October 11, 2016
Your Weekly Asuka, S2E01
Wonder of wonders, Hibike! Euphonium is back for a very welcome second season. Not only is it back, but Kyoto Animation has blessed us with an hour-long first episode to boot. Pleasantly, the raison d'être of this feature, Asuka Tanaka, aka The Goofy Cute, is... well, not featured exactly, but she's quite involved with the first half of the episode.
What we get from her is like "Asuka's Greatest Hits", ranging from the Goofy to the master deflector, able to pass the buck on anything she doesn't want to deal with, to something of a new aspect: the cold-blooded assassin.
She actually does the cat-smile thing at one point, which was a little freaky I gotta admit. She's also not above some cheek-pulling. I don't remember either occurring during the first season, so there's that going on.
But its when one of the 2nd year students that quit the club last year asks for her blessing to rejoin that Dark Asuka pops up. Not without a fight, however: she does everything she can to avoid the issue. It's only the persistence of the other student that brings out Dark Asuka. Her blessing? Nope. "I don't approve. You wouldn't benefit the club." All the while with a dead, dead look on her face.
It is telling, I believe, that the 2nd year student came right to Asuka first, rather than the club president. I mean, we already know she's the power behind the throne and all, but still. It's clear this is going to be the the season's first arc, which means plenty of Asuka. This is nothing but a good thing in my mind, because we need to know more about her.
"We"... "I"... whichever.
A word about this episode in general. KyoAni pulled out all the stops with this one, particularly during the festival scene. Holy crepe, did they go all out.
The festival is a riot of colors and hundreds of people, most of them animated, and all of it lighted by lanterns and fireworks. It's very nearly movie quality at times.
We even get an Asuka sighting. Alone and away from the festival.
If you were wondering if Season 2 was going to measure up to Season 1, wonder no longer. If it's anything like this episode, or even in the same area code, it's gonna be a fantastic three months.
What we get from her is like "Asuka's Greatest Hits", ranging from the Goofy to the master deflector, able to pass the buck on anything she doesn't want to deal with, to something of a new aspect: the cold-blooded assassin.
She actually does the cat-smile thing at one point, which was a little freaky I gotta admit. She's also not above some cheek-pulling. I don't remember either occurring during the first season, so there's that going on.
But its when one of the 2nd year students that quit the club last year asks for her blessing to rejoin that Dark Asuka pops up. Not without a fight, however: she does everything she can to avoid the issue. It's only the persistence of the other student that brings out Dark Asuka. Her blessing? Nope. "I don't approve. You wouldn't benefit the club." All the while with a dead, dead look on her face.
It is telling, I believe, that the 2nd year student came right to Asuka first, rather than the club president. I mean, we already know she's the power behind the throne and all, but still. It's clear this is going to be the the season's first arc, which means plenty of Asuka. This is nothing but a good thing in my mind, because we need to know more about her.
"We"... "I"... whichever.
A word about this episode in general. KyoAni pulled out all the stops with this one, particularly during the festival scene. Holy crepe, did they go all out.
The festival is a riot of colors and hundreds of people, most of them animated, and all of it lighted by lanterns and fireworks. It's very nearly movie quality at times.
We even get an Asuka sighting. Alone and away from the festival.
If you were wondering if Season 2 was going to measure up to Season 1, wonder no longer. If it's anything like this episode, or even in the same area code, it's gonna be a fantastic three months.
Posted by: Wonderduck at
09:43 PM
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Instant favorite thing about Autumn 2016. And I knew you were going to be delighted with the amount (and range) of Asuka on display!
(I watched the "extra" episode from the first season, that I'd missed previously, going into the first double-ep of season two, so I got pretty much a movie's worth of H!E in one sitting. Best thing about my entire week.)
(I watched the "extra" episode from the first season, that I'd missed previously, going into the first double-ep of season two, so I got pretty much a movie's worth of H!E in one sitting. Best thing about my entire week.)
Posted by: GreyDuck at October 12, 2016 07:29 AM (rKFiU)
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