Haruchika Episode 12: Sympathy Triangle [Final Impression]

It’s finally over at last. 

Impression

Obligatory twins.

Well, it’s over. I thought this had 13 episodes for some reason, and was planning to do them both together, but apparently it doesn’t and this is the end. I’m fine with that too, this hasn’t exactly been the most fun thing I’ve had the pleasure of watching this season. Anyway, they just had to end this with Haruta being an insufferable dick again. I could feel all of the second-hand embarrassment radiating off the screen and into me as they stalked him on the train, across lines, and even paid for a taxi to follow the bus he was on. Holy crap. And of course they ran out of money – I’m glad they did, and if they’d lost him somehow they wouldn’t even have been able to get home. They’d have had to call Serizawa… uh, I mean Nao-chan to pick them up or something. When he didn’t get off at Hamamatsu and had flowers with him, I thought he’d be visiting a hospital and that Haruta and Chika were going to regret following him and butting their noses into something that nothing to do with them. Then they revealed he was visiting a cemetery. And I was like… well, fuck. Haruta had really better not decide to confess in a fucking cemetery of all places.

Was the broken baton supposed to represent something like his ‘future career desires breaking into two’ if he continues being a music teacher? Something like that? And the new baton that everyone helped buy for him represents them indicating their blessing that he leaves them and goes to pursue his dreams. If this were a school English essay I’d be writing some abstract thing like that – but unlike literary greats who probably meant every bit of the symbolism they put into their literature (or most of it, at least) I’m sure whoever wrote this didn’t really think things through quite as deeply. They didn’t even resolve that plot line, did they? They spent over half the episode on Sensei and the issue of whether he’d leave, then Sensei didn’t say anything about what he’d do in the future and the episode just ended. And the entire show’s over now, so that’s that.

Well, it’s the exact kind of ending I expected, really. I was all excited when I thought they were actually going to animate them playing a piece of music together as a brass band – but no. No fucking way will they spend any more money on this flop of a show – I’m sure that’s the very thought that was running through the minds of the guys at P.A. Works as they animated this episode. Because did they show the performance? No. Well, they played some music – but it was just a remix of one of the OST tracks for the show. Instead, they cut out the vast majority of the animation for the performance and played the fucking credits over the music instead. I’m not going to even bother ranting about this, I’m too tired and the show’s over now anyway. I wasn’t exactly expecting brilliance on the scale of Crescent Moon Dance (if you remember, I cried during the UFO finale) but… it would be nice if they’d actually animated some instruments, right? And they even used CG for all the group shots with more than a few people. I thought I’d never say this, but I guess even P.A. Works can be real cheapskates sometimes.

The only part of the finale I really liked was when Chika tried to rally everyone’s spirits and put on a cheerful facade, before sitting on the stairs and crying with Haruta, who was also crying. I thought that was a pretty heartfelt scene – and it’s a wonder I even felt anything at all after how many train crashes Haruchika has been through. Chika was really cute, in hindsight. Haruta is right about that – she really did carry the show. The title shouldn’t have been Haruchika, but just Chika. Chika complaining, Chika doing silly things, even Chika sneezing at the end there – they put a lot of effort (I guess the credit really goes to Sarah Emi Bridcutt) with Chika, and that’s one thing I did appreciate. I’ll miss her. And the twins. But only them.

Overall Thoughts

I’m sorry these posts weren’t as hilarious as the Glasslip ones. I’m quite proud of those, but I don’t have as much time to craft responses which are as rude. Also it wasn’t as bad as Glasslip – and I was extremely disappointed back then, more so than I am with this. I didn’t expect much this time round, you see. I don’t really have either the strength or the will to talk at length about this, and I’m sure you know my opinion on it anyway. Which is that it had oddly sub-par production values for P.A. Works, and didn’t really know what it wanted to be from the outset and therefore failed at everything it tried to be. Like Glasslip. It was pretty bad. Also like Glasslip. If you’re reading this and haven’t watched it (not like there’s anything to spoil because nothing happens), don’t. I’ve saved you the trouble.

I wanted to like Haruta, I really did. I thought I’d be able to see something interesting because he was genuinely gay and not something that was just played for laughs – and Japan is very conservative about this sort of thing, so I was excited to see what they’d do with him. Something progressive, right? The answer was ‘almost nothing’. And he turned out to be an insufferable twat anyway. About 70% of the way through the show I just gave up and thought: ‘You know what? Just do whatever you want, Haruta. Just solve these mysteries for us because I don’t think any of us could do it without your asspull knowledge and super sleuthing skills either way’.

Is there anything else I want to say? Oh yeah, I uh, want to do immoral things together with the twins. I know I say it every week, but I won’t get to say it any more so just bear with me. Really, they’ve kept me going through this, together with Chika. If I won some sort of award for sitting through Haruchika and had to give an acceptance speech (I genuinely typed Glasslip there before remembering this wasn’t the same show and backspaced) first I would thank my parents. Then my voters, and third the semen demon twins. Kae and Sae, you only appeared for a few seconds each episode, but you were both super cute. Thank you.

Also the OP was nice. Not even fhana could save this show in the end. Though ever since we had ChouCho and nano.RIPE on Glasslip I don’t think OP/ED artists have ever been a reliable indicator for the quality of a show. They spark hope, at the very least. nano.RIPE did great for Bahamut this season, by the way. Even that was better than Haruchika. Next season (for some reason I’m going to regret) I’m going to be doing the P.A. Works show as well – it’s some mecha show called Kuromukuro. There’s this cute girl who looks a bit like a short-haired Chisaki and is voiced by M.A.O – I have no idea what her name is but I recognize her voice. M.A.O’s voice is really soothing and pleasant, just like Nanjou Yoshino’s is. I’m going to do it for her. For this kyuuto gaaru. From an objective perspective it has good visuals, and from the PV I think it’s the sort of show where everyone is living a happy life and shit suddenly gets real as disaster strikes. Which is, honest to god, exactly what I need to happen after Glasslip and Haruchika. Okamura is directing, so that means quality, right? (He says, after remember that Nishimura Junji did Glasslip) It’s mecha, so it should be exciting, right?

…Right?