Whisper Me a Love Song – 09 – A Hot Mess

After Shino tells Himari her backstory (in confidence), Hima takes it upon herself to act as mediator between the two warring bands. With Momoka’s help, she assembles everyone for a taste-testing session that’s actually meant to be a peace summit. But things immediately go downhill, as Shiho has no intention of speaking to Aki.

Shiho’s bandmates scold her, but she decides to peace out. That’s when Hima prepares her a plate of treats, but trips on her way to her. Yori catches her in a romantic embrace, and that’s when Shiho learns that Hima and Yori are a couple. She decides to change the terms of her deal with Aki: she’ll only agree to proceed if Hima becomes Laureley’s manager.

Guilty for putting everyone on the spot, Himari volunteers for the role. Aki didn’t want to get Himari involved, and apologizes to Yori for what has gone down. Yori tells her it’s no big deal, but Aki knows better. And it’s true; Yori doesn’t like the idea of Hima being around another band, listening to them more than her. She knows it’s selfish, but it’s how she feels.

I don’t really think Yori has anything to worry about, especially when she tells Hima that during Summer Break all she has to do is send a text message and Yori will come to her. Hima voices her desire to hang out just about every day with her, and when Yori assents, she gets a big ol’ hug from her. Rather than worry about Hima not being around, Yori decides she’ll write a new song for the festival so that their band has a chance against Shiho’s

Himari fits right in with Laureley, which should come as no surprise as she’s already besties with Momoka and Hajime is a cool and kind senpai. Shiho doesn’t hold her dating Yori against her either, and is happy with Himari’s performance as manager so far—which actually strikes me as somewhat surprising considering her perfectionist nature and desire to go pro. Even so, as Haji and Momoka note how easily Shiho is able to open up to Hima.

When Himari asks how the three of them ended up starting a band in the first place, she immediately feels like she’s stepped in something (again). Shiho agrees to tell her, but both we and Hima will have to wait until next week. Whatever’s up with that story, I still sense an opportunity for Shiho and Aki to make up, even if Laureley wins. I’m sure Himari will do everything she can to make that happen, because it’s never ideal when the people you love are bickering.

Whisper Me a Love Song – 08 – Head Pats and Honesty

After Shiho confronts Aki and shits all over the SSGirls, it’s Yori who ends up getting Aki to consider whether Shiho is actually being honest with her when she says she never liked playing in their band and was only presenting to enjoy herself. If anything, Aki should trust her own instincts at the time that were telling her Shiho was having a blast with them, and with her.

Since Aki took it as a given that Shiho quit because she was genuinely sick of SSGirls and not some other concealed reason, she’d never given the possibility Yori brings up any thought. Now Aki is pretty confident Shiho hasn’t been totally honest with her. If it takes getting more votes at the festival (both bands got a slot), proving SSGirls is the better band, for Shiho to finally be honest with Aki about why she quit, then so be it!

I like how Yori is the one who spurs Aki to stop taking Shiho’s airs at face value; it speaks to what a supportive and caring soul she is. The only one who can surpass her in this department is Himari, who congratulates her GF by getting on her tiptoes to pat her head for once.

When Yori tells Himari about the showdown they’re in with Loreley, she learns that Himari already knows Shiho (through Momoka), and while she’s obviously rooting for Yori in the showdown, she’s also going to be rooting for Loreley. But far from jealous, this is what Yori loves about Himari.

In this second part of Whisper where she and Yori are a couple, Himari isn’t content to tolerate unnecessary drama from her friends, and takes the initiative in paving a path forward for peace between all parties. After all, she loves Yori, Aki, and Shiho, wants them to get along, and more importantly believes they can.

After a shopping trip with Miki, Himari waits for her at a café where Shiho happens to work part-time, against school rules. Shiho takes her break with Himari, and Himari realizes that Shiho isn’t someone who talks about herself a lot. Shiho thinks nobody cares so why should she, but Himari does care. And she becomes the first to really get Shiho to open up about herself; no showdown necessary.

If my theory holds, Shiho left SSGirls not because they sucked, but because she couldn’t bear to be in a band with Aki, with whom she harbored unrequited feelings. But this wasn’t the first time she lost a bestie. That came when she was younger and a violin prodigy aiming for the pros.

Shiho has long believed if she wasn’t the absolute best at what she did, then there was no point in doing it. She became best friends with Kyou, only to dump her when Kyou beat her at violin. This despite it being clear Kyou had no desire to end their friendship.

Watching Shiho befriend and then walk away from Kyou is some truly heartbreaking stuff, as is the montage of Shiho practicing so hard she breaks her violin. While we don’t see her play till hands bleed, it’s clear that the obsessive practice takes a toll on her health, both physical and mental.

Worse still, no matter how hard she practiced, Shiho couldn’t catch up with Kyou’s talent, so one day she set the violin down and never picked it back up. Instead, she remembered Kyou saying she’d always wanted to play the electric guitar, but due in part to parental pressure she couldn’t. When the guitars at the music store catch Shiho’s tearful gaze, she suddenly decides  she’ll become the best guitarist, fulfilling a dream Kyou couldn’t.

