[Spring 2015] Season of Nostalgia

[KazeShiki]

Dungeon ni Deai o Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Darou ka? ep 1 - Not too bad. The fanservice is... endurable... and the premise is... okay... But the ED makes me wonder if he'll keep on chasing the high-level girl or end up with a girl he rescues. I don't foresee him ending up with his patron goddess, in any case. Will give this another episode or two.

It's...not as bad as I expected. Nothing worth talking about though. Unless you want to talk about everyone else talking about Hestia and her magic string.

Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works s2 (ep 1-2): Not much to say here since it just picks up straight from where s1 left off. I have some questions though - SPOILER: Highlight text to read: Am I right in thinking Caster's flashback is from the current War before she met severe-teacher-man and not from a previous War as I first though?
My other question is a bit more involved maybe. Am I supposed to be learning anything about the actual War/Holy Grail itself? I knew nothing about Fate/anything before this series, except the identity of Saber (I think) but right now the whole set-up feels less mysterious than just plain random. So there's this super McGuffin that a select group of people fight over every few years? every once in a while? and get to summon legendary warriors and all of this repeats because of reasons? Idk, like I said, it all seems rather random to me. Obviously if the answer is "just keep watching" that's fine too I guess. Maybe I'm just hoping that someone can confirm that there's a point to this.

SPOILER: Highlight text to read: 1) yes you are correct. Caster did not participate in any previous wars, and the flashbacks were to the current War. 2) At this point, no, nothing beyond the pure initial explanation. While you will get some answers if you keep watching, it may lead to more questions. Unfortunately, the full picture will not be explained until Heaven's Feel, and who knows when that movie will happen. I guess my best explanation without going into spoilers would be: magicians really want the Holy Grail but don't get along with each other so this systematic war was brought about as a result (kinda spoiler but there was a time where casualties got out of hand and they were like oops, we better agree to some rules).

Arslan Senki is being a pretty good adaptation. Still questioning the length and a good stopping point though.

Ore Monogatari is such a great shoujo

Owari no Seraph is being really generic. I hope it does something to prove me wrong.

Sidonia s2, I really love Nihei's sci-fi.

Nanoha Vivid is alright, I guess. I didn't like the manga much so I'm not expecting much but it's not bad.

Hibike is standard KyoAni, nothing else to say.

Yamada is apparently only 12 episodes, which completely ruins any chance of a good adaptation. But the voice acting during body switches is pretty darn amazing.

[Mullet Death]

The new Nisekoi episodes look pretty promising. Can't think of much to say other than that... I'm just excited. The animation and voice acting are as incredible as before and I still don't care that Chitoge (along with pretty much every other character) is a blatant trope. Her relationship with Raku, especially now that she realizes (possible big spoiler?) SPOILER: Highlight text to read: she does in fact love the idiot sucks me in and is hilarious. That's not even mentioning the other characters. I genuinely have no idea where the story is going to go from here, especially since I haven't read the manga. Looking forward to it regardless.

[skreyola]

Dungeon ni Deai o Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Darou ka? ep 1 - Not too bad. The fanservice is... endurable... and the premise is... okay... But the ED makes me wonder if he'll keep on chasing the high-level girl or end up with a girl he rescues. I don't foresee him ending up with his patron goddess, in any case. Will give this another episode or two.

It's...not as bad as I expected. Nothing worth talking about though. Unless you want to talk about everyone else talking about Hestia and her magic string.

Yeah, that thing is pretty weird, but I don't think I want to talk about it.

Euphonium ep 1 - meh. Not seeing anything awesome, so far. Not sure what they're going for with putting the red string on two girls in the ED, but maybe the show won't go there. Maybe.

[MangaRocks!]

To my disappointment, it seems that Digimon Adventure tri. has now officially been delayed: They're not even going to announce when the air date will actually be until May 6.

