Juuni Taisen – 12 (Fin)

 

In the finale, we spend virtually the entire time inside Nezumi’s head as he ponders which of the one hundred wishes he has will be the one he asks Duodecuple to grant as a reward for his winning the Juuni Taisen.

For all that inner monologue, we don’t learn anything about Nezumi’s past, only his very mundane present, in which he attends high school and stands out mostly due to how antisocial he is.

We see his ability in action on more than one occasion as he weighs his options, and early on these are mostly frivolous, such as wishing for everyone in his class to die, or for the skirt of only girl who talks to him to flip up in front of him.

But the more he wracks his brain trying to think of a proper wish, the more rationales he comes up with to render those wishes undesirable—living forever; remaining young forever; making everyone happy; gaining the ability to survey a thousand possibilities instead of a hundred—they all have their cons that leads to their dismissal.

He considers the wishes of the other, now-slain warriors, which is interesting because throughout his ninety-nine failed attempts to win, he manages to interact peacefully with each and every one of his eleven adversaries. In a way, that’s rather apropos, since at one point or another everyone has to deal with rats.

In one of those deleted possibilities, Tora tells him how her wish is to fight beside (or possibly against) Ushii; it’s a wish that’s actually granted in the timeline Nezumi ultimately goes with. Tora turned out to be my favorite of the twelve warriors, so it’s gratifying to hear that despite losing the competition, her wish was fulfilled and she died without regrets.

If there’s one thing this final episode makes clear, it’s that Nezumi’s ability is a curse, since he remembers everything that could have happened but didn’t. So the wish he ultimately comes up with—to be able to forget everything that’s happened, or might’ve happened—seems like the best way to go. After all, his memories of all those countless deleted possibilities hampered his ability to choose any other wish.

By the time he’s counted up to 99, he’s an exhausted fellow seemingly on the verge of mental breakdown. Being allowed to forget it all is a tremendous relief even his classmates notice when he’s happily dozing at his desk.

With a RABUJOI Score well under 7.5 and a MAL Score of barely 7, Juuni Taisen was never in danger of winning any “Anime of the Year” awards. Of the shows we haven’t dropped this Fall, it’s the lowest-rated.

The reason I stuck with JT was its efficient and reliable structure: twelve episodes, twelve characters, eleven all-but guaranteed deaths, and one winner. Many of those characters and their backstories were serviceable, particularly those of Niwatori, Sharyu, and Tora. The CGI-assisted combat was also a strong suit (though IMO there wasn’t enough of it).

I wish Ushii and Usagi had gotten proper backstories. The wish-granting ability of Duodecuple was way too broad. Nothing really came of the silly oligarch gambling angle. But Juuni Taisen was still a fun, if flawed, ride.

 

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Juuni Taisen – 11

After giving Tora a proper death to deny her corpse from becoming another one of Usagi’s slaves, Ushii ponders how best to deal with a necromantist so hell-bent on victory, he somehow managed to enslave himself before dying.

“Burning him to ash with fire” is as good a plan as any, but Usagi, or rather, the grotesque undead creature crudely reconstructed by Zombie Sharyu, catches up. When Ushii tries hacking Usagi to bits again, Sharyu jumps out from inside Usagi’s body to pin Ushii down.

It’s as devious a tactic as it is fucked up, and Ushii knows he’s hosed, and has been hosed since the moment Usagi turned Sharyu.

Ushii would prefer death to becoming a part of  Usagi’s menagerie, and Nezumi, appearing at precisely the perfect moment, grants him that preference, using Hitsujii’s bomb to blow up Usagi, Sharyu and Ushii to win the Juuni Taisen, just like that.

It turns out that “perfect moment” was no coincidence, but rather the only “route” Nezumi could have taken in order to win; the other 99 out of 100 ended with him getting killed and losing.

This week we learn that he possesses the skill “Hundred Paths of Nezumi-san”, but to the episode’s credit, we’re shown how it works before it’s explained, in a bizarre, Groundhog Day-style sequence in which Nezumi keeps refusing to submit to a post-victory interview with Duodecuple and ends up killed in various, often grisly ways, only to reset back in Duo’s office.

It’s apropos for a warrior of the rat—one of the ultimate survivors on earth—to not only have more than the “nine lives” of the cat, but be able to look at one hundred different routes in order to pick the one that will lead to his continued survival. Even weirder, he remembers all of the routes he “deleted” by “locking in” to the “winning” route.

