Novel readers please

Taki just chose kumiko, there was no public audition

Wait wdym unless I’m interpreting your message wrong you said she won?

But in the most recent episode they auditioned together and Mayu was chosen by one vote.

Did I miss something in the episode or was I tripping?

Are they planning on continuing the series or something. I mean I never took KyoAni as a Studio that would have these kinds of endings? was it the author who suggested this change or something?

@Ereshchan so will the Next ep be the last one of the whole anime?

Are they planning on continuing the series or something. I mean I never took KyoAni as a Studio that would have these kinds of endings? was it the author who suggested this change or something?

Can you maybe spoiler me about there future so what will kumiko and Reina do and will they still be very good friends or more cause I rlly ship them.

Ok thx and Kumiko and Reina are still good friends when she is in USA right?

Yes, but I was asking, like, if maybe they are planning to go Anime Original, and finishing this with a movie or something. cause it doesn't feel like a KyoAni thing to change something like this, like from what animes I seen of them, most seem to have a happy end (tho I haven't watched Clannad yet).

@DuckCross

@Ereshchan Thanks a lot! Now I got a closure.
By the way, are novels fully translated in English? Is it possible to find them online?

Ok thx and Kumiko and Reina are still good friends when she is in USA right?

Are they planning on continuing the series or something. I mean I never took KyoAni as a Studio that would have these kinds of endings? was it the author who suggested this change or something?

Can someone recommend me an anime that is similar?

@AltN The buzz on the Japanese web is that the KyoAni ending is the author's original intent, but by the time she wrote that part she was too scared to let down her fans by having such an upset at the very end. However there is literally no source for that as far as I can tell. The author on Twitter simply said (Not direct quote) "I didn't let them make any changes I couldn't live with, and they obliged at every turn. The novel is the novel. The anime is the anime" when asked. But prior to the controversy starting, in her previous tweet she was praising episode 12 so she 1000% is okay with this direction, whether it was her original vision or not.

I'll leave you with this (machine translated) quote
"Hard work is rewarded. However, it doesn't necessarily mean that it will be rewarded in the way that the person wants it to be. That's the rule I follow when writing this series."

Taki just chose kumiko, there was no public audition

@ThatFlowerGirl Wait, what the fuck? That makes way more sense, like why would Taki not choose Kumiko of both are on the same level? That would've been the safe choice to make everyone happy. Now I'm really wondering where they're going with this.

Can someone recommend me an anime that is similar?

@Gator
If they truly are of the same ability, then letting the club choose was probably the safest option. Although really it came down to Reina who had full awareness of who she was choosing.

@RioFS Well the thing is that they never had a 2nd audition after the first to decide who plays the solo part, so Taki-sensei actually changed the rules. The safe option would've been Kumiko, since after the audition before they should know what would happen with Mayu. But since Taki-sensei has the social skills of a rock and Reina the empathy of a molotov cocktail...

@Gator
By first you mean the first time Mayu was chosen over Kumiko? I think Taki-sensei couldn't decide who was the better one so he just picked randomly and went with it. This time around though, he made the wiser choice of letting the club decide so that way no one could complain and everyone would actually be satisfied. Even if he chose Kumiko, there's definitely gonna be one or two complaints about him being biased and stuff plus we have seen that Mayu has her own admirers too; they're just in the minority.

As for why Reina chose Mayu over Kumiko, I imagine it's probably coz she wants to win in the Nationals and thus she picked the one who would go better with her.

@RioFS No no, I meant the first audition for the Nationals where Taki-sensei couldn't decide. So far they always only had one audition for each competition, that's what they decided on. So Taki-sensei changed the rules they set at the very start to have another audition just for the euphonium players, which was new. Also I don't think at the Kansai competition he just decided randomly, everyone was saying how well Mayu and Reina played together. I don't think they would accuse him of being biased either, since he chose Mayu the last time around.

Reina is just socially stupid and decided to hurt herself in confusion. I mean her beloved Taki-sensei couldn't decide who's better, how would she know?

@Gator
Oh that one. While technically he did "change" the rules, I think he simply made an exception because he really couldn't decide who was the better one among them. There is already a precedent for this coz I remember something similar done in the first year.

