「Fair wind」 (Fair wind)
“Fair wind”

After my noticeably negative post last week, I’d like to take it all back and say that I’m super happy with how things ended.

Fuuka x Yuu

If there was ever a moment for Yuu to step up, it’d be this week and boy did the guy show some backbone. Unfazed by every single problem that life threw at him, it was an absolute blast watching him be completely undeterred by Fuuka’s repeated attempts to avoid contact. But what may have been even better was watching Yuu scream out his affection for Fuuka. Not mincing words, it was just freaking amazing watching him just say three simple words — I love you. If you remember last week when I was asking where all of Fuuka’s spunk and enthusiasm went, it looks like the writers decided to throw it all into Yuu and I couldn’t have asked for a better way for Fuuka to come back into the fold.

In addition to Fuuka and Yuu finally becoming a couple, I really enjoyed the way the episode resolved the tension between Fuuka and Koyuki. Using Koyuki to finally open Fuuka’s eyes to her feelings for Yuu as well as spurring Fuuka into action with a subtle “I dumped him for you”, it’s nice to know that things weren’t resolved with the two suddenly sweeping things under the rub but rather the pair moving forward in a amicable way.

Overall, I thought we were given a pretty damn good final episode that managed to hit all the high notes that made the previous eleven so much fun to watch. And with that, I’ll catch you below in the final impressions!

Epilogue:

Final Impressions

I actually wasn’t sure how Fuuka’s adaptation to an anime was going to go. Having found lots of negative things about the story after researching it for the preview as well as having those criticisms reaffirmed by the comments in the first few posts, I’m still a little surprised I still continued to cover the show. But by the time we reached episode three, I was sure that I had made the right choice to continue covering it. By no means was this show a “perfect” show (what does perfection even mean these days), but it had all the things I wanted when it came to watching a budding romance overcome the struggles placed in-front of it. One huge thing that kept me coming back was the show’s pacing and how it didn’t extend things for too long. Be it awkward moments early on with Yuu and Fuuka or the pair getting into some sort of argument over a misunderstanding, the mere fact things wrapped themselves up within an episode or two was pretty awesome.

In addition to the great pacing and the well adapted story were a fun cast of characters that really helped accentuate the feeling of the show. With Yuu, Fuuka, and Koyuki rounding out the main cast of characters who we saw the most of, the addition of Mikasa, Nachi, Sara as supporting characters helped round things out when the romance part of the story started to get too heavy. If I had one complaint though, I wish the anime took more time to really give us some meat behind the latter three since it would have been nice to know a little more about what motivated them as well as if they had any internal reasons for joining Fuuka’s band.

Overall, I think Fuuka as an anime managed to do what it set out to do. It may not have been everyone’s cup of tea, but I really enjoyed what we got. Would I put it down as one of my favorite romance shows? In all honesty, I’d probably add it to the list just because of how unconventional (unconventional as in not giving any damns and doing what it wanted) it was. Anyways, before I close things out let me thank everyone who’s been keeping up with the posts for being awesome and I’ll catch you guys next season!

33 Comments

  1. Now I wait for the inevitable “I WANT FUUKA DED!” vs. “I WANT FUUKA ALIVE!” wars (a.k.a. Manga vs Anime fans).

    I still stand by my word that Kouji Seo is a hack writer. If he had any balls, we wouldn’t gone ahead with the original manga plot and watched anime-only fans have the greatest meltdown ever. But noooooo, he wanted to correct his mistake, he wanted to appease the manga fans. Well guess what? It kinda too late for that, the manga is far too gone into Shitshow Trainwreck Country, and having an anime-original plot in 1-cour is not enough to change that.

    Manga is canon, deal with it.

    Mediafag
    1. “we wouldn’t gone ahead”

      he would’ve gone ahead

      I’m drunk if you can’t tell.

      Fuck Fuuka.

      Fuck Seiren.

      Fuck this season.

      I can’t wait for Chibi Cinderella Girls.