After sitting down and talking with Duo about Sharyu’s role in creating a route for Nezumi to live (which he repaid by killing her as she requested down in the sewer), his alliances with Tiger and even Usagi in other deleted routes, and other matters, before the sun comes up and Nezumi is excused to rest and come up with a wish to be granted.

As is his style, Nezumi will come up with 100 wishes, then go through each one as Duo grants them to determine which one would be most beneficial. That should make for an intriguing finale.

Juuni Taisen – 10

Juuni Taisen may be at the bottom of RABUJOI’s Fall 2017 barrel, but it’s by no means a bad show, and strong, simple, yet heartfelt episodes like this one only help the case for sticking with it till the end. I thought I’d had my fill of Kanae’s endless drinking and killing; it turns out, so had the show.

It wasn’t done telling us Kanae’s story, about how one day, on some random battlefield, she was mistaken for a civilian who had been plied with alcohol by the dastardly soldiers operating in the area. The man making that mistake was none other than Ushii.

Kanae never has the guts to tell Ushii the truth about her, and instead lets him rescue her and take her to a refugee camp on his back. While near him, Kanae soaks up as much as possible about the guy. She wants to know how a warrior like him does the right thing. His answer is simple: first you have to choose to do it; then do it.

Anyone—including Kanae—who is suffering or tortured has to reconcile the fact that it isn’t that she can’t do right, but that she’s chosen not to. Intent is everything. Figuring out how to do right is folly unless one decides that right is what they want to do.

Kanae takes this to heart, and decides she’s going to crawl out of her drunken hole of misery (in which she realizes she’s been suffering the whole time after all) and re-dedicate herself to becoming a warrior that would make Ushii acknowledge her.

That leads her back to the Aira dojo, where she successfully begs her way into the next Juuni Taisen, all to face off against Ushii. To her annoyance, he doesn’t remember her in the slightest (though to be fair, she was wearing a lot more back then).

And yet, the moment she chooses to do the right thing—save Ushii from Usagi’s disembodied killer arms, and take the sword strike meant for her—even seems to take her by surprise. She’ll be damned if she’s going to let such a horrible fate befall the man who not only saved countless innocent lives during his many exploits, but saved her as well.

If it weren’t for him, she wouldn’t even be there; she’d probably have drunk herself to death (though considering the tolerance she’s demonstrated thus far, perhaps not).

Turns out Ushii has never before been saved by anyone the way Tora did. That means he’s determined to save her again to repay his debt, unaware of the debt she was repaying him.

I thought it ludicrous even in this heightened reality that Tora would last long with a wound like that, especially with the jostling of riding on Ushii’s back. It’s not long then, that Tora herself tells Ushii to put her down; even if they find a hospital and her life is saved, she won’t be able to fight in their duel.

Instead, she calls the duel off and asks Ushii to kill her, lest Usagi claim her corpse. It’s a strong argument, and Ushii agrees to do it. Tora leaves the world with no regrets, with a smile on her face. Her wish, as it turns out, was to be acknowledged by Ushii.

She did more than that. By saving him, perhaps if he survives Nezumi and what’s left of Usagi, Ushii can continue his life of doing what’s right. All because in one crucial moment that made all the difference, Tora chose to do the same.

Eromanga-sensei – 08

Whether she likes it or not, Sagiri can’t have Masamune all to herself, not matter how adorably she dresses. And though he technically rejected her, the fact Masamune compares Sagiri’s yukata to Muramasa means she’s still in his thoughts, because she was the first person to say what she said about his novels.

Elf also tries to nab her share of Masamune’s attention by dressing like Muramasa; in her case, a school uniform. But despite the fact she and Muramasa are rivals in love and novels, Elf offers the advice she’d offer Masamune even if she didn’t like him: stop worrying about what may or may not be, and have one little chat that settles it all. Of course, she’s clearly not happy at all when he says he wishes she was his big sister.

She is, right, however, that being direct with Muramasa is the best strategy, as her feelings for him haven’t changed since he turned her down, nor is she too uncomfortable to attend the short story competition wrap party he’ll be hosting. They also both acknowledge that they’ve only met each other three times—not enough to get to know each other—and so would both welcome a fourth, fifth, and more.

