Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: Sound! Euphonium 2
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meiam
Posts: 3442 |
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I though this week episode nicely reflect S2 in general for me, Kyoani is still delivering a terrific performance but the story just can't keep up. As such, I find myself enjoying the small scene with very little importance to the overall story far more than the big important one. My favorite scene was when Kumiko talk to the other girl about Asuka, probably pointless scene and involve a girl I can't even remember and have no idea who she is cause we probably haven't seen her in forever (if ever this season) yet it was really well done.
On the other hand you have all the scenes with Mamiko, which were all again very well done, but I just can't bring myself to care. Pretty much every time Mamiko does something she just come off as a giant bitch. And now I'm supposed to feel sorry for her (after her parent paid for tuition and apartment) and now she want to quit 1 year away from graduation, not even considering finishing and then just going back to study beautician so she at least get something out of the entire 2 (3?) year of study she did. Maybe if the show spend more time establishing her as a sympathetic character and we had a few scenes where she wasn't just being bitchy that would have worked. But now, it just fall flat for me. Was she even good at trombone? I mean Asuka is really talented and she seems like she has a real shoot at going pro, but we've heard nothing about Mamiko being particularly good, so contrasting them doesn't really work. Asuka's mom is being unreasonable, Mamiko parent are being reasonable (and extremely generous). |
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Valhern
 Posts: 916 |
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Who said she was supposed to be sympathetic? She might be relatable at best for some people, but her attitude is supposed to be criticized, that's why Kumiko shouts at her "Now you come back and say that you didn't want to quit?" when all this time she's been totally hating on Kumiko's decision for staying on the band. The point of whether her parents are right or not is actually irrelevant, it doesn't matter what was the best choice at the time, even if Mamiko was a prodigous trombonist or was just regular, that's not the point of comparison with Asuka, it's their decisions. Asuka is struggling to find the balance between studies and club because she really wants to play, probably as much as Mamiko did at that time, and both are concealing their pain from not knowing what to do. Asuka puts a happy facade at all possible times, whereas Mamiko shuts down everything music-related in fear of not living up to her parents' expectations, and went for a supposedly "safe" route until she could not take it anymore. If I'm not wrong, Asuka should reach a point in which she cannot stay this way anymore. If we could sum it up in less words; Mamiko's basically stretching the adolescence trait of not being responsible for your decisions and taking it out on everyone else whereas Asuka's trait of adolescense is dettacching herself emotionally as much as she possibly can to not suffer and also be responsible of everything (interesting fact, this is common in people who have only one parent), both the band and satisfying her mother (she herself takes an authority form after her mom hits her). I probably saw the same things as the review did, but I certainly liked them more so I thought it was a relatively solid episode compared to the one from two weeks ago. |
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DuskyPredator
 Posts: 15462 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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The complaint of saying the expectation to be on Mamiko's side is unfair is I think intentional. That is what Kumiko is saying when she went off on her by saying that it was not fair to do that now. The thing is that we see things from Kumiko's point of view and seems very likely that someone in her position would think that way.
But there is probably somethingto take from Mamiko's side too. She was pressured into living up to her parents expectations that whatever events have been happening in her life have made her feel unable to continue. She apparently just has a year left but something has pushed her to breaking point. It is probably even likely she is aware of the resources her parents have spent, she does not need it repeated, and chances are it really is a build up of stress that would mean nothing to others she would describe it to, but she feels like she cannot continue. Although, yes, Mamiko has been taking her frustration over the years out on Kumiko, who really only looked up to Mamiko. And with the similarities between Mamiko and Asuka. |
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jojothepunisher
 Posts: 799 |
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"you were the one who decided to study in college despite your dream, so you take responsibility". That scene was really triggering for me because That was exactly what my father and my friend's father said when we wanted to do things we wanted to do rather than staying in school to study something like business and medicine. Did it never occur to the father to tell Mamiko that it is OK to be something else other than what he wants her to be? Doesn't he realize how selfish it is to pressure somebody else and not take responsibility for the outcome? Is it just me or are fathers like this scumbags?
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meiam
Posts: 3442 |
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I know it's nice to say "let the kid decide" but kids are absolutely awful at making long term decision and it's definitely the role of the parents to make decision, parent aren't friend there parent and that sometime involved making hard choice. I got someone like that in my family, really wanted to be an actress, went to school for it and everything, then she drop and 5 year later she's just... nothing, she line up small pointless job one after the other and gets in trouble. Professional musician in an orchestra is an extremely hard live for everyone but the most talented, it's not something to take on lightly. Yeah something might have happened to Mamiko for her to make a decision, but until we learn about it it's hard to feel anything but contempt at her, and this transform into "man, I wish she just wasn't in the show". |
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DuskyPredator
Posts: 15462 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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But it is not like she said that she wants to be a trombonist, she just wanted to play. By the looks of things it may have been a creative outlet that was helpful as a way to express herself, especially since she is apparently now interested in being a beautician Her father is acting like this decision is something sudden, but Mamiko's reaction to that implied that he simply did not (try to) pick up the clues to her interests.
