Fuuka

At first I was trying to figure out how Fuuka was related to a very old anime, Suzuka. It had been more than a decade ever since that latter series ended so how could they possibly continue it from there? Furthermore, wasn’t Suzuka about the track and athletic? It is a far and jarring difference with this one whose theme is music. Then I found out that this series is about the children of Suzuka. So it’s something like a sequel spinoff? I’m guessing the music theme is used as a different distraction otherwise why would we watch another romance drama about life in the fast lane when we could go back to the original series and rewatch it again.

Episode 1
Yuu Haruna is walking in the streets. The newly released hit single from Koyuki Hinashi playing on the screen got his attention. Because of that, Fuuka Akitsuki who is in a hurry collides into him. It’s a bad day for him because from his angle, he saw her panties. Worse, with his handphone in hand, it looked like he took a picture. Upset Fuuka snatches his handphone and throws it on the ground without even checking if he really took them! WTF?! Then she slaps him! WTF???!!! Is this a bad day or what? He notices she dropped a CD. More women woes for Yuu because his sisters are blaming him for being late and could be starving them to death! They also know what happened to him because apparently Yuu loves putting everything on Twitter and they love to follow him. He won’t hear the end of the teasing today. Yuu tells us he was living in the countryside with his younger sister, Chitose. His dad was posted overseas and mom followed him. Since Maya and Hibiki already are living in Tokyo, might as well be a good idea for the siblings to live together. Next day as Yuu finishes up his paperwork to transfer to his new school, he hangs around on the rooftop taking pictures of the scenery when he spots Fuuka. Oh no. The wind just blew up her skirt. She spots him. Oh sh*t. Thinking he took her pictures again, she wants to hand his handphone. He won’t and as they struggle, his handphone fell down. That’s the second handphone… He goes to look for it and surprisingly Fuuka also helps since she wants to make sure he didn’t take those photos. It would have been easier had she just call his number but the thing is she doesn’t have a handphone. Plus, she prefers to be hearing music instead to be on Twitter. Oh, she loves hearing CDs instead of downloading. This reminds Yuu to hand back her CD. Just like the overused cliché, Yuu ends up in the same class with Fuuka and they don’t like each other. For now.

Later, Yuu sees Kazuya Nachi trying to bring Fuuka somewhere against her will. He sums up his courage (although he still sounds pathetic) to tell him off. Nachi reveals he was just recruiting her for the track club since her father is a famous runner. However Fuuka doesn’t like running and will not join the club. Yuu runs away in embarrassment. Fuuka didn’t come to laugh at him but to return his handphone as repayment for returning his CD. When Yuu is contemplating of going to a love movie, Fuuka’s face brightens up. Koyuki is her favourite singer and her song is featured in the movie. He has 2 tickets, so… They wait to meet up and didn’t see each other because one is on Twitter and the other listening to music. So when they decide to look for the other, they actually miss each other! When Fuuka thinks she saw Yuu dashed by, she gets this idea to stand on higher ground and yell his name and her whereabouts! Embarrassed Yuu heard her while she thinks her voice was great. Queuing up at the movie, there are lots of couples so in order not to stand out, they awkwardly hold hands. At the end of the movie, Fuuka wants to give a matching handphone charm as part of the movie bonus. He should get the hint what this means. Especially when she tells him it was a fun date. Hint, hint. WTF.

Episode 2
Fuuka gets a call from her parents. Though they learn she rejected another invitation to join the track club (despite she is quite athletic herself), they are happy for her as long as she does what she wants to do. In school, Yuu sees Fuuka crying. He jumps to conclusion there must be some sort of love triangle with her and the class’ handsome guy, Makoto Mikasa since he is popular with other girls. Oddly, the trio are called by the teacher to clean the swimming pool since they don’t belong in any clubs. Yuu sees her getting along with Makoto fine. Then he asks her and she assures they are just friends. Because of this big ‘revelation’: Makoto is gay! What a waste of such handsome face! So why was Fuuka crying then? She was hearing a song of Koyuki and it had very powerful but sad lyrics. Apparently Yuu and Koyuki know each other and communicate regularly via Twitter. He tells how his friend cried hearing her song and this makes her happy. Yuu is surprised when Fuuka takes him out this weekend to Koyuki’s concert. She was supposed to go with her aunt but she cancelled. What to do with the extra ticket? Koyuki is motivated when she sees Yuu in the front row and starts singing. Fuuka enjoyed the concert a lot. She demonstrates her singing voice and Yuu finds it impressive. Later Yuu calls Koyuki how amazing her concert was. It brought her to tears. Fuuka brings Yuu to a shrine where her parents once made a wish. So she is here to have Yuu pray for her wish to come true and double that chance? Fuuka has finally decided what she wants to do. She wants to go into music. I suppose Yuu didn’t see this coming because Fuuka tells the teacher she decides to start a new light music club and they will be the band members. Who? Fuuka, Makoto and Yuu.