The fifth wheel, Shidou, arrives first, and has no idea what he’s walking into until Elf and Muramasa arrive at the same time and start immediately fighting over Masamune until Sagiri starts pounding on the floor above them. Elf is also sporting her most ridiculous outfit yet – a frilly lolita-style yukata and flamboyant hairstyle.

The initial awkwardness of the party eventually smooths out, especially when Masamune breaks out all the festival themed food, hoping to create a festival-like atmosphere for Sagiri, who can’t go outside. Everyone shares their ultimate dreams, including “Eromanga-sensei”, who says she wants to be the bride of the one she loves. Oh, girl…

After everyone else files out to go see the fireworks, Masamune stays with Sagiri, and confesses that he’s always been afraid of being alone ever since his birth mother died in an accident. He’s also truly thankful for Sagiri, his new family, for putting up with such a pathetic brother, but she feels no less pathetic for losing the will to leave the house.

As they watch the fireworks from the window of her room, Sagiri reiterates that she never considered Masamune family or her brother; her love has always leaned more towards romance, insomuch as she knows what that is.

Still, if Masamune wants or needs her to just be his little sister, she thinks she can “pretend…for a bit”, only to later remark somewhat ruefully to herself while lying in bed how she’s “gotten much further away”, presumably from her dream of being the bride of the one she loves.

I dunno if that’s a bad thing, Sags! Get over him, get out of that bed, that room, that house; go to school, meet someone whose father didn’t marry your mother. Is that so much to ask?

P.S. Kuroneko Sighting. Repeat: Kuroneko Sighting!!! With her adorable sisters too. That confirms Masamune, Sagiri, & Co. live in the same world as Oreimo, whose MC also had to grow a spine and pick someone, anyone, as long as it wasn’t his damn sister. Obviously, Kuroneko was his best choice.

Eromanga-sensei – 07

Senju Muramasa doesn’t back down on her intention to crush Masamune, and easily dispatches Elf by having the editor inform her just how many more sales she has (14+ mil vs. 2 mil), forcing a quick Elf retreat. Masamune responds with a challenge to his “senpai”: whoever loses the contest will have to do whatever the victor says.

We knew this was the challenge that was coming, it’s just a matter of what Masamune will write, and whether it will be good enough to beat a platinum powerhouse. He decides he’ll convert his little sister novel to a short story, but short stories aren’t his forte.

Enter Elf, who uses her expertise gained by her own strong sales and puts Masamune through a gauntlet of drafts, until he’s got a “passable”, if not yet good enough, manuscript.

Then the enemy pays him a visit, intentionally wearing a school uniform in order to “make a better impression.” You see, she wants Masamune to surrender, and instead agree to “be hers”, i.e. write novels just for her.

Elf and an on-screen Sagiri are suspicious of her appearance in the midst of the contest, but it would seem Muramasa isn’t trying to sabotage her kohai, just make him pivot to something she sees would benefit both sides. She also doesn’t flinch at Elf’s claim she and Masamune are living together.

She comes in, and after briefly getting distracted by a sudden jolt of inspiration forcing her to stop her conversation in the middle and start writing (and she’s left-handed!), tells Masamune what her dream is: to be able to go beyond writing stories she’s rate 100-out-of-100, and create something even she, not just a fan, could rate 1 million out of 100.

She only writes at all because of Masamune, whose battle novels were the only things that moved her to the bottom of her heart. When he shifted to rom-com with the little-sister proposal, and stopped writing her favorite novel, she became a wreck, and only by writing her own stuff could she keep going.

So Muramasa, certain her dream is more important than Masamune’s, once again pleads with him to become “hers” and write only for her, promising she’ll support him and his sister the rest of their lives if that’s what it takes. But Masamune’s dream isn’t just his own, and Sagiri leaves her room to tell Muramasa as much.

Also, Sagiri won’t accept any scenario in which she gives up Masamune for anyone else. She earlier says he’s not allowed to date other girls ever after seeing Elf’s tweet. This is highly unreasonable behavior, but younger sibling jealousy is nothing new or abnormal. Masamune shows a united front with his sister and declines Muramasa’s author, saying he’ll instead get her hooked on his rom-com.

