MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD
To be honest, I regret rewatching Fuuka. There is this bitter feeling in my mouth I get from watching it. Rewatching it, I hated it more than it probably deserves to be. I almost dropped it, but I did not because I wanted to write a review for it on here. While you probably get the direction this review is going by what I have written so far, but I hope you stay for the rest, so I can explain why I feel the way I do about Fuuka.
There are a good deal of anime out there that rely on melodrama to advance their story. One example of that is an anime that I reviewed in the past, Gamers!. In that anime, it over-dramatizes many ~misunderstandings~ that annoyed many viewers at the time. That being said, the over-dramatization was often used for comedic effect, which is something I can not say about Fuuka. Fuuka takes itself very seriously — too seriously in my opinion. While Fuuka is not all bad, the part that will resonate the most with most people (at least most people like me anyway) is the worst and the cruelest part of the anime.
The central focus of Fuuka is on Yuu Haruna and the band he joins, The Fallen Moon. The Fallen Moon is formed after Fuuka Akitsuki, the girl the anime is named after, gets Yuu, Makoto Mikasa, Kazuya Nachi, and Sara Iwami to join. Yuu Haruna also reconnects with his childhood friend, Koyuki Hinashi, who has turned into a chart-topping idol in the time since they last met.
There are two cores to this anime: The Fallen Moon being one, and the other one being Yuu’s love triangle of Fuuka and Koyuki. The parts of the plot that revolve around the band are not that bad. They are not good either, feeling rushed at parts, but what can I say — at least it did not piss me off. I can not say the same about the plot that revolves around Yuu’s love triangle.
The problem with Yuu’s love triangle, and with Fuuka as a whole, is that you know who is going to ‘win’ it just by seeing whose name is in the title. I mean, I know that the girl who will ‘win’ is often obvious, but it is just cruel to Koyuki that she has to be in the show when it is obvious that she is going to be left heartbroken. In any just world, she and Yuu would live happily ever after — but this is not a just world, this is Fuuka. Koyuki’s emotions are thrown around and tossed in the trash in favor of Fuuka. Again, I know that Fuuka is literally this anime’s title, but it is not fair to Kyouki to be used like this. As much as I like Koyuki, Fuuka would be better off if she (Koyuki) was not in it in the first place. The anime would still not be great, but it would not leave such a bitter taste in many viewers’ mouths. Having her be an important part of it causes unnecessary drama and subtracts from the other parts of Fuuka. A love triangle, at least in this form, is not needed.
With all of that aside, there are still other problems with Fuuka. The scenes that were supposed to be emotionally gripping were often hamfisted and end up whiffing. Fuuka also for some reason has everyone bend to her will no matter what. I know she is an enigma and forceful, but it seems that the only reason why anyone listens to her is that she is the one who has her name in the title. The whole ‘love triangle’ debacle is so bad that it seeps into other parts of Fuuka, making you more critical of everything else.
Sorry if this sounded like a rant more than a review, it is just that there are little anime that leave me feeling sour like this. Good anime often leave you with a hole in your heart, wanting more — Fuuka will leave you wondering why you finished it in the first place (if you did not drop it that is). I would not recommend anyone watch this. I feel like a part of my body was sucked away. I feel like I was rejected, not Koyuki. If you want an anime with a similar plot and does a love triangle better, I would recommend White Album.