Also, I still haven't watched anything from this season yet because I'm waiting for more reactions/reviews on a few of them first + Funimation doing that weird delaycast thing with the first couple ep.'s of Blood Blockade Battlefront (although I read a review for those ep.'s that has now made me even more hype for the show than I already was, so I can't wait to be able to finally see them this weekend! ).

[Mullet Death]

Digimon delays, nooo But now I have plenty of time to go back and watch the Japanese audio versions of the first two seasons!


Watched the first two episodes of やはり俺の青春ラブコメはまちがっている。続 (or SNAFU TOO) last night. I always project myself onto Hikigaya so this show is a torrent of painful emotions that are difficult to process, especially since, you know, the mental illness and all. It really is fascinating to watch, even as I'm left so melancholic afterwards. I do wish they'd drop this "trap" nonsense with Totsuka, though, and Ebina can also be an irritating character, though she'd be just fine if she didn't go on and on about her fujoshi habits. Not that I expect much else out of a secular show-- what can you do.

[skreyola]

Mullet Death, thank you for the English. I'm trying to learn to read kanji/hiragana, but it's not going well for me, so far.

Wish on the Pleiades ep. 1 - So, it's kind of fun, but not spectacular, so far. I really like the way she's been doing magic without realizing it. The deal with the mystery guy(? he's a he? really?) was really confusing. I hope we find out what SPOILER: Highlight text to read: (if anything) he actually took from her.

My (love) Story!! ep. 1 - This was so heartwarming and fun, I just don't know how to express it. I think it will be very funny if Sun SPOILER: Highlight text to read: falls in love with her but she only has eyes for Gouda.

So, here's the rundown for the season, so far, as I see it:

From my prelist...
Plastic Memories - Looking good. Great potential.
Danna ga Nani wo Itteiru ka Wakaranai Ken 2 - Pretty good, but compared to the other stuff I'm watching this season, it's pretty "meh."
Eikoku Ikke, Nihon o Taberu - Can't find :,(
Urawa no Usagi-chan - Can't find :,( On CR... will give it a whirl... Wow. That was short. Well, maybe it'll be a sleeper hit like Encouragement of Climb
Arslan Senki - Can't watch. Hulu+ has it, though, so maybe it'll become available to me. The page doesn't hint at its coming to HuluFree, though.
Mikagura Gakuen Kumikyoku - Can't watch. Same deal as Arslan Senki.
Yamadakun to Nananin no Majo - CR has it. I can give it a shot next week.
Ameiro Cocoa - Can't find :,(
Dungeon ni Deai o Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Darou ka? - Surprisingly good, though I have some reservations... a couple of things make me leery, but nothing so far worse than you'd see in the average MMORPG.
Houkago no Pleiades - See above.
Triage X - Didn't even watch. The title card killed it, unless I hear that it's actually no worse that Dungeon...ka?. Not holding my breath for that.
Added because CR had them...
Sound! Euphonium - Kind of meh, but we'll see how it goes. It's off to a better start than previous shows I've seen in the same vein.
Ore Monogatari (My Story) - See above. :-D

The season is off to a much better start than Winter was. I have an anime to watch almost every day of the week.

[KazeShiki]

To my disappointment, it seems that Digimon Adventure tri. has now officially been delayed: They're not even going to announce when the air date will actually be until May 6.

given Toei's track record *coughSailorMooncough*, I wouldn't even believe whatever they do announce until we actually get the first episode aired. That said, I'll gladly re-watch the entire first season that they'll be streaming.

[EventualDay]

Ahh this is so difficult because I watched hardly anything last season, what with being so busy. Literally still in the process of Death Parade, Rolling Girls, and finishing up Yona. That was it and now because of not watching anything (what is this, withdrawal?), I'm going overboard and trying to watch waaaaaay too many shows this season.



So far...
Ameiro Cocoa has been a disappointment. (Not that anyone was hyping it up really, but still.) Apparently Vic Mignogna will voice act the English version (?), so I was hoping it would be worth something because I kind of like him. But so far it's--understandably--plotless at 2-minute episodes.

