"I Want To Be Human" | An Analysis of Humanization and Dehumanization in MyGO!!!!! and Ave Mujica

by digitaldreams

Summary:

Both the tales of MyGO!!!!! and Ave Mujica are stories about wanting to become human. Over the course of the series, the characters humanize and dehumanize one another in their attempts to feel human. The members of MyGO!!!!! find solace and happiness in each other, fighting to become human regardless of how lost they come to feel. The members of Ave Mujica, on the other hand, distance themselves from their humanity so that they are the ones choosing their dehumanization rather than leaving it in the hands of others. Despite their opposite approaches, the bands follow the same steps to reach their humanity or lack thereof: the unmasking of their true selves, the recognition of their flaws, and the acceptance of each other and themselves as human or the exact opposite.

(A literary analysis essay breaking down the definition of humanity in MyGO!!!!! and Ave Mujica, how each character reaches it, and what this says about the bands and their solutions to pain.)

Notes:

At long last, we have arrived... The monster.

What you are about to read is my capstone literary analysis paper I wrote for my English and writing majors. This paper got me a bachelor's degree. The paper needed to be a literary analysis of any work of my choosing, and I decided to analyze MyGO!!!!! and Ave Mujica, specifically the way they use humanization and dehumanization to push the narrative and characters forward. This paper is absolutely massive, and since it has been a labor of love for the last two and a half months, I wanted to share it. This is the first time these anime have been discussed in academia to my knowledge, but it is too long to be published traditionally, so I am sharing it here instead. I guess 200 pages and 70,000 words is a bit too ambitious for an academic journal. So if anyone has ever wanted to know my thoughts on any of the characters in this series... Here you are.

I know that discussion on this series and its characters can get a bit intense at times, so going into this, I want to ask that people not get too up in arms if I interpret a character differently. These are amazing characters, and the fact that they can be read in so many different ways is what makes this story so interesting. I'm discussing one specific aspect of the characters here for the sake of keeping this analysis from being any longer than the monstrous length it already has, so I'm not covering every piece of every character from every scene, instead focusing only on what is relevant to this analysis. I had to do something to control the length of this beast of an essay.

In the past, I have had people ask if they can translate my analysis into other languages. That is perfectly fine so long as you link back to this release. I would also love to be notified of any translations so that I can boost them on my social media. No specific permission is needed, but please let me know if you do decide to translate this paper!

If you would like to contact me elsewhere, you can find my social media below. Without further ado, I hope you all enjoy the analysis I have been working on since February... The monstrously long analysis of MyGO!!!!! and Ave Mujica.

 

 

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Chapter 1: Prospectus

“I Want To Be Human:”

An Analysis of Humanization and Dehumanization in MyGO!!!!! and Ave Mujica

     At their core, BanG Dream! It’s MyGO!!!!! and BanG Dream! Ave Mujica are stories about wanting to become human. The entire narrative is started by a song from the heart crying and wondering what it means to be human (“CRYCHIC,” 5:30). The conflict is driven by communication struggles and the desire to speak true from the heart. The members of both bands are different in countless ways, and yet, they are united by their desire to be seen as human. 

     MyGO!!!!! and Ave Mujica are opposite bands in every way imaginable. MyGO!!!!! follows a group of teenagers fighting to become human however they can, even if it means revealing their dark true selves or hurting one another in the process. They are scathingly and terrifyingly human, putting all of their flaws on display for the world to see. They may not always get along or even like each other, but they are lost together, and that sense of being lost is what makes them human. Ave Mujica, on the other hand, walks the opposite path, and it is full of members who are trying to distance themselves from their humanity however they can. Rather than being human, they adopt the identities of dolls, united by their desperation to escape the trauma of the past. They mask their flaws rather than embrace them, and in doing so, dig deeper into the show they have come to perform for the world. They are united by their desire to find peace in the darkness, and by extension, in each other. 

     Over the course of the story, the members of both MyGO!!!!! and Ave Mujica dehumanize and humanize one another constantly. The characters express their feelings and flaws through the ways they communicate and treat one another. In this analysis, I would like to break down the many instances of the human and inhuman throughout the narrative and how these examples feed into the theme of becoming human and therefore being understood. These characters are all deeply flawed people, but that is what makes them truly human, and it is through understanding and accepting these flaws that they are finally able to find peace and belonging in one another. From them, we can learn to accept ourselves and each other too so long as we have the resolve to try.

     MyGO!!!!! and Ave Mujica have both been very recently released, having only aired their respective television shows in 2023 and 2025. As such, the academic and analytical conversations around them have yet to be started. I look to begin this discussion by looking into the central theme of what it means to become human. There are three primary components to humanity as it is presented in this story: unmasking of the true self, recognition of flaws, and acceptance through human connection. The characters see each other as human by revealing their true selves to one another and then choosing to stay with one another anyway. In the case of MyGO!!!!!, this means becoming as human as possible. For Ave Mujica, this means stepping far away from humanity and finding peace in that distance.