By Dustin Cabeal
I’ll stick with reading the manga. Honestly, I’ll continue to watch this show, but I’ve given up on it being any good. The pacing is so rushed that the relationships are forced rather than naturally brought together. We’re on episode three, and they’re already at the summer job and formed the band.
Not only is the friendship between our two male characters horribly undeveloped and forced, but Yuu and Fuuka’s relationship is a house of cards. We’re being asked just to go with it and believe that they’re as into each other as they are when nothing has been developed. They’ve hung out twice outside of their “meet cute” moment, and now they’re spending the summer together.
I don’t even need to compare this to the manga. I would be there all day if I did that because there’s a ton of difference between the two and while I’m not opposed to them being different or altering things, I am when the decisions don’t make any sense and hurt the story. Still, other than saying that I’m not going to waste my time comparing them.
The anime does seem obsessed with building a love triangle, something that’s not nearly as prevalent in the manga, but has been cranked to the nth degree here. It was well established in the first two episodes, and it’s rushed to again in this episode with a set up for the fourth episode.
The animation continues to be beautiful, with the voice acting is rather generic. The music, though… fuck, it is so disappointing. Both the opening song and closing song are generic and safe. Fuuka is a show all about rock music, and yet it’s J-Pop through and through. Akiba’s Trip, another anime out this season, has better music that wouldn’t be the perfect fit for Fuuka, but a better choice than what they have. I don’t think I’ll ever get over how disappointing the music is since the story is custom made to give it a chance at being spectacular. It's doubtful that I’ll spend any more time reviewing this series since it’s just a digest version of the manga and I already know where it’s heading.
Score: 2/5
Fuuka E.03