Fuuka

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This review is spoiler-free, however, I recommend you read the series completely blind. If you hate it, you hate it; if you love it, you love it; but you'll do yourself no benefit trying to understand why others have such strong feelings around it. Figure it out for yourself and come back to compare.

Fuuka is a story with a lot of problems. If someone asked me to go through commentating each chapter, we'd probably end up with another CinemaSins clone. Overused tropes here, bizarre characterisation there, lewd filler throughout, and a plotline with so many random elements thrown in that it's ... no surprise that people find themselves overwhelmed. However, as rough and ridiculous as the core is, there's an unexpected believability and charm brought out by its honesty.

I think it's impossible to talk about this series without mentioning the twist. While I won't spoil it, the before and after might as well be two completely different series. For those of you that read up until that point weekly, keep in mind that this was close to a year in the making. Fuuka sets itself up for future arcs, characters, themes, and solid expectations; before immediately taking the story in the opposite direction. For many readers - especially fans of the mangaka - this was a dividing experience. The first section, while well-written, is fairly stock-standard. It's a light-hearted 'follow your dreams' romance series, with the sort of convenient coincidences that you won't find outside of anime and manga. An average shounen protagonist crosses every chance encounter possible - from celebrities, to online friends, to solutions to obscure problems. Despite this, it's self-aware enough to not constantly push it in the reader's face. Rather, the ridiculous nature of the series is worn on its sleeve, rarely overstaying its welcome. What we're left with is a collection of likeable characters on the road to fulfilling their dreams.

And then the series changes direction entirely.

I've never enjoyed narrative arcs where hopes are dashed for compromises. You see them coming from a mile away; sign-posted from the beginning and rarely given enough time to build a relationship with the reader. Fuuka portrays no indication. It's abrupt, unexpected, and against most narrative rules I've been taught in writing classes. It's no surprise that people hated it. When a story 180s, yelling "where the HELL did that come from?" is something that I'm certainly not innocent of. Some of my favourite story orientations have been destroyed by illogical, last-second attempts at shock factor or pandering. The reason Fuuka isn't one of those instances is that the following narrative was built around the sudden change. The shock was the point; not the excuse. The overarching plot then follows the same notes, but from a different perspective. If the first 40 chapters are about finding hope, the next hundred are about understanding it. We found hope, but what do we do with it? If it's true that life comes at you fast, what are you going to do about it?

I've noticed that a point of contention relates to the series' pacing. It moves abnormally quickly, but that generally only adds to the experience. One of the reasons I was never a fan of Kouji Seo (or drama manga in general) is that, at some point, it gets tedious; tiring. While some people may enjoy dramatic arcs that attempt to split the characters apart, only for them to overcome that challenge; I was never one of them. I always feel that characters do themselves no favours by jumping to conclusions and refusing to communicate. I have little interest in rooting for a protagonist that continues to make the same mistakes, only to forget the lesson they previously learnt in solving them. The pace of Fuuka allows for these situations to resolve in a lifelike way. While there are overarching concerns throughout, the smaller-scale issues work as a stepping stone towards fixing them. It's not all at once, or never at all; it's step by step. This builds a sense of trust that makes the relationships on the romance side feel believable and healthy. Often times, while I may enjoy the end-point, I can't help but think that the effort the characters went through just emphasised why they weren't right for each other. Why love someone that you don't trust?

If I'm to complain about anything, it's the final resolutions. Because there are so many characters and mini-lines throughout, often their brief conclusions lack concrete depth. Shelly's arc, for instance, while complete, misses its chance at pay-off. She makes claims about her independence, her final song, and her challenge to those around her; but that plotline contradicts her other backstory: her guiding inspiration. In effect, one of the two narratives has to give in to the other. This is also a frequent occurrence with side-character romance. In an attempt to provide every character with a resolution, many are forced into unnecessary love stories. Makoto's - avoiding spoilers - is perhaps the worst case. His main character arc is genuinely heartwarming, but it's let down by attaching unnecessary additions.