Episode 3
Fuuka thinks they need to save up money to buy instruments so their teacher, Tomomi suggests working part time at a beach house. Joining a band would be the least of Yuu’s worries. He is shy and doesn’t know how to play an instrument. So how can he be a waiter at Nobuaki Yahagi’s beach house? He messes up orders and his voice isn’t too loud and thus can’t be heard. He gets an earful from Yahagi during the break. This breaks his spirits and he thinks of quitting but with Fuuka giving words of encouragement, Yuu comes back kicking ass. Okay, maybe not so drastic change but at least he has confidence now and not screwing up. For the afternoon, they take time off at the beach. Yuu and Fuuka swim out to sea as he hears why she wanted to form a band. Well, it was Yuu who encouraged her but he thought she would have gone solo. When they realize they have swam too far out, Fuuka panics and her leg cramped up. Yuu dives to save her but passes out. I’m not sure who saved who because the next time Yuu wakes up, he is being kissed by Fuuka! CPR. She cries in his arms as she was so worried he would drown while saving her. Now Yuu becomes conscious of her each time she sees her lips. He can’t get that scene out of his mind. Making it worse is Fuuka who doesn’t seemed bothered at all. But later when they’re alone, she confides in him in hopes he won’t tell others about that ‘kiss’ because she too is embarrassed and is her first time. So Yuu is happy that he isn’t the only one? Later Yuu meets up with Koyuki at the pier since she is here for some shoot. They see each other for the first time in ages and thank the technology of handphone that kept them together. Oddly, they play sparklers in the heavy rain. But it is not as odd hearing Yuu telling Koyuki she has grown prettier. Do shy guys say honest things like that? It’s like fate wants to screw with them so the strong wind blows them close together. Koyuki right into his arms. Then Fuuka sees this scandalous scene. Oh…

Episode 4
Fuuka runs away. Yuu wanted to go after her but with Koyuki clinging on to him and those eyes that definitely signal to guys to never leave a girl alone. It is obvious that Fuuka and Yuu can’t see eye to eye. Yuu tries to explain that he is friends with Koyuki. To avoid strangers stalking her, that is why they communicate via alias in another Twitter account. He doesn’t think Fuuka knows much about Twitter since she doesn’t have a handphone but she feels insulted that he thinks of her as a stranger who would tell on them. Their fight just got worse. Apparently Nachi has nothing better to do and went all the way here with Tomomi and Hisashi to bug Fuuka to join the track club. WTF. She insists she won’t and wants to become an awesome old band like her favourite Hedgehogs. This makes Tomomi blush. And then the kids realize too late that Tomomi was part of Hedgehogs. She was the keyboardist, Hisashi the guitarist and Yahagi the drummer. Yeah, ironically they never even noticed despite being their greatest fans. Grown too old? Also revealed that the vocalist Tama went missing and Nico the bassist went in search for her, the reason why the band was in a hiatus for a long time. Nachi still won’t hear any of this and thus an ‘audition’ is held to see if she has talent. She needs to sing one of their songs as they play as backup. Yuu is given a crash course on how to play the bass. Before it begins, Makoto talks to Fuuka and Yuu and have them reconcile. Yeah, it’ll be awkward if this affects their performance. So when the gig gets going, Hedgehogs still got their groove and Fuuka’s amazing vocals blow everyone away. She’s like an angel?! In the end, she got their approval although Nachi won’t still accept her. Makoto notes that he was tapping along with the rhythm. He makes excuse his brother used to play the drums and was just going along with that. This makes Fuuka recruit Nachi as the drummer. She decides on Makoto to be the keyboardist, Yuu the bassist (did you realize he was just standing there all the time starring at Fuuka’s awesomeness?) while she herself will take on the guitar. The band is now complete. How did it turn out like that… It ends with a forced cliché because Yuu and Fuuka are sitting together. The mood is getting good when he accidentally slips and lands his hand on her boobs. Slap! When Yuu goes home, he is surprised to see Koyuki there.