I mean, that’s great and all, but surely Masamune realizes he can’t keep indulging Sagiri’s possessiveness, right? And that any future romantic partner has to be chosen from among girls he’s not related to by marriage? Just asking for a friend…

Masamune ends up winning the contest, because even though Muramasa got 15 more votes, her short story ran double the allowed length, and she was disqualified. Whether this was intentional on her part, or if she simply wrote the number of pages she had to write and didn’t care what happened afterwards, the story was all about her and Masamune.

Like Masamune’s story about his sister, Muramasa’s is a love letter…to him. So now Muramasa is not just in love with his novels, but with him in general. Masamune doesn’t have a satisfying answer: “there’s [already] someone I love.”

It leads me to wonder if Muramasa’s only purpose on the show was to be defeated twice in short order and retreat as Elf did upon hearing about her sales…or if the battle has just begun. Either way, he harem has become really crowded.

Eromanga-sensei – 06

When Megumi repeatedly calls LNs “creepy”, Ishikawa Yui breaks out a more Mikasa-esque voice for Tomoe, going at Megumi as if she were trying to hurt her beloved Eren. Masamune avoids blows, but Tomoe enacts her revenge by getting Megumi totally hooked on the books she once so cavalierly looked down upon.

Megumi’s original purpose for checking out some novels was to get closer to Sagiri, and she gets closer than she bargained for, not only being allowed an audience with Muramase’s sister, but serving as a lewd model, bound and blindfolded.

Sagiri is so excited and inspired by her new model, she can’t help but impulsively relieve Megumi if her shimapan, an effective if dated way to blow up her “lewd girl” persona. That being said, Megumi gets what she wants: actual contact with Sagiri, and a promise of continued novel exchange—the foundation of a friendship.

When Masamune’s publisher tells him they won’t be publishing his little sister LN for a year (because the younger, more popular Senju Muramasa snatched his earlier publishing spot), Yamada offers to help him get published. But they’re both early for the meeting, so they have a little date that both know is a date but pretend it isn’t.

Yamada, who is surprisingly not the most irritating girl in the show, and has grown quite a bit as a character in her last few episodes, explains how book sales are like the ultimate game, so it makes sense to always keep score. Despite losing to Senju like Masamune in that department, she dismisses Senju as someone playing a “one-player game” with different rules.

She doesn’t believe Senju would be disappointed in the slightest if Yamada crushed her. Yamada accidentally tells Masamune she loves him, because she knows he would be disappointed, and thus a more worthwhile opponent. She quickly walks back the “I love you”, but the vulnerability and honesty of that moment, along with an earlier scene where she stops when she realizes she’s acting tsundere were nice touches.

The date over, the two mosey to the publisher, and encounter a girl who like Yamada is not dressed in normal modern attire, but traditional Japanese garb. Yamada assumes she’s a rookie when she spots her manuscript and is back to the haughty self she was when she first met Masamune. I guess this is just how she initially interacts with peers in her field? The girl doesn’t give her much in return, but accompanies them to the offices.

There, Masamune’s publisher denies his request to go with another house for his novel, but does suggest an alternative: he’ll enter a short-story competition with four other young authors, and the winner will get published not next year, but in September. Masamune emphatically expresses his intense enthusiasm and signs right up, claiming it’s the first brick of the road to realizing his dreams.

Perhaps a bit too emphatically, as the yukata girl finally speaks up, and not in a docile tone, announcing she’ll be the one to crush his sentimental, shonen-esque little dreams in favor of her own dream. She’s no rookie, after all…she’s Senju Muramasa, and she won’t have Masamune speak her name without the -senpai honorific.

So…Senju is a cutthroat, competitive maniac, eh? Well…I guess that’s probably better than what I expected (someone who is pre-in-love with Masamune / his work despite being more successful than him). In any case, the whole group of girls has now been introduced; we’ll soon see if and how Masamune interacts with the newest and most hostile.

Eromanga-sensei – 05

I wasn’t really serious when I stated last week that Sagiri saying “she’s in love with someone” meant a rejection of Masamune. This week Sagiri barely hides her brocon, and if anything is brassed off that her brother won’t return those feelings, because he doesn’t want to admit he’s a siscon. What both can agree on is that if Masamune is going to write a novel about a little sister, she’s going to illustrate it.

