Tsurune: Kazemai Koukou Kyuudoubu Ep 1 [First Impression]

Eva’s First Impression

Ahhhh finally! This is one of the Fall 2018 Titles I have been looking forward to watching the most! Just as I had hoped, it was so nice to watch! Kyudo is so beautiful, and the tsurune sound is so pretty too! The premiere did a great job of explaining the basics premises of the martial art, so we have a better understanding of the sport. So I am really excited to learn more about it as the story goes on!

Minato seems to have a lot on his plate. After what happened in Middle School, he has no intention of joining any clubs in high school, seemingly using his house chores as an excuse to get out of it (as he did participate in Kyudo in middle school). The sad thing about is that it’s clear how much he loves kyudo, but he can’t perform it properly due to “target panic”. It’s frustrating to him because he wants to be okay, he thought he was going to be okay today, but when he missed, the meltdown ensued. And he wasn’t always like this, which makes me wonder what was the catalyst to the problem, especially when so many people in his club during middle school described him to have been on a roll. And then he has the other problem of dealing with the loneliness of his mother’s absence. It appears Minato might have been in the accident that took his mother’s life, which is why whenever he brings up his mother, he unconsciously touches his scar. The accident happened during the summer of their 6th year (elementary it seems). But at the same time, I wouldn’t be surprised if the two issues were related to each other in some way.

Knowing Minato’s passion for the sport, Seiya, one of his childhood friend attempted to get him back into it, by collaborating with the club’s advisor Tommy and Ryouhei, Seiya attempted to set Minato up to have him wield the bow. While I understood Seiya’s intentions, I didn’t like the way he set Minato up. Pushing him to do it under peers pressure wasn’t the way to go about it, much less when he knows Minato suffers from “Target Panic”. Of course he had hoped it was going to be okay, heck– even though he wasn’t happy about it, Minato too wanted to be okay, but he wasn’t and after he failed to reach the target with his first arrow, he started having a meltdown. It wasn’t fair for him to have to go through that with an entire audience watching, much less have Kaito start throwing accusations at him for performing a half-assed shot.

However it seems there is glimmer of hope for Minato when he witnessed someone who has a marvellous form and incredibly precision at a shrine’s kyudo hall he had fled off too. If I am going to make any guess, based off the OP this guy is probably going to help him overcome “target panic” in a way Seiya failed to, and perhaps might be that person Minato needs in his life right now.

Also it was so cute how the owl scared the crap out of Minato! It was adorable! I’m looking forward to seeing what will become of this conversation… that is, if Minato doesn’t run for it. Also I have a sneaking feeling that this dude was standing next to him when Minato first saw Kyudo. I don’t think it was a coincidence to see a hand ball into a fist beside him in that flashback!

As for the rest of the character, Ryouhei is quite an interesting one. Both Seiya and Minato seemed to be absolutely clueless about how Ryouhei knew they were in the Kyudo club in middle school (after having moved some time between the fifth and sixth year of elementary). If I am going to make any guess, it was during the competition Seiya and Minato were at during middle school! Then there is also Tommy-Sensei, who is a charming teacher who was entrusted the task of reviving the the Kyudo Club. I absolutely loved the way he went about it, it was quite clever haha! There are also Kaito (Kacchan) and Nanao. Kaito looks like a thug but is actually really serious about Kyudo and is probably a softie. Nanao is super bubbly and popular among all the girls, has this weird catchphrase “merha”, whatever that means. There will also be Rika, Nao and Yuna, all three girls are also experienced in Kyudo, as there is no segregation in this sport.

Overall I am very curious to see where this story is going to go. Kyoto Animation did a beautiful job (I wouldn’t have wanted anyone else to do this adaption, ahaha), especially with the soundtrack choice. It’s very soothing! Although I absolutely loved the premiere, it was a bit difficult for me to write about, but I want to try giving it a few episodes to see how it fits with me.

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