Houkago no Pleiades is so far a standard magical girl—which makes me happy—with surprisingly beautiful visuals. I’m interested in the mysterious horned boy and hoping he’s a villain love interest.

Punchline is cute and colorful, but those panty-shots are getting a bit annoying and it’s got a somewhat shallow plot. I’ll give it another chance but it’s not that good.

Actually I'm loving Hibike! Euphonium so far! Brass band music seems pretty original to me (and I’m holding out this secret hope that we’ll get a little jazz later on, too).

Owari no Seraph is… well, I’m considering dropping it. People are making comparisons to Attack on Titan, but I don’t know, it seems kind of unappealing so far. A little bland (and, okay, I'm sorry, but a whole bunch of super-evil vampires raising little children is just so funny to think about that it's hard to take seriously).

Kyoukai no Rinne could be either cute or bland at this point—guess I’ll see. Though it mostly makes me want to leave this show and go watch Inuyasha.

Haven’t yet had time for…
Etotama
Gunslinger Stratos: Animation
Mikagura Gakuen Kumikyoku
Plastic Memories
Show By Rock
Kekkai Sensen



Decided not to watch Ore Monogatari since I'm already reading it, but I wanted to vouch for it. Though it has some typical-shoujo elements to be certain, the main characters are very likable. It's cute, and Takeo is a wonderfully unique lead.

Also holding off for now on Is it Wrong to Try and Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon because harem.

[skreyola]

IS Ameiro Cocoa licensed for streaming to the US? I haven't been able to find it.

[EventualDay]

Well, it's actually a little bit weird because it's based on a digital manga (sold for Google android phones and also on iTunes) that has bilingual text plus audio. Crunchyroll's got some forum threads about the actual anime, with episode summaries too, but as of now it's not been officially streamed anywhere.

[skreyola]

Ah. Thank you for the info.

Plastic Memories ep. 3 - In this episode, my thought-provoking sci-fi becomes the worst kind of romcom for the first two thirds of the episode. The last part was very good, very poignant, but they really could have done the first part better... like having him think through the advice each person gave him and dismiss it as stupid.
Also, I notice that, in spite of half the cast SPOILER: Highlight text to read: growling at him for their perception that he's out to do something indecent with Aila, every person who gave him advice was approaching it like they were trying to help him get in her pants. What was up with that? Stupid. 2/5 for the episode, The first two were much better.

[MangaRocks!]

Finally watched Blood Blockade Battlefront, a.k.a. Kekkai Sensen, episodes 1-2:

I've been really looking forward to this (for multiple reasons aforementioned in this thread), and I'm happy to report that it did *not* disappoint!

The atmosphere/setting is great (New York + superpowers + other-dimensional aliens!); the direction is great (as expected! Oh my goodness, do I love Rie Matsumoto's work... <3 ); the music is great (as is the fact that a lot/most of it is diegetic, too!); Akira Ishida (one of my favorite seiyuu <3 ) was in fantastic form in his appearance in ep. 1 (as SPOILER: Highlight text to read: "The King Of Depravity," no less, ROTFL! ...And don't worry; at least so far, it's a lot tamer than it sounds, haha ); and the characters are great, as well (I like all of them)! <3

Other random comments in no particular order: Oh my gosh, the text for the character intros in ep. 2... LOL! And the brief little gag with the SPOILER: Highlight text to read: pizza was priceless. The MC's power is also actually way cooler/more useful than it seems at first. And OH MY GOSH that fantastic, hilariously addictive ED!

Can't wait for ep. 3!

[Kaori]

Am I really supposed to watch this [Arslan Senki] just because it's by the FMA people... I guess I might, actually.

Nope. The writer of the original novel series is also a big draw. In addition to writing the Arlsan Senki novel series, he is also the writer of the novel series that Legend of the Galactic Heroes is based on, and although I've neither read nor seen LotGH I have heard only good things about it. So this anime is based on the manga adaptation by Arakawa Hiromu, which is in turn based on the novels by Tanaka Yoshiki. That means it's an adaption of an adaption, but Knowing Arakawa-sensei, the manga is probably a very good adaption of the original source material, which itself is probably very good. (Would love to get my hands on that.)

