Fuuka. A review of the Anime.

Now that the "Yuuka" season has just finished, I want to bring you my review on it.

BEWARE: MAJOR SPOILERS OF BOTH MANGA AND ANIME FOR "YUUKA" AND "SUZUKA" AHEAD.

“Yuuka” is the clear example that the Golden Age that the anime experienced since “Neon Genesis Evengelion” (1995) has ended long ago. For ten years now, the same problems have been happening for school anime: stereotyped storylines, predictable plots, gratuitous fanservice, etc. If the manga on which a show is based has a clear intention in that sense (I think of “He Is My Master”) then it’s game, but in the case of Yuuka it is especially aggravating, because originally is well-written story, which can be seen as a coming-of-age story like its prequel, “Suzuka”.

To add insult to injury, “Suzuka” is a beloved and appreciated series of that Golden Age, about an athletic girl and her relationship with a boy, Yamato. It is an anime of 24 chapters that takes its time to expose what it has to say and is an achievement of its time. “Yuuka” focuses on the daughter of Suzuka and Yamato, and like his mother, has a strange relationship with a boy, Yū, who gets dragged by her music obsession and with which he ends up forming a group.

Beyond the problems already exposed, the anime lightens the original story. During the past decade school animals (“Shuffle!”, “Clannad”, “Mahoromatic”, “Da Capo”, and, especially, “School Days”) were not afraid of the drama, although they did not always reach the plot of “Yuuka”, where the homonymous heroine dies in the manga hit by a truck , Scene that in the televised version is changed and Yuuka lives. Lots of fan complaints when the manga came out? Bait to sell DVD's?

Visually the anime is quite conventional and uninteresting, although the character design is gorgeous. Pacing is good but there is a lack of deepening into the backstories of the supporting characters (the other members of the band Yuuka and Yū are in, the “Hedgehogs” band that basically sponsor them...), and the love triangle between Yuuka, Yū and the latter childhood friend Koyuki (another stereotype), although essential to the conflict, is a bit forced.

While American television launches some of its best series of all time and geek culture (especially comics) becomes more and more mainstream, the anime industry seems to take comfort in only keeping their current fans. A pity, in this case, when the source material is considered.