D4DJ First Mix Episode 11: The Way of The Photon

When we last left our heroines they beat Photon Maiden in a battle of the bands to secure their spot in the Sunset Stage. Photon Maiden meanwhile reflected on their defeat.

Huh. Less harsh reaction than expected.

We began with Happy Around! celebrating their victory and preparing for the Festival. Not much to say there so let’s move on to Photon Maiden. As the screen grab showed the Producer wasn’t as upset as they expected. It was more like “Learn from your defeat and strive to come back stronger next time”. The band were fine with working harder but Saki thought long and hard about the Producer’s words.

Another Shinobu kyaa moment for Little Viktoria. Peaky P-Key were surprised by their latest performance and Shinobu, the one who usually gave Happy Around a “Whatever” reaction was like “Yeah. The crowd went wild for them”. Kyoko was like “Ara ara. You watched the battle eh?”

Back to PM, Saki still reflected as Ibuki dropped by. Saki heard the announcement of another remix contest. She would enter anonymously as “DJ Dragon”. She quietly thought that winning this contest would get her closer to the answer she’s searching for. That being “What are we missing?”. To her shock DJ Dragon wasn’t even in the Top 5.

The next day she just so happened to pass by Maho as she discussed DJ Dragon’s remix with the gang. Maho was about to mention the reason she believed DJ Dragon didn’t make the Top 5…when the bell rang. Saki, not having other friends outside of Photon Maiden, couldn’t go and ask Maho what she’s about to say.

So she stalked her the next day until Maho sensed her. Remember kids, don’t stalk people regardless of not having ill intentions. Still, Maho got the gist and explained the flaws in her remix. In another surprise moment for Saki Maho asked “By the way, you’re from Photon Maiden, right?” Yup. Saki forgot to formally introduce herself.

Saki revealed the secret to Photon Maiden’s music. She wanted to write her own music for the band like Happy Around does.

DJ Dragon(fruit).

Seriously. This discussion had so many screen grab worthy moments I couldn’t hold back.

Photon Yggdrasil.

After another all-nighter (First was before the remix contest) complete with soul searching Saki shared her new song with the rest of PM.

Have I mentioned how frickin’ amazing the JP CG animation is on this show? Good gravy! So many screen grab worthy scenes all of a sudden. The important part of this scene between Ibuki and Rei and the one prior with Noa and Towa was all four members of Photon Maiden realizing they all wanted to write their own music and dance their own way.

It took great courage for PM to request a performance with Saki’s remix and to their surprise the Producer accepted. She was like “I told you. Learn from your mistakes and come back stronger. That’s what you’re about to do, right?”

Before the big show there was a strong moment. Towa was worried the fans would think the remix didn’t fit their image and Ibuki was like “The music doesn’t define Photon Maiden. We define the music”. Think of it like a fighting champion. “It’s not the gold/championship that defines the champion. The champion gives the gold meaning.”

As for the remix itself, they took the song from the battle of the bands and made it their own. More importantly they put their heart into it and not “go with the motion”. Much better than last time.

I think I found my favorite visual group. Hopefully D4DJ will have more than one season (or 12-13 episodes) so we can see them in action.

Excellent stuff! Next time it looks like we’re getting a Rinku X Muni episode.