Wow, they're making a TV anime of Arslan? I'll have to let my family know about this one. We've all watched the OVAs, which were produced slowly and sporadically, but were actually quite good. This is one I'm going to pick up.

Good man.

So although I am interested, I probably will not watch Arslan Senki or anything else because I just have not been watching anime at all for a while now. (Have been meaning to re-watch those Arslan Senki OVAs for like a year but haven't gotten past the first episode.) But here's a question I'll toss out in case anyone who is knowledgeable about the anime industry can answer it:

I see that some people are concerned about the amount of source material (manga) for Arslan Senki compared to however long the anime is going to be. Given that Arakawa-sensei is adapting the novel series, which is quite long (14 volumes and still unfinished?), if the anime reaches the end of the manga, couldn't they just continue with the plot of the novel series from that point, since there is no lack of source material in the novel series? I mean, the anime is an adaptation of the manga, but it's not like a case where if the anime passes the end point of the manga the producers have to just make something up because there isn't any more story, right? Anyone have any thoughts about whether you think that is what the producers are likely to do?

[skreyola]

That was kind of a joke, because that's why I watched Gin no Saji.
Anyway, I can't get access to it.

[Kaori]

Oh, okay. (Internet irony is lost on me; I blame it on the years I spent Japan.)
Maybe with a little luck it will become available in the States in some form that you can get access to. Since Arakwawa-sensei is so popular and well-known over here, that's not an unreasonable thing to hope for.

[MangaRocks!]

Anyway, I can't get access to it.

Funimation has licensed it for the U.S., and it looks like the first ep. is now available for free users here and here.

[MomentOfInertia]

Arslan Senki

Oooh sounds neat.

"Arslan, the 14-year-old prince of Pars, lacks the leadership skills befitting a future king. But after his father falls victim to a treacherous plot..."
...
"Akatsuki no Brona"?

[skreyola]

Anyway, I can't get access to it.

Funimation has licensed it for the U.S., and it looks like the first ep. is now available for free users here and here.

Ah. I knew Hulu had it. Last time I looked, though, there had been no indication they were going to give free users access to it at all.
Guess I'll pick give it a look this next week.

[KazeShiki]

I see that some people are concerned about the amount of source material (manga) for Arslan Senki compared to however long the anime is going to be. Given that Arakawa-sensei is adapting the novel series, which is quite long (14 volumes and still unfinished?), if the anime reaches the end of the manga, couldn't they just continue with the plot of the novel series from that point, since there is no lack of source material in the novel series? I mean, the anime is an adaptation of the manga, but it's not like a case where if the anime passes the end point of the manga the producers have to just make something up because there isn't any more story, right? Anyone have any thoughts about whether you think that is what the producers are likely to do?

Yes, they absolutely could just continue adapting the novel series, and honestly the path I'm most hopeful for. But then it would be a little strange to call it specifically an adaptation of the manga adaptation if they went that route. The manga changes a few minor things from the novels, or so I'm told. I highly doubt this has any real impact on the story, mostly because I trust Arakawa, but I wonder if this could cause a shift in tone or storytelling technique. What would be possible would be if Arakawa has ideas of how to adapt the novels but simply hasn't drawn/published it yet and they can go off that, which would be kinda weird to get the "source" material later than the anime. But, all this is probably a moot point because I just checked and according to MAL, it's 25 episodes/2 cour, which is what I suspected since there's about 23 (?) chapters out at the moment and it's been going at a pace of 1 episode = 1 chapter.

[MangaRocks!]

Ah. I knew Hulu had it. Last time I looked, though, there had been no indication they were going to give free users access to it at all.

Yeah, some of Funi's simulcasts were apparently delayed a little bit this time even for the premium subscribers, and then you still have to tack on the standard one-week delay after that for the free users, so it took a little longer (had the same issue with BBB, but that one's on track now, too).

