from ARGONAVIS (originally titled ARGONAVIS from BanG Dream!) is a Japanese multimedia franchise created by Bushiroad, featuring all-male bands as central characters in the story.
The first and the main band of the franchise is Argonavis. They are composed of Ren Nanahoshi on vocals, Yuto Goryo on guitars, Wataru Matoba on bass, Banri Shiroishi on drums, and Rio Kikyo on keyboard. They attend a university at Hakodate, Hokkaido.
First introduced in May 2018 as an all-male spin-off media in the BanG Dream! franchise, it was revealed that despite being from the BanG Dream! franchise, it takes place in an alternate universe from BanG Dream!, so the two franchises and the characters associated with these franchises will not overlap.
Argonavis had its first live event called “Argonavis 0-1st LIVE -The Beginning-” which revealed the first 3 seiyuu in their band before the last two “-The Beginning-“ lives introduced the final members.
It was announced on November 5th, 2019 that Argonavis would be receiving an anime series called ARGONAVIS from BanG Dream! ANIMATION that was released in April 10th, 2020 and a Rhythm-Adventure game called ARGONAVIS from BanG Dream! AAside that was released on January 14th, 2021. The game was shut down on January 31st, 2022 due to the franchise being retooled as a standalone franchise spinning-off from the BanG Dream! brand thanks to the mixed reception from the fans of the original BanG Dream!. A second mobile app under the rebrand titled Argonavis -Kimi ga Mita Stage e- (or KimiSute for short) was originally slated to be released sometime in the summer of 2023, though it was delayed to late 2023, and then again to early 2024. It is eventually released on February 7th, 2024.
Accompanying Argonavis are five other bands, namely:
- GYROAXIA, a Hard Rock band with an emphasis on violent guitar riffs and frequent rapping.
- Fantôme Iris, a Visual Kei band consisting of working adults (plus one NEET).
- Fujin RIZING!, a Ska band consisting of four Childhood Friends and a City Mouse.
- εpsilonΦ, a Darker and Edgier Techno band consisting of high-school students (plus a very sadistic middle schooler).
- ST//RAYRIDE, a two-person rock band consisting of two members from the previous winner band of Live Royal Fes, which is featured in the second mobile game KimiSute.
Discography:
Argonavis
- Steady Goes!
- Goal Line
- Ryuuseiu
- Au no Uta
- STARTING OVER
- Gift
- VOICE
- Hoshi ga Hajimaru
- Ameagari no Sakamichi
- What-if Wonderland!!
- Starry Line
- AGAIN
- Pray
- AAside
- Stand by me!!
- Hey! Argonavis
- As is Aru ga Mama de
- Root of Love
- QUIET DANCE
- JUNCTION
- Y
- Kanousei
GYROAXIA
- MANIFESTO
- SCATTER
- REVOLUTION
- LIAR
- IGNITION
- EGOIST
- GETTING HIGH
- FAR AWAY
- GET MYSELF
- HELLO
- BURN IT UP
- WORLD IS MINE
- BREAK IT DOWN
- WITHOUT ME
Fantôme Iris
- Gin no Yuri
- histoire
- Zakuro
- Kyouki no Melody
- Into the Flame
- Hitsugi no Naka de C'est La Vie
- Janus
Fujin RIZING!
- Banzai RIZING!!!
- Joukyou Joutou Ittekimasu
- Dachi Friend
- RUN GUN RUN
- G Senjou no Y?!
- Yumemiru Boy no Mamoru Tame
εpsilonΦ
- Hikari no Akuma
- Play With You
- Cynicaltic Fakestar
- End of Reason
- S@ke it LOVE!
- Yume no Ato
ST//RAYRIDE
- STRAYDASH//STARTDASH
The franchise contains examples of:
- Adaptation Expansion: The ARGONAVIS manga expands on some things that aren't shown or explained in the anime, such as showing the flashback of Ren's past.
- Adapted Out: Banri's traffic accident was cut in the manga. As the manga diverges from the anime, the accident never happened in the first place.
