Mashiro-iro Symphony (PC & PSP)

[hyl]

i am not at home to check it out, but i am almost sure it was kadokawa

edit: i was right. It says Kadokawa Comics A on the cover.

[hyl]

Spoiler for episode 8:

the chances for a Mu ending have been increased alot. This episode is following the Miu route in the game almost exactly, even some dialogues are completely the same. Of course the anime skipped some filler parts that were in the game to move the plot.
They did change some things around the pannya flashback. Sana was telling the scene because she was there when it happened and they made this flashback scene happen earlier than in the game, but it does not change the story in any way though.
Maybe another hint for a Miu end is that the anime made the collapse of Miu much more dramatic than in the game.
Next week go we get to see Amaha yuiko and that means that the anime is still in the Miu route. Unless the anime does some kind of rushed , illogical emergency exit plot device that somehow brings Shingo out of the Miu route in the next episode , the ending girl will be Miu in my opinion.
But that would also mean "that scene" with sana will appear in the next episode or the one after that if the anime is following Miu's story.

Spoiler for music:

EDIT: Why am i such an idiot for not noticing ,after watching this episode for first time, that the music at the end is the anime piano version of Sayonara kimi no koe!! (that insert song that was only heard at nearly the end Miu's story with the Pannya scene)

Spoiler for Sana and Airi:

I was (and still am) rooting for Sana , but the buildup from last week and this week are probably meant to hit us harder when the swing scene in the rain happens.
Also i noticed in this episode that Airi is very perceptive and she probably knows by now what is going on with Sana.
And this might happen next week



edit:
Airi might end up being just a support character for Sana if the anime does not something to get out of Miu's story soon. Because the anime does still need to adress Airi's "problems" with her mother and it needs some development with Shingo before it can reach her end.

edit:

Spoiler for pannya flashback:

Actually it does bother me now why the anime moved this flashback. Seeing that this scene had importance in the game when Miu told her meeting with Pannya herself. Maybe i am just overthinking that this change might effect the anime's final heroine

[relentlessflame]

Spoiler for Episode 8 game comparison:

I basically agree with all your points, hyl, and I totally agree that Airi's "observations" are most likely to result in her accosting Sana about it, leading us ultimately to that swing scene. (They do show in the preview a shot of Sana with "Shingo", of course.) And when they do that, I think it could be an ideal way of putting a "cap" on Airi's chances as well, and gives the anime an opportunity to explain from her perspective why she's willing to do that. Airi's been observing Shingo for a long time now, and I think she too is someone who just wants him to be happy. And even though the anime showed that she was starting to fall in love with him, I think she -- like Sana -- will be willing to stand aside.

This is actually why it was significant in the game that Airi was the shoulder for Sana to cry on, because they were both actually similar in a lot of ways -- both didn't really accept men, both fell for the same guy (after he won them over with kindness), and both had to give him up so he could pursue the girl he loved. Airi's only advantage is that she didn't fall for him quite so hard (she wasn't quite to the point of being in love with him yet), and wasn't quite so blind to what was going on -- that's shown in this anime by her being so observant. She sees this coming whereas Sana just keeps lying to herself to the bitter end.

In Airi's plot, Shingo's feelings for Miu are "I want to be like you", but I can't really imagine him making that sort of declaration after this episode where Miu works herself to exhaustion. I think it's gone from admiration to "I want to be by your side/protect you". As you say, it'd take one heck of an emergency exit for him to go this far and be like "I just want to help you because you're a hard-working senpai".

Besides all that, we already know that marble recorded a version of "Sayonara kimi no koe", and it makes perfect sense for that to be used as an insert song in Episode 12 as the show's grand finale.

So yeah... I still can't ditch a nagging feeling that it's still somehow possible for them to take a detour (them re-writing the Pannya origin scene was another way of avoiding a confession from Shingo), but it's looking less likely for sure.

Edit: You just noted about that re-write of the origin scene too -- yeah, again, it follows the trend of them removing all the clear "flags" from the game, going all the way back to the grocery store and before. They rewrote it to be more about "Sana and Miu" as opposed to be about "Shingo and Miu", which is very interesting.

[Skyfall]

Spoiler for episode 8:

Suffice to say, I am easily in agreement - while there is the nagging doubt that they might try to, somehow, some way, shift back to Airi, this is starting to feel more and more like Miu's route in terms of the final destination. The way things are now, and with episode 9 continuing deeper in to Miu's path, I don't think I can envision Shingo switching away from Miu as his main focus without it feeling somewhat jarring. I also don't believe it serves any constructive goal to introduce Miu's mother at this point if they weren't going for it - she doesn't have any role to play outside of Miu's path.

