Fuuka Episode 12 Discussion

Gab5 said:
First of all, the manga is ok but it isn't the masterpiece that some people are making out.

The producers obviously decided to make this show for only 12 episodes. Adapting it to follow the manga was impossible in such a short time.

I keep hearing that Fuuka is some kind of Tsundere. I don't understand that. She's a pain in the first couple of episodes and after that you can't stop her talking. She is obviously chasing Yuu and Mikasa mentions this 2 or 3 times. It is no surprise. It is just that Yuu is totally dense.

Koyuki had to leave Yuu as a child, when he had strong feelings for her. He had to get on with his life and met a girl who, after breaking his phone, took him to the cinema, a gig and they spent a summer where she saved his life. How would he not like her? She opened his life to all kinds of fun things and he ended up having the time of his life in a band. It is obvious when they are at the beach resort that she loves him, she just isn't sure how to express it. But Tsundere? No way, she is pretty much the most emotional and expressive character in the whole show!

Now, selfish Fuuka, not really. She clearly had feelings for Yuu and was understanding the feelings of unrequited love in Koyuki's lyrics when she started writing her own. She was the best member of the band and got scouted and she only agreed (she turned them down first time) because she was hurt by Yuu going back to Koyuki, or so she thought. Even the music producer comments on this when she returns. She loses her temper with Yuu the second time he comes to practice after meeting Koyuki, everyone but Yuu can see what that is about. The band understood this and that is why they let Yuu go after her to get her back because he was the only one who could do that. And everyone who is in a band has seen members leave to join a better band. I know i did. But Fuuka is clearly mad about Yuu from around episode 4, they did everything together and they changed and helped each other. Yuu set her on the right path and Fuuka got him to come out of his shell a lot. That makes them a perfect couple and they improved each other's lives in a way that Koyuki had never done with Yuu up to that point. Even when she told them she wanted to quit, she wanted Yuu to intervene and he just sat there like a cabbage and hardly said anything. Yuu is too dense or lacking in confidence, once again. But, ultimately, Fuuka is the one that gave Yuu the courage to persevere and keep chasing his own dream. And, rightly, it pays off for both of them in the end.

As for Koyuki, not sure where all the sympathy comes from. She had to go away, she made a life for herself and then decided to come back to her childhood friend who had nothing and had to survive while she was successful. She then allowed him to get entangled in her mad world and then repeated the mistake by declaring on tv that she loved him. Not really fair on the guy. He ends up getting bottled by some of her fans. And what life would he have with her? She'd be away all the time, with her managers telling her, and him, how they should lead their lives, while he could spend all the fun times he had with Fuuka, helping each other and growing together. A life with Koyuki would have been far too one sided. She even admits that she had been thinking about her own fantasies for so long that she hadn't noticed that he had grown in his own way and, unfortunately for her, that was away from her. Once she hears that Fuuka is about to finish her lyrics, she makes one last attempt to get Yuu before he might understand what Fuuka's lyrics are saying! She deliberately misleads Yuu by telling him that all her lyrics were written for someone she loves and Fuuka said she didn't love anyone. When she herself knows that Fuuka has strong feelings for Yuu. Now, if she had offered to take Fuuka's place in the band, that would have been real love and i would have rooted for her then.

The writer seems to have an issue with killing people off and making them a big issue for the remaining characters. Another habit he has is to get the girl who is rejected to tell the favoured one that they need to be honest with themselves. His two most well known stories have a woman's name in the title but end up being about a guy finding the right way to deal with the person he cares about most.

There wasn't anywhere near enough time to tell the manga story, it just wasn't possible. Nice touch to have the truck driver look like Aoi's father in the manga, though. I think it was meant to be a show that the manga readers understood, hence Rabbitz at the end, Hedgehogs hanging around the whole time. And, of course, the near miss with the truck. Shame that the manga readers took it so badly.

Overall, i think they did a decent job and the best girl won. She was meant to be the combination of Fuuka and Aoi in the manga. Not perfect but it worked for me. Not just being a romance, it showed how a group of different people with different backgrounds and problems could grow so close. I thought they did it well. Not mad about anime music but even the songs they wrote for the two main characters reflected their personalities. The manga cannot express that.

I would have to agree with anyone who says Sara/Admiral Yamato is the best girl though. She has strong feelings for Yuu as well, which don't get expressed as well in this short anime, and she is a really great character. I'd have picked her, no doubt about it.

What you don't get much in the manga is the nice touch of Suzuka learning from her awful behaviour and giving her daughter good advice. Good to see that she had finally grown up!!