- Alternate Continuity: The ARGONAVIS manga goes with different direction and development in the storyline compared to the anime.
- Big Bad: Shintaro Mashu is the closest thing the anime has to one: he's the morally-gray manager of GYROAXIA who wants to steal Ren away from Argonavis through a shady deal, so the latter would become famous under his new band. This doesn't make much of an impact on the story, however, as this only lasts for one episode, primarily because Ren firmly rejects the deal.
- Cast Full of Pretty Boys: In contrasts to the Improbably Female Cast of other Bushiroad idol brands such as BanG Dream! and D4DJ, Argonavis features numerous boy bands.
- Darker and Edgier: Franchise wise, at least compared to BanG Dream!. The characters deal with issues such as businesses falling into debt, being abandoned by their parents, toxic family relationships, and so forth.
- "Do It Yourself" Theme Tune: The opening and ending songs of the anime are performed by Argonavis for the first half, and GYROAXIA for the second half. The two bands also perform the theme songs for the movie Shooting Star Obligato and AXIA.
- Fandom Rivalry: In-Universe, GYROAXIA and Fantôme Iris' fanbases do not get along due to rumors of the Fantôme Iris members slandering GYROAXIA spreading online, and it escalates to the point of violence threats.
- Foreshadowing: Some promotional materials for Fujin RIZING! contain some hints that foreshadow the band's darker elements and backstory, which are later revealed throughout their stories in AAside and subsequent materials.
- The music video for Fujin RIZING's first song in the franchise, Banzai RIZING!!!
:- The very first shot has an image of saxophone with a red background and a text which says "A saxophone 'Sakutaro' knows everything." This hints that there's more to Fuuta's beloved saxophone "Sakutaro", and later it is revealed that the saxophone was originally owned by Sakutaro, Fuuta's deceased older brother.
- The shot with Kouhei's silhouette has a text that says "We must screen him from everything." Kouhei is shown to be protective of Fuuta, and so the 'him' in the line certainly refers to Fuuta. It is later shown that Kouhei purposefully keeps Fuuta from remembering his older brother Sakutaro along with his death after Fuuta no longer remembers him, and he also told the rest of his chilhood friends to never bring up anything about Sakutaro in front of Fuuta. This is due to the promise he made to Sakutaro in his last moment to fulfill his Last Request to him, which is to protect Fuuta's happiness.
- At 00:03, there's a yellow background with moving lines of each band member's image color. Among the lines, there's a red line above the others, which is not an image color of any of the band members, however, it's the same color as the background of the shot with the saxophone image at the beginning of the MV. And then, the red line disappears, unlike the other lines. The red line represents Fuuta's older brother Sakutaro, and its disappearance represents his death prior to the main story.
- At 00:32, it shows an image of Fuuta smiling with orange background, then it changes to grey background and Fuuta's face ends up being cracked in half with teardrops on his face. A subsequent shot shows a saxophone with Fuuta's face reflected on it, and he also has a sad expression. This hints at Fuuta's grief and depression over losing his older brother Sakutaro to an illness in the past, that is until he started replacing his brother with the saxophone, which was originally owned by him, and forgot about his brother entirely.
- The next shot after has an image of Kouhei and a silhouette of a person with a saxophone behind him, with similar looking hair to Fuuta, however, the silhouette doesn't have a lightning-shaped ahoge. The silhouette ends up being Sakutaro, and its similar appearance to Fuuta indicates that he's related to him, which later confirmed to be Fuuta's older brother. Also, the fact that the silhouette appears along with Kouhei's image indicates that Kouhei has a connection to him, and eventually it is revealed that Kouhei and Sakutaro were childhood best friends.
- The shot with Aoi's image at 00:36 has a silhouette behind him which resembles Shu Ujigawa. This hints the fact that Aoi and Shu are actually related. It is eventually revealed in the voice drama "Raison d'être -Wailing Song-" that they are half-brothers, as they have the same father (the president of Duck River Gen Ujigawa) but different mother.