Airi has been shown observing in the background indeed, but I don't believe her confronting Shingo about her own feelings is what's going to come of this - rather, I think this serves to show that Airi is very well aware of Sana's growing turmoil, culminating eventually in "swings in the rain" scene - since she has been observing Sana all this time, she would know she needs a shoulder to cry on. Past that, they can continue towards Miu's ending, possibly devoting an episode to Sakuno along the way.

At least that's how I would advance from this point onwards, as I believe it would be the smoothest and most natural development given how things stand now, with Shingo having yet to display tangible romantic interest in Airi, all the while getting progressively more involved in Miu.

Prior to this episode one could say he had a more deep connection with Airi, with his relationship with Miu being more superficial in comparison, but he/she has been gaining a lot of ground on that front during episode 8 (and likely 9 as well). Up to this point his interest in her has been largely "crush on first sight" I believe, but episode 8 was all about Shingo learning what makes Miu tick. And he found himself drawn in to her issues even more. After episode 9 passes by, I don't think Airi is going to have the "depth" advantage any longer.

Suffice to say, after his saying how he wants to support her and be her strength, I would find it considerably awkward would he to turn around after the immediate club crisis was solved to pursue a romantic relationship with someone else, with no previous buildup. The physical attraction part has long been covered, and episode 8 is well on its way to establish an emotional one. Indeed, Miu's ending is looking pretty likely at this point.

Of course, I have been wrong before (shocking, I know), and I would argue that VN adaptions often ignore the most "sensible" conclusion, but so far the staff behind Mashifoni anime show that they know what they are doing, IMHO. At this point (this point being anywhere past episode 9), trying to transition back to Airi as the romance interest would be detrimental to the show's writing I believe.

[Mahou]

Spoiler for Episode 8:

I agree that they should go down on Miu's route until the end. They included most of the important scenes that were developing here route so that all that's left is - as far as I can remember - Miu's mother, maybe the school speech by Airi's mother, the sad conclusion for Sana, confession and the final Pannya moment. Maybe a few scenes where Shingo is at her house to see Miu's mother interrupting their precious time . The way the anime is following hasn't a real obvious romance focus sans Sana perhaps and outside of blushing and as such Miu's route would fit into it more than Airi's. Of course it's my large bias in favor of Airi that claims the romance played a more "important" or uhm... active role there. The preview indicates more blushing (+ it looks "heavier") and I hope they show the scene where, IIRC, Shingo holds her hand when she slept in Sakuno's room. At first when I watched the previous or second last episode I thought they may opt for Sana's ending as a token for those (including myself) who haven't played the PSP version, but I don't have any profound reasonings for it

[Game8910]

Good lord when I started this anime I never expected to enjoy it so much, I've read some comments here and I agree that they have gone too deep into Miu's route to try to back out now without completely killing any sort of pace this anime had. However as a fan of Sana, I cant help but feel like I am in for a crushing couple of episodes.

Speaking of Sana, I realize she never had a route in the PC version of the game but she did for the PSP. Anyone care to fill me in on the details of how that route progressed?

[relentlessflame]

Originally Posted by Game8910

Speaking of Sana, I realize she never had a route in the PC version of the game but she did for the PSP. Anyone care to fill me in on the details of how that route progressed?

I posted something here a little while ago that covered part of it, and I really should finish the rest of it. Maybe I can find some time over the next week or two to finish it, as I assume there might be demand if the anime continues to go along its current path.

[Game8910]

Originally Posted by relentlessflame

I posted something here a little while ago that covered part of it, and I really should finish the rest of it. Maybe I can find some time over the next week or two to finish it, as I assume there might be demand if the anime continues to go along its current path.

Thanks for this, I now fully realize and see that my hopes for a Sana end will never be realized (unless original ending? YOU CAN DO IT MANGLOBE!)

However I think I liked the Sana events on the Miu route that I've read a bit more. Even if im bound to rage and cry eventually, im glad I found such a nice character in Sana by watching this series.

[relentlessflame]

Originally Posted by Game8910

Thanks for this, I now fully realize and see that my hopes for a Sana end will never be realized (unless original ending? YOU CAN DO IT MANGLOBE!)

However I think I liked the Sana events on the Miu route that I've read a bit more. Even if im bound to rage and cry eventually, im glad I found such a nice character in Sana by watching this series.

I like to think that the Sana events on Miu's route and the Sana events on her own route complement each other. This is why is was happy that her own route portrayed a different side and backstory that help us understand her a little bit better. But, as a point of interest, there is also the Sana-based manga, and this actually follows Miu's route events but switches it to a Sana ending. I won't say that it's totally impossible for the anime to go that way... but it'd require some major machinations to be sure. From a cynical marketing perspective, I think it makes more sense for them to animate Miu's route as in the game, because it gives motivation for people to want to seek out the PSP game to finally see Sana's happy ending. I know that's the main reason I bought it, anyway, and was not disappointed.

