Talk:Upperclassmen!/@comment-25308539-20140901173107

I thought this episode would be easy to write, seeing as it's structured roughly similarly to #13 with Azusa in discrete scenes, but it somehow turned out to be the most difficult yet.

Firstly, I didn't want to say it outright in the plot summary, but could there be some inkling of a yuri subtext when Ritsu says that Azusa and Mugi's moment together "seemed really interesting"?

The real roadblock is the scene with Yui near the end. The reading I pushed into the summary is that Azusa's trying to consolidate her identity. She came into the club with grand ambitions, and even in the episode where she joins, she threatens to leave since the club's lazy. Azusa is strict and determined - we get that.

What we see over the course of the show is that she starts to soften down. My reasoning behind this would be that as she's become more integrated into the club, she finds that she enjoys the tea, cake, and company just as much as the music side to the club.

What we see in this episode is a reaction to this merging of the club's culture into her personality. A recurring theme is the whole "this isn't me" thing. Realising she's losing her identity to the club, Azusa reverts back to the self she wants to be known for, and amplifies it, to try to redefine her 'real self'.

From this, I read Yui's message to mean that regardless of what you show the world and what you keep hidden, you are you. In Azusa's case, it doesn't matter if she secretly wants tea and cake just as much as she wants to practice, the mere fact that she has such strong aspirations for the club speaks volumes about her as a person.

That, or I'm overthinking this completely. Thoughts or opinions?