Reina to Kumiko’s rescue…again!

As I was watching this episode, I just knew a lot of people were gonna lose their minds! After the episode is done, I visit 4chan to confirm and holy molly! This episode already had a thread and a half in the same day it aired, on /u/!! I was right! But why am I talking about ‘other’ people and not including myself? Well, I have been thinking lately thanks to this show and I discovered that all my hate for KyoAni wasn’t actually their fault, especially as far as ‘yuri-bait’ is concerned, as it is called!

I sat and thought of these baits spoken of and I realised that it was all the fault of our own for seeing things where they aren’t. well, most of the time. While I do have a series that I think of when I think KyoAni’s yuri-bait, it is not one of the ones most brought up on the subject. That series is Lucky Star! But calling that a bait isn’t accurate since Lucky Star was subtexty to the max and already way popular on its own anyway. What is it about Lucky Star then you might ask that has me love KyoAni less, well if you remember, there was this episode where Konata and the Hiiragi sisters went to Hirano Aya’s LIVE! Something happened then that was so out of the ordinary that it had me and my friends flipping out! They gave this scene where Kagami did some knighty deed that got her recognised by Konata, I mean really recognised by her! The episode even ended with Konata still out of it and wondering about these feelings she had felt in that moment with Kagami! Sadly that was never, ever brought up ever again in the following episodes until the end of the series, not even in the OVA!

That pissed me off so much! Thinking about it now I am already getting mad some more too!

So in other words, I don’t think of Tamako as bait! In fact if anyone is to blame in that whole deal it is Midori herself, there I said it! Sure all those around knew of her feelings for Tamako! This is is usual, it happens! people can love others it doesn’t mean that they have to be loved back! KyoAni did not turn Midori straight by the end of the series, did they now? No they did not! Midori is still gay. She will find herself a girl that appreciates her. Not that Tamako did not appreciate her, she did but not as Midori wanted her to. But then again she did not know because Midori did not say anything to her, did not confess to her! She kept her feelings to herself in that sense one might think that if she did not confess, then she did not trust Tamako enough and thus might not have deserved her love too. There might also be something else that stopped her which can’t be explained that maybe was telling her that Tamako wasn’t the one for her!

Tamako was her first crush, even if she got to confess and be loved back, first crushes very rarely work out. Tamako might even have faked her feelings just because she did not want to hurt Midori and it might be the case with Dick, who knows, maybe in the future she will see that Dick wasn’t the one for her and that Midori was the one this whole time!

The point is Tamako was anything but yuri-bait! And so with these deep thoughts in my head I turned to this Hibike show and thought about it some more too. Yes, in the novel Kumiko ends up with Dick but as our new friend MarkS00N was so kind as to share, the anime is based off the novel, it doesn’t mean it is the novel! There are already major changes that have happened that if did not happen, this series wouldn’t be even worthy talking about. Here is a summary of what MarkS00N pointed out to me:

In episode 8 Reina was holding her trumpet case in novel when her hand was grabbed by Kumiko, so she was leaving the club there (also she acted annoyed when Kumiko did so, at least in the manga), but in anime she doesn’t bring her trumpet case

This is important! The novel version makes sense because Reina was leaving and it might just have been a coincidence. But the way the anime did it, I don’t think it was a coincidence. Reina must have followed Dick and Kumiko knowing perhaps that there would be trouble. I mean come on, how many times has she played hero to Kumiko already?

Reina and Kumiko already call each other by given names instead of their family name in the novel before the festival and Reina touch Kumiko’s cheek in the novel, not Kumiko’s lip also In the novel Reina and Kumiko don’t bring their instrument, let alone duet on the mountain
That date’s romanticism just got multiplied by over 11!

In episode 7 train scene where Kumiko and Suuichi talk about Asuka, there is no Reina in the novel)…

In other words the anime Reina is that much more interested in Kumiko. These are just from the two mentioned episodes and if you have been following the threads, you know there is more! Putting extra scene is easy but not when it comes to animation! Every frame in animation counts and with the animator telling us to pay close attention to those body language and hidden animation messages, you just gotta know this is serious business! So what it Dick is end game?! We all know Usagi and Earth Dick are gonna marry and rule the future, hell, their kid is already here in this time but that did not stop us from shipping her and Rei and totally enjoying their chemistry together, did it? And those two were no where near Reina and Kumiko are in terms of interactions.

The ED!

I guess what I am trying to say is that until the thread is cut in half with Reina ACCEPTNG Shoe’s feelings, I am still on board this train so while you are all jumping overboard…

With that said, let’s get it on!

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