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maximilianjenus
Posts: 2862 |
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it's just you, youa re supossed to take responsability of yoru life at that point, it's very easy to blame parents while taking the easy way out having them pay for your college and living expenses; that's where you become an adult get a job and pay for your living expenses and your college education if you desire one. I ahd this same argument in 2001 after a college-mate just said that he wished the planes crashed in school instead of the wtc, as I asked him why eh said he ahted school because his parents forced him to study college, so I replied why did not he just get a job and move out of his parents, so he could do what he wanted. back then I was working 7 days a week from 7am to 12 pm to eb abel to attend college and have a living, so his "just" commplaints came privileged as hell. |
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vonPeterhof
Posts: 729 |
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If there's one thing that the anime foreshadowed much better than the novel it's the whole Mamiko subplot - for starters, by actually having her around as a character since day one. While Kumiko's memories of her sister are brought up in the first novel, their present day interactions aren't shown until the second one, and even there the hints toward the upcoming clash are much more subtle. In fact at first I was worried when the anime started showing her bickering with their father during the events of the second novel, but now I think that this actually helped them draw out her arc much better, so that it doesn't feel like a hastily made foil to Asuka's drama. And yeah, a lot of things about Mamiko's conflict with her parents hit very close to home, and not just from the kids' perspective.
Another thing that's changed from the novel this time around - both Reina and Shuuichi get a bit more screen time, particularly in the second half of the episode. By having them get personally involved in Kumiko's household drama the show both gives the Mamiko storyline extra grounding in the overall scheme and further develops the relationships those two have with our protagonist. The decision to have Reina witness Shuuichi's conversation with Mamiko is curious though - combined with Reina's prior (anime original) interactions with Kumiko's male childhood friend, I couldn't help but be reminded of Tamako Love Story, namely spoiler[the resolution of Midori's love triangle with Tamako and Mochizou]... |
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Valhern
Posts: 916 |
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Mamiko didn't want to be a musician, she wanted to be a beautician while playing music probably just for fun. In any case, she wanted to do something entirely different and now regrets because she couldn't give it a try, I'm sure there's a big difference between getting frustrated by your own shortcomings than never trying at all, and that's what Mamiko regrets, especially on an emotional level because she also ditched away her relationship with Kumiko.
I didn't feel like it was that similar because Reina is not really confrontative about it, she's more like "This guy is spineless, so uh...whatever" and I at least took that she didn't listen into the conversation purposefully, but to not step into an awkward situation. |
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zrnzle500
 Posts: 3767 |
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I enjoyed the segment showing Kumiko as a child not just because she is cute but also because I really connected with her reasons for getting into music and how she ended up playing euphonium. Like her I picked up an instrument at a relatively young age (I think 4th grade like Kumiko) because a family member -my mother- played one and like Kumiko, I chose the same instrument as my family member (Clarinet). I didn't switch to baritone/euphonium until 10th grade though, but for the same sort of reason, that being a dearth of baritone players in the band. And a lot of the others in the section after me were taken from other instruments as well. It seems euphonium is rarely one's first choice of instrument.
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vonPeterhof
Posts: 729 |
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 ). I couldn't really think in terms of the similarities/differences in the characters' actions and could only operate with the most superficial similarities of setup. I'm afraid this is about as much detail as I can go into without breaking my promise not to speculate about the handling of upcoming events in this thread.
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Angel M Cazares
 Posts: 5424 Location: Iscandar |
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I really, really enjoyed episode 8. The stuff between Kumiko a her sister is very compelling to me, like I imagined it would be. The show seems to have returned to the high quality writing from season one. I am suspecting that the second novel (of the source material) is crappy, and that was reflected in episodes 2-4 of this second season.
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kinghumanity
Posts: 365 |
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Is it normal for Japanese elementary schoolkids to have all these fancy brass instruments? Or was this a rich private elementary school?
My school district was by no means poor, but we only started having musical instruments starting from junior high school (7th grade). |
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zrnzle500
Posts: 3767 |
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^As I mentioned earlier, at my school, we had instruments from about the same time as Kumiko did I believe, and it wasn't a rich school district (or poor one of course). Looking at the prices on Amazon, the whole thing would likely be in the single digit thousands, so they wouldn't need to be that rich of a school to do that.
Apparently below high school, most students go to public schools, so it probably wasn't private unless there is any information to the contrary. |
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DuskyPredator
Posts: 15462 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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I went to a public school (in Australia) and we had instruments, and it was 4th or 5th grade that I played trumpet. I personally did not play for more than a year because the pressure I was getting from a parent to practice was to stressful. In some ways it is kind of a regret I have kept from how things might be different if I kept playing.
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