Hibike! Euphonium 3 – 03 – The Shrine of Sally

When Kousaka declared the concert band would be going for Gold, that meant she would be taking no prisoners when it came to preparing for that goal, starting with SunFes, which is now only a few days away. She stops the marching formation to point out individual first-years who are coming up short, and does not provide a shoulder for them to cry on … and cry they do.

This creates friction that weighs on the first-years’ de facto leader Yoshii Sari, AKA Sally-chan. From her morning where she prays at a shrine with a sigh, to her reaction to Reina’s strict criticism of her more fragile peers, she simply doesn’t look like she’s having a good time.

Kumiko finds herself so busy presiding over the club that she doesn’t have time to think too much about her future, despite having some paperwork to fill out to that effect as part of her responsibilities as a third-year. Reina says she’d like to see her get into musical education.

During their brief morning visit to the teacher’s lounge Kumiko sees all of the stuff on Taki-sensei’s desk and thinks out loud how being an adult must be rough. He admits there are times he thinks he’s an overgrown kid. Reina would prefer Kumiko not waste her crush’s time on psychoanalysis.

Sally looks like she might be ready to finally say something to Kumiko, but Suzume gets to her first. Her first question is whether Kumiko and Shuu are dating, because rumors among first-years are running wild. Once Kumiko declares they aren’t, Suzume moves on to the real reason she wanted to meet with her: she believes the first-years are close to a boycott, or rather a mass resignation.

Suzume’s warning seems to have teeth when one day four first-years don’t come to school. Mayu, AKA “Mama”, whom Midori described as a pretty jellyfish, delivers the second of two stings this week (the first flaunting to Kumiko how her marching outfit shirt is too tight): Why not just let those who are falling behind quit, so that those who want to stay can focus on the performance?

That’s a convenient option, but not one Kumiko is willing to entertain; certainly not as a default or first resort. As she declares in the band notes she Reina and Shuu share: they’re not Kitauji unless they’re all together. She decides to make a pilgrimage to Sally’s home, which happens to be on the grounds of a shrine, and finds Suzume, Yayoi, and Kaho there, the latter two in shrine maiden outfits.

Sally stayed home sick, possibly brought on by stress, but is recovering fever. Her friends didn’t skip school because they’re quitting the club, but to be there for their friend. Suzume in particular knows things are weighing on Sally and the best solution is for Kumiko, the president, to speak to her one-on-one.

Confirming the vibe of her previous interactions, Sally admits that there’s some tension between her and Reina, though she makes clear she doesn’t hate or despise her. It’s just she doesn’t like how Reina’s strict instruction is making her fellow first years feel. Both she and Kumiko are leaders who had that leadership thrust upon them organically simply due to who they are.

This makes Kumiko, who is also pretty emotionally intelligent and empathetic, well-positioned to get Sally to open up. And really, that’s all Sally needs: to be heard, and to be told that if she or anyone else ever has something weighing on them, they can always, always bring it to Kumiko.

Separating advanced members from newbies was always an option, but not the option for Kumiko. She feels it’s her job as president to bring everyone’s hopes and wishes together. It may be messy sometimes, but through that mess comes understanding and growth. It’s a moving scene filled with gorgeous light, subtle facial and hand expressions, and some truly terrific voice acting from Kurosawa Tomoyo and relative newbie Sayuma Emiri.

Suzume reveals herself to be far more than the bamboo shoot bun-wearing goofball she appears to be, and the next day, with SunFes right around the corner, Sally greets Kumiko and Reina with a smile and hearty good morning, having arrived at the practice room early. Now that she’s bought back in thanks to Kumiko showing that she’ll be there for her and the first years, the threat of them quitting has passed.

I love how Kumiko was able to resolve this issue in the way she did, which is her way: through openness, honesty, and dialogue. She didn’t go to Reina and tell her to ease up on the newbies. She knows, just as Sally does, that Reina has to be hard on everyone if they want to make Gold. I hope that through her success this week Kumiko has shown herself that she has what it takes to be a leader, as Reina told her—both in the club now, and in a future that’s closer than she thinks.

Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead – 01 (First Impressions) – Out of Office

Tendou Akira is broken. Working at home while easting and watching a zombie movie, the camera pulls back when he finally passes out, and his apartment is a abject disaster. It wasn’t always like this. When Akira was a bright-eyed bushy-tailed new hire at a production company, he was ready to take a bite out of the world…and immediately fell for Saori from Accounting.

When he joins his co-workers for drinks after work, Akira is on top of the world, and Saori even gives him a smile when their eyes meet among the others. But then everyone gets up at the same time…to head back to work. His first day is an all-nighter. Then another all-nighter. There is simply too much work, but he wouldn’t dream of complaining on his first day.

When he’s finally able to go home two days later, all he can do is collapse into his bed, utterly spent. But the next morning he decides to stop complaining, dust himself off, and get back to work. His chipper, never-say-die attitude transfers to his voiceover as he describes what a great company he works for, which contrasts with the awful things taking place in reality—including the CEO assaulting Saori without consent.

Ultimately, there is no way to sugarcoat what is going on at this exploitative company, and Akira loses both the will and energy to do so. Ground down into dust, he apologizes to mailboxes and is shambling around like, well, a zombie. One morning starts with Akira getting a letter stating he forgot to pay his bike parking fee. But when he goes to the office to sort it out, a man is eating a woman—both of whom have been turned into zombies.

Akira runs out of his building to find a full-on Zombie Apocalypse taking place in Tokyo, and all he can think about is how he’s going to be late for work…until he realizes there isn’t going to be work today, or tomorrow, or ever. The moment he realizes this is exceedingly cathartic and joyful, and the show’s house style turns his monochrome world into one of vivid color: blue skies, green trees…and red blood.

While an apocalypse for nearly everyone else, Akira feels like he’s been given a new lease on life (especially since his job was giving him suicidal thoughts), and he fully intends to do as much as he can with the time he now has at his disposal. The first thing he wants to do is properly confess his feelings for Saori, which he’s harbored since they first met.

Only when he arrives at her apartment, the CEO is there. Despite the CEO turning into a Bloater-like super zombie before his eyes, Akira calmly and professionally declares his resignation, before using his rugby background to shove his murderous boss off the balcony.

But if the boss is a zombie, it stands to reason Saori is too. And sure enough, she is. But in the few seconds he has before she rushes him with intent to eat his brains, he declares his love for her, and at least for a moment, in his head, he gets one last smile from Saori, before he has to run for his life. In both the resignation and confession scenes, Akira is essentially the straight man while the CEO and Saori are the comic in these deliciously dark double acts.

Akira stops by a konbini to buy a notebook and writes “100 Things I Want to Do Before I Turn into a Zombie”, which gives us the show’s playful title and also leads to the baller ED theme (which may end up being the OP theme in future episodes). With the affairs of his “old” life all squared away, he has truly turned a new page, and there’s nothing but adventure and excitement up ahead!

That is, unless he’s being overly optimistic to the point of delusion, like he was during his earlier tenure with the exploitative company—the kind on which the show levels ruthless, withering, in-your-face criticism. The contrast between Akira’s chipper-ness and the horrible zombie apocalypse milieu makes for a book full of blank checks the studio, Bug Films, seems fully capable of cashing.

I’m looking forward to seeing what he has in mind for his Zombie Bucket List, and who he’ll meet who still has a good head attached to their shoulders. Zom 100 also happens to be one of the most lushly animated and stylish cinematic series since Chainsaw Man, with a premise nearly as bodacious as Akiba Maid War. Mostly it’s just a bloody crowd-pleasing bucket of fun.

TenSura – 48 (S2 Fin) – Complacent No More

Last week hinted that Round 2 with Clayman might not be a cakewalk, but that was not the case, as not only does he end up defeated, but straight up executed by Rimuru. That’s fine with me, good riddance, really. If can’t keep track of how many times Clayman says “Okay, NOW I’m going to get serious”, it’s happened too many damn times!

Rimuru dealt with Clayman in the time it took to roll the opening credits, leaving the remainder of the episode the boring part of Walpurgis, in which I got scary flashbacks to the opening six (seven?…eight?) episodes of this season that were nothing but people discussing things while seated in a circle. At least it’s a little more interesting here due to the new characters.

