Sakamichi no Apollon 06 – Rapidly Falling Out of Favor

Pictured from left to right: Unrequited love, unrequited love, evil boss, questioning love

The 6th episode of Apollon brings with it a mix of Greek philosophy and new characters and music. The resulting combination ends up even further complicating the relationships that have been established in this episode, while also setting up further conflict in the future. The driving factor in all of this, Jun’s cynicism about people in general.

Ritsuko realizes that all popular media eventually has to lose popularity, but the film she wants to see will be back someday

This was probably the first episode of the series that I found interesting in a musical sense for the fact that it is beginning to evolve with the setting of the series. I think it really begins with Ritsuko liking the song “My Favorite Things” fromThe Sound of Music. It’s a well-known song even though she had never seen the movie. More important was in how she put it. She believed that the movie would still be around to watch forever, until suddenly it wasn’t. Not enough people wanted to watch a movie that had been out for 2 years, so it was replaced by something else.

Secretly, Kaoru is thinking that this track should have gone on the Samurai Champloo soundtrack

That basically provided the platform for the rest of the episode. Kaoru plays the song on the piano in the basement, and Sentarou joins in on the drums as it is turned into a drum piece, but Kaoru stops himself. That scene presented an interesting fusion of music which pervaded even the background music. The simple backing from last episode was now given an even more downtempo feeling. In Kaoru following Sentarou on his date with Yurika and Kaoru remembering his childhood, that sound was the first thing I noticed.

This will not end well.

At the same time came the introduction Matsuoka Seiji, an eccentric student in Sentarou’s new class who also wants to become a rock star. He also has a bit of an inferiority comples as the youngest of many brothers. He’s also willing to do anything he has to do to make sure he can secure Sentarou as the drummer of his new band. He starts by feeding him Beatles records to plant the seed that he could play that type of music and stressing how popular it can make people.

So it turns out the train otaku can also play the guitar like a boss.

All Seiji has to do is try to break the ties that would prevent Sentarou from joining the band, which would be his attachments to jazz, his friends. Now as the music is the main focus of this part of the post, it would be hard not to point out something that is completely obvious. Between rock and jazz, there is one common role that can cross over between the two, the drummer. As jazz is on the wane and rock is heading in the opposite direction, Kaoru’s musical talents aren’t essential to attain popularity as Sentarou’s would be. The question at the center is how much does Sentarou want to try to play rock music?

Interesting use of the fang in a prospective male pop star in 1967

Which leads the other main theme of this episode, Kaoru and Sentarou’s diverging views on relationships. By this point, Kaoru had given up on love in his mind. The only situation he would accept is Ritsuko and Sentarou ending up happily together. Everyone else who threatened that he would try to damage. So he has no qualms telling Yurika that he basically saw her letter while Jun was out living with other people. He also doesn’t mind telling Sentarou that he has no chance with Yurika without outright telling him she was sending letters to Jun. All Kaoru wants is the certainty that Ritsuko and Sentarou will end up together. It would allow him to move on with his life knowing that his two friends were happy and that he never had a chance with her to begin with. The absolute last thing he needs is a hope that would be extinguished like it had so many times in the past by kids he thought were friends.

Yurika, I must destroy you.

Sentarou, on the other hand, absolutely lives for hope. He pretty much undoes everything Kaoru had done previously. He tells Ritsuko to take care of Kaoru. His date with Yurika revives her enthusiasm with Jun. He can’t seem to figure out that Jun was the reason his date went badly in his mind, but Seiji feeds him more hope back in class. He responds by helping out with Seiji’s band since they need a drummer for at least the cultural festival.

Sentarou, that’s called foreshadowing.

Finally, this all wraps up in the tale of Apollo and Daphne from Yurika’s painting. The role of Daphne is being played by Kaoru because he wants nothing to do with other people. He’s been able to do things on his own, so he thinks he should be able to go back to doing so while at the same time he’s completely scared of being alone. Sentarou, would be Apollo because he seems to be easily swayed by others and he continues to care about Kaoru even as he tries to be all things to all people.

The alcoholic at the end of the bar, is he the cart driver?

Next week, it looks like the mystery of Jun’s whereabouts is resolved. Though he looked much worse for wear at the bar if that was him. As for where this series is heading now, it seems like it is heading to a bad place for everyone involved. Seiji just seems like a monster with a compelling enough story to convince Sentarou. Ritsuko seems to be swaying toward Kaoru, right at the wrong time for him to even want to notice. It sort of feels like no one will end up happy in the end.