Episode 5
Apparently they just discover Koyuki lives nearby. So they reminisce about the past and it dawned to Yuu that he was trying to hit on her! Koyuki feels glad this wasn’t a one-sided crush after all. So I guess Nachi has had it with the track club and decides to go with the band, huh? With 3 cute guys in the band, fujoshis all over can’t stop fantasizing about them. Especially Makoto ‘targeting’ Yuu. Hisashi is kind enough to teach them the basics, lend them some instruments till they are good enough to get their own and even rent out a studio for them to practice. Even personally teaching Yuu some bass basics. But it seems Hisashi has a little problem of his own. Looks like his younger sister, Sara Iwami is at it again. She is a good guitarist but lacks communication. Thus band members can’t stand her and quit. It’s already the third band this time. Fuuka instantly wants her to join. Yuu tries to object but trips on a cable and dives head first into her boobs! She uses the guitar to slap him! Respect the guitar! Sara agrees to join. Don’t tell me she resonated with Fuuka in beating up Yuu?! WTF. Apparently Sara is also from their school so it’s convenience to hang out together. For some reason, the rest decides to leave Yuu and Sara alone together. This causes some serious awkwardness as Yuu might be going paranoid trying to figure out what she is thinking. When he realizes that Sara is one of his ardent Twitter followers and vice versa, Sara suddenly becomes cheerful and talkative, fawning all over him! OMG! Change in character! Now she can’t stop talking! Is this scarier?! I guess it’s better for her to be nice to him than otherwise. Yuu practises hard and this shocks Chitose who never knew he would be in a band. What does he take her brother for? When the studio is fully rented, Nachi decides to bring the gang to his garage where his brother used to practice with his band. Yeah, he didn’t say a thing because he didn’t want them to think he was really into this band thingy. So they hit it off and they find they have improved a lot despite several mistakes. Everybody was cooler, they had fun and Fuuka is really looking forward to master a couple more songs so they can hold their first performance at the school’s cultural festival.

Episode 6
You can tell Koyuki’s mind is bothered when her seeing is obviously off key. It’s just hard to hear. Flashback reveals Koyuki and Yuu know each other since young and she loves hanging out with him more than going home. You’ll understand when you realize her parents are always fighting. What’s a kid got to do but cover her ears in bed every night. Then it gets worse one day. Her parents got a divorce. What stresses her out most was not her parents living apart but rather she will no longer be able to be with Yuu. So the last time she saw Yuu, she couldn’t stop crying and say a proper goodbye. She left town with her mom. So now she is ‘stalking’ outside Yuu’s house? He invites him in and she gives him a ticket to her next concert as an apology. She thought he hated her for it but it seems he too thought she hated him. Now she blows her top for making her stressed out? So who is hating who now? Anyway he tells her his band will be performing soon and hopes she can come to see. Then he did this mistake of waxing lyrical of how damn good Fuuka is. Not what another woman wants to hear, right? They renew their old promise to perform together on the same stage someday. The day gets worse for Koyuki as she leaves. A truck splashes puddle over her. But it is a blessing in disguise since Fuuka is nearby and takes her to clean up in a public bath house that she lives upstairs. Bath scene bonding with Fuuka proclaiming her as her number one fan. She is also looking for advice and inspiration to write original songs. This has Koyuki mentioning she writes her songs based on her feelings for a certain boy she likes in mind for a long time. A one-sided love. You know who you are. Fuuka isn’t sure about relationships and isn’t in one. She gives Koyuki her assurance that she will root for her love to be realized. Oh. I can see where this is going to end up. Later, somebody has snapped a picture of Koyuki and Yuu making a pinky promise. Yeah… Let’s put it online…

