Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: Sound! Euphonium 2
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Edl01
Posts: 117 |
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I really liked this episode. Tons of great Kumiko scenes with Kumiko and seemingly everyone, which automatically makes it great. I love how people won't tell Natsuki the reason because despite her attempts to look tough she is the nicest goddamn person, which in this case would just make everything worse.
Usually I end this saying Natsuki is the best, but honestly so far this season Kumiko has been so great that I may rescind that statement. Her attempting to hide from Yuuko by blending into the wall was hilarious! So tons of people have already responded, but screw it what's one more?
I feel there is several massive assumptions being made by you here. We don't know that their friendship fell apart overnight, in fact we have no clue what really caused their friendship to end at all yet. In fact we don't know that Yoroizuka actually ever considered herself Nozomi's friend, it's quite clear that Nozomi has no idea how Yoroizuka feels about her and it's completely possible that this hatred could be years old and Nozomi was just too pushy/dense, Yoro isn't the most expressive of people. Now of course you could be completely right. But I feel it is to early to condemn this story until the we actually learn that. Even if it was something tiny though(which considering Sound Euphonium it probably is); I've seen people keep long grudges and losing friendships for the dumbest of reasons. |
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Valhern
 Posts: 916 |
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Kumiko and her other self who always says things she's not supposed to. |
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proper1420
Posts: 32 |
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As I read it, kinghumanity didn't condemn the story, he simply criticized one element, that the motivation for Mizore's behavior hasn't been adequately established yet. I agree with him. We do have a clue what happened to Mizore and Nozomi's friendship. In S2E2, when Kumiko asks Mizore why she stays in the band, we see a series of shots from Mizore's perspective: (1) Nozomi leading Mizore by the hand down a lane of blooming cherry trees, (2) Nozomi on the bus proposing the promise to get first place in high school, (3) two empty seats in the flute section (note two-hearted-pink-hair-clasp-chan), (4) a reflection of Mizore alone at a music stand staring out a window, and (5) Yuko apparently pleading with Mizore. The clear implication is that from Mizore's perspective, Nozomi led her down a path and abandoned her, and Yuko has taken Nozomi's place. These scenes are what Mizore thinks of while considering Kumiko's question, so they are clearly significant. It is fair to question how good a friend Nozomi was. She proposed going for first place after Mizore said she hates competitions, she left the band without telling Mizore, and she wants to return to the band, not for her supposed friend's sake, but for Asuka's (although I do get a hint of guilt during her conversation with Kumiko at the pool). I also wonder how good a friend Yuko is. She shows concern for Mizore in S2E3, but in S2E1, in the first interaction we see between Mizore and Yuko after being told they are friends, Yuko seems more opportunistic than friendly as she arranges to copy Mizore's homework during the Bon break (Kumiko even remarks after watching this that "something doesn't feel right"). I wonder whether Mizore doesn't appear at the pool during the break because she didn't want to go or because Yuko didn't invite her. I wonder whether Mizore thinks that her friends befriend her only because she plays the oboe, and therefore she feels pressure to continue playing to keep her friends. I suspect that pressure to perform plays a part in Mizore's behavior. We know from the S2E1 bus flashback and the S2E2 conversation with Kumiko that Mizore hates competitions. Puking under pressure is not unheard of. However, puking when hearing Polovtsian Dance No. 17 is extreme, so at this point Mizore's condition seems to me more contrived than realistic. To be honest, I don't think the band's general trauma that resulted from the previous year's drama has been adequately justified either. I hope these elements get better, but even if they don't, that doesn't mean I'll hate this show; I've enjoyed a number of shows with prominent flaws. |
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NeverConvex
 Subscriber Posts: 2292 |
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I shared in others' skepticism of Eupho's central melodrama, but I think they handled it pretty well this episode. It still felt a little overblown, but I empathize with Mizore's core problem and with the relationship she and Nozomi have. Don't want to say anything else since the episode review's not up, so I'll leave it at that - just wanted to chime in that I think they handled it with sufficient grace and verisimilitude that it didn't beggar belief and my prior fears are mostly washed away.
Last edited by NeverConvex on Wed Oct 26, 2016 5:58 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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BodaciousSpacePirate
Subscriber Posts: 3017 |
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It seems odd that Kumiko is so consistently fascinated with women who communicate in aggressively unhelpful ways, considering how earnest her core group of friends was in the first season.