The business of Walpurgis is as follows: Clayman is defeated, Guy Crimson officially recognizes Rimuru as a Demon Lord with no objections, Roy Valentine’s maid turns out to be the real Demon Lord, Luminus (whose name Veldora couldn’t remember). Frey and Carrion, having seen the strength Rimuru demonstrated, decide to resign their Demon Lordships and become disciples of Milim.

Finally, after Guy draws very close to Rimuru and insists he do so, Rimuru gives the Former Ten Demon Lords a new name, something that was apparently took up an entire Walpurgis last time they needed one. I kind of like the idea that these guys are so powerful that they don’t have much to do, and that they take something like naming their group so seriously. Rimuru comes up with Octogram: The Eight-Star Demon Lords, which everyone likes.

While Rimuru is over being a big hit with his new fellow ‘Lords, Roy Valentine returns home just in time to encounter Laplace, who was sneaking around Luminus’ mansion until he encountered Sakaguchi Hinata (Hi Hinata!) and double-timed it out of there.

But while the Harlequin is afraid to even face Hinata in battle, he eliminates Roy quite easily, apparently unaware he isn’t the real Demon Lord Valentine. Doesn’t matter; Laplace is pissed that Clayman is dead. No doubt he’ll seek revenge on Rimuru.

Rimuru, however, won’t be so naïve or vulnerable next time. Out of the crucible that was the coordinated attack on his domain and his people, Demon Lord Rimuru Tempest was forged. This Rimuru is a little harder, a little more cognizant of the big dangerous world he lives in, and a lot less complacent. That said, I’m sure he’ll allow himself a few days of celebration, rest, and relaxation back home.

With the three remaining members of the Harlequin Alliance, Kazalim, Hinata, Yuuki, and who-knows who else (I imagine there are still some fiercely-powerful beings we’ve yet to meet) still out there, Rimuru has plenty to be vigilant about and prepared for.

As for TenSura, looks like it’s getting a movie in Fall 2022. Until then, the second part of this second season got a bit rough at the start there, but led to some fine payoffs. TenSura is nothing if not consistent.

The Quintessential Quintuplets – 16 – A Pretty Fun Hell

While Fuutarou, Itsuki and Ichika try to bail Yotsuba out of her track training camp, Miku stops by Nino’s for tea. She saw Nino stomp out of her previous hotel, and wonders what went on with Fuutarou. Nino is still fuming about Kintarou always being Fuu in disguise, but that’s tabled for now in favor of discussing Nino’s return home.

For all Nino thinks all of her sisters have changed, she’s changed too. They remain five sisters in completely different directions, but that just means they continue to complement each other by exposing them to things they normally wouldn’t…even something as mundane as the different teas they drink, which they learn come from the same leaf!

Operation Spring Yotsuba doesn’t get off to a great start, owing to how well the track captain knows Yotsuba, Itsuki’s less-than-stellar impression, and the simple fact her hair is too damn long! The real Yotsuba returns after having tackled the “groper” (a Fuutarou invention), but then it soon becomes obvious she isn’t Yotsuba either…she’s Nino!

That’s right, the scissors Nino produces at the end of her scene with Miku were meant for her own hair. Whether in order to confront the track people for Yotsuba’s sake, or because her heart was broken by a boy who never existed, or a little of both, Nino now sports the same cropped locks as Yotsuba, though she retains her signature butterfly ribbons and flat bangs.

With Yotsuba agreeing to help with the most recent meet and then quit the team—which is what she wants, but simply needed a nudge to do—Nino and Itsuki adorably make up, each apologizing for their role. Itsuki, the youngest of the quints, tears up despite having played the role of mom when she slapped Nino way too hard, and the fact they both buy tickets to the movie the other sister liked completes the reconciliation.

With the quints reunited, they soon complete their problem sets, and Fuutarou has them go over them again as they enter the home stretch till the exams. He shows deference to Nino by asking her if it’s okay to proceed in this manner…she can’t help but blush and fight back a smile at his polite attentiveness. The day of the exams arrives, and the quints stride confidently into the schook. Fuutarou hangs back, borrowing Itsuki’s phone to call his sister…but we see he was actually on the phone with the quints’ dad.

The exam scores come in, and out of 500 possible points from the five subjects tested, none of them scored higher than 206. While discouraged by these underwhelming results considering how hard they worked, the sisters actually seem to be looking forward to Fuutarou scolding them and pushing them to do better…which is why they’re shocked to learn from their father’s butler Ebata that Fuutarou has resigned as their tutor.