Episode 7
Yuu is rudely awakened next morning when his sisters show the scandal that is going about on Twitter. That picture has now over 100,000 retweets! Yuu is now ‘famous’ in class as everyone tries to ‘interrogate’ him about his relationship with Koyuki. Fuuka is starting to put the picture together of what Koyuki said. It’s obvious she is giving Yuu the cold shoulder. But it’s not the scandal that is making her mad. It’s because Yuu never told her! WTF?! Good thing she decides to put this behind since their band’s first performance is tomorrow. Koyuki is to do a live show. Everyone has this understanding not to bring up that topic. Too bad Koyuki isn’t going by that script and admits that boy in the picture is her childhood friend and dismisses they are dating or anything. Just when you thought everybody has accepted that and just about to get along with their lives, Koyuki then mentions he is the boy whom she has a one-sided crush on and the basis for all her songs. This obviously makes Yuu worried. Can he perform well tomorrow? His band mates give him some encouragement. I guess nobody cares if Nachi is made the band leader and the problem that comes with it, huh? Yuu gets his much needed support from his sisters who will come to support him even if everyone else is against him. Really? I hope they are. Because during the festival, rumours are abound that Koyuki will attend the concert. Guess what? She’s already here! Is her disguise that good that nobody recognized her? Koyuki is shocked that the hall is filled to the brim. Even more shocking are the nasty comments she hears from other boys who intend to target Yuu and teach him a lesson. Yeah, looks like they’re calling out to him now. A riot can break out any time… You sisters gonna take them all on? Think not. Too late for Koyuki to regret about her confession, eh? Oh, what can you do now? The band is at the backstage. Yuu isn’t getting cold feet. He apologizes for what has happened but is also thankful for what he has now. Cut the chatter and let’s shut those guys up with their performance.

Episode 8
When the band finally comes out, the insults start flowing. One even threw a bottle at Yuu, not only cutting his forehead but destroyed his bass! When Hibiki tries to stop them from further self-destruct, they target her because she is Yuu’s family. Despicable! Koyuki is forced to reveal herself in hopes of calming everyone down but the surround her like she is gold. Yeah, those pigs. The lights off and on again. After Yuu is patched up and given a replacement bass, they start singing. Instantly everyone is blown away by Fuuka’s voice. It’s like they’re in a trance. They realize how good all the band members too. After the song, Fuuka invites Koyuki up to stage to sing a ballad of Hedgehogs. Their unison further blows everyone away. At the end of it, Koyuki apologizes for the things she has said but to leave Yuu and his family alone as they have nothing to do with this. Everybody assures they will always support her. Wow. It’s like their devilish side just disappeared. WTF. In the aftermath as the band celebrate their great first performance, they realize they need to come up with the band’s name. They decide to name it after Fuuka. Fallen Moon. Fuuka didn’t like it because it sounds egoistical like as though she forced everyone to join this band. Didn’t she? Fallen Moon it is. Now they worry for Koyuki because after the concert, her manager quickly took her away. She is then advised not to pull off this stunt again and to not contact Yuu for a while so as not to put herself in danger. Therefore she doesn’t pick up when Yuu calls. It makes her miss calls list look like there’s a stalker. More bad news because slowly one by one her events are getting cancelled. During the rehearsal for the Christmas concert, they thought she had too much on her mind and can’t sing. But then, she really can’t sing! Her voice won’t come out! The doctor diagnosed stress and thus her manager doesn’t want her to push it. This means all her events are now cancelled. It comes to a shock when Yuu finds out on the news that Koyuki is on hiatus. He calls her and she picks up this time. She assures everything is fine. That’s all. Of course it’s not. He needs to go to her side now. But how is Yuu going to find her? I don’t know but he did! She tells him about her voice problem and then apologizes for liking him. What’s a guy got to do when a girl starts crying but to hug her. I hope nobody sees this and uploads this online. We’ve had enough sh*t for one episode.

Episode 9
Yuu almost got the shock of his life thinking he is going to get mugged. Turns out to be Koyuki behind a ski mask. Apparently they’re going out on a date?! Is this official? Is this approved? Anyway, Koyuki brings him to Kawagoe where she often has her shoots. The date isn’t anything that special. She has her apologies and thanks for all that has happened. That’s all. Her hope is that she could keep singing forever. Once done, Yuu had to rush back for band practice. They understand and forgive him because a date is more important, right? Let’s hope it won’t be frequent enough that it will cause the band to break up. Later they discuss their next course of action and Fuuka wants to write an original song herself. The rest are sceptical since she doesn’t play any instruments. I guess humming is a start. She actually manages to hum out one and the rest of course turn it into actual music. One night, Fuuka gets a call from Hisashi to meet a music producer, Akira Mogami. Based on the concert at the festival he saw, he wants Fuuka to go pro. Fuuka thought it is the band but no, he only wants her alone. I’m sure she isn’t swayed by him waxing lyrical her angelic voice. That is why she did not hesitate to decline because she wants to be with her band mates. She can call him anytime if she changes her mind but she is very certain that won’t happen. When she returns home, she sees Yuu with Koyuki outside his house. They look very close. This makes her heart feel pain and confused. And she doesn’t like it. So this is going to be the biggest drama of the series?

