Ave Mujica – The Die is Cast – episode 11 is a beautiful tragedy with Uika Misumi at its center, and this episode will likely go down as one of the more enigmatic ones in the entire series thus far. After Ave Mujica’s comeback performance, there are high expectations regarding what could come next for the group, and this episode met some of those expectations in rather surprising ways.
Episode 10 ended on an insane cliffhanger where Sakiko’s grandfather, Sadaharu Togawa, directly addressed Uika by the name of “Hatsune.” That was certainly a moment worth pondering over for a week, and fortunately, episode 11 didn’t waste time revealing the truth and context behind that encounter.
Spoiler warning: there will be story spoilers ahead for episode 11, including plot points, reveals, character identities, and major character choices.
Ave Mujica – The Die is Cast – Episode 11 Exposes the Truth of Uika Misumi
Instead of directly following up after the encounter at the end of episode 10, Ave Mujica episode 11 begins with soliloquy about the Uika Misumi that viewers got to know for the entire BanG Dream! anime up to this point. With the star of the show on the stage, Uika reveals that she is actually Hatsune Misumi, Uika’s older sister. To make matters more shocking, Hatsune is the love child of Sadaharu Togawa and a Togawa Group caretaker, who were both grieving over the death of Sadaharu’s wife many years ago.
Hatsune’s birth was a controversy just waiting to be exposed, so Sadaharu essentially ordered the caretaker to raise her far away from the Togawa Group on an island. She would have a new foster father who was a fisherman who lived on the island, and her new family would give birth to her little sister, the real Uika. Since Uika wasn’t bound by the rules of the Togawa Group, she was able to hang out with Sakiko. Since Hatsune was growing unhappy with her life, she became jealous of Uika and yearned to meet Sakiko.
At this point, all the dots started to connect, and Hatsune’s personality and obsession with Sakiko started to make so much sense. Since Uika and Hatsune look nearly identical, Hatsune was able to impersonate herself as Uika in order to hang out with Sakiko. She even picked up on Uika’s mannerisms, which she demonstrated quite well in the soliloquy on stage, all by her lonesome. Rico Sasaki is exceptional with her acting as Hatsune, especially when she demonstrates the tension between Uika and Hatsune at one point.
The Weight on Hatsune’s Shoulders
After learning about Tokyo and Uika’s idol ambitions, and dealing with the death of her foster father, Hatsune decided to pursue the idol life and be closer to Sakiko. That motivation (and obsession) drove her to adopt Uika’s persona in order to make her debut and start the idol duo “sumimi” with Mana Sumita. Eventually, she was able to get the attention of Kiyotsugu Togawa, Sakiko’s father.
Hatsune spoke to Kiyotsugu with the hopes of meeting Sakiko once more, and she decided to tell him the truth, which was a grave mistake in her mind. She believes that her encounter with Kiyotsugu, and his discussion with Sadaharu in turn, was the reason he had lost everything. After all, the secret of Hatsune’s birth must be kept, and she can’t be in contact with the Togawa Group at all. Hatsune blamed herself, but her wishes came true when she finally met up with Sakiko and decided to open Ave Mujica with her.
Hatsune carries the dreams of her sister and fulfilled her own by being in a band with Sakiko, entrusting her life to her. However, this created an inner conflict that really isn’t too dissimilar from Mutsumi. As “Uika,” she was living through lies and holding onto a truth that she couldn’t tell Sakiko about. All of this exposition really adds more context to Uika’s incredible performance from episode 10, and the scenes of her soliloquy portray the burdens she carries perfectly.
Hatsune’s Truth May Set Her Free in Episode 12
With her soliloquy finished, the closing minutes of Ave Mujica episode 11 picks up after the end of episode 10, with Hatsune being ordered to go back to the island she once left behind. Sakiko is puzzled, even more so when Sadaharu reveals that he’s sending her out of Japan, likely to keep the two of them far away. To make matters worse, the situation is sending Umiru into a panic, since both Sakiko and Hatsune are missing from their Ave Mujica practice.
Hatsune coming clean with the truth may actually be the best thing possible for her and Sakiko in the next episode. However, the ramifications of that revelation are yet to be seen, especially when it comes to Ave Mujica’s future. That being said, episode 12 was very exposition-heavy and, at times, very surprising. I thoroughly enjoyed the soliloquy from start to finish, which took up a majority of the episode. The animation is really consistent and beautiful, making Uika’s descent into her loneliness feel tragic, yet memorable.
Ave Mujica – The Die is Cast – is streaming right now on Crunchyroll, with new episodes premiering on Thursdays at 8:00 a.m. PT.
