#(WHY DID WE NOT GET MORE OF HARUKA AND YUUKO {I YELL As Haruka Explains 'Its strange we can meet now'})

[koushirouizumi]

{H.O.L.I.C} Ch. 170 ~ "Chou no Yume"

"Its the same thing"

"The dreams are connected" "Inside this dream where everything is connected..." {Cap by Me} (Please ASK to Use)

BONUS:

[tialovestelevision]

Straight Trumpet

Back to Sound! Euphonium for a little… well, Sound! Euphonium. We just finished the auditions, where Hazuki failed to qualify for the competition band and Reina was given the solo trumpet part over the far more popular senior member Kaori. There’s going to be fallout, here.

1. Previously On, then the opening credits. It’s a little odd to still see Aoi in the opening credits, since she was basically written out of the show after her storyline. Buffy and Angel tend to pretty much excise all images of departed characters from opening sequences.

2. A sempai of Kumiko’s is yelling at her, because Kumiko made the competition and she did not. I’m not sure who it was… the scene was filmed in pretty deep shadow. She blames Kumiko, which is both irrational and oddly natural - a year ago, under the old seniority-based rules, she would have been guaranteed a slot while Kumiko would have had to compete for the remaining slots after all interested second- and third-years got theirs. But now there are auditions, and meritocracy sucks if you ain’t meritorious. Kumiko ruminates about this while she is emptying her spit valve, but Natsuki, who also failed to make the competition team and is Kumiko’s sempai, approaches her and says she wants to talk. Natsuki is smiling. She offers a treat, then Kumiko agrees to meet her and Natsuki leaves. Title card.

2a. I just rewatched that scene. It’s not a scene set in the present… there’s two details that point that out, both are really obvious, and I somehow managed to miss them both. Kumiko and the other girl are wearing middle school uniforms, and there’s a sign declaring it to be middle school. Oops. That reframes the whole scene - it isn’t about Kumiko being chewed out now; it’s explaining why she’s worried that Natsuki will be angry with her for making the competition band. The scene with Natsuki happens in the present, though - the flashback ends just before Kumiko cleaning out her spit valve. Now returning you to the original viewing of the episode.

3. Band practice, with the new, leaner concert band. They got the tempo right, which is important because if they go over they’ll just be cut off, which sounds like a death sentence for one’s dreams of a good placement. Taki asks them to bring blankets next time. Hazuki is asking about why, and also asks Kumiko to join her and Midori for sweets. Natsuki interrupts to say that she has a claim on Kumiko’s afternoon, and is still smiling. After Natsuki leaves, Kumiko mutters that Natsuki’s smile scares her; Hazuki points out that she said that out loud. Kaori’s fangirl is staring at Kaori, who is helping Haruka with her tempo changes. Kaori gets called over to help someone else. Reina passes the fangirl and tells her good luck. The fangirl stares after her like she has no idea what to do with that. The fangirl then goes and finds the notes Kaori wrote in her sheet music and is happy. The horns are gossiping about the trumpets.

4. Natsuki got Kumiko a milkshake. It’s strawberry. Natsuki likes chocolate. Natsuki brings up the audition; Kumiko immediately explodes with apologies. Natsuki says that she has only been playing the euphonium for a year. and is neither surprised nor upset that she failed the audition and Kumiko made it. Natsuki talks about how motivated she was to practice by Taki, and that Taki asked her to audition with parts she hadn’t practiced. She’s happy that Kumiko got the spot. She takes Kumiko’s sheet music, and writes on it, “Go for the gold! Let’s play together next year!” That’s painfully sweet. Natsuki is happy, but also pokes a little fun at Kumiko’s tendency to be polite and to cry.

5. Kaori’s fangirl - Yuuko! Yuuko! - is at the playground with Kaori, telling her about something. I think she thinks she knows why Taki picked Reina over Kaori for the solo part? Kaori doesn’t think whatever Yuuko thinks is going on is going on. Yuuko disagrees, but Kaori asks her to tell others not to spread whatever rumor it is that Yuuko has picked up on. Yuuko begs Kaori not to give up, and points out that this is Kaori’s last competition. “Your dream… your dream has to come true! Otherwise…” Then Kaori thanks her. I can see why Kaori is so popular… there’s a very compelling sort of serenity to her. She’d be a comfortable person to be near.

