Sakamichi no Apollon

[MFauli]

I see, Kaoru´s cold is the big topic this week :P Had to lol at him almost tripping when he walked towards Ri-chan. "ugh ... i´m ... dying ..." lol

Another topic: I didn´t like that it seemed that a lengthy amount of time passed between Kaoru´s second confession and the next meeting at Ri-chan´s place. All we get is Kaoru saying "I made no progression with her, damn", but ... WHY? I´d figure that once the confession went over successfully, the hardest part would be done. You love her, she loves you, now you just kiss and cuddle and have a good time - what´s the problem? It felt like a cop out to just say "no progression". made no sense.

And it sucks, because now we´re about to enter the final phase of the anime with Sentaro´s drama. I feel like it would have been perfect if we had seen Kaoru and Ri-chan as a proper couple prior to Sentaro´s secret leave. Ya know, the classic "they´re so happy, they don´t need me anymore. Wish you both the best. Bye."
Now we´ll have his drama and the couple-plot is on hold again. siiigh

[Buffalobiian]

HorribleSubs - Episode 11

[MFauli]

The scene where Kaoru finds out that it´s Sa-chan and not Sentaro who´s seriously injured was handled poorly. Awkward. "Oh, so it´s not Sentaro? Yay!" standing next to the devastated parents.

Other than that ... tbh, I´d run away, too, if I was in his position. He intended to run away before his dad returned. Now, his dad will likely hate him on a whole new level.

[Buffalobiian]

The scene where Kaoru finds out that it´s Sa-chan and not Sentaro who´s seriously injured was handled poorly. Awkward. "Oh, so it´s not Sentaro? Yay!" standing next to the devastated parents.

Yeah.. I've never been in that situation before, but I was thinking "Is that normal?"

[Ryllharu]

You two are blowing it out of proportion. Sure, he's relieved to find out his close friend isn't the one in the coma, and while it looks like he doesn't care about Sachiko, at the same time, consider this:
Sentaro allowed her to be on the bike, and he got out of the accident unscathed. Don't you think he feels guilty as hell? With the rest of the family too worried about Sachiko, who else would be able to provide a little comfort and sympathy to Sentaro for allowing her to get involved in the first place, while he walks away with only a few scratches?

Someone has to allow Sentaro a chance to let some of it out. Better that it isn't family, who would be too busy putting all their hopes on Sachiko's recovery. That's what real friends are for.

He ran away because the ONE time he relented and let her ride the bike with him, she got seriously wounded. Who wouldn't want to run away?


The forced drama aside, I knew from the start there was a reason they had cast Nanri Yuuka as Ritsuko. She left VA work to devote herself to singing years ago. It takes someone talented to pretend that they suck for a short time. As well as her voice seems to fit the gentle nature of Ritsuko, there was no way they weren't going to have her sing.

[Buffalobiian]

The forced drama aside, I knew from the start there was a reason they had cast Nanri Yuuka as Ritsuko. She left VA work to devote herself to singing years ago. It takes someone talented to pretend that they suck for a short time. As well as her voice seems to fit the gentle nature of Ritsuko, there was no way they weren't going to have her sing.

Listening to the soundtrack ruined any surprised that it might have had for me, but there might not have been any anyway..

I just hope they make up for it with uniforms or something.

He ran away because the ONE time he relented and let her ride the bike with him, she got seriously wounded. Who wouldn't want to run away?

We're not so much blaming him for running away, but mostly surprised at how Kaoru simply left straight afterwards without any words for Sachi. It's not that he left for Sen, it's the how.

[David75]

The accident was obviously coming the very moment Kaoru left. The light, camera and scene setting was really obvious.
It's just they added some twist and it was just a plot device to bring us elsewhere.

Nicely written show.

[Buffalobiian]

HorribleSubs - Episode 12

[Ryllharu]

Well...that was kind of a shitty ending for all involved. Of the primary cast, only Yurika really ended up happy for those eight years.

[shinta|hikari]

Life is not short enough that 8 years would waste it. Now they are back together, stable and at marriageable age (Ricchan wasn't wearing a ring, and they have a priest right there!). This seems like a happy ending for all involved.

[Buffalobiian]

I certainly feel happy that they all met again, but I wasn't too sure about how "natural" it is that they're all friendly still after seemingly no attempt to contact each other for 8 years. I certainly feel awkward when stuff like that happens. I'm glad, in a way.. but it's more shallow.

[MFauli]

The ending felt like a cop-out to me. In itself, it was a nice happy end, I guess. But it felt like there was at least one episode missing in-between 11 and 12. Something that shows us the climax of Kaoru´s feelings and his following reactions. All we got was an abrupt time skip, resulting in a sudden reunion, the end.
If I hadn´t enjoyed this anime as much as I did, I´d just shrug and go on - but I got 11 wonderful episodes of quality drama, animation and music, and this wasn´t an ending befitting of such greatness.

[Uchiha Barles]

Well this was a gem. Watched it all in one sitting. I felt kind of bad when things fell apart the way they did, but things didn't end up with bad blood between anyone. It just seemed like everyone did what they had to do for themselves. Kaoru turning down Tokyo-U to stay with Ritsuko seems like a questionable decision, no matter how well things were going. Sentaro clearly felt out of place for years and did what any one with balls should do; he went out to find his place. I'm gonna assume Ritsuko became a school teacher, I do feel cheated not knowing what she's been up to over the last 8 years. Definitely wish I knew a little more of what happened to Yurika and Jun as well.

I love those characters so much I just wish there was one more episode showing how they're going to be getting along from now on .

[Buffalobiian]

The final message to me was something like "Good things happen in life, but shitty stuff happens too. In any case, time moves on.. and you'll just looked back at it all and smile at the good parts."

I wasn't at all surprised at the style of the ending when I learned that this was a josei manga adaptation.

[shinta|hikari]

For those who want to see what happens after the anime ending, read this.

[Buffalobiian]

Nice epilogue closure. Even though there's no audible music, the manga panels convey the atmosphere well enough that the scene doesn't feel insufficient.

I still prefer long-haired Ritsuko.

[Uchiha Barles]

Well that was nice to see. Couldn't have asked for a better ending, although some part of me feels like Sen got shafted in the romance department. I'm sure I'm just looking at things the wrong way.

[MFauli]

agreed, nice closure.

Ya know, I´d like to watch an open-ended drama anime sometime. We always get open-ended shounen-series, never drama ones.