Episode 10
Fuuka returns to her band. Her face clearly tells something is wrong. Call it luck or not, since Yuu arrives, she is spared the explanation since it is time to rock. When Yuu tries to find out, she screams at him to leave her alone! Later back home he calls her again but nothing much was said. Subsequently Koyuki calls him so he takes the chance to ask how she writes lyrics (thinking this might be stressing out Fuuka). As Koyuki has written her songs based on the person she loves and Fuuka said she never loved anybody, she believes her advice wasn’t a good one. After lots of thinking, Fuuka realizes she is in love with Yuu. Yeah, we figured out that a long time ago. She finally finishes her lyrics and needless to say it is amazing. So we see them depart from their place to their next gig. Some get encouragement like Hisashi for Sara and Yuu’s sisters for him (albeit some teasing). Some are threatened like Makoto whose father warns him to drop his useless hobby or else he will be disowned. No f*cks were given because he decides music is the most important thing in his life. More important than his cute little sister. Hisashi is shocked when Yahagi brings Tama and Nico in. They’re back. After 6 years. And they have something important to announce. A typical cliché bad omen happens to Fuuka. She crosses the road, her strap breaks, realizing it is gone, she goes back to grab it, Japanese truck drivers are the worst because they don’t know how to slam the brakes and… SLAM! Luckily he missed. Phew. Fuuka is in one piece but the strap wasn’t so lucky. However this gives Fuuka renewed motivation as she meets up with the rest and start their performance. Everyone is there including the whole Hedgehogs band. Predictably they note their awesome performance. Fuuka finally sings her original songs and is it no surprise her lyrics sound like unrequited love? The gig was a success but at the backstage Fuuka decides to drop a shocking bombshell. She reveals she has been scouted. She is thinking of taking up that offer and going solo. Wait a minute. WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT???!!! WTF?????!!!!!! Sudden change in mind?! And she assured us she won’t leave her band. WTF?! Let me guess. Her love for Yuu has something to do with this decision, right? Ah well, who cares about The Fallen Moon now. Because look at this. Sara’s streak of not being able to stay in a band continues. Makoto has been disowned so where is he to go? Nachi is the maddest because he gave up his track dreams. Yuu… Nah, he’s got Koyuki to fall back on. So yeah. The Fallen Moon has fallen. Everyone’s screwed.

Episode 11
So all Yuu can say was if it is her decision, there’s nothing they can do about it. There. So everybody is gloomy trying to go on with their lives. Fallen Moon members minus Fuuka meet for one last time as Nachi suggests breaking up. He is the leader after all. Of course he explains he is going back to track as he was using music as some sort of escapism as he has always underachieved. I guess this band is done. Meanwhile Fuuka takes up Akira’s contract and he too can tell why the sudden change of heart. Then it’s bull’s eye because he suspects it has something to do with first love. That shut you up, Fuuka? All you can say is you made the right choice? Well I hope you did. We see the rest carrying on with their lives. Like Sara she has been put into another band and they really like her and want her to join. Nachi is training rigorously in his track. Makoto is packing up and deciding to go back to daddy’s side and give up his dream because daddy promised him a bright future. So yeah, I guess he has to be hypocritical to his sister about fighting dad for his dream. Now he’s just giving up. Yuu talks to Koyuki what happened. To her, she is fine with that (obviously). Reminding him about their promise, she doesn’t care what else happens as long as she can be with him. And suddenly she pushes him down onto his bed and unbuttons her shirt!!! WTF???!!! HOW DID THIS ESCALATE SO QUICKLY???!!! UNFORTUNATELY! He can’t! What?! Are you gay?! Koyuki is a smart girl. She understood. She knew about his feelings, Fuuka’s feelings. She just wished he’d be honest with himself. In tears, she says her goodbye. WTF???!!! HOW COULD YOU?! DAMN YOU, YUU!!! I get it. Koyuki is too good for the likes of you. F*ck Y(o)uu (pun intended)! Subsequently Yuu works hard to write his new song. So much so his sisters can’t even bother him. Though, they love the new determined look in his eyes. Then he goes around to ‘bug’ his other members to hear his music. And if they feel something, meet up at their usual restaurant at a certain time. He even tries to ring Fuuka’s home but she pretends she isn’t home. The guilt… So you think Yuu is going to be stood up by everyone? No way. That’s because everyone heard his new passionate song and turn up! Oh. So they decide to do another inconvenience by coming back to the band. Since Fuuka is the only one who didn’t show up, they decide to practice and prepare when she does. Yuu goes as far as to visit Fuuka’s parent’s home but mom answering the door says she would be back late when she is actually sitting depressed in her room. Is it me or does Suzuka look so freaking young like Fuuka’s sister?!

