Fiery Redhead: She's the most emotionally open out of Afterglow, and as such, is the fastest to express strong emotions. Fittingly, her hair is a pinkish red.
- Hot-Blooded: She has quite a bellow, and pretty much jumps into the fray without a thought if she thinks someone she cares about is in danger or hurt. Sometimes having such an act/talk-first nature backfires on her, though.
- The Lad-ette: She talks in a pretty casual manner, and combined with her hot-blooded protective nature, she basically has the trope down in a G-rated way, and surrounded by girls rather than guys.
- The Lancer: Whenever Ran lets her emotions get the better of her, Tomoe tends to be the one to confront her about it first and most directly. She's also something of Afterglow's secondary leader, since she's mature, reliable, and takes action fastest.
- Mama Bear: Very Hot-Blooded and protective of her band members.
- Nice Girl: Despite her fiery and somewhat hot-headed nature, she is a genuinely nice, kind-hearted and protective individual.
- Odd Friendship: The fact that she is capable of sharing the same mental wavelength as both Kasumi and Kokoro can come off as somewhat surprising to others, who found about this fact.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: The Hot-Blooded, pants-wearing, and action-oriented tomboy to Himari's girly girl.
- Tomboyish Ponytail: Wore her hair in one as a child.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Ramen. So much so that in Season 3 she starts working part-time at Galaxy, the ramen restaurant owned by MASKING's family.
- Younger Than They Look: Everyone always thinks she's one of the eldest characters (even the players!) but she's actually a first year at the start of the game's launch. This is lampshaded in one of the single panel comics in-game. It's noticeable when she addresses people like Kaoru, calling them "-sempai."
Tsugumi Hazawa
Tsugumi Hazawa
Voiced by: Hisako Kanemoto (Japanese), Allison Sumrall (English)
Birthday: January 7 (Capricorn)
School: Haneoka Girls' High School
Year: 1st (Season 1), 2nd (Season 2), 3rd (Season 3)
The keyboardist of Afterglow. An earnest, hardworking girl, it was originally her idea for her and her friends to form a band. She doesn't view herself as unique or talented like her bandmates so she strives to make up for it with hard work, and despite her dim view of her own talent her optimism helps to keep the band afloat in tough times. Her family owns a cafe.
- The Baby of the Bunch: Although she's The Reliable One, she serves as this to her childhood friends, as she seems to be the youngest member of their band.
- Cloudcuckoolander's Minder: Serves as this to Hina during student council activities. Notably, in the second season of the anime, when Hina tosses her speech sheets during her speech to the freshmen of Haneoka Girls' High School, Tsugumi is shocked and calls out Hina on the speech sheets being tossed.Hina: Studying hard is a big deal here at Haneoka, but as your council president... (while tossing her speech sheets at the same time) I say we have FUN!Tsugumi: Hina-senpai, your speech! note
- Curtains Match the Window: Down the the point that she matches her every day casual wear in the same shade of chestnut.
- Does Not Like Spam: Tsugumi hates the bitter taste of black coffee.
- Fear of Thunder: According to this Loading screen 1-panel comic, she's afraid of thunder. She also turns down on being carried by Tomoe, saying that lightning strikes taller objects first.
- The Heart: She's sort of the little sister of Afterglow, and is the best at keeping them grounded and together because of her honest, cheerful attitude.
- Heroic Self-Deprecation: Views herself as the plainest and least talented member of the band, but instead of angsting about it she just works that much harder to make up the difference.
- In-Series Nickname: Moca calls her Tsugu, which is also the nickname she's referred to by several of the characters not limited to but including Himari, Tomoe, Kasumi, Saaya, Hagumi, Hina, Ako, Touko and Nanami.
- Nice Girl: Aside from trying to stand out from the otherwise ordinary and being hard-working, she's a kind and good-natured girl. She's also quite the humble girl as well.
- Plain Jane: She thinks this of herself due to her conventional style clashing with her punkish friends. This is Played for Laughs in a Garupa Pico episode where internet commenters fail to mention her while complimenting the band, which results in her trying to emulate Roselia's "cool" style (much to Ran's horror).
- Plucky Girl: While Tsugu being pretty normal compared to much of the cast is lightly poked fun at in-game, Tsugu's cheerfulness and a hardworking nature are some of her more defining qualities, but her trying to get by with the sheer determination of a Plucky Girl actually bites her.
- Prone to Tears: She sometimes tears up after performances because she's overwhelmed by the audience's positive response.
- The Reliable One: She works very hard to balance the band activities with school, student council, and working part-time at her family's cafe. In season 2, she also becomes student council vice president and has the additional responsibility of reigning in Hina. Ran ends up having a bit of an issue with Hina during the Culture Festival because of this.
- Sick Episode: Gets sick and collapses from overworking halfway in Afterglow's band story.
- Student Council President: While she was vice-president of the Haneoka High student council in Season 2 (both in-game and anime), she's promoted to this role as of Season 3 in-game after the previous student council president, Hina, graduates.
