As a Tsubaki fan, this is one of my favourite episodes of the series.
Tsubaki[]
Hmm, where to begin. I'll go chronologically. As I said, in the last one, Tsubaki is under the impression that Kousei is her kid brother, when really, he's grown since the start and she just can't accept it. Props to Nao for trying to help her out though. If Kaori had stayed with us by the end of the season, I'm not sure where she'd be. Nao is acting like a true friend and trying to tell her that you've gotta accept that you do like him, or you're gonna get caught in the friendzone. Oof. I thik the great tragedy is that its kind of like she was friendzoning Kousei, when, in reality she was the one being friendzoned. That, as well as (revelaed an ep or so later) that she likes to be with her opposites, which just doesn't work. In this case, her opposites are musicians, but every single musician in YLIA likes another musician (e.g. Nagi, Kousei, Kaori, Emi), so theoretically, she will never find love. Its a shame because I think Saito actually liked her and what he said later was just a cover. I think she's one of those people who aren't really used to change in any way. Sorry.
The symbolism was top notch too. The mudballs being shiny and polished with no flaws (her ideal relationship with Kousei) only to find an ep or so later that they were cracked and broken (reality). Also, the footprints, showing that Kousei has grown out of her shadow.
When later on in the episode, she's thinking about 'like' and 'don't dislike' and Kousei comes right on queue, tells you everything you need to know. I think that was part of her realisation that she really is into Kousei, as well as other moments. The English dub actually captures it quite well too with 'love' and 'like'. Its sad she doesn't like music buecause she knows she's got nothing in common with him and music takes him away from her. Moving on, the moment Kousei said that he was heading out for music school was heartbreaking. I can tell exactly what she was feeling there. When I was 11, I moved from England to Australia. And while I don't mind Australia, I just love England so much, and it was mostly because of the people at my school. I wanted to stay with them forever, grow up and graduate with them. I wish I still had, Its the same thing with Tsubaki except he's the one leaving instead of her.
So yeah, Tsubaki is one of my favourite characters ever. Its sad we'll never know what will happen to her. I wonder if she got to be with Kousei, or that was left for Emi. Maybe she found someone else. I'll never know. Maybe I'll write a fanfiction for what happened after Your Lie in April ended. Oh... wait a minute... I've got nothing left for the rest of my Tsubaki essays in the coming episodes! AAAHHHHHH
Go check out the AMV page. There's some Tsubaki AMVs there.
