Fuuka

Episode 6

While we got some hints about it earlier, this week's Fuuka finally gives us the full story of Yu's childhood friendship with Koyuki. As it turns out, it's pretty much what you could have guessed. The two were super tight as kids, with Yu as the warm nurturer to Koyuki's brash, adventurous tomboy. However, it was more than just fun to Koyuki – he was her refuge from a tumultuous home life, since her parents were in the middle of a messy separation. Eventually, they split up for good, and Koyuki was forced to move away. Heartbroken, she couldn't find the strength to inform Yu of her departure, so she left without saying goodbye. In the ensuing years, she's held onto her memories of their childhood together, using it as fuel for her songs about lost love.

Overall, this story is about as cliché as it gets. The best thing I can say is that it's not badly told. This is a perfectly rote background for the show's doomed romantic third wheel, but that also means it hasn't taken any hard swerves into stupid town. We'll see if that changes later. If I had to find something to appreciate in this, it'd be that the show doesn't seem to be insensitively discarding Koyuki's feelings. They're wildly unrealistic feelings, mind you – I'm hard-pressed to believe that a hugely popular teen diva would be this unsure about her desirability, especially when the object of her affections is some random shmuck high schooler. But they're treated with gravity, and this entire episode seems built around easing Koyuki into moving on. You may be bigger than The Beatles, girl, but your name isn't in the title of the show.

This gets us to Koyuki's encounter with Fuuka. This was the best part of the episode, lazy fanservice aside. It's nice when love interests get relationships with each other besides “competitors for the lead's crotch-rocket.” Following another emotional reunion (during which they patch up some fearful misconceptions born from years of mutual silence), Koyuki goes home in a daze. While her friendship with Yu has been reestablished, she still can't work up the courage to tell him how she really feels. Fortunately, that's when coincidence-magic sends her Fuuka. After they run into each other, Fuuka convinces Koyuki to spend time with her at the local bathhouse.

Koyuki knows that Yu and Fuuka have a thing going on, so this situation could get awkward real quick. However, Koyuki is quickly charmed by Fuuka's overwhelming energy and kindness. This culminates in Fuuka gushing about Koyuki's music, and Koyuki realizing that she's Yu's bandmate. Koyuki proceeds to put herself down, but Fuuka rejects that notion. She tells Koyuki that her sad music is worthwhile, and in fact reveals her underlying spirit of optimism. Koyuki leaves refreshed, having found the resolve to continue both with music and her pursuit of Koyuki.

One of the more fun things about this episode was how hilariously egregious the fanserivce was. Judging by all the conveniently-placed streaks of white, that final conversation between Koyuki and Fuuka is absolutely dripping with nip-nops in the uncensored version. What better way to frame an emotional heart-to-heart between two characters? Jokes aside, this was a pretty bad choice. I'm not opposed to fanservice on principle, but I can't think of a lazier way to shove it in than this. This was some exceptionally poor direction for a show that's already cripplingly stiff in its visuals.

Barring this big issue, this episode was just a standard, dully executed melodramatic backstory for the lovelorn childhood friend character. Next week, it looks like Koyuki may be pressed into actually addressing her feelings for Yu, when a photo of them together leaks to the public. I hope that this incidence of Dramatic Stuff Actually Happening leads to a more interesting episode. Much like Koyuki herself, hope is all that I have.

Grade: C+

Fuuka is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

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