Masamune ends up ignoring Elf’s initial pleas to be rescued by her fastidious editors, so caught up in planning the look of the heroine with Sagiri (the more it looks like her, the better), but Elf manages to finally get his attention with a barrage of arrow fire, and he catches her in a manner she later romanticizes when she finally gets to meet Sagiri, and has fun both playing video games and posing in lewd positions until Masamune gives her up to the editors.

While working on his project proposal, which if approved will get the fast track to publication, Sagiri is eager to show him her completed work using Elf as a model. The illustration inspires Masamune to put an Elf-looking character in the novel, which I thought would really irk Sagiri (since another girl is intruding on her life with her brother and now their art) but she takes it well, and wants to continue inspiring him by drawing different kinds of girls she can only draw if she sees in the flesh.

That would create a problem for Masamune…if he wasn’t surrounded by girls. While I still loathe Megumi, at least her role as the only “otaku outsider” becomes clearer, as she so blithely looks down on the kind of books Masamune and the others create and adore.

The final member of the harem also comes a little more into focus, though she’s only mentioned by name: Senju Muramasa, sharing her name with the legendary student of the legendary swordsmith Masamune; fitting since it’s implied she’s younger. With Elf now a neighbor, friend, and collaborator, Masamune needs another distant rival…at least until that distance suddenly closes, which on this show is pretty likely.

Eromanga-sensei – 04

Whither Yamada Elf goest, so to does Eromanga-sensei (the show, not the artist). Starting out as a caricature of a super-arrogant, condescending brat with delusions of grandeur, Elf’s become a lot more balanced in the last two episodes.

She also reveals that delusions aside she’s a highly capable, multi-talented person, as evidenced by the lovely, tasty-looking meal she lovingly prepares for Masamune. The reason she’s happy to cook is that she gains perspective on how characters in her stories feel when they’re cooking for those they have their eye on.

Sagiri has also picked up on the quickly evolving relationship between Yamada and Masamune (even if he doesn’t see Yamada as a serious love interest), and calls Masamune a liar for saying they don’t get along, when he’s clearly there all the time.

Combined with the result of bringing up the drawing of large-boobed women (Sagiri can’t do it because she doesn’t have them herself), Masamune ends up shut out of her bedroom once more, though the core of her disappointment is his refusal to come clean about the neighbor.

The day the two authors are to reveal their stories to one another, Masamune arrives at Elf’s house to…no welcome whatsoever. I fully expected him to barge in on her working (or doing something else) in the nude, but I was pleasantly surprised when he found her all covered up.

Specifically, she’s in a very practical sweatsuit, with bags under her eyes instead of ringlets beside them, and a very serious look on her face. This is all Masamune needs to realize all her talk about writing light novels being a mere “hobby” is a bunch of codswallop.

More evidence is presented when the two read one another’s manuscripts before turning them over to Eromanga-sensei. He’s reliably blown away by her story, a page-turner seemingly perfectly tuned for Eromanga’s stylus, right down to the small-boobed characters in cool outfits. But Elf is also blown away by Masamune’s…just not in the same way he is by hers.

It’s not that her story is in any way worse—on the contrary, it would likely sell many orders of magnitude more copies than his—it’s that this isn’t a competition for the most bankable LN. It’s a competition for Eromanga’s services and after reading Masamune’s manuscript, Elf is so sure she can’t compete, she tosses her manuscript straight into the shredder (much to Masa’s dismay).

Reading it also confirms to her that Eromanga-sensei is his little sister next door, and that’s why she can’t compete: it’s a 300-page love letter, for chrissake. It’s not even meant for any other reader but her, which is why Elf is both outclassed and beet-faced she read it at all.

When Masamune finally gains access to Sagiri’s room—via the window in a frankly needlessly reckless stunt that could have gotten him killed and resulted in ending up in a very lewd position with Sagiri beneath him. There, he learns why she hasn’t opened the door for him in two weeks: she doesn’t hate him, she’s been improving her drawing, both battle scenes and bigger boobs.

Her take on his dalliances next door was that the neighbor was a rival artist trying to take “Izumi-sensei” away from her, while he kept the wager secret because he was worried she’d be seduced by the more famous and successful Elf. With the misunderstanding cleared up and his victory sealed (she’d never leave him for another author), she reads the manuscript.

