I can't say I'm surprised she acted that way (even though it's the first we've seen of it). Definitely got the vibe that there's a reason she couldn't lead: Asuka is single-minded about music to the exclusion of all else. Remember last episode? She said the euphonium was her only love. At best, I think she can fake leadership for a short time, when her drive to make music is needed, but for other things? You get what we saw here. She's not gonna be happy, and she won't hesitate to let people know it.
Author of The Second Coming (NGE) and The Coin (Haruhi).I keep getting hung up on this part:
Hazuki: At school, you looked upset when I talked to Tsukamoto.
Kumiko: No no, that wasn't a like thing, as much as a "you might take one of my friends" thing.
Okay 1), what is Hazuki talking about? The only time she looked upset (to me) is after Hazuki left. 2), Where does the concern about "losing" Shuichi come from? How does it follow from what we've seen up till now?
We're not shown every single second they spend at school, so it's possible it might be referring to some point offscreen. As for the second part, the exact wording she used was "my friend might be taken away"; who the "friend" is and who's doing the taking are pretty much omitted, so it could have been that she meant one of the girls (i.e. Hazuki) might be "taken" by Shuuichi and the three girls couldn't really hang out together any more.
edited 2nd Jun '15 11:49:25 PM by HanabiraKage
I just have to say while I would like Kumiko and Reina to end up together, andIi agree that whether intentional or not Kyo Ani has concentrated more on this relationship than the alternative, I can see it isn’t happening. I think I would much rather Kumiko winds up with no one. There is no rule that says a highschooler has to be in a relationship. Hell, given how confused she is right now, not to mention busy, it would be the mature and responsible thing to do.
If Shuuichi had actually had some development and wasn’t similar to a piece of cardboard, if that piece of cardboard had had a childhood friend it had hurt and embarrassed back in middle school, I probably would be a bit more supportive of him and Kumiko getting together. But, between his little to no characterization and my hatred of the childhood friend trope in general I really would rather Kumiko remain single.
I also want to bring up it kind of rubs the wrong way with Shuuichi too because kind of like at the beginning of the anime she was set to be independent and make all these changes but ended up forcibly pushed back into the situation she was in. This feels like everyone is telling her, “you secretly have feeling for this boy,” and she is again being pushed into a situation. That’s at least what it looks like.
Honestly, if it turns out that Hazuki's "Oh, so you don't know your own feelings, huh?" was just her being kind of a shithead because she's a teenager that got rejected, it'd be pretty refreshing.
Well, yeah, it's intentional. You can't really have this kind of focus on a character without some kind of decision being made from the start of production.
Speaking of, check out the differences in framing between the scenes with Kumiko and Reina
and Kumiko and Shuchi
. Intimacy and closeness vs separation and distance. Yay for good direction.
edited 3rd Jun '15 12:04:09 PM by majoraoftime
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Indeed. I think a blog actually mentioned that it may turn out that Kumiko and Reina are actually soulmates, but they can still get romantically involved with other people. 'Tis a common thing in fiction after all. What's important is that they know they share a connection, and sometimes that's enough.
Also, it's really informative to read the (translated) comments of the Kyo Ani production staff every episode. See the art director's musing on episode 8 that she wanted to watch that particular scene over and over again, because it was so beautiful.
Episode 9's posts too, as the staff is apparently well-aware of what they're doing, with regards to relationship teasing... and they're having a whole lot of fun doing so.
edited 3rd Jun '15 12:06:38 PM by MyssaRei
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I think it's this one.
It's in Japanese though (obviously).
edited 3rd Jun '15 5:57:55 PM by HanabiraKage
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I'm talking about this little angel
◊ in the bottom right corner. I'm so proud of her.
Natsuki's a fucking gem.
The bit where Kumiko empties her spit valve reminded me of Whiplash where a dude does the same and a fucking waterfall gushes out.
"I'm going home, though." Taki-sensei's also a gem.
Jesus christ ribbon hair girl is a dick. Spelling out sempai's failure in front of the entire band. The Worst Kouhai.
Yess shitbug Reina
"Straight trumpet" hahaha.
Ooh, we're getting a little mystery with Asuka's character.
Lol, Kousaka's gonna get rekt, no one likes her.
This episode felt very... comfortable? Or maybe more uncharitably, on autopilot. Not a whole lot of new character stuff, mostly just reinforcement of things we already know. Though that might be unfair – I liked all the stuff with Taki – it pretty much completely reframed his character, and the Natsuki bit was very sweet, but also rang true. Hell, we even got something with Michie.Was hoping they'd cut the veestigal Taki crush plotline, though, but whatevs.
edited 9th Jun '15 3:23:43 PM by majoraoftime
Episode 10
In Which There Is A Recount
Natsuki's character arc is complete, and it makes me feel so good. She's a cool bro.
Yuko has a hissy fit over something she shouldn't even have anything to do with.
Oh here we have the truth. There was some established favoritism with Sensei and Reina. I feel bad to anyone else who may have been shunned due to his treatment toward Reina.
Ah I like the girl with the fang. Too bad she's an extra.
… SENSEI IS SHOUTING!? Over something trivial!? :O
.. oh that's right. Asuka hasn't even appeared in this episode yet!
:D YES!! INNUENDO! JUST WHAT WE NEEDED!
Kaori gets another chance! :D Good thing too. If people think the auditions weren't done fairly, the teacher needs to look at it a second time.

Also it serves to highlight something Shuichi, of all people, commented on: that there's something off to Asuka.