The sisters can’t even go to Fuutarou immediately, as Ebata has been ordered to tutor them on an interim basis. The problem sets Ebata gives them seem so easy, which they attribute to Fuutarou’s diligent tutoring. Then they break out the rolled crib notes he gave them in case of emergency and discover they don’t contain notes at all, but a message meant for all five sisters to read off in order.

It concludes, “I’m glad I finally done with this hell job…but it was a pretty fun hell. Later.” But the sisters are in agreement: they want Fuutarou to continue tutoring them. So they devise a plan. On Christmas Eve, while Fuu is acting as a crier for a cake shop, the five sisters approach him and ask if he’ll deliver a cake to their place. His clearly awesome boss lets him off work early, urging him to have a Merry Christmas.

When they ask him back, he says he already blew his second chance, and now believes it was only his “selfish ends” that held them back, to which he can no longer in good conscience subject them. The newly short-haired Nino gets in Fuu’s face, telling him they’ve only made it this far because of that selfishness, and he can’t stop being selfish now.

When he reminds them that their father has forbidden him from entering their house again, they direct his gaze to the building behind them: with Ichika’s new acting salary, they’ve rented a new place where he’ll always be welcome. Yotsuba inexplicably tosses the five keycards into the air, and in trying to catch them, Fuu slips and falls into the water. To his shock, all five quints jump in after him. All for one and one for all, to be sure!

After surfacing, he spots the rolled fortune Rena gave him, to open once he “learned to accept himself”. But at the same time, Nino cramps up and can’t swim, and Fuutarou abandons the fortune to rescue her, obviously. But maybe he never needed to read the fortune, because when everyone is out of the river, he rips up the résumé of his replacement and decides he’ll stay on as their tutor after all. As for Nino, her heart is beating like a jackrabbit and it may well have less to do with almost drowning and more to do with who saved her.

QQ started out totally scattering the quints, but it’s clear that besides the fact they complement each other and make up for their shortcomings, the one thing that brings them back together this week is the desire to keep Fuutarou in their life, as the one who will help them realize their best selves.

While him calling their dad was an obvious clue, his sudden resignation still felt abrupt, and hit me as hard as the sisters, so I tip my cap to the show for keeping me off balance. It was also a wonderfully brisk affair, with resolutions to this arc coming fast and furious without feeling rushed or inorganic (though part of me was hoping they’d address the whole “jumping into freezing water” thing). I’m looking forward to their next tutoring session in their new, less snazzy digs!

Episode Four Quintuplet Ranking:

1. Nino: Between her lovely sisterly tea time with Miku, to her portrayal of “Cranky Yotsuba”; from making up with Itsuki to her efforts to get Fuu back; from being the only quint who Fuu needed to rescue to her cute new ‘do, it’s another easy win for Best Girl Nino.  Total Points: 19 (1st)
2. Itsuki: No Itsuki-at-the-Uesugis this week, but she was as wonderful in her making-up scene with Nino as she was wonderfully terrible at impersonating Yotsuba. She also had a moment where she channeled Fuutarou. She and Nino are pulling away from the pack. Total Points: 16 (2nd)
3. Miku: Came close to tying Itsuki this week. She was so damn cool in that tea scene, describing to Nino why they belong together. She also had the highest test scores of all the quints! Total Points: 9 (3rd)
4. Yotsuba: Glad her track crisis didn’t drag on any longer, as it felt like a rehash of something not that engaging to begin with. Nice tackle of that creepy groper, but otherwise didn’t distinguish herself. Total Points: 8 (Tied for 4th)
5. Ichika: I hate to rank her last when she’s footing the bulk of the rent for the quints’ new place, but yeah…she didn’t do much this week! Total Points: 8 (5rd)

Fruits Basket – 34 (S2 09) – A Too-Perfect Monster

Rin’s story is placed on hold as this episode is entirely given over to the fated rematch between Kyou and Akito. On the way in, Kyou castigates Yuki and the others for letting Tooru be all alone at the beach house, two which Yuki throws a “what about you?” back in his face. As much as they might hate Akito, obeying him is “how it’s supposed to be.” And yet how unusual is it for Akito to give the Cat another audience? Akito’s looking to head off any further intrusions from Tooru by appealing directly to Kyou.

