Sakamichi no Apollon Ep. 8 Review

I love these three!

So, most of this episode was spent on romance and Jun's backstory, but that's okay. I don't mind too much.




It starts off with a fun scene where the boys are still being highly praised for their performance, and they end up making an escape together, Ri'ko in tow. (I'm continuing to call them by nicknames, sorry if you don't like it.)

Oh, and have I mentioned that I love the opening theme? I do. I think it's beautiful.

We get a scene following this in the music shop, with Sen feeling bad about what happened with Jun, and he and Richie finding out a little more about what happened to him. Richie does this rather adorable impression to try and cheer Sen up.

After that, we get, well, pretty much all the backstory you could ever want for Jun. It starts with Yurika visiting his apartment.

Jun attempts to drive her away, but she refuses, even going so far as to cut her hair off and "become a new person." This upsets him and causes him to have flashbacks to when he was part of a movement. They end up reconciling. This is a really nice, touching scene, and I'm not doing it justice, so please watch it for yourself.

At school, Ri'ko's friend teases her about who she likes again and talks about knitting. Ri'ko ends up envisioning Richie into a magazine picture, and is a little jealous when he receives a letter from another girl, and then freaks out a little because she's supposed to like Sen. Oops.

Sen, meanwhile, goes to visit Jun, thinking about how much he's looked up to him since he was a kid.

Unfortunately, when he gets there, he sees Yurika in Jun's apartment and runs off, completely heartbroken.

I felt so bad for him...I mean, this is right after he thinks about how wonderful "Jun-nii" is and ahhhh, I'm so sorry, Sen!

And things only get more complicated in this love pentagon, because now Richie is trying to hint to Sen that Ri'ko likes him, while Ri'ko is trying to come to terms with her feelings for Richie, even though she's been in love with Sen for so long. Richie doesn't know this, though, and is trying and failing at not being sad about it.

While Richie's busy being in denial, Sen finally realizes what he was trying to tell him, that Ri'ko likes him, having a flashback scene to when they were kids.

And then it ends. That's it. Tune in next week for new developments in the love pentagon of doom.

I know I sound sarcastic (I am), but I still do like this show. It's just a little too much love drama and not enough friendship and music to satisfy me completely. I think if it was a bit more balanced, I'd be okay with it.

I'm glad the pairings are starting to settle down. I like the Jun/Yurika. It had to happen, even if it did hurt Sen, so I'm glad it's out of the way. I'm not sure where they're going with the other three at the moment, though. I think I prefer Kaoru/Ri'ko (look, I actually typed his real name! I forget it sometimes! ^_^;;), but I suppose Sen/Ri'ko has a chance now too. Hoping it'll end well for all three of them, though, however it works out.

Well, I think that covers everything I wanted to say, so I'll see you around!

~Hana




I do not own Sakamichi no Apollon or the images used above; they are for review purposes only.