Hanebado! Episode 9 Discussion

DirectorK said:
Regarding Connie sudden character shift, I think you need to look at from both her's and Ayano's perspective.

When we first saw Connie she's arrogant and self-centered, having no respect for Ayano. She seriously believed she was the better player because she was trained by Ayano's mother. But when she really got to know Ayano and the suffering she went through(most likely explained in that telephone conversation with Uchika) Connie realized she had practically pushed Ayano over the edge and is now trying to figure a way to make up for it since he unintentionally stole Ayano's mother away from her. But that's the problem: How do you make up with a person who's life you partially destroyed?

Connie asking for forgiveness by asking Ayano to acknowledge her as a sister probably wasn't the best move, but it was probably the only thing she could do. She can't take back what she said or did before so in the end it's up to Ayano to forgive her.

Now look at Ayano. This poor girl love both her mother and badminton dearly. To her, it was her life. She wants to follow in her mother's footsteps and perhaps surpass her mother's accomplishments.

Suddenly she has a one time failure, even though it was not her own doing, and she sees her mother literally walk out of her life. No letters, no phone calls, no communication of any kind, nothing. Ayano is suddenly abandoned and left on her own. She deals with it by continuing to play badminton because it's the only thing she has left and it's the only thing that keeps her going. She turns herself into a badminton monster in hopes of getting her mother's attention so that she returns to her.

Then one day Ayano discovers that her mother has taken in a new protege and her whole life shatters. Feeling ultimately betrayed, she abandons the sport she loved so much. She only returns because of her friend's insistence and here she discovers a new love for the sport. But then her mother's protege arrives and proudly announces she is Uchika's adopted daughter. This finally pushed Ayano over the edge and it scares everyone around her, including Connie.

Which leads us to now. Connie is at a complete loss with what to do with Ayano since she had played a role in destroying her "sister's" life. Chances were she knew that asking Ayano to think of her as a sister instead of an enemy wouldn't work, but she had to try anyway. Ayano's anger is completely justified. Your "replacement" suddenly shows up looking down on you and now she's asking you to be her sister? I'm honestly surprised Ayano didn't physically assault her. Anyone else would have in that situation. Now that her mother has finally returned after a decade Ayano will finally be able to vent all that pent anger towards her.

When I really think about it, this anime is kind of a cross between two Sylvester Stallone movies, Rocky IV and First Blood. Ayano is very much like John Rambo. To list examples:

1. Ayano was abandoned by her mother only because she "lost" one game.
Rambo was abandoned by his country simply because he served as a soldier.

2. Ayano continues to play badminton because it's all she has.
Rambo uses his army skills to survive because it's the only thing he's good at.

3. Ayano takes revenge against Kaoruko, the one who started it all.
Rambo eventually takes down Sheriff Teasle, the one who started it all.

Now when it comes to the hostility between Ayano and Connie, it's very much like the Rocky vs. Drago match.

1. Connie arrives and inadvertently sends Ayano over the edge when she announces she is her step-sister.
Drago kills Apollo Creed in the ring, forcing Rocky to come out of retirement and to take revenge for the murder of his friend.

2. In their first match, Connie is confident that she is a far superior player over Ayano.
In the first round, Drago easily overpowers Rocky with his superior height, strength, and reach.

3. Ayano then strikes back with her monstrous side in their second match, completely turning the tide and scaring the hell out of Connie.
In the second round, Rocky manages to cut Drago, turning the tide of the fight and shattering Drago's confidence.

I imagine Ayano's conversation with her mother is going to be very much like the ending scene of First Blood with Rambo and his CO.

imSOunique said:
Some of the people here are like: Why won't Ayano just get over her "mommy issues" already??



Well, that's not how it works at all (I guess it does in some animes out there, but not in real life).

Most of us (luckily) don't have this kind of experience in real life, so it might not be that easy to understand. To put it simply: the person who should be the one who loves you the most, simply takes her shit and leaves.
Again, (luckily) I didn't experience this personally and I am no expert, but I know someone who did. In my opinion these "mommy issues" are (mostly) IMPOSSIBLE to solve (again not talking about anime world).
Actually usually the "solution" is this:

Never ever meeting again.

