Fuuka: Season 1/ Episode 7 “Blown Up” – Overview/ Review (with Spoilers)
Overview/ Review (with Spoilers) As if Yuu wasn’t nervous enough about his first public performance, Koyuki reveals he is the guy who inspired all of her biggest songs. Topic 1: How Koyuki Feels (Koyuki and Yuu) With someone leaking the picture of Koyuki and Yuu doing a pinky promise, so begins the questioning if…
Spoiler Alert: This summary and review contains spoilers.
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Overview/ Review (with Spoilers)
As if Yuu wasn’t nervous enough about his first public performance, Koyuki reveals he is the guy who inspired all of her biggest songs.
Topic 1: How Koyuki Feels (Koyuki and Yuu)
With someone leaking the picture of Koyuki and Yuu doing a pinky promise, so begins the questioning if he is or isn’t her boyfriend. He denies it publicly on Twitter but with her noting on a, assumingly, popular talk show Yuu is the inspiration behind all of her music, so begins Yuu being cyber bullied.
Commentary
As I watched this whole thing play out, all I wondered was why Koyuki decided to expose Yuu like that and how did Yuu feel about the confession. Two things not really addressed and it made the experience of watching this frustrating. For, as we all know, Koyuki’s career is based on her sounding miserable but hopeful. On top of that, she is an idol. Something that, I’ll admit, I don’t know a huge amount about, but I am very much aware that in Asian media, it isn’t like American media where you can do the type of stuff we see and hear Lady GaGa, Jennifer Lawrence, or those who get praised for being open and quirky. Your image is tightly controlled because the company you signed with built you and made you into a star. So between maintaining this innocence, singing a certain type of music, and keeping up this image, once you sign on the dotted line it seems you have given your soul away to a machine.
Leading to, again, you wondering, even after she got chastised, why did she put her feelings out there? Was this her way of trying to push Yuu to acknowledge her feelings, maybe reciprocate them? Perhaps could it be she wanted to share this happiness with the world that she found the person she thought she once lost? I mean, I haven’t really cared much for Koyuki since we met her but she has really shaken up the show.
But, before I forget, how does Yuu feel I hope is addressed soon. This girl confessed her feelings for you on national TV and considering what he has with Sara and Fuuka, how does Koyuki stepping up and saying something play into all that?
Topic 2: How Fuuka Feels (Fuuka and Yuu)
It isn’t really clear whether or not Fuuka has feelings for Yuu anymore, but she does fully acknowledge Koyuki likes Yuu. She re-listens to Koyuki’s music and starts to think about their meaning now that she understands who those feelings were for and it makes her relationship with Yuu awkward. Yet, with them in a band, it seems that is all they really talk about. Especially with the performance coming up.
Commentary
In episode 1, with Fuuka talking about how she doesn’t know if she and Yuu are a couple yet, after their first time hanging out, I was expecting this show to be about their love story. Since then Koyuki has been introduced, Sara, and a lot of unnecessary fan service which sort of muddled that up. But in the last few episodes, it seemed there were less and less cute moments between Fuuka and Yuu. Heck, the last one I can remember offhand was from the beach episodes in 3 & 4. So with us now in episode 7, and Fuuka fully behind Koyuki finding and obtaining her happiness, you have to wonder what are her feelings? In episode 6 she notes, with a straight face, no blushing, she doesn’t have feelings for anyone. Leading me to wonder if, suddenly, because it just didn’t seem to work while the show was written, the direction was changed for this show so that Koyuki would be the one destined for Yuu? An idea, after this episode, I will admit I’m growing to accept, but I do miss the idea of Yuu and Fuuka more than I’m excited about the idea of Yuu and Koyuki.
Topic 3: Time To Face The Public (Yuu)
Yuu receives a ton of hate on Twitter not only because he is seen as the guy who broke Koyuki’s heart, if not rejected her, but because she openly expressed her past interest in him. So, between death threats and those saying they will come to his concert to ruin his show, there is a bit of fear. However, with a few pep talks and him recognizing his friendship and sisters’ support, it seems he will go through with the show.
Commentary
Considering Koyuki is in the audience, people have bottles ready to throw at the stage, and the members of the Hedgehogs are predicting something going down, I think we have reached a turning point. Things on this show are about to get real. Fuuka’s band, more than likely, are going to become popular from this show and a new life for everyone will begin. Yet, with a new life likely may come new hardships. Ones which hopefully bring a bit more of the backstory of these characters as well as leads to some kind of development. For with this show likely only 12 episodes, I feel like there is so much we either haven’t explored or barely scratched the surface of.
For example, I’d like for these communication issues to stop and for some real heart to hearts to begin. I’d like to know why Fuuka doesn’t like cell phones and most modern technology. Maybe a bit more about Sara, the missing members of the Hedgehogs, as well as more of Makoto and Nichi. Since, with the Fuuka x Yuu thing gone, now there is so much room to explore different people and subject matters. Of which, they have been flirting with developing Makoto for a while now. I’d like for them to see it through.
Things to Note | Question(s) Left Unanswered
- I don’t think there was a single real ecchi moment in this entire episode. Which really made it seem, to me, things may take a more serious turn.
Koyuki actually took action? Wow, I really expected her just to sidelined. Still, publicly dumping Yuu into a scandal doesn’t seem like the best way to get your feelings across.
But I think it continues to show how terrible all these teens on this show are at communication. Sara is only her bubbly self on Twitter and with Yuu, when they are alone; Fuuka is prone to anger and misunderstanding since she’d rather get mad and simmer than ask questions ; Yuu avoids talking to people when he experiences negative emotions ; and Koyuki likes to avoid subject matters that make her uncomfortable or force her to really talk about how she feels directly to the person stimulating her feelings. Hence why, for maybe a few years, she harbored these feelings for Yuu and seemingly, never moved on.