Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we\u2019re returning to the sumptuous nightmare that is Ave Mujica, as Sakiko and her companions seek love and validation in all the worst possible places. When last we\u2019d left off, a reunion performance by CRYCHIC had threatened to actually improve our characters\u2019 mental health, allowing them to venerate and say goodbye to their past passions while charting a new way forward. Well, we clearly couldn\u2019t have that, so Umiri swiftly suggested a reunion for Ave Mujica as <\/span>well<\/span><\/i>, having recently developed a taste for meaningful, mutually fulfilling group performance.<\/span><\/p>\n Umiri picked a heck of a time to propose this plan, and perhaps the least likely group to propose it for; even with her alleged thirty bands, I imagine the least healthy among them is still in better shape than Ave Mujica. Her words sparked a hope of survival in Mortis, who frankly also deserves better than all of this nonsense, and thus we are again off to the races, with Umiri promising to teach Mortis the guitar and make her \u201creal\u201d in the process. And while Umiri\u2019s \u201cdark side\u201d turned out to be no more than the yearning for connection that defines all of these girls, we\u2019ve still got an Uika-shaped time bomb ticking away, undoubtedly prepped to explode into a fresh field of psychological shrapnel. Let\u2019s see who snaps first as we return to Ave Mujica!<\/span><\/p>\n Episode 9<\/b><\/p>\n Our episode title is \u201cNe vivam si abis,\u201d which translates to \u201cI will die if you leave.\u201d A line that applies most directly to Mortis, who actually seemed on the verge of self-destruction last episode, but which frankly applies to a great number of other bonds in this deeply unhealthy, wildly codependent band polycule<\/span><\/p>\n We start with Uika and Mana, the continuing dissolution of their bond portrayed through the harsh contrast between Mana\u2019s carefree description of her recent professional activities and Uika bitterly scrolling on her phone, seeking more information regarding the villains that have apparently stolen Sakiko away from her<\/span><\/p>\n Oh my god, Anon\u2019s social media account actually advertises her as ANON TOKYO, her initial proposed name for MyGO. Love how even when she\u2019s not here, Anon\u2019s personality adds some levity to this grim procession<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cOn the stage where the curtain has fallen, the puppets continue to dance.\u201d Clever use of this transition from the external highway to the tunnel \u2013 the scene goes red-tinted and almost sepia as they enter, the scenery echoing Uika\u2019s preoccupation<\/span><\/p>\n Mortis holds the reins in Mutsumi\u2019s mind, replaying her doppelganger\u2019s guitar parts again and again. A wild transition \u2013 while Mortis and Mutsumi-chan were once collaborators, two masks with which Mutsumi faced the world, they are now squabbling over who gets to sit in the last chair, Mortis training herself to be a convincing Mutsumi-chan replacement<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIf Mutsumi-chan is going to play Ave Mujica, she can have it back.\u201d And of course, the guitar is the totem, the tangible icon of the identity they are fighting to claim<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI want to bring back CRYCHIC.\u201d \u201cSo, do you mean I should disappear?\u201d That is indeed the implication. Mutsumi-chan\u2019s motivations are so distant from Mortis\u2019 that neither of them can at this point imagine synthesis \u2013 they see each other not as complementary, but as competing visions of who Mutsumi should be, exemplified through their pursuit of Ave Mujica versus CRYCHIC<\/span><\/p>\n Meanwhile, Sakiko sits in silence before her moonlit piano, as you do<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe days Mutsumi has suffered as a broken self will carry on.\u201d Continuing Ave Mujica might please Mortis, but it won\u2019t bring Mutsumi back together. Is there any solution that would actually integrate her identities?<\/span><\/p>\n Sakiko is told that Mutsumi is too busy playing guitar to see her, and assumes this means Mutsumi-chan is practicing for CRYCHIC. It seems Mortis has a new plan: rather than simply deny access to Mutsumi-chan, she\u2019ll pretend that she <\/span>is<\/span><\/i> Mutsumi-chan, and that nothing is wrong<\/span><\/p>\n Sakiko asks Tomori to reunite CRYCHIC once again. Blunt as always, Anon cannot help but point out that it\u2019s already the afternoon, how did you just get to school<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t reach out to Mutsumi, and took advantage of her with Ave Mujica.