[Zavie]

Can anyone here summarize Sakuno's route for me? I'm quite curious how they handle the sibling relationship in this series, given Shingo so far has been one of the most sensible and realistic male-lead in eroge adaption I have seen. And there's almost no hope that they will do Sakuno's arc in the anime at this stage...

I have just stumbled on this thread yesterday after watching episode 8, mainly because of Sana and Miu. I was quite surprised to find out that Sana is not one of the main heroines in the original visual novel really!

[Mahou]

Spoiler for Sakuno's route:

Sakuno's route starts when a classmate of her puts love letters in Shingo's locker and later on confesses to him. Driven by Sana's not-so-sincere-intentions Airi, Sakuno and her follow Shingo and listen to the confession. And from here a more or less long serieres of uncertainty begins where Sakuno starts wondering how Shingo will reply to the sudden confession and their good harmony slows down for the time being while Airi becomes her best friend and important listening partner. In between you have Shingo accidentally catching Sakuno in underwear which made him startle by his own surprise later on. Sakuno would be fine to stay as his sister if he were to fall for Airi, but Airi states she doesn't think of Shingo in this way and Shingo says the same on another dialgue. And you will find out that they are not blood-related and both think that the other doesn't remember it. Anyway, Shingo rejects the girl and Sakuno finds herself relieved by it as she cannot imagine Shingo leaving her. Now my memory is a bit blurry, so I'll skip ahead. Once both start to realize that liking the other is actually love and are willing to accept this step in relationship, they tell their respective best friends (i. e. Hayato and Airi) that they are not blood-related after the initial suprise of their buddies. Before Shingo manages to confess to Sakuno, a phonecall from her father arrives which leads that Sakuno doubts the decision because even though they would be happy with it as would their friends, they forgot about the parents who have been out of the house. So when Shingo confesses Sakuno rejects him and insists that remaining siblings is okay. Of course in the end both speak their mind out confess again, kiss and start their new relationship. Simultanously the school is more and more against the change of the school merger and Sakuno thinks it's because of her changed relationship with Shingo while they try to hide their relationship at school except for their friends who know about it. After a while Shingo decides to phone his father and tell him about their relationship and Sakuno agrees after the starting uneasieness. At first it looks like the father isn't very happy with it and demands that they break up, but both insist that they will keep going and - I think - it's revealed that the father was half-serious with it and acknwledges their lovership. Once it's known that the school merger was rejected Sakuno decides that she wants to graduate at the school and Shingo says he'll stay with her and as such they spend his remaining school days happily. His good relationship with the remaining girls remained and they gave a surprise farewell party(?) at the classroom. The epilogue ends with Sakuno graduating and Shingo picking her up at school.

That's what I can remember and there are some blurry parts I have likely forgotten. Overall her path had for my taste too much uneasyness on-going in contrast to the calm moments after the change in relationship.

[Zavie]

Originally Posted by Mahou

Spoiler for Sakuno's route:

And you will find out that they are not blood-related and both think that the other doesn't remember it.

So in the end, it came down to this huh? I'm not surprised but at the same time, I am. I hoped that the way Palette handles the sibling issue would be different...

[hyl]

Spoiler for Sakuno:

Well they were both very young when their biological parents married with eachother. They have been together for so long, i wouldn't find it strange if they both thought that the other has forgotten about it


edit: So yeah, her story doesn't exactly seem compatibel with the anime unless they want to do this by replacing unknown classmate who tried to confess to Shingo with one of the other heroines that confesses to Shingo. But that wouldn't seem to logical that Shingo would shoot down either Miu or Airi at this point.

[Zavie]

Spoiler for Sakuno:

I don't mean that the fact they are not blood related is strange. It just that I hoped for something a bit different rather than the blood-related fact (which to me is too solvable), and this is totally uncommon in this eroge-adapt-theme.

Maybe somewhere inside me I wanted a real incest relationship with those two, hehe, idk...

[hyl]

Spoiler for spoiler:

Actually I find it somewhat less awkward for them to love eachother if they know that they are not bloodrelated then if they were.
If you wanted an actual incest eroge or anime adaptions, there are more than enough other choices though

[Zavie]

Spoiler for ...:

Well, I haven't read the novel yet, so I don't know if you are talking less awkward in general or just in Shingo/Sakuno case.

To me, in the end, it's just the matter of overcoming the moral and social barrier, doesn't matter if they are blood-related or not (I fully understand how hard this can be though). And being non blood-related just makes the whole process easier and more bearable, when they are not guilty by the law at least.

It just that I hoped for something a bit more dark, idk why...

Edit: Screw what i said, just finished watching Kimi ga Nozomu Eien, I'm perfectly happy with the way things in this show are...

[johnishida]

Originally Posted by Zavie

Spoiler for ...:

Well, I haven't read the novel yet, so I don't know if you are talking less awkward in general or just in Shingo/Sakuno case.