      Mediafag
    2. Would there have even been anyone to “meltdown” if the manga’s route was followed when everywhere on the internet was saying “Now, I don’t want to spoil anything, but Fuuka gets hit by a truck” since episode one?

      Arche
    3. What’s even MORE baffling was that -as stated in his interview- he had ALWAYS wanted to go through with a Fuuka route in the manga but for some goddamned reason he just HAD to ram Fuuka outta the way (pun intended) then bring her back again at the end, only for the manga to inexplicably go down the Koyuki path by the moment he was done with his work.

      FUCK!

      Even I could write a better love triangle than this crap- FUCK!

      Nishizawa Mihashi
  2. I”m you enjoyed it TAKAII, because I sure did. It was a good show overall, and even though I really prefer Koyuki over Fuuka in every aspect, I’m glad Yuu actually pick one and not end up like other MCs in other shows who blew it.

    elmaton
  3. https://randomc.net/image/Fuuka/Fuuka%20-%2012%20-%20Large%2004.jpg
    Enlighten me, manga readers, if there is more Koyuki and Yuu moments in the manga, seriously. I can accept things if this turned into some “harem ending,” but it provoked my ire that, in just TWO episodes, the seemly mighty Koyuki and Yuu Ship suddenly SANK into the deep ocean and the writers “suddenly” made the former Fuuka and Yuu ship pop out just like that?! Not to make Yuu fans angry, but I suddenly don’t mind if Yuu gets a School Days ending.

    So what? Does the Author need to kill Fuuka, as an extreme measure, so that Koyuki and Yuu can be together? Wow, author, that’s one drastic view of things since the anime ended like this. Please god, if you plan to have another Anime season or an OVA, with a break up, then please let Yuu break up with Fuuka. Main Characters, that fail to keep up their childhood promises with their female childhood friends that loved them until now, aren’t qualified to be main characters.

    https://randomc.net/image/Fuuka/Fuuka%20-%2012%20-%20Large%2029.jpg
    If I had to guess, this has an “Alice in the wonderland” theme sort of band. But Yuu, you idiot. Have you no guilt for keeping your childhood promise?

    https://randomc.net/image/Fuuka/Fuuka%20-%2012%20-%20Large%2034.jpg
    And NOOOOO!! Don’t just replace Keychain-Sama like that!!!!!! His sacrifice would have no meaning!!!! T_T

    Repeat after what seltzermx said in the last episode – I will not break up with the incredibly hot/famous childhood friend, I will not break up with the incredibly hot/famous childhood friend, I will not break up with the incredibly hot/famous childhood friend…

    On the side note
    Show Spoiler ▼

    L002
    1. In reply to you, I’ll keep it in spoilers just in case

      Show Spoiler ▼

      Show Spoiler ▼

      Juan
      1. Thank you kind sir, I had appreciate you giving such a fine reply to fill my curiosity.
        My opinions on the manga, which I stopped reading after a certain chapter yet this kind gentleman had filled in the missing holes
        Show Spoiler ▼

        Damn, how many anime characters have a hot childhood friend and actually has a STRONG SHIP with them in the end. Yuu fails to be in that list, He is officially in my list of disliked anime characters that fail to keep their childhood promises with their hot female childhood friend. I know, in the episode 10 discussion, HalfdemonInuyasha made a sound argument with the idea of “heroine” ; but still, I felt Koyuki deserved Yuu more than Fuuka.

        My reaction to the mighty Koyuki and Yuu ship, which ended in just two episodes.
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meLsFNy1c3g

        L002
  4. …Did Koyuki just adopt a maid bunny girl costume theme for her band? -_-

    It is interesting to see a positive opinion. The comment I have been reading seems to suggest that the anime managed anger manga readers by letting Fuuka live, then managed to anger anime viewers by spending too much time developing YuuxKoyuki before unceremoniously dropping it.

    Then again, there is no pleasing manga fans unless the anime is a frame for frame adaptation, so that particular type of criticism is just par for the course.