As for why Reina would know better, it's because the sound Taki-sensei hears during a solo audition would be different from the one Reina hears when both she and the euphonium player play together. We already know from earlier in the series that Mayu can adapt her playing to fit whatever the listener wants so even if, let's say, Kumiko was a better player, Mayu would be the better option if she could change the way she plays to allow the trumpet to shine rather than having the euphonium compete with the trumpet.

It's also narratively better for Kumiko to lose here, given of course that my guess of her career choice being related to leadership is correct.

@RioFS Well it's Taki-senseI's job to decide though, I don't think simply changing the rules because you can't decide is the right thing to do. Hmm you mean the trumpets in the first season? Could be, but they decided to do things differently this season.

In that case maybe Taki-sensei is not such hot shit as everyone makes him to be, if a high school girl can pick up such nuances and he can't, even if he's not on stage where Reina is standing. How can he be trusted to judge anything then, just let the players decide.

It just rubs me the wrong way that they changed how things were in the source material. Taki-sensei and Reina just act out of character in my opinion, while they do act in-character in the LN.

@Gator
He is certainly not "hot shit" but he is good enough that he can bring in results. And I think you are selling Reina a bit too short. She's been in music since she was a child; she's literally going to a foreign country to study music. If there's any student who should be able to tell, it's Reina. Plus the fact that she's the one who's going to play the soli with Mayu/Kumiko and the fact that the music will sound way different when played solo VS with a trumpet and I think I have made enough of a case here. Also, like I said before, this special case was an exception, so it won't really be fair to say that he can't judge others. Plus we also have to consider the fact that music is subjective, especially without lyrics, so that's another possible explanation.

On to your next point about acting in-character, I think both the characters acted in-character both in the LN and anime. The only difference is between the two is the skill gap between Kumiko and Mayu. In the LN, Kumiko was way better so it was a clear choice(kinda boring) whereas in the anime, they were pretty dang close with Reina deciding Mayu because of her strong desire to win in the nationals eclipsing that of wanting to play with Kumiko.

@RioFS I don't think about results, the first two years didn't yield great results and in the third year the whole band is even more of a mess than before. I definitely admit that Reina knows a lot about music, but it would make no sense for her being better to judge someone than Taki-sensei, who she idolizes. If anything they are both very similar. Musically gifted but socially crippled. And there were only three auditions overall, so making a third of all auditions "special", sounds like a pretty big exception to me.

Well I haven't read the LN, only read about the change in episode 12, so I can't really say how much was different before Taki-sensei wasn't able to decide who should play. In that case they might have changed Kumiko instead, I'm just saying that Taki-sensei logically still should choose Kumiko if she's on the same level as Mayu, except if he has learned nothing in those past two years and still has the social skills of a rock... which apparently is the case in the anime.

@RioFS I don't think about results, the first two years didn't yield great results and in the third year the whole band is even more of a mess than before. I definitely admit that Reina knows a lot about music, but it would make no sense for her being better to judge someone than Taki-sensei, who she idolizes. If anything they are both very similar. Musically gifted but socially crippled. And there were only three auditions overall, so making a third of all auditions "special", sounds like a pretty big exception to me.

Well I haven't read the LN, only read about the change in episode 12, so I can't really say how much was different before Taki-sensei wasn't able to decide who should play. In that case they might have changed Kumiko instead, I'm just saying that Taki-sensei logically still should choose Kumiko if she's on the same level as Mayu, except if he has learned nothing in those past two years and still has the social skills of a rock... which apparently is the case in the anime.

