Ao no Hako Episode 8 Discussion

It’s good to see the new character daiki performing so well. Hope taiki can do better than getting past the first round tho. In all seriousness for those who aren’t manga readers, yusa who he lost too is seriously up there so there’s no shame in unfortunate matchups.

@joshlill The whole "Daiki" thing makes me wonder if the subtitles are done by AI, it annoyed me so much

@SamuelPapprill no, this is straight google translate.

There are other good AI-assisted subs that are actually way better and accurate than netflix ones IMO.
Look for Ai-kun release. I won't give you a link obviously.

Man, Daiki has lost, but Taiki will get it the next time ...

Anyway, I don't know why are people so surprised that Taiki has lost his very first match, that's the reality of a competitive sport, a very realistic representation too, you train, then you train even more, you slowly gain confidence, and then you get paired with an opponent that rolls you over like a joint.

But it is from this point when you accept you have lost, that you move on. Very shounen, very anime, but actual peak episode.

Wow, this episode was really surprising...

I believe that this episode had the purpose of being a reality check for us and for Taiki. I personally found this episode as a reality check. The truth is that, from the very beginning, everything was pointing out to the fact that Taiki wasn't going to be able to get into the finals in his first year. Although he got a lot better since the first episode, they did say in the first episode that he wasn't that good of a player, so it would be impossible for him to get into the finals in just 6 months of training.
But with all the positive and optimistic vibe the anime and Taiki have, you kind of get carried away with that too, and you start believing it too.
I was expecting Taiki to not be able to get into the nationals through the singles tournament, but I thought they would make it happen in the doubles tournament, since he's with Haryuu, that is a pretty more experienced player. But when they cut to Taiki and Haryuu losing the match, I was like "hey, wait, and now what? Are they making him pass in the singles?", but I was finding that weird, because how would Taiki win over Haryuu or Hyoudou? So, from the outside it seems like a predictable outcome, when you're into the anime it completely shocks you, and I wasn't expecting that.

Now, I have to say, that although I missed having matches that were actually shown in the anime, I really liked the fast-paced feeling this episode had. In the first half of the episode you're like "yes Taiki, you can do it", but after he loses with Haryuu in the doubles tournament, they keep throwing you information, and when you're not even prepared, the singles tournament is starting, and when you think they're going to do a big climatic match until Taiki gets to Hyoudou, they just show Taiki losing his first match. The way they directed this actually gave me chills, and I cannot stress enough how I feel like this fast-paced episode really conveyed the feelings the episode has too.

Cherry on top for me, was in the end of the episode, when Taiki returned home, and heard Chinatsu telling Taiki's mother that she was able to advance to the inter-high, winning against the team that was saying that Chinatsu wasn't really that good (welp, Chinatsu proved them wrong), and Taiki was happy for her, but he also started to feel worse about losing in the tournament, and feel even more disappointed in himself. I feel like everyone gets this feeling, when something goes really wrong for you, but for your friend it went perfectly, and you want to be happy for them, but at the same time, you kinda feel jealous at the same time, and angry that they could do it, but not you. I was worried they would only make Taiki like "ohoh, no big deal, I completely failed my main objective, but not to worry, I don't dwell in things from the past", but no, they actually showed him being affected by what happened. Losing in the first match must be so hard... I also loved how Hina was there to support Taiki, but since he lost the very first game, she wasn't even able to cheer for him...

Honestly, for me, this episode was the best episode so far, and it really delivered with everything the anime has been building from the very 1st episode. It's also the 1st depressing episode we have in this anime. With these series of events, I'm curious to see which direction the anime is taking, because we won't have anything about inter-high from Taiki, unless we are only going to see Hina and Chinatsu's perspectives on that (and maybe Haryuu's). I suppose that by the end of the 1st cour, Taiki is moving up to the next grade, and Chinatsu will be also moving on.

Now, can someone please remind me why Chinatsu has to be in the finals this year, and won't be able to see Taiki going to the finals next year? Isn't she only 1 year older than Taiki, so therefore she also has 1 more year until completing high school? She's the same age as Haryuu, and they stated this episode that he will probably become the best badmiton player the next year, because Hyoudou would be graduating. I never gave much thought on that, is it because she will move in with her parents in another region of Japan? I suppose they will fix that, since the anime would be ending no time soon if she does that.
This tournament thing was much more quick than what I expected, so I'm expecting the 2nd cour of the anime to present a time skip to them being 1 year older.

Anyways, last week I wasn't able to see the 7th episode (some problem with Netflix Japan? I think it was because of lack of english subs there), but now episode 8th came out at the right time, right after the delayed episode 7, so really happy to be right on track again!

@PokefanPT
Yes, they could both go next year. I think the urgency for Chinatsu this year is to overcome the heartbreak of missing out last year and also justifying her reason for staying. For Taiki, beyond his personal motivation, he kind of equates going to nationals with being worthy of pursuing Chinatsu.

@PokefanPT
im pretty sure the subs will just be one episode off on nf for the rest of the series. It makes me wonder why they're encouraging piracy