Like a true senpai.
- And here was me thinking that my cynicism was going to take over me whilst watching this. That tends to do that; just take a look at any of my other reviews.
- I knew (in fact we all knew) that there was going to be some massive reaction to the fact that Reina was chosen for the trumpet solo instead of the trumpet section leader Kaori. Her own determination to do the solo wasn’t hard to see, but at least she took it like a true senpai. You see, that’s the one thing that’s portrayed in anime senpais…they give wise words to their kouhais, they take a lot of things on the chin, and act more mature than you could ever expect. And so it was wonderful to see Natsuki take her loss well, and also reduce her kouhai (of a sort) Kumiko to tears at the local McDonalds clone. She’s no quitter though, and got to know Kumiko better after her determination got her back into playing the euphonium again after the mass band mutiny last year. It’s just a pity how that can’t be said about Kaori’s kouhai.
- No one watching the show particularly liked her in the first place, but we were all given a better reason to hate her. The barking chihuahua of the band Yuuko protecting her Kaori-senpai from anything and everything made it plain and clear; her girl should have been chosen instead of Reina. I can actually understand how viewers would see this as a major piece of drama that’s up there with the rest of the better drama pieces in this show (Aoi’s departure, Reina as the snow maiden, etc.), but all I could do was giggle. Yuuko has always been a bit of a ridiculous character in my eyes, so her crying and wailing was just somewhere between a waste of my time and a joke. But at least we can see how desperate both Reina and Kaori are to get that solo slot, and the fact that the rumor about how sensei knew Reina’s father in the past has only put everyone on edge again. And just when people are beginning to accept their defeat in the audition.
Grow up, annoying chihuahua!
- Reina wants to make her father proud and give everything she has in her snow maiden body to be a professional trumpeter that people will recognize, even if she has to insult and square off against her own section leader. As a decent upperclassmen, all Kaori wants is peace, but now she has the chance to audition again, a clash of the titans can truly begin…and will be the closer for this season, meaning a second season has probably already been decided.
- Sensei was kind of forced to do this second audition because the tables have turned and the Catch-22 of last week has now turned to him. He’d be damned if he kept with Reina (because he’d be judged for the fact that he knew Reina’s father), and he’d be damned if he chose Kaori (because Reina would see herself as a true failure, and there would most likely be a repeat of her performance at the middle school competition when their school didn’t reach the Nationals). But I believe I was right in that he has no real experience in dealing with a school band that had a poor track record like this one. They’re not the mature adults he expected when he signed up to teach, and now in this episode he’s paying for it not only with the rumors of favoritism of Reina, but by just standing back while the band fight and yell and squabble amongst each other.
- And where was Asuka this week? Stuck in the neutral area, like she’s always been throughout the entire show. She confessed to Kumiko that while she’s the light-hearted one of the band and a true friend to Haruka, Kaori and Aoi, she is only interested in who is really best to make the band the best it can be for the competition. Even if it means one of her best friends Kaori doesn’t get the solo parts.
Still my best girl.
- This week has been very remarkable, and it shows us the consequences of how a large group (like a school band) reacts to good/bad news. Sooner or later, these 55 people will work together as the one cooperative and happy unit that both Sensei and Haruka want. But please, this is a KyoAni show; we all know that it won’t turn into some mass psychological drama. Amagi Brilliant Park got its visitor count like we knew it would, the K-on! girls graduated like we all wanted, Clannad and its sequel reduced everyone to tears, and Rikka got her man in Chuunibyou. So of course the school band will make it; there’s no reason whatsoever why they won’t. Comedy has more or less been thrown out the window but that’s okay because if this really was a comedy then it would be a disaster and a flop.