Despite this, I rarely found myself caring about these issues. I was always swept away by the hopeful themes, the likeable cast, the interconnected narratives, and the unexpected twists along the way. Would I enjoy it as much on the second read, knowing everything? Probably not, but I feel like I'd still be entirely invested in the emotional believability. I enjoyed it as much reading its entirety today, as I did reading it by release up until chapter 50. Fuuka is rough, ridiculous, and rambunctious; but it's those aspects - collected in a poor attempt at alliteration - that add to the lifelike charm of the series. While it's not for everyone, it'll probably be a read that'll stick with me for a long time.

Fuuka is not a fantastic story as Suzuka. It has good and bad points. The hard question: Is it Suzuka’s sequel? For me, it is not. Some characters from the previous series appear here, at some point in the story, you will notice a disjuncture separating Fuuka from Suzuka, however. On the other hand, we can appreciate Seo’s style in the story. Furthermore, the story has some interesting twists that could get you happier and angry at the same time. It is hard to describe my feelings towards Fuuka but it is not Suzuka and never will.

If you are a fan of Suzuka, you ... will read the story but will find that Fuuka prolonged too much to the point that some parts of the plot are irrelevant and useless. Furthermore, Seo sometimes used a loop in the story that is very tedious. I don’t know, maybe it is Seo, but he enjoys reaching a climax and maintaining a never-ending loop until we get tired of it. In the end, you will be grateful for the story, but it won’t fulfill all your expectations. No matter the despiteful parts, the story is entertaining and combines an excellent visual with adequate flow from panel to panel. Also, if you haven’t read Suzuka don’t panic, you don’t need to read the previous series to understand Fuuka. Both stories separate after some chapters.

Sadly, some plot events will divide the readers. The half of the readers will call the manga abysmal, and another half-titled Fuuka as “unusual.” I call it, a tale of unexpected events with fascinating art and boring chapters. Also, I understand it is hard to express music with drawings and onomatopoeias, but give some credit to Seo; he did a good job. Sometimes, I felt the music rhythm and the lyrics, but the broken plot in some chapters end up lowering the momentum.

Lastly, maybe you are wondering, should I read Fuuka? My answer: Yes and no. I will say yes, if you are a fan of Seo’s works, you will know what to expect. No, if you cannot handle the plot twist and the disjuncture events that could kill the narrative. Also, a big NO if you don’t have patience in a story that overuses some events and exhausted the plot after several chapters. I loved Suzuka, and I follow Seo’s works. However, Fuuka is not Suzuka and isn’t near to the emotional level from the latter.

I can't tell you why I read this far. Here's how I imagine this series got created.

Author: What's the most formulaic way to make a popular manga. Let's take another androgynous lead and make a bunch of archetypical girls to form his harem! Wait we need another hook. Screw it, throw in some music and talk about climbing to the heavens or some bullshit. Wait we need Drama and angst! Let's kill off a character early in! That'll show that I'm edgy and anything can happen.

Seriously the art isn't anything special and is filled with fan service to keep 13 year old boys happy. ... The storyline is poor with only a few real twists and mostly focuses on the girls falling for this one moronic lead (who sucks but more on that in a sec). Now my real gripe with this story, The Characters.

If you aren't into the harem Genre this will have nothing for you. The characters don't really have any depths to them besides the superficial amount they mean to the main character. All of the girls in the series have one or two main characteristics and, shockingly, are in love with the MC. The few guys in the series are the same thing minus the loving the MC.
The one that really cements this for me is the Main Character. He is cheesy, wimpy, and a bit annoying. Now he turns out to be a giant hypocrite. I don't know why I was even a little surprised. SPOILER warning: I don't know how the hell an author could kill off the main character's girlfriend then bring in a girl that could be her clone in as the true love interest WITH THE SAME NAME as the former girlfriend. It is seriously like he was trying to troll his readers. Guess what, you succeeded and I hate you for it.

TLDR: If it looks like poop and smells like poop, its poop.