For what it’s worth, Tooru is ecstatic that Kyou was finally invited in. Little does she know all Akito wants is to stamp out the beautiful thing she and Kyou have, and turn him against her. The visit goes about as well as you’d expect, considering how little experience Kyou has dealing with Akito. He tries his best to keep his temper in check, but Akito knows exactly how to push his buttons and make him erupt into a scattered emotional mess.

This is in sharp contrast to Yuki’s last couple meetings with Akito, in which he proved to himself that Akito’s taunts and mind games are of little utility. When Kyou’s eyes widen and he trembles as Akito’s proverbial tentacles surround and restrain him, it’s in large part because Akito is tapping into Kyou’s long-held guilt that his mother committed suicide because of him, and thus is undeserving of love, happiness, or hope.

But what really pushes Kyou into the deep end from which he may never return is when Akito starts insulting Tooru as a fellow “monster”, an angel far too perfect to be normal or real. Kyou sets the record straight, telling Akito just how scared Tooru was when she saw his true form, yet still held onto his hand lest she lose him forever. Akito derides Tooru as a monster, while Kyou’s Shisho made him think of her as a little flower in the dirt.

No matter how many times one might trample that flower—that hope—it always blooms anew after periods of nurturing sun and rain. As we see in a flashback involving Lil’ Kyou meeting Kyouko, Tooru became that little flower for him.

In their previous meeting Akito and Kyou made a bet: if he defeated Yuki by graduation, Akito would stop calling him a monster and welcome him into the Zodiac. But if he failed, Akito would confine Kyou just as he did previous Cats. It’s a terrible bet; one Akito can far too easily rig in her favor by poisoning Kyou’s all-too-fragile mind. Just bring up the guilt about his mother, and he starts wondering why he was even kept alive this long.

And yet, when he reunites with Tooru on the beach, the little flower he loves so much he can’t let her get any more involved with him, he resolves to stay with her until “the end”, when he’ll go quietly into confinement and save her from being trampled.

Of course, there’s no way in hell Tooru would want him to do something like that for her sake or anyone else’s. And I predict the more we learn about what she’s keeping under the still-closed lids in her heart, the more we’ll find she harbors very similar guilt about the fate of her parents as Kyou does, which will only draw her closer to him as he plans for a gradual separation.

In any case, quietly making such choices without consulting her is just plain bad form and walking backwards by Kyou. Hopefully Tooru will learn about what he has planned for himself before it’s too late to change anything, and find a way to help reconcile the guilt over the past that continues to press upon both of them.

Hibike! Euphonium 2 – 07

As BSG’s President Roslin said, “Alright…Next Crisis!” Kumiko may be dealing with a widening rift between her and her sister, but that takes a backseat to a more pressing issue that affects the entire band. It’s also the reason we’ve gotten so many close-ups of Asuka’s sadface: her mom is making her resign.

Taki-sensei refuses, but after her mom slaps her (an incident Kumiko happens to witness), the mother and daughter go home, and Asuka returns to school bright and cheery like nothing happened, she just plain stops showing up to band practice.

The sudden loss of Asuka, and all the swirling rumors about it, instantly, negatively affects the band’s performance in practice on the eve of a very public performance at a big train station. Taki is not pleased with this, and basically peaces out and leaves President Haruka to deal with it (which is the right move to make, rather than continue trying to focus a clearly rattled band).

Haruka steps up to the plate (well, the lectern), and performs admirably, telling the band, essentially, that all this time they’ve built up Asuka as someone “special” and irreplaceable; but that’s not really the case. And now it’s up to them to support her for once, by bearing down and putting on a show they, and she, can be proud of, in hopes she comes back. That’s all they can do.

The day of the station gig, sure enough, Asuka is there with a bright smile, ready to see what the band can do in her absence. Haruka wrests control of a massive, unwieldy baritone sax and belts out a badass solo. Taki suggested the solo to “shake things up”, and it worked: the performance boosts the president’s and band’s confidence as the Nationals draw nearer.

Asuka’s future with the band is still unclear, but the band will survive. As for Mamiko, there’s something very foreboding about the episode ending with her putting on her shoes and walking out the door of her family’s home.