Mayonaka Heart Tune Ep.10 - Uzuki's thoughts. Now finale with Rikka?

Episode 10 of Mayonaka Heart Tune continues, as expected, with an Uzuki-centric episode. To be honest, it was a bit of a mess, though not because of the story content itself. Instead, the problem was the overall direction of the episode. Most notably, the animation regressed after a great episode last week, and the decline was painfully evident.

There were many still images, some of which were drawn so poorly that you could see the distortions in the characters' faces even without pausing the video. It reminded me of the same issues we saw in the Rikka-focused seventh episode. I wonder if these specific episodes were produced by a different team or if they required significant redrawing.

Now that's an awkward courage, but courage nevertheless. Uzuki good job there.

I think at this point they gave up in drawing full Iko and thought cat-mode is cuter. I agree, but still...

To make matters worse, the episode was filled with frequent flashbacks of past events, which broke the focus on Uzuki when she should have been the center of attention. This may have been a technique used to reduce the amount of drawing required, but it was still quite disappointing.

The story itself was fine. The first half covered the typical school broadcast that Uzuki and her friends work on, featuring relationship advice and some comedy involving the PE teacher. He ended up being the one asking for suggestions as he tries to pursue Lemon, who is absolutely not interested. We also see a classic argument between Nene and Rikka regarding Yamabuki, which is broadcast to the entire school after Uzuki accidentally clicks the microphone button.

The second half focused more on Uzuki herself as she becomes increasingly aware of how the other girls are progressing both with their dreams and their relationships with Yamabuki. This steels her resolve to improve and eventually find the courage to ask him to call her by her first name.

With only two episodes remaining until the end of the series, I assume the next episode will either be Rikka-focused to complete the cycle or the start of a final story arc to conclude the anime. I am not sure what the focus of such an arc would be, as it is clear that Apollo's identity will remain a secret until much later in the story.

Lots of still frames barely animated, some look decent like this one. Others were less lucky...

Uzuki's final resolution was great too, she's growing too as a character. Even though she hasn't got any special training as announcer from Yamabuki.

I have already purchased the manga and am ready to start reading it once the anime concludes, and I will cover it here as well. The anime succeeded in introducing me to the series, and I love both the premise and the characters, but the inconsistent production values make it difficult for me to recommend the adaptation to others.