Fuuka

Episode 9

Following last week's drama-fest, it looks like Yuu and Koyuki are officially going out. I guess her record company has accepted this, since there's no mention of them objecting or anything. Good for Koyuki, I guess. Their date is pretty much what you'd expect – they wander around while Koyuki talks about how much she loves singing and cares about Yuu. Koyuki also talks about being together forever, which suggests that events will turn out to the contrary. For now, however, they are very happy together.

The date makes Yuu late for band practice. His bandmates are mildly annoyed with him, but then they get over it. I wish that they would have kept this up as a permanent conflict – the show is painfully low-conflict at this point, and any source of tension would help maintain my interest. At the moment, our interest seems to be riding on the fact that Fuuuka is finally getting jealous of the whole Koyuki situation. Her quasi-relationship with Yuu – put on hold for the past five episodes or so – has finally come back up, and she's feeling left behind. Now that's not to say she's acting out – Fuuka is putting on a strong, supportive face for the sake of Yuu's new romance, and the whole thing is leaving her emotionally constipated. She can't write songs at the moment, and she probably won't be able to until she stops holding back her feelings.

In today's example of Our Heroes Being Absurdly Successful As Novices, a music producer tries to recruit Fuuka. The problem is that they only want Fuuka. She's forced to choose between her career and her friends, but of course, she chooses her friends. The scene is pretty throwaway, mostly there to emphasize how awesome Fuuka is, but I could see it coming back as a source of drama down the line. Maybe Fuuka's repressed feelings will tempt her into abandoning The Fallen Moon, and Yuu (of course) will get her to confess in order to save the band?

Overall, this was an exceptionally dull episode of Fuuka, especially following last week's climax. It mostly consisted of a pleasant-ish fantasy date between Yuu and Koyuki, Fuuka being jealous, and our heroes contemplating where to take their careers in the future. Koyuki talks about how much she loves singing, how important Yuu is to her, blah blah blah. The most notable thing about the show at this point is that it's now definitely diverging from the manga, to the apparent interest and irritation of fans. While I try to keep myself unspoiled for these write-ups, I've known since the start that some big event was coming up. People seem excited for the possibility that it may change. Personally, however, I'd welcome any major shake-up.

Grade: C+

Fuuka is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Gabriella Ekens studies film and literature at a US university. Follow her on twitter.