Anyway, I doubt the anime will end like this because Ayano deserves to be happy and I guess it doesn't hurt ending on a positive note. So I won't be too disappointed if they make up with her mom, who's having some stupid reason for all this.
Altogether I'm glad this kind of drama is present in the series, I probably would have lost interest a long time ago (I am not a sport anime fan).

As you can guess I am not a big fan of Connie, but I don't think she is evil.
Simply put she has absolutely no idea about the situation. She is kind of trying different methods of getting closer to her "sister", not knowing Ayano despises not just her, but even more so her own mother.
And she has a good reason to do so.
Imagine the aforementioned situation: Ayano's mother leaves her. Pretty bad, eh? But now as an addition, her mother "adopts" a new girl, who happens to be a talented badminton player, meaning Ayano wasn't good enough.
But here comes the best part. That f###ing brat comes here and rubs salt into her wounds.
"Want to be a family? You mean what we were before she left me for you??
EAT SHIT AND DIE."

Again, I don't think Connie is doing this with ill intent, she just happens to have no clue about what is going on.
Although it is not so difficult: if Ayano's mom is here with me constantly for X years, then she isn't with Ayano, and there is a good chance that Ayano is slightly bothered by this.
But well, she probably hasn't been thinking too hard about these things, since she was and is still young.

The real villain is Ayanos mother, who still seems to show no remorse, and no matter what happens I won't accept her.

The ending we deserve:

DirectorK said:
Regarding Connie sudden character shift, I think you need to look at from both her's and Ayano's perspective.

When we first saw Connie she's arrogant and self-centered, having no respect for Ayano. She seriously believed she was the better player because she was trained by Ayano's mother. But when she really got to know Ayano and the suffering she went through(most likely explained in that telephone conversation with Uchika) Connie realized she had practically pushed Ayano over the edge and is now trying to figure a way to make up for it since he unintentionally stole Ayano's mother away from her. But that's the problem: How do you make up with a person who's life you partially destroyed?

Connie asking for forgiveness by asking Ayano to acknowledge her as a sister probably wasn't the best move, but it was probably the only thing she could do. She can't take back what she said or did before so in the end it's up to Ayano to forgive her.

Now look at Ayano. This poor girl love both her mother and badminton dearly. To her, it was her life. She wants to follow in her mother's footsteps and perhaps surpass her mother's accomplishments.

Suddenly she has a one time failure, even though it was not her own doing, and she sees her mother literally walk out of her life. No letters, no phone calls, no communication of any kind, nothing. Ayano is suddenly abandoned and left on her own. She deals with it by continuing to play badminton because it's the only thing she has left and it's the only thing that keeps her going. She turns herself into a badminton monster in hopes of getting her mother's attention so that she returns to her.

Then one day Ayano discovers that her mother has taken in a new protege and her whole life shatters. Feeling ultimately betrayed, she abandons the sport she loved so much. She only returns because of her friend's insistence and here she discovers a new love for the sport. But then her mother's protege arrives and proudly announces she is Uchika's adopted daughter. This finally pushed Ayano over the edge and it scares everyone around her, including Connie.

Which leads us to now. Connie is at a complete loss with what to do with Ayano since she had played a role in destroying her "sister's" life. Chances were she knew that asking Ayano to think of her as a sister instead of an enemy wouldn't work, but she had to try anyway. Ayano's anger is completely justified. Your "replacement" suddenly shows up looking down on you and now she's asking you to be her sister? I'm honestly surprised Ayano didn't physically assault her. Anyone else would have in that situation. Now that her mother has finally returned after a decade Ayano will finally be able to vent all that pent anger towards her.

When I really think about it, this anime is kind of a cross between two Sylvester Stallone movies, Rocky IV and First Blood. Ayano is very much like John Rambo. To list examples:

1. Ayano was abandoned by her mother only because she "lost" one game.
Rambo was abandoned by his country simply because he served as a soldier.

2. Ayano continues to play badminton because it's all she has.
Rambo uses his army skills to survive because it's the only thing he's good at.

3. Ayano takes revenge against Kaoruko, the one who started it all.
Rambo eventually takes down Sheriff Teasle, the one who started it all.

Now when it comes to the hostility between Ayano and Connie, it's very much like the Rocky vs. Drago match.