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NeverConvex
Subscriber Posts: 2292 |
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Maybe that's actually why she's so fascinated by them? I doubt she'd bat an eye if her senpais were all drama-less, well-adjusted, even-keeled and relatively subdued. But it's a lot harder to overlook the talented, assertive and aggressive folks in her larger social circle.
The bigger surprise to me is that she ends up digging into Mizore's circumstances; Mizore's a lot easier to overlook than Yuko or Asuka. |
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Edl01
Posts: 117 |
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Kinda ridiculous that Sound Euphonium managed to pull off the Nozomi-Yoroizuka conflict so well. I was genuinely expecting this to be a low point of the series, but my expectations were completely shattered. I'd mention just how well directed and animated this episode was, but at this point that's par for the course and Nick already went into that plenty.
Yoroizuka feeling abandoned by Nozomi makes sense. She clearly cares for Nozomi deeply and felt that her leaving was simply an attempt to end their relationship(or outright Reject her depending on your perspective), so Yoro cut her off to prevent being hurt more. Pushing Nozomi even further away certainly wasn't correct, but unfortunately it makes perfect sense from someone as unsocial as Yoroizuka. I hope to see more of this pairing in future. But of course because it's Sound Euphonium there was also tons of great character moments. I feel safe saying Yuuko stole this episode, but Kumiko and Asuka also both got in some fantastic lines, specifically Asuka who becomes less likeable the more she seems to open up.(In a good way!) This show is the best. |
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darkchibi07
 Posts: 5466 |
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I can see why this Mizore-Nozomi arc feels rather "distant" for a lot of peeps. Kumiko's relationship towards them is through the secondary characters Yuuko and Natsuki. And considering they haven't appeared much last season, it's going to be one heck of challenge to get up speed for these characters so viewers can be more emotionally invested in them and their conflict. For what it's worth, it's quite remarkable with that hallway scene in this episode really sticking out for me. And on the big plus side it showed off Yuuko in a new, respectable light that I never expected out of her.
I can imagine once this series finally deals with Asuka's issues, we'll be far more invested than the two before since she's been one fascinating yet rather frustrating enigma of a character throughout the series so far. |
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Valhern
Posts: 916 |
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I really like how smartly thought this Mizore-Nozomi conflict was considering where the series clearly pretends to aim that. Asuka specifically was given just the perfect time to set up her own thing. I might have disliked that they showed their cards in text with the last talk at the end, but the line of Kumiko about how scary it'd be to see things from her perspective was worth the tell don't show (event hough they showed a lot in this scene).
Only two shortcomings: the foreshadowing for these two wasn't possible to be made as clear in the first season and I'm not sure if there was enough space to cram them in. Secondly, our other two main characters have been so out of the spotlight that I don't even recall seeing them this episode, it's not like they're bestest friends with Kumiko but in this season I feel a great lack of agency. I don't mean commenting on the conflict or play any relevant part, but setting up something for their future development, if we're going to have any. Those are, by far, the greatest picks I can have with Euphonium, kinda appliable to S1 regarding Sapphire. By the way, I liked the idea of, when the female teacher finishes giving a lesson to Mizore, she instantly looks at a metronome. Her style until now not only reflected something rigid and closed, it also showed perfection to preserve, to an unhealthy level (musically and emotionally) her memory of Nozomi being some sort of superior being, ruler of her life. Probably the part of Nozomi was what I found just a little less interesting, even though the reasons she gives are believable considering everything until now; I might need a rewatch because I am a little iffy on her forgetting the promise, or maybe I'm missing a point here. |
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meiam
Posts: 3442 |
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You know, I would struggle to place season one in any specific category but season 2 really just feel like an ultra basic shojo just with a really pretty coat of paint.