[skreyola]

Ah. I knew Hulu had it. Last time I looked, though, there had been no indication they were going to give free users access to it at all.

Yeah, some of Funi's simulcasts were apparently delayed a little bit this time even for the premium subscribers, and then you still have to tack on the standard one-week delay after that for the free users, so it took a little longer (had the same issue with BBB, but that one's on track now, too).

I'm noticing lately that Hulu has a bad habit of not saying before the free episodes are released which shows are going to get free access and which ones will be Plus-only.

Yamada-kun ep. 1 - Hmm... Not too bad. Not sure what all is going on, here, but I might pick this up. They did a lot of the usual jokes, but I don't hate it, yet, anyway. It'll probably be either very interesting or very bad. Not sure which, yet.

[GeneD]

Arslan Senki ep 1: I can kinda feel the pacing drag already, maybe I'm just imagining things.

Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works s2 ep 3: Main characters do nothing, the Show. Seriously can Emiya be any more ineffectual, and his dragging Rin down with him. SPOILER: Highlight text to read: She should have teamed up with Caster like Archer did.

Plastic Memories ep 3:

worst kind of romcom

This. They really need to put a little effort into doing something interesting with the premise they came up with. This episode wasn't it.

Ore Monogatari!! ep 2: SPOILER: Highlight text to read: I'm glad we got concrete confirmation that Yamato likes Takeo, hopefully he'll realise it soon too. The beam-falling incident was rather abrupt (and the animators must have been so shocked that they forgot the background). I hope Yamato gets some development soon, since she's rather 1-dimensional and squeaky right now.

Kekkai Sensen ep 3: I liked the focus on Klaus, we got to meet someone new from the ED and the directing and visuals are amazing. The ED remains anime of the season.

Yamada-kun to 7-nin no Majo ep 1-2: Like I mentioned in the "What manga are you reading" thread, I'm watching this parallel to reading the manga and it's interesting to see all the changes/rearranging the anime does. So far it's fun and has less fan-service than the manga. I like the style of the OP.

So I've reached the stage of commenting where I'm critical of almost everything... Anyway, I have 2 Crunchyroll guest passes that're gonna expire soon-ish. Please let me know if anyone wants one, here or send me a PM.

[MomentOfInertia]

Alright I've had a chance to watch an episode or two (or three) of everything that caught my eye, and I think I may have overextended myself a bit, We'll see.

In the mean time a few thoughts and a ranking of my season so far:

1.Blood Blockade Battlefront/Kekkai Sensen, #1-2:
Best show so far this season.
Beautiful action, interesting/mysterious world, good action, cool characters, great music, cool ED, and a lack of fanservice. The only thing I can complain about is that the first few scenes were a bit boring and monologue-y, but there isn't really any other way to do that and still give a decent overview of the world. They did provide a nice contrast to the latter half of the episode when things pick up.

2.I Can't Understand What My Husband Is Saying 2nd Season/Danna ga Nani wo Itteiru ka Wakaranai Ken 2nd Season, #1-3:
Second longest title of the season. Still funny and kind of sweet. Still not a family show.

4.RIN-NE,#1-2 :
Good show, hasn't taken off yet. Waiting to see where it falls on comedy vs action.

4.The Heroic Legend of Arslan/Arslan Senki,#1 :
I've only one episode so far and I wasn't too impressed with it. However given the style of the show I expect it will improve, maybe move up to #2 by the end of the season. Here's hoping.

5.Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?/Dungeon ni Deai wo Motomeru noha Machigatteiru darouka, DanMachi ,#1-2:
Longest title of the season. Interesting premise. Too much fanservice-y stuff to ever move up higher unless something really starts to suck.

[skreyola]

Plastic Memories ep. 3 - Another good episode that almost made me cry. Michiru needs to stop being such an annoying tsundere. It seems Aila SPOILER: Highlight text to read: was hurt by Kazuki-san. But yay! She said good morning! She seems to be very comfortable around Tsukasa.

