Me like this. Anyone who have a discord for this. Please hit me up.. And yeah this isnt yuri?? So i dont know why people hating it because its not yuri. I like the art and the story revolves it. Hahaha. So maybe im simpleton., but im still digging it..

last edited at Jun 23, 2017 7:51AM

Even now, I'd strongly say that season 1 was definitely not bait. Kumiko wasn't just flirty with Reina, she was hella gay all the time - she even gets roped back into band because she can't say no to a pretty girl. And so much of the themes of season 1 overlap with Kumiko becoming OK with not fitting in to the group - both as a musician who's ambitious, and as a gay girl surrounded by straight kids. And anytime there's a shot checking out the bodies of Reina or Kumiko, the editing specifically puts it in context of one of the girls looking - and being attracted to - the other one. The only reason Shuuichi exists in season 1 is to demonstrate Kumiko's interest in Reina, he keeps trying to lowkey ask her out, and Kumiko keeps turning him down and then doing those things with Reina instead. Like, I don't give a crap what's in the novels, season 1 is super gay.

In season 2 it's obvious the studio decided to go in a different direction after episode 201 (iirc they had some staff changes), and after that, yeah, it's straight girls with yuri baiting. Among other changes, the sense of physical awareness and attraction that was constant in season 1 between K & R disappears in season 2. I didn't much like season 2. But that still doesn't take away from what was in season 1, which works pretty darn well as its own self-contained story.

Even now, I'd strongly say that season 1 was definitely not bait. Kumiko wasn't just flirty with Reina, she was hella gay all the time - she even gets roped back into band because she can't say no to a pretty girl. And so much of the themes of season 1 overlap with Kumiko becoming OK with not fitting in to the group - both as a musician who's ambitious, and as a gay girl surrounded by straight kids. And anytime there's a shot checking out the bodies of Reina or Kumiko, the editing specifically puts it in context of one of the girls looking - and being attracted to - the other one. The only reason Shuuichi exists in season 1 is to demonstrate Kumiko's interest in Reina, he keeps trying to lowkey ask her out, and Kumiko keeps turning him down and then doing those things with Reina instead. Like, I don't give a crap what's in the novels, season 1 is super gay.

In season 2 it's obvious the studio decided to go in a different direction after episode 201 (iirc they had some staff changes), and after that, yeah, it's straight girls with yuri baiting. Among other changes, the sense of physical awareness and attraction that was constant in season 1 between K & R disappears in season 2. I didn't much like season 2. But that still doesn't take away from what was in season 1, which works pretty darn well as its own self-contained story.

As a disclaimer, I'd like to state that I never watched Hibike and never will 'cause of all this queerbaiting nonsense. That said, I suppose the way you present this is more reasonable. Fuck you, Kyoani, for changing the direction and all that (if that's not what happened, well, fuck you anyway). I have a definite issue with referring to it as a self-contained story though since, you know, Kumiko and Reina never actually start going out, do they? I guess you could just ignore Season 2 and think wistfully about what could have been and write fanfics and all that, but, well, it's not the same as them actually becoming a couple in the story proper. I'd argue that it does take away from what was in Season 1 if their relationship is confined to never fucking go anywhere. Anyhow, wasn't Reina in love with her asshole teacher (I don't even know anything about him, but I'm gonna call him "asshole teacher") even in Season 1? I might be wrong there, but it seems like a decent indication to me that they never planned to go through with the yuri thing if Reina was confirmed to be in love with asshole teacher and not Kumiko.

last edited at Jun 23, 2017 6:44PM

One of the movies will be about Nozomi and Mizore, maybe that one will be a little yuri-ish. It's interesting that they decided to explore more of those two.

last edited at Jun 23, 2017 9:54PM

Hibike is about best friends that have a common (red) thread between them. Kumiko and Reina both have the same goal of winning the musical competition. Even though, their motivations are different. There was no queerbaiting in season 1 it was purely friendship on a super no-homo basis. There was no flirting or date night by the mountains. There was no checking of boobs. Season 2 never had a scene with Kumiko and Reina seeing the fireworks together with lewd handholding. The anime was purely about the music and the goal of getting gold in the musical competition. Cough~ eventhough that didn't happen Cough

This anime is not queerbaiting it’s just a story of two girls and getting gold in a music competition. Not referencing two girls and one cup video. The two movies will probably not be about the class getting two dud golds. I will watch the two movies and enjoy the no homo friendship that the characters have. I was being sarcastic about all this, just informing people as sarcasm is hard to do on the interwebs