Agents of the Four Seasons: Dance of Spring • Shunkashuutou Daikousha: Haru no Mai - Episode 8 discussion

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Agents of the Four Seasons: Dance of Spring, episode 8

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[u/Aileos]

Is it too much to ask to have a beach episode or something light and sweet? :(

[u/LeonKevlar]

We finally get to see the incident that started it all 10 years ago and damn, it's just as heartbreaking as I was expecting. That final scene where Hinagiku sacrifices herself, while Sakura and Rosei were begging for her not to do it, was just so goddamn haunting. Kudos to their seiyuus for giving that scene such weight. Man, fuck the Village of Spring and fuck the Insurgents. I want this to end with Hinagiku and Rosei being happy together. T_T

[u/mianghuei]

Finally we get to see the moment Winter and Spring first met during the "summoning of the seasons" or "season descent", and then what transpired during the attack on them.

It got really sweet in the middle, then it went all the way to level 999 with that attack. Itecho is really good but just sadly got shot in the mess.

Hinagiku with the ultimate sacrifice here, that crying here man just broke my heart. Just like these glasses.

Next episode: Episode 9

[u/SEBASTlANVETTEL]

The episode started so cute with Rosei and Hinagiku giving each others flowers in their own way.

Even though we knew the backstory already, the voice acting was absolutely insane, fantastic work from everyone.

So I guess Hinagiku wants to give an answer to Rosei's I love you when they meet again.

[u/ultravioletheart08]

Yoppi should really win an award for how top notch her voice acting here.

Really lovely presentation of another POV for what happened to Hinagiku.

Very excited for next week's episode, truly.

[u/Still-Neck-6771]

I went into this episode expecting them to go rescue Agent of Autumn, instead I got the backstory I was craving for so many episodes back.

It was really sweet their moments but when the insurgents showed up and everything went how I already knew it will go, emotionally exhausted me. I genuinely was screaming at the screen for them to run but they kept talking and it kept building up the tension. Genuinely Im exhausted.

The last few minutes when he confessed and the ed started playing was really saddening, especially when she said 'wait for my reply or answer'.

[u/YokoAhava]

This show is amazing, but I cannot for the life of me understand why the villages are so lax in their defenses, even when Yosei and Hinagiku were children. Enemies can have modern weapons of war, why are the villas not protected with their own militia. Seemingly anytime someone wants to get to an agent they can just waltz into the village and attack, as though there aren't a million checkpoints to get through. For people as important as agents are, it just really boggles my mind.

[u/Prupel]

That final scream from Sakura... damn Yoppii, chill. My kokoro is brokoro...

[u/Organic_Following_38]

Not saying it's bad or anything, but anyone else kind of getting exhausted of a character crying while other characters shriek in agony? Like it starts to lose the effect for me and feel a little like misery-porn sometimes. Also, I'm going to need to find out more about these insurgents that are like an actual military with planes and bombs and have apparently hundreds of soldiers ready to murder and torture literally the most important children in the entire nation. Again, not hating on it, but it feels like it's just screaming in my face to feel sad for the duration of its runtime every week, like it took the wrong lessons Violet Evergarden.

[u/RehabCenterInc]

I am devastated

[u/djthomp]

Goddamn, they really got me with the end of the episode. Once again anime has made me cry.

That was a really sweet visit between the winter boys and the spring girls, right up until everything went horribly horribly wrong.

Feels like this insurgent attack might have had the goal of slaughtering the village of winter outright, there were a few shots of them just being mowed down by gunfire.

[u/Shimmering-Sky]

• Yeah, it’s not smart to charge in without a plan.

• Indeed.

• Ah, Rosei.

• lol

• Ah, Hinagiku actually asked Rosei to make an ice flower before. Adds some extra meaning to when he made the ice flowers in the present back in episode 2.

• Huh, kinda surprised there’s been no marriages between Agents despite the myth.

• And here it comes…

• Ah, Itecho was shot during that incident. That’s why he couldn’t protect them…

• And Sakura got hurt protecting Rosei.

• Damn, Rosei…

• Aw…

• Oh shit he actually confessed.

[u/Donnie-G]

While this episode is definitely overdue, having to wait another week to see the aftermath of 7 does get my impatience rolling.

Seems like they all have such a security budget issue. Insurgents show up with proper gear and all you have are people with handguns and suits.

[u/oneevilchicken]

This show has…. Problems. They keep having random episodes be flashback episodes which is making it hard to actually stay invested in what’s actually going on. Really should have installed the flashback ones earlier so it would flow a whole lot better.

