Fuuka: Season 1/ Episode 8 “Top” – Overview/ Review (with Spoilers)

Overview/ Review (with Spoilers)

With the show firmly shifting Fuuka’s storyline toward making this a show about music and seeming ending Yuu’s harem and just making it about him and Koyuki, I almost feel like I need to reevaluate the show. It’s no longer what it once was and I don’t know if that is a good thing or bad thing. For while we now don’t have panty shots, accidently slips which reveal breasts, or fogged out nudity, is the journey of Fuuka’s band worth sticking around? Can the romance which was never that cute or awe-inspiring gain traction? It’s really hard to say.

Topic 1: Rise of The Fallen Moon (Koyuki, Fuuka, and Yuu)

As the crowds called for Yuu’s head or a public apology, as a bottle gets thrown destroying his bass guitar and cutting his forehead open, you expect the worse. Especially as Koyuki reveals herself to try to calm the crowd but only makes things worse [1]. However, as this all happens, the band stays on stage and Fuuka’s voice silences the dissenters. Then, to take things to the next level, Fuuka asks Koyuki to the stage they duet. Making for the band’s first performance being quite successful to the point they decide they need a name. Of which they decide on “The Fallen Moon.”

Commentary

Fuuka is a lucky girl. So lucky that it sort of makes it harder to really consider her journey noteworthy. I mean, look at all that has happened over the course of less than 8 episodes. She discovers that singing could be her thing, and she is good at it, she recruits a bunch of friends who she is able to coerce into making music, and she ends up meetings most of the band members of HEDGEHOGS and they take her under their wing. On top of that, her newest friend is the best friend of her idol who she not only gets to have a private chat with but gets to sing on stage with.

Now, I’m all for people taking initiative and getting to see results, but I need some kind of struggle too. Too much seems to be going right in Fuuka’s life and while I can appreciate the show dropping the ecchi, and even the Yuu love triangle, I feel they need to add some sort of struggle to Fuuka’s plot. Of which, her feeling guilty about being part of what causes Koyuki’s issues won’t cut it.

Topic 2: The Fall of Koyuki (Koyuki & Yuu)

As Fuuka and The Fallen Moon’s profile rise, thanks to the performance, Koyuki’s begins to fall. Her agency begins to worry they are losing control and it seems her going off script on TV has talk shows scared so they are canceling on her. Then, to make matters worse, not only is she advised not to talk to Yuu anymore but she is having troubles singing. So, with that revelation, it seems her Christmas concert has been canceled.

Leading to her feeling vulnerable and deciding, after all this news has circulated, to finally answer Yuu’s call and reveal that why she is fine that she lost her voice. He tries to understand her situation more but she just says goodbye and hangs up. Thus sending him into a frenzy and finding where she is and while she tries to apologize for loving him, he embraces her.

Commentary

With the next episode being “Date,” it seems we are on the Koyuki and Yuu express. Which, even with her confession and her being put in a position to feel bad for, I must admit I’m not excited about. As I have probably noted, the show has built up the idea of Fuuka and Yuu so much, and even made it seem Sara could be a love interest, that Koyuki has always been an afterthought. Yes, she has a “first claim” and she did build her career off of love songs dedicated and sourced from her feelings from Yuu, but she doesn’t have that OTP vibe with him. The way Fuuka treats Yuu now is how I feel Koyuki should be. Yet, it seems we are going to be force fed this relationship.

Things to Note | Question(s) Left Unanswered

1. Koyuki is a nationally famous idol, right? One which sees there is a huge mob of people who have planned to cause a scene. So, explain to me why she thinks revealing herself would make things better? Especially when the majority of the people were men who were causing trouble? Now, maybe this is the pessimist in me, but I’d think her being in the mob pit, and revealing herself, was perhaps the most dangerous thing she could have done when it came to her safety and the safety of those around her. Then when the lights went off, I found it interesting that Koyuki suddenly became an afterthought. Even if Fuuka and the band were performing.