What…happened…?!!

Okay, now that I think I am calm enough, let’s talk a little bit more about the lovely confession scene. That scene though, even merely thinking about it has me all giddy all over again. I am still dumbfounded by how much effort is being poured into all these KumiRei scene. Let’s be honest, not every scene has gotten this privilege. It surely can’t be just me and my yuri vision turning every KumiRei scene into rainbows, right? There just has to be a reason behind this detail and effort the studio is putting into their scenes.

Had the time to have a quick read through other blogs about this show and it seems to me that the consensus still remains that episode 8 scene tramps all. I for one think that this episode’s scene totally killed episode 8! Even if there was the lip move in that episode, when you think about the other elements you realise that it was a bit out of context, too rushed, looking intimate but not giving off the same level of feelings when you think about the scene in detail. There was just something a bit off about it.

But this time around everything seemed to flow so nicely. There was no questioning of what was happening. The intimacy was too overly done, there wasn’t any fan-servicey moments like Reina’s dress that seemed to have its own personality and Reina was all but out to get Kumiko at all costs. Anyway I was simply blown away at the detail out into this whole scene, from following Reina’s hand rise, to her making the swag turn leaving Kumiko looking flabbergasted like she had just been kissed.

I already mentioned it last episode’s post but KumiRei are still on track as far as them getting closer as the story progresses. No longer is Kumiko being surprised by Reina’s forwardness like she froze during last episode’s hug, or taking a step back from having her cheeks grabbed in what looked like a kissing move. This time when Reina got closer, much closer than she has before, seriously, their faces were not even 2 inches apart, their noses even less than an inch! And yet Kumiko didn’t even blink! What she did was placing her own hand over Reina’s and then closed her eyes.

I am truly astounded by how well KumiRei has been developed. Usually anime never manage to fully complete both character development and story. Neither is ever done close to perfection too even when it is picked over the other. But KyoAni have really dedicated themselves to KumiRei. There are no gaps in their development. It’s almost like the band stuff is secondary, which is actually the case when you think about it. In episode 1 Kumiko was not interested in joining the club at first, until she saw Reina asking to join the club. You do remember that 180 she did when shortly after telling Shoo1 that she was not joining the band the next day she went and joined because of Reina!

It was all about Reina and getting close to her/apologising and setting straight that mishap from months prior that Kumiko BTW couldn’t get out her head after all this time. I mean she even almost forgot about that moment where she had a falling out with her supposedly friend from those flashbacks but somehow a crying Reina had more impact on her despite having not been that close to begin with. Look how far they have come, and there is not a gap to be found! They did not just suddenly become close. Reina had no notice of Kumiko in the first episode and Kumiko was all but scared silly of Reina at the same time. The girl could only have illusions of even approaching Reina for crying out loud!

As things stand, if the Venus and Jupiter thing does happen, meaning that KyoAni has decided to do the impossible and give us a solid KumiRei end, Hibike is going into the history books of not only anime in general but the yuri bible! Everyone will remember how KyoAni took the bull by the horns and poked Japan’s sides by breaking the status quo and giving us a yuri series where yuri was nowhere to be expected. KumiRei will climb onto many a list of favourite ships that I don’t even dare think of how many of those lists will have it at No.1. If KyoAni goes through this, this is the anime of the year, and a yuri story of the decade.

So then how to approach this interaction…How about we start from the very beginning? By that I mean

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