Not to put too fine a point on it, but that was a pretty bad episode. Focusing on two very annoying characters – Tachibana and Akine – doesn’t help. But there are more endemic problems with Ao no Orchestra, mainly connected to the writing. The usual bad CGI doesn’t help, but generally speaking the writing with this series is pretty broad and reliant on tropes. That whole changing thing could hardly be a more tired cliche, and it could hardly have been presented more clumsily (and how is a person supposed to know people are changing if they don’t put up a sign?).
The music stuff is okay, as usual. Hajime struggling to harmonize with other musicians is obviously an ongoing thread, as you’d expect. As for Akine, it’s obvious that Tachibana is extremely belligerent and started this confrontation. But maybe it’s no coincidence that Akine keeps getting into them? She’s a very abrasive presence, and sandpaper rubs people the wrong way. And Yonezawa basically doing nothing while Tachibana continually bullies one of the first-years is pretty inept leadership. Over with the firsts things aren’t quite so dramatic, but I’m just waiting for Aono’s “too nice” comment about Harada to prove itself out.
At this point I’m relying on compatibility to keep myself interested in Ao no Orchestra – the actual execution is thoroughly inconsistent. Another episode or two like this one, though, and that’s no longer going to be enough. No promises, then – we’ll see what happens next week.
Snowball
May 16, 2023 at 5:14 amAgain, I can’t help but compare this to Mashiro no Oto. The character drama really sucks and the musical side hasn’t been that engaging either. I’m really trying to like this, too.
Guardian Enzo
May 16, 2023 at 9:07 amYes, it’s not a bad comp at all. At this point I think MnO was better on the whole, though. Certainly in terms of animation in the music sequences but also in terms of writing. The flaws are more egregious here.
abccba
May 16, 2023 at 12:34 pmYep, this episode was pretty disappointing. Don’t really need the clichés of an experienced student picking on a newcomer, or the love triangle (?) with Kozakura, and no, having the guy scream in that situation isn’t clever.
Besides that, did anything else really happen in this episode? Judging by the next episode preview, I guess it’s all supposed to be setup for Kozakura’s episode. Interestingly, Aono said that she plays as well as Saeki.
If I were to scrounge for something in this episode, I guess I relate a little to Akine, as I joined my high school orchestra as a complete beginner. It’s not easy being 5-10 years behind everyone else, and extra practice will only get you so far when everyone else is also improving.