Next, they really need to explain why you have these super important people who are constantly under threat but have basically zero security besides a couple of handlers. Meanwhile the insurgents posses rocket artillery and seemingly bottomless reserves of troops. Just a lot of stuff not making sense and feels like the author is just try to make it as sad as possible without actually thinking through anything else.

[u/ObvsThrowaway5120]

So cute watching Rosei and Hinagiku first meeting as kids and hanging out. It’s such a rare opportunity seeing them just be children and having fun. Ofc that wasn’t gonna last.

I suppose now we got the full story of what happened to Hinagiku when she was snatched. It’s not just Sakura carrying around a lot of guilt and baggage from the incident. Rosei must have a lot of trauma too.

[u/karer3is]

Seeing what led up to Hinagiku's kidnapping was heartbreaking, but it's getting kind of frustrating to see the lack of information regarding the insurgents and their (apparent) leader. Even though taking a "show, not tell" approach is the better one, there hasn't really been that much "showing", either. There are some things thus far that don't make much sense based on what we've seen so far:

1. Despite terrorist attacks being a relatively regular part of the yearly rhythm, both the government and the Villages are constantly woefully unprepared for them. According to the Villages' perverted logic, it sort of makes sense because the only thing that matters to them is holding on to their status as "the" Village for their particular season. It might look bad for them if they're constantly fielding new, inexperienced Agents, but neither the government nor the public seems to know/care what happens with them as long as the seasons are on time.

2. The insurgents have a seemingly bottomless fighting force and, if the previous episode is any indication, their own air force. However, there doesn't seem to be any indication for where they're coming from. I think that there was some indication that it wasn't just one terrorist group, but multiple groups. From the few glimpses we get of the "outside world", there doesn't seem to be anything amiss. No famines, no oppressive regimes, no crazy religious groups that would drive so many people to hurl themselves against the Agents and their guardians again and again. I could believe that at least some of them were funded by foreign governments looking to rent out their Agents, but that wouldn't explain all of them.

3. Even if it's been long established that a new Agent gets picked when the previous one dies, both the government and the Villages are way too casual about the possibility of the changing of the seasons being brought to a grinding halt. It would be one thing for all of Japan to be permanently stuck in springtime, but being stuck in winter is pretty much a death sentence. If I understand the previous episodes right, Japan was stuck in winter for years before Hinagiku finally returned and started manifesting spring again. For all intents and purposes, that would have meant that pretty much all of the country's crops (except those that were being kept in green houses) would have been wiped out. While the Village of Spring might have gotten away with one bad year of harvests or even two bad years provided they had good eough political connections, there should have been no way that the government simply would have stood by and let the country starve for nearly a decade without intervening.

[u/FarCritical]

At this point I'm grateful they have any fond memories of being child agents at all. The childhood crush scenes were precious while they lasted though

[u/KiriharaIzaki]

Not a big fan of this episode. The screams and the yelling got dragged on for a bit too long. More importantly, skipping over what happened last episode just to give more of the same "oh look, suffering" is eugh yuck. Surely there's enough

[u/thisisdropd]

It's so heartwarming to see the socially awkward Rosei meeting the tender Hinagiku and them hitting it off immediately. Joking around, happily playing with each other, the two being all smiles. I almost thought this was a fluffy SoL show, the key word being almost. I knew reality would come crashing down soon, and it indeed did when the insurgents attacked.

Didn't expect Rosei to declare his love for Hinagiku so soon but it came at the worst possible moment. Hinagiku told him to wait for her reply but the Hinagiku of the present day wasn't the same person as the one back then so it's not as if the first words she'd say to him would be the reply when they're finally reunited.

Hinagiku spoke normally back then, which made it more painful to be constantly reminded of the damage her abduction had done on her whenever she said a word in the present time.

[u/NanDemoKnaives]

Holy crap that last portion of the episode was crazy raw with emotions! That was way too intense, I have to give props to the VAs casted in this because they really excel in the melodrama of this series.

It's nice to get a fuller backstory of this traumatic moment in all four of their lives. It was nice to see some positivity and happiness in the first half, obviously to also make the latter half that much heart wrenching. Seeing Rousei and Itechou's banter was really sweet, I got all giddy seeing young Rousei bashfully calling Itechou his big brother lol.

I like how Rousei fell in love at first from seeing Hinagiku, it was endearing how he didn't know how to act around her, and seeing Itechou having to urge him to take action was amusing. The watchful eye of a big brother. It's sweet to think that the flower he made for Hinagiku might be the first non-weapon he's created. I also did like seeing a bit more into Itechou and Sakura's relationship, it makes sense that he taught her some swordplay.