    Incest Emblem
    1. Hahaha! Yeah that is true there really is no pleasing everyone with adaptations especially from a media form that offers more content to one that offers less.

      That said, I think the main criticism of this series is in the way things panned out and the story rather than the adaptation or faithfulness. I also like the manga ver better because it felt more meaningful than the shallow one of this series. HalfdemonInuyasha’s comment bellow can give you a good perspective.

      Juan
  5. *sigh*

    This COULD have been a decent ending IF the build-up actually fit the changes made. You can’t make such a HUGE change like Fuuka living while keeping pretty much everything up to that point the same because you end up with, like I and others have brought up before, one or more characters ending up being strangely contradictory to how they were previously established, like Koyuki. If they really wanted to make such a huge change, then they should have thought about how it would affect events both after AND before so they could make (slight) alterations accordingly so it fit better.

    Even the flashing images in Yuu’s mind when it came to the more romantic feelings he magically gained for Fuuka; they were ALL from that one single beach episode, which itself felt pretty forced. Otherwise, all the other images were really about his admiration and appreciation of Fuuka, NOT actual “love”. All this does is illustrate just how little romantic interaction and development there was between Yuu and Fuuka throughout the series, outside of the typical “shy moments” that never went anywhere, in order to make their eventual relationship truly believable, much less something to root for outside of simply liking the pairing better for one reason or another.

    Yuu and Koyuki had this in spades, which is why a lot of people came to like and root for Koyuki beyond simply liking her more than Fuuka.

    And even after Koyuki told Fuuka that she broke up with Yuu (again, contradicting her development in that she would fight for Yuu’s feelings and NOT give up), and even encouraged Fuuka’s own feelings, Fuuka herself continued to be the same selfish person she was since last episode until the end in order to force out more artificial drama to pad time. It just dragged out too much, IMO.

    As a result, this episode was just an overall mess in my eyes and these last couple episodes ended up really hurting what was an otherwise decent series up to that point.

    The change to having Fuuka live as opposed to the manga in of itself is NOT a bad idea for an anime-original change and I am certainly NOT opposed to Yuu and Fuuka being together in general. The problem was the execution and seeming lack of forethought into how such a major change would affect the overall story and its characters. It just felt like it was done JUST to be different from the manga and not much else. Otherwise, the build-up to this conclusion could have been done much better and lead to a much more believable and satisfying ending with that change in mind.

    HalfDemonInuyasha
    1. I have to agree. Very very well said. I have to say that I actually felt displeasure watching that confession scene…

      I agree with you too, it’s not about about being against Fuuka and Yuu ending up together it’s just that it was very poorly executed. The only other series that I felt this way about was Kimi Kiss Rouge and to be honest that was better executed that this.

      What makes this worse is that the original manga events were relatively good if they cut out the “versions”

      Juan
  6. https://randomc.net/image/Fuuka/Fuuka%20-%2012%20-%20Large%2006.jpg
    I initially loved Fuuka as a character but with all her tantrums being thrown around, I came to dislike her. The straw broke when she NTR-ed Yu from Koyuki

    https://randomc.net/image/Fuuka/Fuuka%20-%2012%20-%20Large%2005.jpg
    Truly, anything that makes Hayami Saori’s character sad or cry should be made crime that comes with a capital punishment.

    Let’s hold a vigil for Koyuki.

    Velvet Scarlantina
  7. Here’s the thing, I’ve followed the manga of Fuuka ever since it began especially as I’ve followed Seo since his Suzuka days. Like many fans I also felt the pain and rage to a certain degree at seeing what happned to Fuuka in that manga.