To me, in the end, it's just the matter of overcoming the moral and social barrier, doesn't matter if they are blood-related or not (I fully understand how hard this can be though). And being non blood-related just makes the whole process easier and more bearable, when they are not guilty by the law at least.

It just that I hoped for something a bit more dark, idk why...

Edit: Screw what i said, just finished watching Kimi ga Nozomu Eien, I'm perfectly happy with the way things in this show are...

Well, it's not like they don't have to deal with the social aspect...

Spoiler for Spoiler:

Only Airi and Hayata know about the non-blood relation between Shingo and Sakuno. When they start going out the most of the school starts to ill speak of them and Sakuno even gets "bullied" a few times developing in some drama.

When the merging of schools is canceled. Sakuno decides to stay in Yuijou because of her relationship with Shingo. They have spent so much time together they had starting to lose sight of their surroundings only caring for each other even though there are other things important to them.

IIRC, it's implied that, by going to different schools, both Shingo and Sakuno want to make sure their feelings are truly "love".

Hope that helps.

[Skyfall]

Just to add some random musings regarding the next episode's title, that popped up in my head earlier today while working (yes ...I think about this show while working ...bite me!) - "Two of the same color". The fact it refers to Shingo, Miu and the similarities between the two is all but a foregone conclusion, but I was thinking, that's not necessarily all it could refer to.

Under the assumption we are indeed heading for Miu's end, we are going to arrive at the "swings in rain" scene sooner or later. I don't really remember how soon this scene happened in the original (been a while since I read through it), but if we indeed head down that road, I could see them perhaps using said scene to end episode 9. And as much as said phrase can be used to draw similarities between Miu/Shingo, I think it could apply to Airi/Sana as well. After all, if Shingo indeed goes for Miu, their situations are pretty close reflections of each other.

Two friends, both somewhat dishonest about their feelings, both having fallen for the same guy, and both having spent the last couple of episodes watching him get closer to someone else, and if that goes through, both will likely swallow their own feelings in silence, only having each others shoulder to cry on, so to speak. While Sana is in a bit deeper than Airi at this point, the similarities between their situations are pretty striking. So ...yeah. As much as the title seems tailored for Miu/Shingo, I think it could apply to Sana/Airi as well, even if these similarities are a little more subtle compared to Miu/Shingo ones, which are practically spelled out for us.

Does that amount to anything in the end ? Honestly I'm not sure, just thinking aloud here. I just thought of this potentially dual-layered meaning of the title as interesting. Or maybe I should simply stop thinking about anime while working, and save everyone from my rambling

[relentlessflame]

No, I think you're exactly right, and I said something a bit similar a while ago... but I hadn't connected it to the title. You're quite right that it's too much to assume that "the two of the same color" have to be Miu and Shingo. This is why some of the discussion in the other thread about getting "closure" for Airi really can't be answered over there. If they do go for Miu's route, this is an ideal way of closing the book for both Airi and Sana. If they want to emphasize this more, they could even show Airi being a little more emotional about it, given that her romantic development was arguably a bit more advanced in the anime than it was in the game. So indeed, rather than just Sana crying on Airi's shoulder (as in the game), they could literally cry on each others' shoulders (perhaps accompanied by a brief little montage from Airi's perspective of her getting close to Shingo to emphasize the point). It would be a good way of conceding that Airi was too developing feelings that will end up not being requited due to circumstance (and would likely make the transition from Airi to Miu a bit smoother/more palatable for anime-only viewers).

I'm kind of trying to avoid having a "perfect way they should do the anime" in my head, and so keep an open mind... but the more I think about this, the more I like this approach.

Edit: Incidentally, one other small thing I noticed when I rewatched episode 1 today.

Spoiler for Episode 1 possible ending hints:

Assuming we're following Miu's ending, it's likely very significant that they showed Pannya along the path of footsteps in snow. I think they could change the timing of things ever so slightly so that Miu and Shingo are the ones walking on that snowy path. And then, Pannya...

And yeah, I'm definitely having a hard time not thinking about this show at work. I'm really wrapped up in this show; I'm glad they're doing such a good job adapting the game (IMO). Shame more people didn't give it a chance.

[Mahou]

If I remember it correctly, the swing scene where Sana cries on Airi's shoulder happens when she sees Shingo and Miu hugging eachother in the club room. Should they go all the way, it would be a good second last episode with the last one focusing on the Pannya conclusion and the epilogue. Unless the anime switches the events around a bit in order to use the swing scene in the next episode or tries to pack it in there. The latter might not work, but it depends on what they decide to include. Let's say they use the scene where Miu rests at Shingo's home, introduction of her mother and maybe one visit to her house, then they could skip forward by ignoring the further visits (and Shingo catching a Miu-in-underwear when he forgot something at her home ). But still, I don't think the time limit allows for all of it.