AVE MUJICA - Completeness

“Completeness” is the debut album by Ave Mujica, an all-female dark act born within the multimedia project BanG Dream!, in which the anime's bands also come to life on stage thanks to the voice actresses who actually play the instruments. Unlike the franchise's brighter, poppier groups, Ave Mujica adopts a decidedly darker aesthetic. The sound is deliberately overblown, recalling the most pompous and symphonic strands of the visual kei tradition: gothic rock, neoclassical flourishes and a strong expressive emphasis converge into an imagery that's unusual for a mainstream media-mix – and precisely for that reason, inherently daring.

This character doesn't stem purely from musical choices, but is rooted in the way the project is portrayed in the anime. In “BanG Dream! Ave Mujica”, a spin-off and dark counterpart to “BanG Dream! It’s MyGO!!!!!”, the group is wrapped in religious symbolism, masks and rituals, within a deliberately distorted aesthetic. The performances, woven into the storyline, take on dark, pompous and at times morbid tones, a far cry from the sunny clichés of idol series. The staging – even more so than the album – dares with a theatricality rich in visual kei stylistic devices: at times naive in its writing or openly pretentious, but consistent with the project's eccentric identity.

A key element is the five-member line-up, which directly mirrors the anime's protagonists and embodies their imagery live as well. Rico Sasaki (Doloris) is on vocals and lead guitar, with a bright timbre capable of highly expressive accents, the emotional anchor of the more dramatic tracks. Yuzuki Watase (Mortis), lead guitarist, brings the most rock-driven push, the brilliance of the riffs and the dialogue with the symphonic sections. Mei Okada (Timoris) on bass offers a present, full-bodied sound close to the visual aesthetic; Akane Yonezawa (Amoris) on drums keeps the drumming clean and orderly, more solid than aggressive; Kanon Takao (Oblivionis) on keyboards builds the orchestral and gothic components, the group's most baroque and theatrical element.

Equally central is the musical team behind the project. The lyrics to every song, and part of the melodic lines, are penned by Diggy-MO', former member of SOUL'd OUT and a leading figure in Japanese hip-hop, now also active in pop and symphonic songwriting. His energetic, melodramatic style defines the album's musical direction: emphatic lyrics, high-impact melodic structures and, above all, strongly anime-catchy vocal lines, designed to stick immediately. The musical side is rounded out by a diverse group of composers - Daisuke Hasegawa, Koji Matsuzaka, o-saka, Araken, Ryuuhei Kinoshita and Ryo Takahashi - all coming from the Japanese anisong and pop-rock scene. The plurality of styles, coordinated by Diggy-MO's writing, produces a peculiar balance: a varied yet surprisingly coherent sound, more mature than the average anime-music production.

The album follows a tight, narrative-driven structure, with each track assigned a precise emotional role. “KiLLKiSS” opens like a symphonic explosion fit for an opening theme: menacing strings, gleaming guitars and cinematic production. “Georgette Me, Georgette You” immediately flips the mood with a ballad that starts suspended and builds into a dramatic mini-suite, where the vocals take on an almost theatrical, spoken-word quality. “Imprisoned XII” serves as the melancholic pause, built on synths and sparse vocal layering, close to the visual ballads of the early 2000s.

With “Crucifix X” the maximalist theatricality returns: heavy riffs, a slow pace and a particularly polished closing solo – a powerful track, though the one most at risk of tipping into pretentiousness. “Octagram Dance” introduces danceable rhythms and a gothic-circus atmosphere reminiscent of Malice Mizer's grotesque theatrics. “Alter Ego (顔)” brings a poppier side to the fore, while keeping its rock backbone intact. The closer “Musica Caelestis” returns the record to an epic register, with solemn orchestration and celestial choirs worthy of a cinematic finale.

At a total of twenty-eight minutes, the work leans closer to a mini-album than a true full-length, and the presence of a second disc containing just one live track only reinforces the sense of a reduced format. That brevity, however, avoids filler and keeps the focus on a tight, well-defined sequence. Some passages come across as overly histrionic or predictable in their emotional build, but they fit squarely within the project's aesthetic code, one built on carefully controlled melodrama.

“Completeness” thus achieves its goal: merging the anime's dark, symphonic aesthetic with the energy of modern metal and the most theatrical strand of the visual tradition. Imperfect but ambitious, it stands out as one of the year's most interesting releases in the anime-related music scene and marks a bold direction for the BanG Dream! universe.

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22/12/2025