6. The band is laying out blankets on the floor. The reason is because the blankets will absorb sound, so they will have to play both louder and better to make it sound good with the blankets down. Why do that? Because the size of the concert hall for the competition will also deaden their sound. Now they’re going to practice. Yuuko says she has a question, and Taki allows her to ask it. Yuuko: “Is it true you knew Kousaka Reina before this?” Kaori looks stricken, and Reina twitches. The rest of the room gasps. Taki asks what Yuuko hopes to accomplish by asking that; Yuuko stomps over to Taki and accuses him of playing favorites. She demands the truth. Taki says he never played favorites, but that he did know Reina. Their fathers were friends. Yuuko asks why he didn’t reveal that before; he says there was no need to. Taki, here, is correct. He really shouldn’t be talking about it now, either. Yuuko starts to say something else, but Reina taps a window to get her attention and tells her to stop insulting Taki, and that Yuuko knows very well why she was chosen. It was because she is better than Kaori. Kaori tries to defuse it, but Yuuko stomps over to Reina to yell at her. Natsuki tells Yuuko to shut up, then Kaori yells at everyone to stop. She’s crying now. Reina: “If you’re going to complain, do it when you’ve surpassed me.” Burn. Inappropriately timed, Reina, but still burn. Reina leaves the room, and Kumiko chases after her. Midori looks after Kumiko, worried, but Taki tells the remaining students to finish setting up so they can start practice.

7. Kumiko catches up to Reina. Reina is annoyed, then stops walking, inhales a huge breath, and gives a wordless scream of rage. “So annoying. So annoying. Holy crap, what’s wrong with her? She can hardly even play! What’s her problem?” Kumiko starts to giggle a little, and Reina asks why. Kumiko says it’s because she thought Reina was depressed… and doesn’t finish the sentence because Reina throws her arms around her neck and hugs her. Reina asks, “Do you think I’m wrong?” Kumiko says she doesn’t.

8. Kumiko and Reina are outside, and Reina is giving backstory. Reina’s father was a trumpet player, and Taki’s was a conductor, so that’s how they met. Reina found out that Taki was coming to Kitauji, so she turned down an invitation to a more prestigious school to go there. Kumiko expresses surprise. Reina: “What could I do? I like Taki-sensei. Not in a ‘like’ kind of way. I mean in a ‘love’ kind of way.” Then she gives Kumiko a very vulnerable look. Kumiko asks about the word “love,” but Reina says not to repeat it because it’s embarrassing. Taki doesn’t know how she feels, and she says he’d never favor her in an audition. She’s upset that Yuuko would start complaining about Taki now. Kumiko agrees, and also thinks that Reina is cute. Reina calls Kumiko awful. Kumiko asks if Reina would ever give up her solo; Reina says no. “I’d probably just double down. That’s what it takes to become special.” Kumiko: “That’s you.” She then tells the audience that at the time, they didn’t know how arduous it could be to remain strong. We see Kaori looking out the window.

9. The stories about Taki and Reina continue. Reina’s father is being added to them. Taki is staying silent, which makes matters worse. Midori thinks it might be necessary for Reina to give up the solo for the good of the band. Hazuki disagrees, because Reina didn’t do anything wrong. Hazuki: “What does Kumiko think?” Midori: “After all, it’s about Kousaka-san…”

10. Teacher-student meeting between Kumiko and Michie. Michie tells Kumiko to relax, and asks her how things are going, then about her goals, which she has none of, so she should study hard. Especially math. Michie tells her not to get too distracted with band.

11. There are horn players jumping into the blankets. Taki comes in and sees them. He doesn’t approve. He asks why they are packing up; a student says they’re not, they’re just moving the blankets out of the way during break because it’s hot. Taki gets angry. Very angry. He yells that he didn’t say they could tear it down, and demands - politely - that they put it back. Then less politely. The students are starting to reassemble the room, but they look listless. He asks one what’s wrong; she says it’s nothing. Yuuko is sitting on the floor.