- The band's character promotional video for AAside:
- Fuuta's picture has a text "いなくならないで", which translates to "Don't go away", and there's also a silhouette behind him, which has a similar appearance to the silhouette shown behind Kouhei in Banzai RIZING!!! music video previously mentioned above. As stated above, the silhouette ends up being Sakutaro, Fuuta's older brother, and the line represents Fuuta's grief over his death and his inability to let go of him.
- Kouhei's picture has a text "誰にも壊させない", which translates to "I won't let anyone break". The line represents Kouhei's intent to not let Fuuta remember his older brother Sakutaro and his death so that he won't 'break' and lose his smile once again.
- The music video for Fujin RIZING's first song in the franchise, Banzai RIZING!!!
- Free-Handed Performer: Except Fuuta and Haruka (being the second vocalist of εpsilonΦ), all of the vocalists don't play any instrument in their respective bands.
- Happy Ending Override: Episode 12 ends with Argonavis finally gaining the opportunity to perform at the prestigious Destiny Rock Festival, but in the next episode, Banri collapses and is sent to the hospital as a result of a blood clot in his brain.
- Precious Puppy: Pon-chan, a pomsky who resides at Argonavis' sharehouse.
- Sensitive Guy and Manly Man:
- Ren and Nayuta respectively. Ren is shy, softspoken, has a gentle speaking voice and a pure demeanor, and looks like he's about to cry when he sees Rio and Wataru get into an argument. Nayuta is abrasive, sharp-tongued, narcissistic, and wants to get revenge on his father for abandoning him and his mother. Their respective bands seem to fall under this trope as well, with Argonavis being a pop rock band with heavy emphasis on piano and GYROAXIA being a Hard Rock band with aggressive guitar riffs and Nayuta occasionally rapping or screaming.
- Wataru and Yuto qualify as well. Wataru is the cautious Team Mom of Argonavis who likes sweets and is in charge of songwriting (additionally, his profile states that he likes "beautiful words"), while Yuto is the loud, outspoken, and Hot-Blooded leader.
- Koharu and Daimon play with this trope. Koharu has pink hair, works as a nursery school teacher, and crossdresses as part of his Visual Kei persona, but he's an infamous former delinquent who can be quite intimidating if needed. Daimon has the Face of a Thug and works as a night guard, but he works as a cafe manager during the day, has a fear of ghosts and an overall dislike of scary things, likes cute things, and works on the costumes for Fantôme Iris.
- Ren and Nayuta respectively. Ren is shy, softspoken, has a gentle speaking voice and a pure demeanor, and looks like he's about to cry
- Spear Counterpart: Franchise wise, to BanG Dream! despite being set in an alternate universe. This becomes subverted later on after this franchise became a standalone brand.
- Team Pet: All of the bands own pets that reside at their respective sharehouses.
- Argonavis has a pomsky puppy named Pon-chan.
- GYROAXIA has a white cat named Nyankotaro.
- Fantôme Iris has a hedgehog named Johnny.
- Fujin RIZING has an iguana named Rex.
- εpsilonΦ has an axolotl named Paru-chan.
- ST//RAYRIDE has an American fuzzy lop pet bunny named Rabi-chan.
- The One Guy: Argonavis was originally believed to be a band version of this to the 6-band having BanG Dream! upon introduction, but ultimately averted when more bands were revealed for the franchise.
- Time Skip: The first game AAside takes place about half a year after the ending of the anime. The second game KimiSute also takes place some time after AAside, with all the characters have aged up a year.
- Video Game Cruelty Potential: AAside had a daily life system in which you could send the boys to do various tasks, such as handing out flyers or working part-time jobs. It was entirely possible to overwork them and get them sent to the hospital if they do too many tasks without rest. You could've unlocked hospital conversations and earned trophies...but at the cost of looking like a terrible person.
- Visual Kei: The band Fantome Iris is based off of this.
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: Yuto delved into the world of music to show his family that he can succeed just as well as his older brothers.
- Wham Episode: Episode 7 of the anime ends with Banri getting involved in a truck accident.