[skreyola]

Yamada-kun ep. 2 - That was a bit rushed. The fanservice is getting to be a bit much, and I was a little tired of the characters by the end, but there has been a development, so I guess I'll watch one more to see if it gets more interesting.
I kind of like what they're doing with the revelations Yamada uncovers while undercover. Walk a mile in another's shoes...
By the way, Itou's googly-eyed stare is what I see most times I "discuss this episode" on MAL... regardless of show.

[EventualDay]

Well, it's actually a little bit weird because it's based on a digital manga (sold for Google android phones and also on iTunes) that has bilingual text plus audio. Crunchyroll's got some forum threads about the actual anime, with episode summaries too, but as of now it's not been officially streamed anywhere.

Funi is streaming Rainy Cocoa now. Probably is in the Anime Announcement page but thought it would be relevant here, too, since it was mentioned earlier.

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/20 ... ime/.87406

[MangaRocks!]

Been hearing some great things about ...SNAFU 2, and I've already decided to watch both seasons, but I might not get around to catching up on both of them while S2 is still airing, so I probably won't be commenting on that for a little while yet.



That said, I did decide to start watching Sound! Euphonium while it's airing, so I went ahead and got caught up on episodes 1-3:

...And I'm glad I did, because I'm *LOVING* it! <3 As a lifelong musician myself, I love not only the series' focus on music, but also that the MC (along with a few other characters) has (/have) the *proper* focus (well, I mean, the MC is a bit listless/just-going-with-the-flow ATM, but it's plenty obvious that these traits are there at her core, given her memories of her previous performing experience, her heavily-marked-up old sheet music {*glances over at my own collection of sheet music, which usually ends up looking precisely the same* }, and a number of her comments)-- not only a love of and enjoyment of music itself, but also a rather pointed ear/drive for talent, initiative (as their adviser-- who seems to be quite a good one, another fact I love -- pointed out), discipline (*extremely* important, as their adviser also very handily schooled them on in ep.3-- and yes, that was another one of my favorite bits! In fact, he could've been even harsher and it still would've been perfectly appropriate. I mean, he purposefully gave them a beginners' piece, something that should be easy to master, but they not only didn't even have the discipline to do even a bare minimum of practice {choosing to goof off instead}, they actually *lied about it to his face (!)* {which is quite shocking, to be honest-- I couldn't even imagine doing such a thing to my own tutor, no matter how much I slacked off}, and they knew how bad they were as a result, to the point where they even raised their hands when asked if the example section was bad {trust me, both myself as well as my tutor were always aware when I was slacking/getting a bit apathetic, and while she never outright stated "Don't waste my time," there was a [mostly ] unspoken drive both externally and internally to get a grip, because both of us knew full well that I could do better-- and that feeling, in turn, taught me to have discipline, to practice faithfully, and to understand that *every* piece was worthy of giving everything I had-- indeed, whenever there was a piece that I 'thought' was 'too easy,' 'too hard,' 'too weird,' or 'too...' whatever, that discipline eventually lead to my realization that even pieces I may have disliked at the time were teaching me technical skills, emotional expression, and many other things that I could later utilize to perform something I truly did like. And, today, I now have the ability and freedom to {quite literally-- ask my tutor!} play *anything* I desire to-- all because of discipline! ...Yeah, as you can tell, I could practically write an essay on this, so I'll go ahead and stop now, LOL ; but, suffice it to say, I nearly stood up and clapped when the adviser finished that speech of his}), proper intonation and articulation and timing (and indeed, accuracy in all aspects), awareness of and working together in harmony with each other, etc. etc.-- all things that make great orchestras (or concert bands) so great; and I look forward to seeing that actually happen with this group over the course of the series. Oh, and I also like the fact that the cast is rather more balanced in terms of both gender and interest-factor than I was expecting, too. Other comments: Oh man... I LOL'd at that priceless out-of-tune squeak during the band's opening day 'performance' in ep. 1, and my reaction to them overall was exactly the same as the MC's. (I would've even said it out loud on purpose, instead of letting it slip out unintentionally, LOL. ) Also, oh my gosh, Asuka's SPOILER: Highlight text to read: "SHUT UP!" in ep. 2 (and the ensuing 'Cinderella' imagery) was hilarious. Finally, one more thing about that brilliant ep.3: You know, those lying, apathetic, obviously-not-interested-in-music kids who dragged down (and, in many cases, drove away-- as shown by the huge amount of second-years quitting! ) the few real musicians who actually *wanted* to play (and play properly) actually induced real anger in me. It's been quite a long time since a fictional character made me truly *angry,* and it's just a testament to how realistic that was and how close this hits to home for musicians watching it. <3 Looking forward to more!