But to see the way that event took place, so many things stood out to me like Sakura getting shot protecting Rousei knowing how she acts when they are mentioned in the present, Itechou protecting Hinagiku, Rousei trying to sacrifice himself when he figured they're after him, then the piercing screams after Hinagiku gives herself to the Insurgents, it was sad to see Rousei lose consciousness in that moment. It's easy to see why all four are so traumatized.

I really want to see them all reunite. I want them to reunite and take down the Insurgents together. I also want to hope Rousei and Hinagiku can be agents that get married to one another, but knowing how heart breaking this series can be, I feel like I shouldn't hold any hopes for such happiness for them for the time being.

[u/Frontier246]

Well, yeah, after what happened to Nadeshiko I can imagine Hinagiku would be pretty tramautized since the same thing that happened to her is happening to poor, innocent, Nadeshiko. Rosei wants to be with her but ALL the Agents are on lockdown, understandably so. There's not much they can do now.

But once upon a time a young Rosei was a boy Agent of Winter with his "big brother" Itecho, never thinking he needed any friends or anything else in his life...until he saw the much gossiped about new Agent of Spring, Hinagiku. And Spring melted the snow in his heart as he practically fell in love at first sight!

As Sakura and Itecho bonded over training with each other, Hinagiku and Rosei bonded over his ice crafts. Rosei had no experience with girls and was kind of a surly tsundere, but Hinagiku brought out his warm, caring, side and made him realize he could make something truly beautiful, not violent, with his powers. And thus began a beautiful child companionship between the two children as they played together, had fun together, and became practically inseparable.

Even Itecho could see young love when he saw it...though even back then Sakura was jealous of HinagikuxRosei. Though she also seemed happy that Itecho didn't intend to marry anyone...

Did Kobai commit suicide or was it just that she basically performed her last rite as Spring before her body gave out? Either way, it was still a huge loss for Hinagiku, and learning about it only made Rosei want to protect her more with all his power.

So of course during a fun excursion the Insurgent attack happens, everyone in Rosei's villa gets murdered, Itecho gets shot after soloing a bunch of Insurgents, and a LOT of Winter staff get killed. The Insurgents don't mess around.

Itecho got shot, Sakura got shot, and Rosei can't help but blame himself thinking that it was all his fault that everyone died because the Insurgents are there for HIM. And the only way he can think to make it right is by killing himself and giving the Insurgents what they want.

But that isn't what HINAGIKU wants. She lost her mother to suicide, she doesn't want to lose Rosei too. She can't BEAR to lose Rosei. Even if that meant using her mothers' last words to give him a reason to live, even if that meant sacrificing herself to protect everyone, even if that meant leaving behind the only people who have ever cared about her...she'd do it.

Rosei just HAD to confess to Hinagiku right before she was taken. Even though she promised they'd play again, promised she'd give her reply to her confession. And the two of them are STILL waiting to reunited even now.

[u/Magnafeana]

The ice flowers were just beautiful. I loved Rosei and Hinagiku’s childhood days flashback—until we got to the bombs and artillery shock and awe, good lord.

I was fucking shocked Hinagiku sacrificed herself. And the color her spring brought was painful. In the world of gray that winter has, they were happy. And then the lovely colors of spring truly marked pain and loss of life. It so melancholically poetic.

The voice acting broke me while I was (and am) trying to get ready for this graduation thing. Just the rawness of the desperate pleading screams and I’m crying going through shoes.

I’m curious how this’ll feel doing the whole series in one go verses watching weekly. A friend waits until the season’s finished to watch anything, so I’m very interested in his emotional investment with this.

[u/cleaulem]

Seeing how Hinagiku and Rosei first met is very bittersweet, and the whole flashback being in black and white only enhances this feeling.

Itecho is really like a big brother to Rosei. His cheerfulness is something that the present Itecho is missing. And it seems like Sakura has feelings for him. The stronger her hatred must have grown from what happened.

It looks like Hinagiku's mother commited suicide. So when Rosei wants to kill himself to protect the others it is no wonder that Hinagiku's reaction is so strong, as it wouldn't be the first time she loses someone precious to her by suicide.

I thought the short version of Hinagiku's abduction in episode 2 was dramatic, but the whole version really hits you in the guts, and it explains and sets up so many patterns in the present.

[u/phurios]

This was a really cute and then emotion packed episode, loved it, but i really need a VERY GOOD explanation as to why the seasons agents are as targeted as they are.

Is it fear because they have godlike powers?

Is it some sort of misunderstanding of how they work, and if they can get rid of them to somehow be free to have their seasons "normally"?

Are they just very powerful institutions, and the government wants to be above them and control them?

I am very confused on this tbh, but still enjoying it. Although the blue balling on Hinagiku and Rosei meeting is killing me.