Like Elf, it’s embarrassing for her to read; doubly so since it’s about her. And while she considers it an interesting story, he’d never be able to release it as a book, because it’s just too personal. She also, not in so many words, rejects the implied confession the manuscript represents (at least, Masamune seems to take it as a rejection).

Masamune is fine with that rejection, but he’s committed to re-working the story into something he can show to his editor, something that will sell and garner a huge audience, and eventually, get awarded his first anime adaptation, putting him on the same level as Elf. Most importantly, his goal is to get Sagiri out of her room so they can watch the first episode of their anime together in the living room.

While I thought this was Masamune going too far and was sure it would put Sagiri off, I am surprised yet again when Sagiri take a couple steps outside her room; the first steps in many to come on their quest to create an anime-worthy book. Let the goal-striving begin.

Eromanga-sensei – 03

When Masamune investigates the abandoned, possibly haunted house next door, he’s surprised to find Yamada Elf has just moved in: and likes to play the piano naked after a shower to get inspired to write.

After the standard accusations of peeping tommery, she invites him in, and most of the episode is given over to making Elf a little more dimensional, if still grating in her intense, obnoxious arrogance.

As Sagiri’s bedroom window faces Elf’s office, you’d think it wouldn’t be long before she found out who Eromanga-sensei is, but Elf sees Masamune’s sister and thinks she’s just that: a little sister who has fun drawing, not the person whose services they’re fighting over.

It’s also a bit shitty of Masamune not to even mention to Sagiri his little wager with Elf, considering Sagiri is the ‘prize’. Then again, it’s a good thing that Masamune isn’t the perfect MC while everyone around him is flawed in some way.

Indeed, Masamune’s flaw seems to be that in spite of Elf’s toxic personality, incessant pretentiousness, and pronunciation of ahhh-neee-may, he can’t help spending time with his new neighbor, nor indeed being a fan himself, even if meeting Yamada-sensei wasn’t what he expected.

For a time, it doesn’t seem like Elf invited Masamune in just to rub his nose in her superior success, but to spend time with a fellow author. She earnestly asks why he’s a fan, and he earnestly answers: after a death in the family, her books cheered him up. They taught him that novels can “save lives” of some readers, and for that she has his heartfelt thanks, competition or no.

Elf’s reaction betrays a softer, more genuine side to her, even if it’s short-lived and she’s back to being awful the next day. But it’s also clear that she’d rather have Masamune around than not, and also strongly disagrees with his workaholic approach to authoring, as she considers her job a “hobby” and only writes if her motivation is maxed out.

Despite knowing nothing of their competition involving her, Sagiri is uneasy anyway because her big brother, who has been All Hers up to this point, is suddenly ‘in the web’ of a cute, rich next-door neighbor.

While her music and online fans keep Eromanga merry, I feel one of the factors that drives her motivation to draw is knowing Masamune will always be there in the house, serving her meals and protecting her.

Yamada throws a thorn in that arrangement, and it will be interesting to see whether that motivates Sagiri to explore beyond her room. But yeah…Masamune really should tell her about his wager with Elf.

3-gatsu no Lion – 21

3GL has proven time and again it doesn’t have to stick to one story per episode to excel, and this is one of those split episodes that really resonated with me. The Lion King Tournament took up so much of the show’s—and Rei’s—attention and energy that the fact it’s over now feels like a great weight has been lifted, and now life goes on, which we get to witness a slice of.

Rei accompanies Shimada to his hometown of Yanagata, and as he’s known as a “rainbringer”, the Human Shogi can’t be performed outdoors. It is, however, still performed, on a stage in an auditorium, and I have to say I really dug the tradition and pageantry involved in such a production. The town’s pride and devotion to shogi is evident in every one of the human shogi pawns’ faces.

As for Shimada, he may have brought gray clouds and rain, but indoors, the various Yanagata shogi festivities seem to recharge him, to the point that by the time he’s leaving, he’s ready to start his climb to masterdom all over again, realizing he’s been rushing and failing to enjoy the ride.

At the same time, hearing that Shimada came up with a community shogi program that benefits otherwise isolated elderly folks adds another dimension to Shimada, who has now gotten more development than any other shogi player besides Rei.

The next segment has nothing to do with Shimada, but is focused on the Kawamotos as Gramps mines his granddaughters for inspiration. He’s trying to craft another “signature sweet” to supplement the already popular “baked crescents”.