Episode 12
The Fallen Moon continues to practice without Fuuka. Sara mentions the owner of the place where they did their first live gig wants them to play again. Can they do it without Fuuka? Yuu promises to bring her back no matter what. Fuuka accidentally stumbles upon Koyuki. The girls talk with Koyuki telling her she broke up with Yuu. She also heard her song and finds the feelings in it resonating with her although Fuuka denies. Koyuki hopes she would just be honest with her feelings. Otherwise it would just put her in a spot. Oh, you don’t know… Yuu continues to visit Fuuka’s house every day but is told she isn’t around. Geez, if mom didn’t know what Fuuka wanted, she would have called the police for stalking. And then mom went ahead and watched the video of their first live gig. She talks to Fuuka and hopes she would smile like that again. So the band is waiting at the place, worried Fuuka may not actually turn up. Leave it to super Yuu to promise to bring her. But she’s not at home. So how to find her? Ah, that familiar wind that blew up her skirt gave him an idea. WTF?! She’s at the school rooftop and she is surprised to see him. He tells her to come back because the band can’t do without her. She can’t come back thinking everyone is mad at her. Yuu is finding it hard to say the right words so he screws all that and says, “I love you!”. A domino effect causing Fuuka to also screw all that and reply that she loves him too. No time to hug, run down to the place now! Just right before it starts, eh? Immediately Fuuka apologizes for her selfishness but you know how everybody is going to forgive her. So they rock the place with their 2 original songs. Yeah, even Hedgehogs gave their approval. The subsequent montage shows Yuu and Fuuka dating. Koyuki now doing some mascot gig. The Fallen Moon continues to practice together. Fuuka apologizes to Akira as he turns his offer down. But wait. He has good news. He has a proposal to have The Fallen Moon debut! Hedgehogs reunite and start playing again. Yuu makes a wish at the shrine to always be with Fuuka forever. At first she is embarrassed but her feelings are also the same.

What The Fuuka?!
Good riddance. Thank goodness it lasted for only a dozen episodes because the more the series progresses, the more WTF starts filling up my mind. I just couldn’t take it anymore. The characters and the story. The music is rather okay and although not my cup of tea but generally the characters and the plot are the ones that making me go WTF. As each passing episode, the more WTF I am starting to sigh. So good riddance. Thank goodness it is over.

There are quite a few moments in the series that makes you want to go “What the f*ck?!”. The first one as early as Fuuka quickly becoming friends with Yuu. This guy unfortunately started off as somebody who is definitely bad in her books. Wrong place, wrong time. We know that they will eventually make up but we didn’t think it was this fast! And this is already by the end of the first episode! It was bad enough Fuuka greatly assumed Yuu was a pervert taking upskirt pictures of her in public. How do you fix that all up? Return her CD, talk about the same music passion and go out for a movie together. Voila! Perversion totally forgotten! Oh yeah. They’re really rushing it here, aren’t they?

The next major WTF moment is when Fuuka forms her own band. I don’t know if in real life bands are formed this freaking fast because the most mind boggling one is when Nachi who has been constantly bugging Fuuka to join the track club suddenly finds himself as the one abandoning his dream to join Fuuka’s ‘unstable’ band. Doesn’t that scream WTF to you? If that wasn’t enough, how about Yuu who seems to be a prodigy and genius when it comes to handling the bass. This guy has no music experience before, let alone play a music instrument. The moment he picks it up and a few lessons from a few experts and now he is a talented bass player! Okay, so I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt that he has some hidden talent that was just awakened. But seriously, this guy is now playing like a pro and can even subsequently write songs. Wow. They make it sound so easy.