Whisper doesn’t have two-dimensional baddies. Everyone has a story and everyone is redeemable. This only marks the midpoint of Shiho’s tale to Himari, but I’m already invested in her despite hating her guts just last week. Newbie seiyuu Nemoto Yuuna delivers an excellent performance, and we get the full Loreley song (featuring Shiho’s singing voice, Mizukami Sui) during the credits.

Whisper Me a Love Song – 07 – Bad Girl Blood

With Yori and Himari now officially a couple, this series could have honestly ended last week as far as I’m concerned. It certainly felt like an ending, at least for this kind of show where it takes nearly the entire run for a couple to get together. That said, I did enjoy the bonus flirting between Yori and Himari, who are both on top of cloud nine and adorable as hell when they’re together.

Himari ends up meeting her senpai Momoka’s two friends Shiho and Hajime, who also happen to be her bandmates. There’s clearly something between Momoka and Hajime. Himari seems oblivious to this, but more importantly, she doesn’t know sho Shiho is to Aki, nor does Shiho know that Yori is Himari’s girlfriend. Yori also doesn’t understand the bad blood between Aki and Shiho, so she proactively invites Aki to her place to provide a safe space to talk about it.

Aki is always going on about Yori being her “bestie”, so to Yori this is simply living up to that title. As for the story, it basically amounts to Aki once inviting Shiho to join their band, but one day after quite some time (Aki’s hair goes from black to blonde) Shiho suddenly says she thinks SSGirls is a joke of a band and she never enjoyed playing with them. A truly hurt Aki lashes out in turn, and their friendship is torn asunder—if there ever even was one.

Shiho was a wallflower when Aki invited her to join SSGirls, and she’d probably still be one without Loreley, the band she formed with Momoka and Hajime. She doesn’t play music to have fun, but to become the best, and she expects the best out of everyone she plays with. At the culture festival audition, SSGirls performs well, but Loreley blows them out of the water with a much darker, more intense, and technically impressive performance.

Shiho proceeds to confront Aki to gloat over how much better she sounded than Yori, whom Shiho knows Aki has always loved. I don’t know what Whisper ultimately wants to do with the Shiho the character, but at the moment I tend to agree with Aki’s opinion of her when Shiho split from the group: she’s a complete ass! That said, Aki wasn’t painted in the best light when she asked Himari to let her have Yori, so perhaps Shiho can be similarly redeemed. I wouldn’t put it past Himari playing a role in that, but we’ll see.

Whisper Me a Love Song – 06 – Finding Her Love

When Yori and Himari go shopping for clothes for the concert, it counts as their first official date, and they treat it as such. Himari’s outfit is adorable as expected, while Yori is as effortlessly cool-looking as ever. Himari has Yori try on a more girly dress, and is then scandalized by her bare, miles-long legs. Yori gets to pick the outfit Himari will wear to the concert, but it’s a tough choice as to her she looks good in anything.

While having ice cream, Yori tells Himari that she’s the reason she’s playing in a band, as having fun with her and wanting to be by her side gave her the push to take it seriously. Himari admits to having never gotten too absorbed in anything until Yori came around, and that being with her makes her so happy she’s able to lose herself. After walking Himari home, Yori can’t resist kissing her on the cheek.

Yori promised she’d win Himari’s heart at the concert, and armed with the confidence-bolstering earrings Himari bought for her, Yori proceeds to do exactly that. The SSGirls are finally animated as they play, well, not a whole song, but good parts of two songs, including “Sunny Spot”, written specially for Himari. As she listens, Himari finally finds “it”—that is, what kind of love she has.

After the last song, Himari is compelled to run to the stage, and she and Yori go outside to talk. Yori tells Himari that she wants nothing more than to keep being with her, listening to her beautiful songs and learning more about her. She believes this is what it means for her to be in love, so she confesses to Yori and asks her out. Naturally, Yori accepts, and as they embrace, her tears lead to Himari tearing up as well.

It’s a damn fine and cathartic confession scene, gorgeously performed and animated. Kudos also to the layered performance of Aki, who obviously harbors bittersweet feelings. Bitter because she lost Yori to Himari, but sweet because Yori is happy, and still considers Aki to be her very best friend.

And so, just like that, Yori and Himari are an official couple. But Yori is concerned that they way they’re hanging out as girlfriends is pretty much exactly like they hung out before. But when she voices her worries about wasting their precious time together, Himari asks why anything has to change.

Himari is perfectly happy with things the way they are. That said, she returns Yori’s earlier kiss with one of her own, and Yori is so flustered she sees the benefits of things remaining “normal.” Anything more might be more than her tender heart can take!

With the will-they-won’t-they dynamic of HimaYori decisively resolved, we move on to the next conflict: the SSGirls all agree to play in the cultural festival, but they learn they’ll have to audition to secure a slot. The former vocalist of SSGirls, Izumi Shiho, who seems like a real haughty bitch, watched Yori perform and didn’t think much of it.

She believes the band to be a bunch of amateurs, and with her new three-piece band she intends to claim the top spot at the festival. The battle to win Himari’s heart has been won. Now the battle of the bands begins.