He trusts and respects the sisters’ opinions, at least to a point: when they start getting too non-traditional, he bristles. That being said, he also loves Momo’s suggestion of using gum, though that’s probably just ’cause he loves Momo and would call her a genius even if she suggested something truly heretical, like Hershey’s Kisses.

Later, Akari and Hina decide to splurge at a sweet shop, but end up going overboard with extras, sending the check skyrocketing to a sum that could have been used to feed the family for a week. As they say, those places are at trap, and they’ll clean you out and leave you fat, but that doesn’t mean the treats they push aren’t great anyway, or that it’s wrong to treat oneself once in a while.

Later, Hina is the one with the eureka moment, developing a versatile and cute daifuku snowman confection. Clearly the apple didn’t fall far from the tree, as Gramps admits the sisters’ mom was the one who came up with the Baked Crescents. Family, for Gramps, is not just obligation, but a font of inspiration. And the shop stays in business thanks in part to their ideas and energy.

In an exceedingly adorable closing scene, Hina calls Rei, then hears his phone ringing at the door; he happened to be arriving by surprise. It’s nice to see the two so in sync. There’s also a nice positive “karma” in Rei showing up with excess Yanagata treats from Shimada, as if the universe is re-filling the coffers Akari and Hina’s parfait run emptied. But more than anything, it’s nice to see Rei reunited with the Kawamotos.

Hibike! Euphonium 2 – 13 (Fin)

WE’RE SO SCREWED

As expected, the final Hibike! Euphonium 2 of the season is an epilogue; it even has ‘epilogue’ in the episode title. The third years are given a proper sendoff with lovely musical performances accompanied by montages of both this season and the last.

Yoko and Natsuki take up the mantle of new president and vice president, and the former can hear the loss of the third years.

Really nice lighting effects in this scene

So can Taki-sensei, who acknowledges that every year school bands essentially take a big step back due to the outgoing talent. That experience must be replaced with the remaining members plus the rawer talent of incoming first years.

The same band that made it to the Nationals no longer exists. The one that intends to make it back will be an entirely new one: new leadership, new composition, new style.

Since Kumiko and Reina are first-years, they have not one but two more years to achieve their goal of National Gold. And they seem as optimistic and determined as ever to get there, despite their bronze finish this year and the loss of so much talent.

Their problems going forward are the same problems all school bands face, and secondary problems — such as Yoko and Natsuki clashing — are sure to crop up.

The key (no pun intended), I suppose, is to avoid really big dustups such as the ones that took place before Kumiko and Reina arrived at Kitauji; the kind of conflicts that actually hindered the band’s performance, and the wounds of which have now all but faded.

And so we get a nice, long, heartfelt goodbye as all the seniors play for their juniors, then vice versa. There’s a commencement ceremony, where the goodbye hugs and wishes continue. And throughout this epilogue, Kumiko is sad and upset, all because Asuka is leaving.

Ah, so THAT’S where the show’s title comes from. HUH!

She runs all over the school grounds, increasingly desperate to find her. As usual, Asuka is trying to avoid “these kind of things”, but Kumiko won’t let her escape her, or her true feelings. Kumiko thinks she might have hated Asuka at first – but now all she feels is love. Romantic love? Perhaps it hews close to that, just as you could read her feelings towards Reina on top of that mountain last season.

But whatever specific kind of love it is, she’s got it, when she didn’t have it before. Asuka is someone she let into her life and personality, while continuing to hold back from Shuu (poor Shuu). Asuka is someone leaving, whom she doesn’t want to go. She has eyes for no third-year but Asuka.

And now she’s the chief euph, and her bandmates even remark how she sounds like Asuka. Like Mamiko, Asuka has helped shape and progress Kumiko’s musical development and identity. I’m unsure if there will be a Euph 3, but there’s plenty of great material to continue with.

Hibike! Euphonium 2 – 12

Shuu Sighting! Shuu Sighting! Kumiko and Shuu can’t sleep the night before the Nationals, and end up having drinks together by the vending machine. As always, they talk about mundane things. Shuu gives Kumiko a belated birthday present: a cute hairpin. Scene.