Another WTF moment and personal gripe of mine is when Fallen Moon played their first gig during the school’s festival. What I never liked about this idol business is how some fans are just so obsessed with a particular idol that the poor idol has to be strictly fit into their angelic image. Or else they start becoming a mob and justify it using violence. It just made me mad seeing these so called hardcore fans of Koyuki trying to hurt Yuu just because he is someone close to Koyuki. But the WTF moment isn’t really this part. It is the part where Fuuka blows away everyone with her incredible voice. It just feels so unrealistic. Only in TV shows where you can blow away and change one’s mind for the better with your awesome voice. And you know what? These mobsters were Koyuki fans! Now after hearing Fuuka’s voice, they somewhat become rationale and calm the f*ck down. WTF is this. Not so 100% Koyuki fan now, are they? Don’t give me this crap that they want to give Fuuka a chance too because I can imagine if wind gets out this Yuu dude is in a love triangle between these 2 babes, all hell will break loose, I tell you! Oh, I can already imagine it…

The final and biggest WTF moment as well as the biggest slap in the face comes when Fuuka decides to go solo. How big a WTF and knee jerk reaction could this get? At first I predicted she would go solo. But the way she told Akira with that absolute smile and confidence she believed in her band and would never ever, and I mean really never ever leave them for anything, made me believe in her. She was truly genuine staying with her band at least for a while. And then comes this freaking shocker. She wants to go solo! WTFFFFFFFFF????????!!!!!!!!!!! Oh, I could hear those cliché (nuclear) bomb explosions going off in the background right now. You lied to us, Fuuka! You lied to your bandmates! All because of this little thing called love. So to cover up this WTF moment that some fans could see coming from miles away, they make Akira voice out this truth. It is so f*cking obvious. There is your cheesy romance drama factor.

Speaking of which, yeah the romance drama is pretty cheesy and predictable. It feels like to force some melodrama just for the sake of it. Because otherwise, what the heck are you watching this series for? I know I’ve seen quite a few of such scenes in anime where it is obvious the protagonists in such first time meeting will eventually fall in love amidst the WTF situations. The only thing ‘good’ coming out from all this romance is that in the end, our main guy has the balls to choose and end up with a girl instead of leaving it status quo and hence an unresolved harem. And yes, it didn’t really surprise me that this famous idol is childhood friends with Yuu and has a crush on him. It was so painfully obvious. And it had to drag on because the vocalist of a certain band wasn’t being honest with her feelings until it is too late and caused some problems.

Which leads me to another WTF moment albeit a bit lesser. Because when Fuuka (temporarily) left the band, it seems inevitable they would break up. We see how the lives of other bandmates ‘ruined’ just because of one vocalist leaving. I have already stated how Nachi went back to track, Sara joined another group and Makoto being the worst affected is now somewhat an embarrassment because he goes back to his safe space provided by daddy. Oh yeah. It’s like Fuuka who is the one running the show. Can’t find another replacement, you say? Sometimes I believe too that there is that only person that makes a band whole so I’ll give them that. Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me. That is how I feel when Yuu gathers the band back again to practice. This is the WTF moment I’m talking about because again they have to abandon what they are already starting into and going back into the band again! I can only imagine Makoto’s father being displeased again. What inconsistency. At first he was going against his wishes. Then he comes back. Now he breaks off again. Make up your mind! Same with Nachi who was already making some decent progress in his track club and Sara the same in her new band. Oh yeah. Why not leave all that just for some nostalgia. I mean, it’s not too late to turn back, right?

This might be a trivial WTF but Fuuka being able to perform Yuu’s song at first go even more so her first performance after she reunited with her band is really mind blowing. Sure she might have heard the song before but without practice how could she sound this perfect? Yeah, Fuuka’s a genius, right?