    I have to say though that comparing that to this adaptation, I honestly prefer the events of the manga more than what happened in the Anime. I don’t have some morbid fantasy, nor do I hate Fuuka by any stretch of the imagination but simply because the manga felt more meaningful. (I dislike the fact that Seo went with Ver 2, 3 and so on instead of going back to the other girl though)

    I’ll be honest, after the part where they diverged, I felt that the anime gave off a cheap and shallow feeling. It fell so well into the cookie cutter mold of the Shounen Romance that I found myself not even bothering to pay attention to the scenes at times as it was simply another reiteration of those tried and tested formulas. Cliches aren’t per se bad, it depends how you use them and often times it just takes that little tweak to make it all the more meaningful. I feel that despite the accusations of going for “Shock Value” that the manga received, it’s actually the better way forward for me and I would have appreciated it if the Anime stayed faithful to the source at least until the real “For You” chapter. If it did then it could have at least set itself a bit apart from the multitude of these themed series that we get. Sadly, that is not the case and I fear this series will be lost in the torrent of similarly mediocre stories.

    Juan
    1. From a Seo non-expert to a true Seo expert. Is he honestly a good author? Is there any meaning to his really bizarre actions in his stories? Or does he do his “whatever I wanna do” stuff for no good impactful reason really? I’d like to know your opinion of him cuz this guy strikes me as too random and unpredictable for me to like. Like don’t get me wrong, I love random and unpredictable when done right, like with Yoko Taro. I know it’s unfair for me to compare 2 guys from different mediums and genres, but you get what I mean.

      1. For the most part I think he is actually a good author. But like any other author some of the things he does works out while others do not. If anything he is brilliant at getting his audience emotionally involved in his works. Hence the amount of rage and praise in the various series. If you look at it on a whole though his stories all tend to come full circle with the foreshadowings properly used and most of the various strings tied up.

        He is popular for a reason and his popularity has seen him have at least 4 back to back serializations, 3 of which have been adapted into anime. So purely based off of that, he at least deserves to be tried. Suzuka if you want a complete work (KNIM tended to drag) and the One shot of Half Life if you want a single chapter (though the series was good also)

        Juan
      2. I’ve only watched the anime ver Suzuka and I couldn’t stand it. Few big reasons but don’t really want to spoil it, but the anime kept me from ever going to read the manga.

        I wish the longer ver of Half and Half would get an anime ver even if it was just a short 3-6 episode kind of thing. Even an 1 episode ova of the 1 shot would be nice to.

        Kimi no iru Machi I liked both the manga and the anime. The only thing I had against the anime was how it ended.

        As far as Fuuka is I love manga that I’ve read so far, up to ch 148. The anime ver I was really worried about when they changed that Fuuka didn’t die, but it ended up good. I also like how they showed stuff from the manga that happens later on. I think they could do more with the anime if they really wanted to and still keep a lot of the story from the manga going.

        Nerv987
  8. The pacing of the show was great. Despite the short number of episodes, it managed to sufficiently develop all the characters. It would have been better if some of the side characters could have been developed. Also, it managed to have a conclusive ending after it deviated away from the manga. To all those who are angry, I think it was quite obvious who he was going to end up with, especially after it started to deviate from the manga. The name of the show is Fuuka after all.

    fomite
  9. It all started great, the development of the Yuu and Koyuki was excellent and all ended nicely in episode 8. From there I was expecting the mandatory struggle to earn a happy ending but instead we got this trainwreck where the writters push aside character development, the feelings of the characters and everything to gives us a stupid ending that made no sense at all in the story. I feel really bad for koyuki, she was the perfect heroine for this story and much, much better character than Fuuka.

    haseo0408
  10. I find it interesting that the randomc readership seems to generally, like Fuuka while disliking Seiren (last arc), while reddit anime users are the exact opposite.

    paulrenzo
  11. The use of twitter as a prominent story-driving element was amusing to me, so I was surprised that it did not figure into the resolution of the story! What if: in final episode, Fuuka DM’d Yuu on twitter (the way Koyuki did at the very beginning)? Or if Yuu deactivated his account? Or something twitter-related …it just seems like a missed opportunity for some pleasing story symmetry here.

    For the record, I’m with everyone who was disappointed with the way Koyuki was forced out by some pretty arbitrary plotting. But I did wind up enjoying the series as a whole, and can’t help but feel that some angry overreactions can read like proverbial bottle-throwing at a high school band. lol

    essrog

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