It’s these two in a nutshell. Here, in the middle of the night, the two are able to at least have a moment. It’s not a bit dramatic moment or anything, just a cordial acknowledgement of their history together, without any kind of indication either one of them know what to do from there. Sometimes I think the show revels in always teasing these two.

Oh yeah, the Nationals! Kitauji fails to win Gold. They fail to win Silver, too. They end up with Bronze. Bronze, after all that! I guess they aimed too high, huh? Ah well, like the band, I had carried unreasonably high expectations, and while it stings to seem them essentially crash and burn, they didn’t do badly for a group so young, and the second and first years aren’t out of opportunities. Just getting to the Nationals was a goal they successfully achieved, and that’s nothing to sniff at.

When Taki-sensei is awarded on stage, the band doesn’t have a cheer arranged. Enter Reina, who yells out “I LOVE YOU!”, which Taki and everyone else hears, but not necessarily as a confession. Later, when Taki thanks Reina and expresses his worry no one in the band liked him, she piles on the praise, then makes it clear she “really does like him” – to which Taki is flattered, and walks away without a formal response. Hang in there, Reina!

In better news, Asuka’s father, and judge in the competition, heard her, and through Taki-sensei, compliments her play as “beautiful” and is glad she kept at it. Frankly, I’m not sure why he couldn’t tell his daughter in person, but it seems to be enough for Asuka, who has to embrace Kumiko before completely breaking down with happiness.

And finally, after a lot of looking around and chasing, Kumiko tracks down Mamiko, who did attend after all, to tell her she loves the Euph and loves concert band because of her, and she loves her. Mamiko yells back that she loves her too, and that’s the ep.

It was a bit odd not to hear any music, but it was always going to be hard to replicate the atmosphere of previous performances without seeming repetitive. Similarly, the Nationals didn’t feel any more “special” than the Regionals this time or last. It ends up being kind of a bronze episode (if a 9 is Silver and a 10 is Gold).

It felt more like an episode full of loose ends being tied up. That made for some enjoyable moments, but they felt isolated and disjointed. Still, the feels were felt on numerous occasions; oddly enough no more so than when Mizore fist-bumped Kumiko and looked so pleased about it.

Hibike! Euphonium 2 – 08

That ominous cold close of Mamiko leaving the Oumae household was a taste of what was to come this week, with Kumiko getting so caught up in family unrest it literally makes her sick. That being said, she isn’t all that involved in said unrest, merely a witness, and not a happy one at that. Her sister Mamiko, who inspired her to get into music, now wants to become…a beautician.

Her Dad warns Mamiko that if she quits college, she’ll be cast out and cut off. Mamiko blames her folks for making her quit trombone (which, to Kumiko’s shock, she never wanted to quit), but Pops only accepts partial responsibility; to him, the blame rests on Mamiko for not being more forceful about what she wanted to do.

Back at school, Asuka returns to practice, but just as quickly stops coming again after inviting Kumiko to her place to help study for exams, which would be a first. Kumiko quickly becomes quite ill, making the band two euphs down, while Taki informs the band that if Asuka can’t show up for practice, Natsuki will take her place at the Nationals. It’s kind of unsettling how quickly Asuka disappears from this episode halfway in.

Kumiko is sent home by her friends, and after an odd encounter with the third-year Aoi, she ends up in bed, waking up to find Reina quietly sitting by her bed, waiting to spring into action and take care of her. Reina has taken a bit of back seat to others of late (though she hasn’t become as obscure as Shuuichi), so it’s nice to see her here, and to see how far these two have come in their friendship.

Reina even gets to witness Kumiko getting fed up at her sister when she barges in to turn off a euph CD. Kumiko doesn’t hold her tongue, and lets Mamiko have it regarding her earlier assertion she never wanted to give trombone up. Mamiko retreats, telling her little sister she’ll “never understand how she feels.” Yikes.

But that’s not where things are left. Mamiko runs into Shuuichi in the lobby on her way out (Shuuichi, whose mother heard Mamiko was quitting college). Shuu’s voice proves crucial in getting Mamiko to introspect, and that night, Mamiko comes back in Kumiko’s room – not to complain or fight, but to ask for a recording of her Kumiko’s music.

There’s been a rift between these two sisters for a long time, not helped by their frustratingly implacable father who only seems to know how to sow and escalate rancor in the household. Maybe they can reconnect through music?