And Blood Blockade Battlefront, a.k.a. Kekkai Sensen, episode 3:

Wow. I *LOVED* the art design (and the display of it) in that alien dude's museum/collection/whatever. (Actually, it reminded me rather a lot of the art gallery in the Ib videogame, which is definitely a good thing, considering my love for that as well. ) And wow, Klaus' philosophy is really endearing. <3 (That 'Prosfair' game did indeed look completely crazy, though -- and Klaus' *incredible* SPOILER: Highlight text to read: self-sacrifice was just as nuts; but, like I said, that just makes him even more endearing. <3 ) This show is brilliant, and I can't wait for the next ep.!

[skreyola]

Euphonium ep. 3 - That kind of stunk. Not because the quality wasn't there -- it was -- but because the episode ended in a place that didn't feel like anything had been accomplished. I was very frustrated with the teacher, because I feel like he should be helping them more and weeding out the uncommitted, or better yet, splitting off the ones who want to just... y'know, forget that; if they don't want to practice, they wouldn't even be able to pursue the alternate goal, to have fun playing together. At least they sounded better than the opening ceremony piece they played. But I think the teacher is being too lazy. He needs to be lurking about, listening and giving pointers to the student leaders after practice.

[MangaRocks!]

Euphonium ep. 3 - That kind of stunk. Not because the quality wasn't there -- it was -- but because the episode ended in a place that didn't feel like anything had been accomplished. I was very frustrated with the teacher, because I feel like he should be helping them more and weeding out the uncommitted, or better yet, splitting off the ones who want to just... y'know, forget that; if they don't want to practice, they wouldn't even be able to pursue the alternate goal, to have fun playing together. At least they sounded better than the opening ceremony piece they played. But I think the teacher is being too lazy. He needs to be lurking about, listening and giving pointers to the student leaders after practice.

I think the problem is that this is Japan, and it's not an actual class but rather a club, and he's *not* a 'teacher' but merely an 'adviser'; the job of 'teaching' is up to the senpai (second-/third-years), not him, and I don't think anyone *can* be forcibly kicked out (unfortunately). It's not like the schools in America or whatever, where it's an actual orchestra/class, and there's at least one actual teacher, and people are graded/etc. Once you take into account all of the context, the adviser pretty much did what he could to (try to, anyway) snap some sense into them. And hey, he pretty much stated that they weren't even ready to take instruction in the first place, with their current attitudes (and obviously they weren't, given their continued stubbornness afterwards), so until that changes and they get some discipline, it wouldn't even matter. (That said, I'm totally with you though on wishing those lazy, lying losers {alliteration intended!} *could* have gotten some nice, juicy 0/F marks or simply just get tossed out altogether, but like I said, this is a club, not a class, so oh well... )

[skreyola]

True, but I think he still bears some responsibility for setting them up to have their hopes dashed by allowing them to set a lofty goal they have no potential to achieve with the lazy ones on board. If he doesn't counsel them to drop the nationals goal and just have fun the next time he hears them play, he has no business even advising a club. But, yeah. I get all of what you said. It just irks me to no end that people who don't give a flip can ruin everyone's chances of accomplishing anything, even having a fun time together, in an organized setting like this.