12. Back to sectionals, because things are too fraught for ensemble play. The horns and clarinets are unfocused, and the trumpets are a mess. Haruka has been trying to talk people down, but nobody trusts Taki. Natsuki complains that if they get Bronze again, there will be no point in her and Hazuki having failed the auditions. Midori and Hazuki want Asuka to fix things, but Natsuki doesn’t think she could. Gogo says he doesn’t think it’d be the same for the competition. Kumiko is asked to go speak with Asuka about it, because Asuka respects Kumiko. She’s been drafted. She uses “suckered into this” to describe it, then she hears someone playing trumpet. Sounds like Reina, but it’s Kaori. Asuka shows up behind Kumiko, startling her. “Caught you looking,” she says. Asuka is unsurprised Kumiko found the good stuff. Asuka talks a bit about Kaori, saying that she’s not giving up, but also not trying to garner sympathy. Kumiko asks Asuka what she thinks about the audition between Kaori and Reina. Asuka says she can’t answer that, because she’s the vice president and will stay neutral. Kumiko gets Flat Kumiko Look on and asks Asuka for her personal opinion, off the record. Asuka asks if Kumiko can keep it secret. Kumiko agrees to, and Asuka says she doesn’t care. Kumiko can’t tell if Asuka is telling the truth or not. She then runs into Haruka, who asks for Asuka. Kumiko tells Haruka that Asuka went back, and Haruka looks out the window to see Asuka talking to Kaori. Haruka focuses a moment, slaps herself lightly to build up determination. “You’ll have to do this by yourself, Haruka.” Do what?

13. The staff office! Taki is making copies. Michie asks him about the competition. She’s being nice. That makes me nervous. Michie knew Taki’s father. Then his copies finish.

14. Haruka is addressing the band. Two horns are talking off to the side, but Haruka actually calls them out for ignoring her. Haruka talks about the rumors, and that they’re doing damage. “Forget gold. I don’t even know if we can get silver like this.” She says there were no problems with the auditions, but tells people not to talk behind the leadership’s backs. If they have an issue, they can raise their hands. “Who has a problem with the auditions?” Yuuko’s hand goes up first, then a few other hands go up. I don’t think a majority, but a significant number. Taki has shown up at the door, and he looks stricken for a moment, but gets that off his face when Haruka addresses him. “You’re all quiet today,” he says. “Why the hands?” Yuuko immediately tells him. He comes in and says he has an announcement. He’s rented a concert hall for them to practice in. While there, he’s also willing to give second shots at auditions. He asks those who are interested in further auditions to raise their hands, and they’ll get a second before the whole band, so there’s no questions. Kaori stands up for a second audition for the solo part. Yuuko is crying, and Taki tells Kaori and Reina that they will have a second audition for the solo part. Episode end.

Overall: Reina and Taki - and, for that matter, Kumiko, though she is more hesitant to indulge it - are disruptors. They enter established systems and change them. As I talked about last time I did Sound! Euphonium, that casts them as villains in Japanese culture. In America, we love disruptors; Japan rather fears them. Both attitudes have their advantages (America gets Steve Jobs) and terrifying flaws (America gets Donald Trump). It does, however, make being a disruptor in Japan a difficult life.

Which is likely why Kumiko doesn’t show her disruptive side all that much.

I feel like I should talk about Reina’s feelings toward Taki, though I don’t much want to. They are, especially to a Western audience, one of the more uncomfortable things in the show, rating right alongside the utter dystopia that is Kumiko’s home life. It’s… not abnormal, in Japan, to have a crush on a teacher. It’s not even abnormal to express it to one’s friends, or to, in a moment of extreme emotion, even to the teacher (though having a moment of extreme emotion in public at all is a bit fraught, using it to express a crush on a teacher is not much more fraught a thing to do than to, say, burst out crying or eat a cake). But these are childhood and teenage crushes, and to let them linger past the acceptable age is abnormal. And a teacher allowing said crush to be acted on, or encouraging it, would be… I don’t think criminal the way it is in the United States, but definitely a massive breach of both social etiquette and trust. It would be a cause for shame, and shame is powerful. The intensity of Reina’s feelings would mark her out as strange, but the intensity of Reina’s feelings on everything she chooses to care about at all (Taki, Kumiko, the trumpet) are quite strange. Reina is a toweringly passionate girl.

We’re moving into the home stretch of season 1 here. There are two more regular episodes left, plus a special episode about the girls who failed the audition for the competition band. Stick with me; I won’t steer you wrong.