\u201d Very much fits the torment nexus that is Ave Mujica that even when Sakiko is acknowledging her mistakes and attempting to make good, it\u2019s in service of a doomed quest based on a total misunderstanding. And of course, we in the audience don\u2019t even get to enjoy that same hope, aware as we are of the situation\u2019s dramatic irony<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cHow\u2019s everyone leaving me on read!?\u201d A quintessential Anon experience. I was curious how this season would replace Anon\u2019s necessary tonal balancing in MyGO, and it turns out the answer is \u201cAnon just does it again\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Uika texts Anon out of the blue, who goes to meet her in her Clark Kent glasses disguise<\/span><\/p>\n Anon is just delighted to be trying a new coffee place and hanging out with the famous Uika. An improbable ray of sunshine in this musical mausoleum<\/span><\/p>\n Hoo boy. Uika learns about the CRYCHIC reunion plans and makes The Worst Face in response. They actually have to move beyond this show\u2019s normal CG models, adding a bunch of individual fatigue lines beneath her eyes to emphasize how hollowed she feels by this information<\/span><\/p>\n Meanwhile, Nyamu is freezing up and failing auditions, still haunted by Mutsumi\u2019s performances. Girl, you\u2019ve got a loving family, you really don\u2019t want to be Mutsumi<\/span><\/p>\n And then we\u2019ve got Umiri blowing up Nyamu\u2019s phone with demands to come practice. Everything\u2019s going so well!<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cHow are you doing these days?\u201d \u201cI\u2019m doing my best, as you suggested.\u201d As with her binge shopping, Umiri\u2019s feelings are never expressed through her face or words, only through her actions. It\u2019s becoming easier to see why Ave Mujica actually meant something to her \u2013 this project of masks and personal revelation actually did speak to her feelings, even if she\u2019d never admit it<\/span><\/p>\n Uika\u2019s manager refuses to greenlight Ave Mujica\u2019s return, saying its decommissioning came \u201cfrom the top.\u201d Given the only figure with that level of power we know is Sakiko\u2019s grandfather, I guess that explains both how Ave Mujica initially earned its big public rollout and also why it cannot be reformed<\/span><\/p>\n Regardless, Uika refuses to accept this, and scavenges across the offices for the band\u2019s old costumes. They may no longer be the heavily publicized headliners of an entire media operation, but they can still play as a band<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI liked it yesterday, but got bored of it today.\u201d So Nyamu becomes painfully acquainted with the fickle nature of social media fame. Audiences crave both novelty and reliability, endless diversion but also perpetual availability, an inherent contradiction which means those who rise to the top are generally those who are capable of being anything to anyone, but most importantly those who are constantly producing new content. The internet does not care that Nyamu is uncertain of her professional path, and too dispirited to evoke the carefree Nyamu-chan persona that she used to build her audience. That persona <\/span>is<\/span><\/i> Nyamu to them, and if they can\u2019t have it, they will swiftly grow disinterested in the face behind the curtain<\/span><\/p>\n Umiri stops by, noting \u201cit\u2019s clean only here.\u201d Nyamu only cares to tidy the portion of her room that\u2019s revealed in her streams \u2013 that too is part of her facade, a performance she carries on even within her own home<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI still can\u2019t trust you after all, Umiko.\u201d Which of course prompts a look of horror from Umiri. While most have interpreted her straight-faced professionalism as \u201creliable\u201d or \u201ccomforting,\u201d Nyamu pokes her greatest insecurity, implying anyone so well-defended cannot truly be trusted. It gets to Umiri because it\u2019s true; she stays professional to avoid being hurt, floating above band disagreements by never caring if one or another band actually survives. But now she wants the real thing, and after years of concealing her feelings, being earnest with Nyamu is causing some growing pains<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not masochistic like you!\u201d Of course, Nyamu is basically the worst person to be sharing this emotional journey with. She is perfectly content with her own emotional life, and actually craves professionalism; plus, Ave Mujica is basically now her albatross, the point where she saw her limits and stumbled off the path she\u2019d been so doggedly pursuing<\/span><\/p>\n On top of that, Nyamu is actually right to distrust Umiri \u2013 it\u2019s not like \u201cI\u2019m training Mortis to fake being Mutsumi-chan well enough to trick Sakiko back into the band\u201d is the kind of explanation that would inspire confidence in this project<\/span><\/p>\n Mutsumi wanders over to Tomori\u2019s place. \u201cDo you want to see the stars together?