Sound! Euphonium | Episode 12
EmperorBrandon: It’s interesting how it feels like Kumiko and Reina are both fully in each others’ shoes (relative to the beginning of the series) at this point. Reina gets to stepping out of her comfort zone and apologizing to Yuuko and Kaori for her “being smug”, kind of reminding of those nervous moments early in the series where Kumiko was trying to go to talk to Reina. And now Kumiko really gets the frustration Reina had at the middle school concert of not being able to do better. Really speaks to how far both of them have come, and I think the connection they have forged has been an important part of it. Fantastic stuff.
Ah, speaking of fantastic, Natsuki in the background of that apology scene… Hah, I really think she is the best. Shame there is not more time for her to play with Yuuko as I’m liking those bits.
cxt217: Determination can get you a long way, but skill and experience means that determination is not everything. Kumiko has more each than many of the other members of the band, but even with all of that does not mean she can play all the parts. Of course, we might have figured this out if the sections in the bands had their members in respective chairs.
It might be a sign of development on Kumiko’s part, but her reaction to essentially being told that she was not good enough by Taki-sensei still ends up feeling a bit melodramatic. Unlike Reina, whose similar reaction is understandable because music, and playing the trumpet, is her life, Kumiko’s reaction felt a bit along the lines of the average teenager, who believes not getting what they want is the end of the world for them…Because they do not know any better. At least how she got to the point is understandable.
Hitsugi Amachi: This is my one issue with the episode. I don’t buy Kumiko’s sudden “love” for the Euphonium. Your idea, that this is teenage moodiness, is about the best explanation that at least stays true to the logic of the character as we’ve seen her in this show. It was just a few episodes ago where we were being told that Kumiko tries to distance herself from others and things and stand apart. Now suddenly she’s this super-intense Euphonium lover. Yes, I know that sudden swings like this do happen even in real life, but normally there’s a lot more circumstances built around it.
Mitch H.: There’s a psychological phenomena where when someone puts extreme effort into a neutral or disregarded activity, after a certain point they develop a strong emotional attachment, love or obsession with that activity. It’s a way the mind tricks itself into justifying the effort poured into that activity, retroactively determining that because so much has been expended in its pursuit, that object or goal must be loved in proportion. You could call this a form of Stockholm Syndrome, or simply “fake it until you make it”, but either way, it is a real effect. You see it all the time on political campaigns, where staffers or volunteers who joined initially for careerist or principled intellectual reasons, go a little wild and emotional in the final punch-drunk days, often auto-suggesting themselves into delusions of victory on long-chance races that, if they were capable of objectivity, they’d have seen were not paying off.
cxt217: Reina has changed too, if more subtly. Her reaction to Kumiko’s announcement that she, Kumiko, had just been alone with Taki-sensei, is classic.
Natsuki is still a troll, creatively screwing with Yuuko in this episode. She may be the most under-used secondary character in the show.
All in all, a better episode from the last one, with the conclusion left.
