Kasumi’s Heroic BSoD after the owner of Space tells her that she’s the worst member of Poppin’Party. The words obviously affect her, to the point where she loses her voice for a few episodes.
Kasumi runs home after another failed band practice where she just can’t find it in herself to sing. Her bandmates catch up to her, concerned, and she breaks down crying.
Just how much the news of Space closing obviously affects Tae: she goes into a state of despair, talking about how she’ll make a ‘Hanazono land’ for her rabbits. While played for laughs, it’s easy to see just how upset Tae is over it.
After telling Kasumi she can’t be in her band. Rimi is shown sitting alone during recess, looking at fellow schoolmates eating lunch together.
It’s made worse in the manga, as Rimi looks at Kasumi, Saaya and Arisa eating and talking together before she runs away to sit on her own. She cries as she says to nobody, “I like the choco cornet too... it’s yummy...”, showing that Rimi’s actually imagining herself being part of the conversation, yet is too scared to take the first steps to approach them.
Saaya’s breakdown when Kasumi pushes just a bit too far in asking her to join Poppin’Party. Saaya believes that she’s being selfish if she does what she loves and allows others to get hurt because of it. Because of this, Saaya angrily yells at Kasumi and breaks down into tears.
Saaya: You just don’t get it, Kasumi! I can’t allow myself to be part of a band if it means other people’s lives will be harder! Natsu and the others said the same thing as you! That they’ll help out if things get tough! That they’ll be there to land a hand! That they’d cut down on rehearsal time because they’re worried! Instead of thinking of what they want, everyone’s dropping everything for me! Is it supposed to be okay that I’m the only one getting enjoyment out of it?! Of course not!
Crosses over into heartwarming territory when it’s shown just how much Saaya thinks of others before herself.
Just the fact that Saaya is dealing with a sickly mother who requires frequent hospital visits: the last time she collapsed, it even sent her younger siblings into a state of panic, calling Saaya and crying about what’s happened. The panic and worry Saaya’s mother’s illness causes her family is palpable.
The moment in season 2 when Tae fails to make it in time for Poppin’ Party’s anniversary live show. Arisa is clenching her fists, visibly angry, Yukina walks away, obviously disappointed, and Tae is bent over on the ground, crying.
Though Saaya doesn’t say anything, Arisa’s picked up on the fact that she’s the most saddened by the failure of their live.
The failure of Pastel*Palette’s first live, tarnishing their reputation in the cutthroat idol industry, earning them the derogatory nickname of the Lip*Syncers. It can be hard watching the band’s struggles to turn this around.
And then the anime reveals that even after they have achieved success after their initial failure, some scathing comments and articles about their first live still persist in the present.
It's worth noting that the five members didn't have any creative say in this matter, they were told, while already contracted, that they had to pretend to perform on-stage. Yet, in an in-universe example of Misblamed, it's those five who suffer all the social cancellation, not anyone who's actually in charge of the whole production.
For people that suffer from social anxiety, Rinko can be painfully relatable.
Similarly, Kasumi and Hagumi met as children but didn’t meet again until high school. For those who’ve grown apart from a close childhood friend, it’s easy to imagine that they’d never meet again.
The entirety of the Growing Up Sisters event, where Tomoe realises Ako is growing up and doesn’t need to depend on her the way she did before. Without this role as Ako’s big sister, Tomoe feels lost.
Hagumi’s home life has numerous horrific implications: her mom gets angry enough to break a bathtub, and her dad disappears for days at a time, apparently often enough for Hagumi not to really react to it anymore.
It could be because of her situation at home that Hagumi, despite appearing to be an airhead, is actually very sensitive to the emotions of others — notably, apart from Kanon, Hagumi is the first to worry when things go wrong.
It’s implied that Kokoro deliberately forgets stressful events in her life in order to deal with the negative emotions. It puts her desire to make the world smile in a slightly darker light. For instance, though notably being stressed and unhappy in a previous event, Kokoro in a later event mentions that she ‘can’t ever remember being stressed before’.
Roselia's first band story, in which Yukina is in talks about a shady deal to get her into Future World Fes at the cost of leaving her band behind, all so she can make her former-musician father proud of her. After Yukina's stern talks about high standards and leaving personal drama at the door, the rest of the band is heartbroken to learn that she was just being a big hypocrite who used them for her own ambitions. Fortunately, she changes her mind and apologizes for thinking only for herself.
It’s hard watching Yukina regress during Roselia’s second band story. In an effort to correct what went wrong in their most recent live, Yukina goes too far in her harsh comments in attempting to rectify the relaxed atmosphere of their band practices. Throughout the chapters, Yukina grows more and more demanding. Yukina finally goes too far when she calls Ako a spoiled brat and makes her cry before running away. At this point, even the timid, shy Rinko has had enough with Yukina’s behaviour.
Rinko: It doesn’t matter... how much we practice... Our music... won’t come together! No one... will take a second glance... if we’re performing like this! Why would they...? No one’s even listening in the first place!
Some Fridge Tearjerker when one considers the implications that Sayo and Hina are twins that look exactly like each other, but Hina can do everything that Sayo can and then some. Making matters worse is Sayo is the older sister, and is therefore expected to guide Hina. How can she when Hina outshines her in every way despite being the same age? It’s not just having a younger sister that’s better than her in every way, it’s having another you that’s better than you in every way. Sayo has likely been constantly compared to Hina since birth. It’s little wonder that Sayo’s inferiority complex is so great.
At the same time, watching Sayo’s inferiority complex drive a rift between her and her sister is painful. It’s heartbreaking to watch Sayo rebuff Hina’s every attempt to be close with her again.