The pretty teacher has a female friend, well of course they must be going out, scandal! A girl talked to me, we must now be absolute best friend forever and ever! She didn't tell me about her decision to quit, something I would obvious learned naturally by myself, we'll she probably think I'm useless garbage! But wait, she gave me some non sense explanation, everything is fine now, were back to absolute super best friend 4ever <3 <3 <3 <3! And everything is cranked up to eleven for no reason, Yoroizuka make Shinji Ikari look like a well adjusted human being. I just felt like subtlety has been replaced by paint by number plot point. |
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Megiddo
 Posts: 8360 Location: IL |
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That's really odd, because I can't recall an ultra basic shoujo that doesn't rely on the female main character getting involved with one or more boys with romantic misunderstandings and whatnot. Hell, if you can name me some ultra basic shoujo titles where the standard girl meets boy romance is completely pushed aside then I'd really appreciate it. I'm not sure how I missed them considering I watch a fair amount of shoujo anime, but please do list a few that are in the same vein as Euphonium. I can always use more shoujo anime to watch. Kaleido Star and Skip Beat are the only shoujo anime I've seen that put off or at least delay romantic involvement in favor of the main character focusing wholly on her goal.
Last edited by Megiddo on Wed Oct 26, 2016 11:14 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Valhern
Posts: 916 |
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What scandal? The thing with Taki-sensei was resolved within two episodes as unceremonious as possible, and the most important part about that was learning that his wife died and his relationship with his friend. Mizore didn't have problems with her reason to quit, she was depressed because Nozomi never told her, and she had to face the reality that they weren't as big friends as she thought they were, and what she was scared of was learning that Nozomi never cared that much about her, but actually, Nozomi thought she was doing the right thing quitting the band to not bother Mizore's career, so Mizore can now look back and try to open herself more about her feelings and stuff and reforge relationships with renewed confidence in herself (musically especially, given how she is praised by almost all of her peers) Like, it's not Mizore believing that Nozomi thought of her as garbage, it was her putting herself down because she couldn't make a long standing relationship with Nozomi; other people think that the other person was just mean, not that they have an inner problem. It's just very simple, not near as complex as Asuka's conflict. I've been somewhat in her position (not having zero friends but having very few and feeling like I have no real strong connection with them) and I can understand her thinking that only one person talking to you because they're real nice feels a little more important than it really should; I can inversely understand Nozomi taking this new relationship with Mizore very natural and not as important without exactly disregarding it. |
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meiam
Posts: 3442 |
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Well obviously the main relationship isn't there, but the writing is shoujo style. It's like, a lot of Picasso painting show women, but if he paint a still life it's still a Picasso. There's no main romance, but everything else is in the writing style of shoujo, with everything overblown, personal relationship taken to an obscene level and with fickle friendship. @Valhern Taki sensei and his friend was resolved quickly, but it was still a scandal for an episode, literally the fact that a male character has a female friend was a scandal, shoujo. And I never said Mizore had a problem with Nozomi reason to quit, I was just saying she took something fairly small extremely seriously (again, shoujo). |
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Valhern
Posts: 916 |
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That's a deliberately bad example, a Picasso is something made by the artist, but each painting is within a genre. It will have a clear correlation between all works because, well, it's the same artist. Shoujo and Shonen aren't really a genre, it's just the demographic associated with romance and action, at best. If you want to call it overdramatic writing it's fine, it's more simple. And I have problems understanding what's a scandal for you. The "scandal" was Reina putting a dead fish face when she sees the new teacher, when she broughts the topic up before the bath, her talking in the background with Taki, and a short talk with Kumiko. If this lasted more than 5 minutes then it's a huge stretch. I misread your post with decisions as "reasons"; but still. In your post you wrote "She didn't tell me about her decision to quit, something I would obvious learned naturally by myself", this is taking away everything about the character, or literally thinking about it very cynically like Asuka (avoiding the conflict because she doesn't care about it or it can disturb her interests, thus finding it "overblown" or "unnecesary"), because she FOUND out later, this still was not the problem. This is not a problem of a flicke relationship in which they go from love to hate for no reason, this is a relationship misunderstood and badly approached from both sides that has been corrected. |
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proper1420
Posts: 32 |
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In general, I agree. I have no difficulty enjoying this show. On the other hand, they added what I find to be yet other contrivance (regarding Mizore's playing) in S2E4. This stuff is an irritating flaw in an otherwise excellent show and something I didn't notice in season 1.
I'm generally inclined to disagree, although your comment did lead me to the thought that Mizore is similar to Sawako in Kimi ni Todoke: timid and prone to misinterpreting things. Then I googled up the "Write a Shoujo" article on tvtropes. It lists the following necessary tropes for a shojo: Teenaged girl MC: check Drama: check Love: most people think so Bishounen: Shuichi So yeah, basic shojo. |
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