@Gator Consider the following events:
1) first year when he picked the solo he was forced to make a public selection to appease the club
2) third year, second audtion, Kumiko had to motivate the club before regionals because he picked Mayu for 2nd audition

those two are facts, now for some assumtions:

3) assume Mayu actually is playing a bit better, so Taki should be picking Mayu, BUT Taki knows from the previous audition that if he does that the morale of the club will be bad.
He has three options:
a) pick Kumiko even though she is playing worse and have regrets if they lose the nationals
b) pick Mayu and risk losing the club morale and have regrets if they lose the nationals to low morale

c) let the club decide: he would likely have no regrets from a or b on this option. Club morale will be good since they decided and he doesn't have to make a decision he doesn't believe in himself either

I think if Mayu was his choice it makes more sense to just let the club decide and for ONCE learn from the past that some of his unpopular decisions can harm the club

@RioFS I don't know, compared to what talents he has in his band, combined with his great reputation, you would expect them to do better, but I'll give you that he at least improved their performance. If a high school girl has better hearing and judgement, maybe Taki should search for a new job, I would not call that an expert anymore.

No, it would make sense to follow the rules that had been set at the very start of the year and just decide who you think is better suited to play the position. And Taki had no reason to choose Mayu over Kumiko in that scenario, unless he still doesn't understand the dynamics between the band at all, which would be weird after spending three years with those students and after the last drama with Mayu. That's why I think his reaction in the LN is way more natural than in the anime.

@henmwats If Mayu is actually playing a bit better than Kumiko, then Taki did not stay true to his and Reina's principles and I don't see that in his character at all. You're assuming that Mayu is the better player, but the LN and anime isn't showing us that at all, the anime makes it very clear that they are equally as good for Taki and in the end it was only Reina who had a brainfart and chose to hurt herself.

@Gator

Something Taki did before should be in character. In season 1 it seemed obvious that Reina is the better player, yet the club voting audition was still held.



I'd say this isn't shown. We don't see him pondering the decision or stating that they are equally good himself. In fact, he only said he wants it decided by a club voting audition, not that they are both as good.
There are reasons beyond just skill to want this and in season 1 the voting audition had nothing to do with Taki's inability to figure out who was playing better.

@RioFS I don't know, compared to what talents he has in his band, combined with his great reputation, you would expect them to do better, but I'll give you that he at least improved their performance. If a high school girl has better hearing and judgement, maybe Taki should search for a new job, I would not call that an expert anymore.

No, it would make sense to follow the rules that had been set at the very start of the year and just decide who you think is better suited to play the position. And Taki had no reason to choose Mayu over Kumiko in that scenario, unless he still doesn't understand the dynamics between the band at all, which would be weird after spending three years with those students and after the last drama with Mayu. That's why I think his reaction in the LN is way more natural than in the anime.

@henmwats If Mayu is actually playing a bit better than Kumiko, then Taki did not stay true to his and Reina's principles and I don't see that in his character at all. You're assuming that Mayu is the better player, but the LN and anime isn't showing us that at all, the anime makes it very clear that they are equally as good for Taki and in the end it was only Reina who had a brainfart and chose to hurt herself.

@Gator
Again, what she heard was different from what he heard. In the audition room, Mayu and Kumiko demonstrated nearly equal ability. However, while playing with another person, i.e., the trumpet, Mayu demonstrated that she can do better in this regard than Kumiko. In simpler words, she's more flexible. The anime has already showed this in a previous episode so it's nothing new. And that's it. That's why Reina "seems" to have the better ability to judge because what she heard and what Taki-sensei heard aren't exactly the same. It in no way invalidates his ability to judge and his expertise in music.

The drama with Mayu is probably why he left the tiebreaker to the club. You seem to think that the only two options were Mayu and Kumiko but no, Taki went a step ahead and created a third option, the club voting. Literally impossible to complain when you voted for it yourself.

Also, choosing Kumiko because of "club dynamics" is not something an actual expert would do.

@RioFS But why would he need a public audition then? He could've just made another private one including Reina where he's the only judge again. He never let the other players vote, why do it now in the most crucial moment? Because he is a bad teacher and burdens his students instead with the decision.
And "impossible to complain when you voted for it yourself", what? Half the people didn't vote for Mayu, so now 50% will not be satisfied with the outcome, while no one would've complained if he declared Kumiko the winner. Now the 1st trumpet and the 2nd euphonium are emotionally scarred, well done Taki lol

Wait wdym unless I’m interpreting your message wrong you said she won?

But in the most recent episode they auditioned together and Mayu was chosen by one vote.

Did I miss something in the episode or was I tripping?