The characters feel weak and even more so when the melodrama focuses on the romance insecurities between Yuu, Fuuka and Koyuki. I mean, really? For Fuuka, the guy she first met whom she suspected of taking pictures of her pantsu, she now slowly falls in love with him? In today’s world, he’d be slapped with lawsuits and jail time. If the trio are already bad enough, the other bandmates fare much worse. Nachi is like the one who has the most angst because somebody needs to be. Sara is the quiet girl whom could have remained in the background for the rest of the series and we won’t even care. Makoto is wasted because of his good looks at least he could have send yaoi shiver down our spine. His past and family situation are put together so quickly like glue that you would think something just thought of it a few minutes before they produced the series and slapped it all together. And when a family that consists of a boy and many sisters, why must the sisters be the one teasing their brother about this and that? Is it so much fun? Maybe. Girl power. Yeah, am I seeing a pattern of such family households? Like that guy in Working!!, so to speak. Hedgehogs are primarily redundant. Even if they don’t reunite it doesn’t really matter. It is just to show how a bunch of kids sang a few songs and gave them the burning passion to come back. WTF.

There is a bit of fanservice in this anime. Most likely to hide the bad story and character development so as to distract pervy fan boys from shelling out total criticism. What do you expect when you start off in your first scene and pantsu showing one? A guy like Yuu have the rest of his siblings as sisters, why must one of them be the one who likes to walk naked around the house? And they really pushed it when Koyuki became desperate for Yuu’s attention when she starts stripping herself only to be rejected. I think we’re all shaking our head and our mouths agape as wide as the Milky Way.

Voice acting isn’t anything much to shout about. Me recognizing the obvious ones like Saori Hayami as Koyuki, Daisuke Ono as Yahagi and Mikako Komatsu as Sara. Oh wait. Is that Youko Hikasa as Tomomi? Lynn (Nozomi in Keijo) is pretty okay as the titular character Fuuka as she has a fitting voice that makes her suitable to sing rock band type of music. Though, I find when she sings, she sounds a bit like a different person. The rest of the other cast are Yuusuke Kobayashi as Yuu (Subaru in Re: Zero Kara Hajimaru Isekai Seikatsu), Souma Saitou as Makoto (Kain in Kyoukai No Rinne), Kazuyuki Okitsu as Nachi (Nagare in K), Daisuke Hirakawa as Hisashi (Makoto in School Days), Kaede Hondo as Chitose (Kazane in Keijo), Mikako Takahashi as Mayu (Ayumu in Hayate No Gotoku) and Saori Oonishi as Hibiki (Miyuki in Shomin Sample).

If you like such rock band music, you’ll find the opening theme, Climber’s High (which is also the series’ highlight song) by Manami Numakura as well as the ending theme, Watashi No Sekai by Megumi Nakajima to be to your liking. It didn’t really resonate with me so I’m not particularly crazy to go hear it again. I prefer very much the special ending song for episode 6 by Koyuki, Yukihanabi. It is a slow and lovely ballad featuring only Saori Hayami’s voice and piano for accompaniment. There are a few other insert songs too but not really to my liking since it is rock based. But if you are hoping that this series would have dozens of amazing rock soundtrack, don’t get your hopes high up. Because they keep featuring Climber’s High so the other songs aren’t quite prominent. Sure, there is the original soundtrack for the series out in stores containing over 30 tracks but most of them are just BGMs which again didn’t really resonate with me.

Art and animation style is pretty standard. Standard and conventional Japanese anime style character designs, bishoujo and bishonen look for our characters to perhaps distract you from the generic plot line and WTF moments. Hey, as long as you look good, it can’t be all that bad, right? Or would it? This sequel is animated by Diomedea who did Shiryaku! Ika Musume, Mayoiga, Akuma No Riddle, Handa-kun, Nogizaka Haruka No Himitsu and Kuusen Madoushi Kouhosei No Kyokan compared to Studio Comet who did Suzuka in the last decade. The only thing that bugs me is Fuuka’s mom who still looks so f*cking young like as though she has not aged ever since he Suzuka anime ended. Really. Not even a hint that she has grown the slightest bit old. WTF. It’s like the time skip forgot to age her.

Overall, this series need not have associated itself with the original Suzuka series despite it has nothing to do with it except being the child of that series. Unfortunately it was adapted from the manga from the same author who created Suzuka so it isn’t a sh*tty original anime adaptation. Poor cheesy romance drama, weak characters as well as too many WTF moments (noticed how many WTFs I have been using in this blog and could have been more if I did not restrain myself) made this anime forgettable but at the same time remembered for all the wrong reasons. It also gives the wrong impression that for an enthusiast in music despite being a rookie, writing songs is easy (and a hit in this case) but it is falling in love which is hard and pain in the ass. Makes me want to run away from this insanity. Now I know why Tama and Nico went missing for a few years. They should have never returned…