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n They run into Uika as she\u2019s leaving the planetarium. Like in the first season, it seems to be one of her sanctuaries, a place she goes to when she\u2019s on the verge of a big decision<\/span><\/p>\n Just as Umiri\u2019s desire to revive Ave Mujica pulled Mortis back, so does Uika revealing Sakiko\u2019s intentions to revive CRYCHIC restore Mutsumi-chan\u2019s hope<\/span><\/p>\n And though she doesn\u2019t mean to be so harsh, Mutsumi ends up validating Uika\u2019s worst fears \u2013 that CRYCHIC was the group Sakiko truly cared about, and Ave Mujica essentially just a misguided rebound. Uika can never mean as much to Sakiko as the members of her first group<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t take Saki-chan away from me!\u201d Uika imagines herself flinging Mutsumi down the stairs. Like many of them, she\u2019s set a high fence around what she sees as the undesirable aspects of herself, but the walls are crumbling as her faith in the overall persona diminishes<\/span><\/p>\n Mutsumi-chan and Mortis squabble over the guitar in Mutsumi\u2019s Mind Palace. Just another day at the unwellness factory<\/span><\/p>\n Mutsumi-chan plummets into the sunken place as an audience of Mutsumis clap and cheer. What is Mortis without Mutsumi-chan? What if Sakiko finds out?<\/span><\/p>\n Sakiko frames Mortis\u2019 actions in the worst possible light, saying that she wants to keep Mutsumi-chan suffering to prolong her own existence. Not technically true, but given Mortis just accidentally shoved Mutsumi-chan off a psychological balcony, I can\u2019t imagine she\u2019s up to defending herself right now<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIf Mutsumi-chan isn\u2019t here, I\u2019ll play her role.\u201d In perfectly agonizing Ave Mujica fashion, it is Sakiko\u2019s declaring that she will only act for Mutsumi-chan\u2019s sake that convinces Mortis to take over the performance of Mutsumi-chan. The game of musical chairs continues<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI have quit all the bands I was performing in. Am I still not trustworthy?\u201d I can see how Umiri would possess genuine sympathy for Mortis; they both use agreeable but distancing masks to interface with society at large, and they\u2019re both desperate to be understood as sensitive, legitimate people in spite of that. Is extravagant, confessional theater in the style of Sakiko or Tomori the only acceptable way to feel and express your emotions?<\/span><\/p>\n Mortis then makes her play, pretending to be Mutsumi-chan as she graciously speaks in favor of Ave Mujica<\/span><\/p>\n Hah, I was just thinking \u201cI wonder what Raana would make of this play\u201d when she actually pops into view, apparently having been enjoying a parfait this entire time. \u201cSuddenly Raana was there\u201d is an excellent recurring gag<\/span><\/p>\n Then Nyamu pops in to conclude the episode with an Asuka \u201cdisgusting\u201d face. I don\u2019t know why they\u2019ve chosen to associate Nyamu with various iconic Evangelion expressions, but I\u2019m all for it<\/span><\/p>\n Also serves as another dramatic contrasting of show analogues \u2013 Raana finds all these developments fascinating, while neo-Raana Nyamu can\u2019t help but mock them<\/span><\/p>\n And Done<\/b><\/p>\n HahaHA, what a fantastic mess! It seems we\u2019ve dragged ourselves beyond the solitary moping stage of the drama, and now our girls are back at each other\u2019s throats, determined to either kill one another or perhaps make a band or something. Basically everyone is now in this for the wrong reasons \u2013 Sakiko to protect a Mutsumi-chan who\u2019s already disappeared, Mortis to stay alive by pretending to <\/span>be<\/span><\/i> Mutsumi-chan, Uika to stake an unreciprocated claim on Sakiko, Umiri to foster a genuine emotional connection with the least emotionally available bandmates ever, and Nyamu to cling to the last embers of her fame, all while taking notes on acting from a girl undergoing an active psychological break. It\u2019s an absolute disaster for all involved, and I wouldn\u2019t have it any other way; while MyGO raised into embodying a shared moment of solidarity and confession, Ave Mujica has splintered into a half-dozen incomparable facades, each participant desperate for something wholly incompatible with the dreams of their bandmates. This will either result in a bloodbath or the second coming of Rumours; either way, we should get the tour van running!<\/span><\/p>\n This\u00a0article\u00a0was\u00a0mad<\/a><\/em>e possible by reader support<\/a>. Thank you all for\u00a0all that you do.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wrongeverytime.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/March17105057.jpg?resize=584%2C329&ssl=1\")
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<\/p>\nLike this:<\/h3>\n