1. Connie arrives and inadvertently sends Ayano over the edge when she announces she is her step-sister.
Drago kills Apollo Creed in the ring, forcing Rocky to come out of retirement and to take revenge for the murder of his friend.

2. In their first match, Connie is confident that she is a far superior player over Ayano.
In the first round, Drago easily overpowers Rocky with his superior height, strength, and reach.

3. Ayano then strikes back with her monstrous side in their second match, completely turning the tide and scaring the hell out of Connie.
In the second round, Rocky manages to cut Drago, turning the tide of the fight and shattering Drago's confidence.

I imagine Ayano's conversation with her mother is going to be very much like the ending scene of First Blood with Rambo and his CO.

DirectorK said:
Regarding Connie sudden character shift, I think you need to look at from both her's and Ayano's perspective.

When we first saw Connie she's arrogant and self-centered, having no respect for Ayano. She seriously believed she was the better player because she was trained by Ayano's mother. But when she really got to know Ayano and the suffering she went through(most likely explained in that telephone conversation with Uchika) Connie realized she had practically pushed Ayano over the edge and is now trying to figure a way to make up for it since he unintentionally stole Ayano's mother away from her. But that's the problem: How do you make up with a person who's life you partially destroyed?

Connie asking for forgiveness by asking Ayano to acknowledge her as a sister probably wasn't the best move, but it was probably the only thing she could do. She can't take back what she said or did before so in the end it's up to Ayano to forgive her.

Now look at Ayano. This poor girl love both her mother and badminton dearly. To her, it was her life. She wants to follow in her mother's footsteps and perhaps surpass her mother's accomplishments.

Suddenly she has a one time failure, even though it was not her own doing, and she sees her mother literally walk out of her life. No letters, no phone calls, no communication of any kind, nothing. Ayano is suddenly abandoned and left on her own. She deals with it by continuing to play badminton because it's the only thing she has left and it's the only thing that keeps her going. She turns herself into a badminton monster in hopes of getting her mother's attention so that she returns to her.

Then one day Ayano discovers that her mother has taken in a new protege and her whole life shatters. Feeling ultimately betrayed, she abandons the sport she loved so much. She only returns because of her friend's insistence and here she discovers a new love for the sport. But then her mother's protege arrives and proudly announces she is Uchika's adopted daughter. This finally pushed Ayano over the edge and it scares everyone around her, including Connie.

Which leads us to now. Connie is at a complete loss with what to do with Ayano since she had played a role in destroying her "sister's" life. Chances were she knew that asking Ayano to think of her as a sister instead of an enemy wouldn't work, but she had to try anyway. Ayano's anger is completely justified. Your "replacement" suddenly shows up looking down on you and now she's asking you to be her sister? I'm honestly surprised Ayano didn't physically assault her. Anyone else would have in that situation. Now that her mother has finally returned after a decade Ayano will finally be able to vent all that pent anger towards her.

When I really think about it, this anime is kind of a cross between two Sylvester Stallone movies, Rocky IV and First Blood. Ayano is very much like John Rambo. To list examples:

1. Ayano was abandoned by her mother only because she "lost" one game.
Rambo was abandoned by his country simply because he served as a soldier.

2. Ayano continues to play badminton because it's all she has.
Rambo uses his army skills to survive because it's the only thing he's good at.

3. Ayano takes revenge against Kaoruko, the one who started it all.
Rambo eventually takes down Sheriff Teasle, the one who started it all.

Now when it comes to the hostility between Ayano and Connie, it's very much like the Rocky vs. Drago match.

1. Connie arrives and inadvertently sends Ayano over the edge when she announces she is her step-sister.
Drago kills Apollo Creed in the ring, forcing Rocky to come out of retirement and to take revenge for the murder of his friend.

2. In their first match, Connie is confident that she is a far superior player over Ayano.
In the first round, Drago easily overpowers Rocky with his superior height, strength, and reach.

3. Ayano then strikes back with her monstrous side in their second match, completely turning the tide and scaring the hell out of Connie.
In the second round, Rocky manages to cut Drago, turning the tide of the fight and shattering Drago's confidence.

I imagine Ayano's conversation with her mother is going to be very much like the ending scene of First Blood with Rambo and his CO.