Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: Sound! Euphonium 2
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Jose Cruz
 Posts: 1775 Location: South America |
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I watched the whole show. I though it was good: great animation, good art, direction, etc. Although I didn't feel very emotionally involved in the relationship plot's inside the show. I liked more the time when Kyoto Animation did less complex/dramatic stuff and more light comedic stuff like K-On!, Nichijou and Lucky Star which I found more enjoyable.
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Stratum
 Posts: 42 |
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I think Kumiko's relationship with Asuka was good at addressing their flaws and personal issues, but I wouldn't say it was better then the one with Reina overall. Kumiko and Reina worked because it didn't rely on any relationship tricks, gimmicks or shortcuts. There was no 'Reina must be important to Kumiko because she's super important to the plot, has a tragic backstory, that their childhood friends, that she's easily associated with things that Kumiko already cares about, has an incurable disease, plays the trumpet really well, made a really good first impression or made a really bad first impression' (you can't hate someone without them being important to you by default). Instead it started with establishing a difference and gradually building it from there by letting the audience pick up on it a little bit at a time through the way Kumiko reacts/interacts with Reina while Kumiko also tries to figure it out for herself, giving it a more natural feeling. When Reina revealed how she became interested in Kumiko despite initially being upset at what Kumiko had said, their relationship became more compelling to me than the majority of all relationships I have seen, after all anybody can create parallels between characters but breaking out of the 1+2=3 logic that so many other shows adhere to is pretty rare. If they can take the phrase "You have a terrible personality" and not only make it a compliment, but even a bit romantic, then that's something pretty special. Where Kumiko and Reina were built internally through their interactions and the characters themselves, Kumiko and Asuka's relationship was built externally instead. Most of their serious conversations relied heavily on problems that other members of the club were facing and they themselves weren't directly involved in and almost always followed the same pattern. Example: Kumiko- What do you think about [insert problem here]? Asuka- Do you really want to know? Kumiko- Yes. (Asuka says something about the problem) Kumiko's thoughts- I couldn't see through Asuka's mask. Considering both characters' personalities it was probably necessary to do it in this way, start externally then build inward, but it's also a bit of a crutch too, although I don't really count it as much of flaw on it's own. I think it does, however, allow for too many shortcuts to taken in getting Kumiko to care for Asuka. Some of it, like the tragic backstory, was necessary for Kumiko to understand Asuka, so I might let that slide, but was it really necessary for the euphonium player whose cd Kumiko listened to when she first started with the euphonium had to also be Asuka's father? It was just a contrived way to force Kumiko to have a greater personal investment in Asuka's family issues. While it adds to Asuka's motivation(and is something of a consolation prize), having her dad as one of the judges also redirects a lot of Kumiko's feelings about the competition directly onto Asuka, and all tension about whether or not she would be allowed to perform contributes to that as well. Kumiko's problems with her sister, her feelings toward the euphonium and because of their similarities, all of Kumiko's feelings towards her own flaws and regrets are projected onto Asuka. While that last one is what primarily allowed for Kumiko's growth and made everything worth it, it's just way too much and makes Asuka's importance to Kumiko feel forced. They didn't build their relationship to the point that Asuka could become someone significant to Kumiko, but instead used devices so that 'significance' would already be there. So I couldn't buy Kumiko's confession at the end, and the idea that Kumiko originally hated Asuka came out of nowhere. Even if it can be explained through their personalities, it was never actually displayed in the show, so I think "too little too late" definitely applies in that regard. Please keep in mind that my complaints are limited solely to the relationship itself, and found the arc as a whole to be quite wonderful. As for Kumiko and Reina not having "that spark," I'd say that Reina's trumpet solo in episode 5 showed that it was indeed still there, especially in how Reina insisted on playing it for Kumiko emphasized that playing for Taki would sound terrible. The problem is that the show introduced a character who only seems to exist to say the wrong things to the wrong people. First he tells Kumiko about Taki's wife, and while Kumiko is giving the subject some serious thought, the show decides that it needs to distract her with Asuka and problems at home in until he can tell Reina that Kumiko knows about it, thus sabotaging their relationship. So with their relationship on rocky ground Reina decides to focus her backup Taki instead. Asuka had said that Mizore was using Yuko as a backup for Nozomi so at least to me the parallels and potential foreshadowing there seemed fairly obvious. Anyways, Kumiko and Reina's relationship ends at a odd place, where things are sort of patched up, but both are afraid to try to fully restore how things were, and instead focus their attention on other characters....or at least that's how I see it. This ended up being longer than expected, so thanks to anyone willing to read it. |
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yuna49
 Posts: 3804 |
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I would have gladly sacrified the Nozomi/Midore arc for more time being spent on Asuka and Mamiko, both of whose issues were much more compelling. I thought Asuka's story was ended in a pretty simplistic way by her scoring highly on national exams. It seemed as if the likely psychological, and probably physical, abuse Asuka endured at the hands of her mother was swept under the rug. Kumiko's relationship with Mamiko was also rather trivialized with the latter moving out of the house and the two of them expressing their mutual love at the bridge. Both these stories were much more interesting than an insignificant spat between two adolescent girls. Even the author seems to have felt the same since the conflict between Nozomi and Midore never recurs as a subject in the remainder of the show.
The Euphonium writers never really figured out what to do with the supporting characters. Hazuki and Sapphire seemed designed to supply a couple more cute girls to satisfy the KyoAni audience's need for moe characters. I didn't miss them at all when they fell by the wayside in season two. I would have preferred more interaction among Kumiko, Reina, and Asuka as well. |
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Stratum
Posts: 42 |
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Now that I've thought about it a little more, in the comparison I made between Kumiko, Reina and Taki with Nozomi, Mizore and Yuko, Kumiko would probably view Yuko's situation as the most similar to her own. Mizore playing the oboe soley for Nozomi mirrors Reina going to Kitauji soley for Taki. So the idea that Yuko, despite having spent more time with Mizore than Nozomi, and generaly thought of Mizore as a friend, only to be nothing more than a stand-in for Nozomi likely brought out Kumiko's own fears about Reina. Then in episode 9 there's a scene of Reina grabbing Kumiko's hand, moving in super close and saying "I'll catch you and peel you're mask off." The dialogue calls back to season 1 episode 8, and the closeness resembles episode 11 referencing 2 of their biggest moments of Reina showing interest in Kumiko. Afterwards, when Kumiko sees Reina's reaction whike returning the key to Taki, she looks quite troubled by it. It's as if all of her fears are being confirmed right in front of her. So in that moment I can sort of see why she might be somewhat desperate to seek a connection with someone who could understand those fears like Asuka. Ironically Reina may have also had those same fears about Kumiko because of Shuichi.
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