My Home Hero – 03

Okay, first of all, what the hell was Tetsuo wearing on his head?  Was that glass, plastic?  I’ve seen concussion bandages before but never anything like that.  I would have to describe that look as “unintentionally comic” (unless of course it was supposed to funny).

There was something of a black comic note to this episode generally for me, as Tetsuo goes even further down the yakuza rabbit hole.  These guys are professional liars, so it isn’t surprising that Kyouichi should have seen through Tetsuo’s meek dad act.  This is a strange bedfellows partnership if ever one existed.  Maybe Kyouichi really did know Tetsuo killed Nobuto all along – it would still sort of make sense to try and get some use out of him.  It seems pretty clear nobody in the local group cares about Nobuto one way or the other – he was a fuck-up and a troublemaker.  They’re just trying to make the best out of the bad situation he created.

I was glad at least that Tetsuo didn’t go for the “frame an innocent third party” route, because that would quickly have torpedoed any respect I have for him.  As is, he and Kyouichi end up in even deeper shit when they go to a hostess club to talk to Nobuto’s old girlfriend, Nishiki-san.  That was an interesting scene, though I confess I don’t 100% understand why it ended the way it did.  In any event the pair of them soon find themselves in the middle of nowhere ordered to waylay a transaction between two rival gangs and steal the goods.  This promptly gets Kyouichi shot, which on the surface sounds like a break for Tetsuo if he could actually get out of this situation alive.

Who knows (besides Kyouichi now, and he may be dying) that Nobuto cheated his own gang on a big job?  That seems to be the key question, because the answer is going to be highly predictive about what happens next…

Ao no Orchestra – 04

I can’t deny it’s what stands out, so may as well start with it.  Nothing takes you out of the moment like bad CGI, and that was some seriously bad CGI.  It started the moment the conductor walked out on stage and it was a disaster from there on forward.  It’s not like Ao no Orchestra has ever looked expensive but damn, there’d been nothing to prepare me for that – the use of CG in the small-scale performance scenes has been measured.  I’m not one to drop shows over visuals very often, but if every orchestra scene looks like that I’ll be making an exception here.

Before that unfortunate derailment, the episode was another mixed salad for me.  More good than bad on the whole, but not by a lot.  I continue to find Akine extremely grating, for starters.  And the series seems determined to check off every cliche in the book by the time it’s done.  On the other hand, this is a premise I’m drawn to – performing arts is one of my favorite anime genres.  A lone wolf learning to be part of a musical pack is an interesting take on the theme, and apart from Akine there’s no one element that really detracted from the overall experience.

Not surprisingly the best parts of the episode involved Takeda-sensei, the best character in the series.  I really like his approach to mentorship here.  He nudges, he doesn’t push.  He shows Aono where the doors are, and lets him decide whether to walk through them.  And that whole sequence where he took the kids out for congratulatory ramen and talked about his longing for his days as a violinist was emotionally authentic.  I was lucky enough to have a teacher or two like him, and I feel him now, as an adult.  Again I say, it would really suck if he disappears, but it’s hard to see any logical way for him to remain a regular character.

As to the high school, well – at 2000 students it damn well is big (18 classes every year!?).  164 in the orchestra (though only 22 boys, ROFL), 8 straight national titles.  And one former rival of Aono’s, seemingly, though he apparently doesn’t remember her.  How Chiba Umimaku High School – and the new cast attached to it – play out is going to be a big deciding factor on whether Ao no Orchestra can close the deal or not.