Hibike! Euphonium

This is it, their grand return. While the past number of shows they’ve animated may not have quite hit the mark in terms of greatness, KyoAni has captured the magic of what made me fall in love with the studio in the first place with their newest work, Sound! Euphonium. What many brushed off as just a K-On! 2.0, Sound! Euphonium is one of the best anime that I have seen in a long time. Sound! Euphonium follows the Kitauji High School Concert Band, a group that sounds fairly mediocre, and follows their journey as they grow both as musicians and as people in their efforts to truly accomplish what they before just claimed as a pipe dream: make the nationals of the Kansai Band Competition. The story itself is fairly simplistic, but the real meat of it is focusing in on the journey that is walked to achieve their goals. The band must constantly overcome the internal conflicts that it faces as a result of being a collection of individuals, but watching them overcome these conflicts and grow as individuals as well as a group is what I believe to be a rewarding experience. But of course, none of that matters if we don’t care about the individuals that make up the group in the first place. However, that’s one of what I believe to be the two things that really shine in this show that pushes it to be amazing. These characters feel real. They’re not one-dimensional drawings that the creators expect us to care about just because they’re there. They feel alive. Each character has depth to them in a way that makes it so that I can’t really describe them in just a few words. In particular, I think that Kumiko is probably one of the best main characters that KyoAni has put out there, putting her up there or above the heights of some of their best like Oreki or Kyon. She feels like a person that I could relate with, rather than some exaggerated caricature. She’s a little distant, but still a little lively. She’s a little self-conscious, but still a little confident. She’s not skewed so far in any one direction that makes her seem like, well, an anime character. The supporting cast all bring some depth to the table as well, with some standouts being Reina, Natsuki, Asuka, Taki-sensei, Haruka, and Kaori. And they’re not just there; they grow as well. From being distant to becoming a little more open, from being apathetic to lighting their passion, they all change, some a little, others more noticeably, and this really makes Sound! Euphonium stand out from the rest. The other part of what I believe makes Sound! Euphonium stand out is the attention to detail. That goes for in the artwork, the sound, the direction, and all the little parts of the show, coming together to make this a beautiful work of art. KyoAni is known for having great animation, but this is probably the best they’ve put out. Every motion feels fluid and draws me in; the scenery and lighting are beautifully drawn and lit up or dimmed; and the background music or the lack thereof only serves that enhance the atmosphere. And then the camera work. The camera work really stands out in a way that enhances every scene, from focusing onto a specific point, or lightly moving around a whole scene. Two scenes in particular, in Episode 8 and Episode 12, just really stand above the rest in how these aspects are used and come together, and to me are some of the most outstanding scenes I’ve seen throughout the entirety of anime. All these little things come together to paint a work of art that really shines, and it is a beauty to behold. And not just in those areas either; as a musician myself, I really appreciated the attention focused into the musical side of things. When the band first played, you didn’t have to just rely on the words of the characters to know they were bad. If you listened, you could tell they were bad. All the instruments were made with a polish and shine that made them look like real instruments, and when they were being played, they even used correct fingerings. As this is something that is usually overlooked in the majority of anime, the amount of detail that KyoAni put into the musical aspect is amazing. They also captured the essence of a high school band beautifully. While there of course were some differences as it was a club rather than a class, the amount of work that was put in, the internal drama that the band members faced, the conflicting attitudes of how hard the students want to work, and then the tension that precedes a performance and the excitement or disappointment that comes afterwards was captured in a way that really exemplified the high school band experience. There are few loose ends that aren’t really tied up, mostly in the romantic department, just due to the nature of it being an adaption of a different work, but I don’t believe that to be any fault of the show itself, and they are easily overlooked when compared to everything else that is done great. Many people believe KyoAni has fallen from grace, and whether or not that is true can be debated, but shows like Sound! Euphonium prove that KyoAni is still capable of creating works of art, and illustrate why some people have come to see this studio as one of the most capable out there. I only look forward to see what the studio has in store after bringing us a masterpiece like Sound! Euphonium. Tl;dr: Great characters and attention to detail come together to provide a masterful work of art.

This will be a very long review (I dare to call it an essay!), and while it may not exactly contain spoilers, I have included 'hints' which one may wish to look out for in watching this anime. Personally, out of all the other studios, I find myself following and noticing trends in Kyoani's releases the most. After all, while the moe wave was not (exactly) started by them, K-On contributed hugely to it, and from there, I found myself observing how Kyoani seems to have very acute marketing tendencies - they would just somehow hit the demographics right, appealing to various clusters of viewers while still producing what are basically decent anime. I was not expecting very much from Hibike! Euphonium at all. After all, its resemblances to K-On are pretty eerie, and not being a great fan of how K-On turned out, I was not anticipating much out of this either. Still, I decided that I would give it a try - such is my inclination towards music. It was only after I finished watching the whole series that I discovered something that pretty much explained why I felt Hibike was so successful. Just like one of Kyoani's previous works, Hyouka, Hibike is an adaptation of a novel. In my opinion, the novel as a medium presents a view quite distinct from that of the manga and the light novel. Mangas and Light novels are by no means simple or immature, in case you misunderstand, but the target audience and marketing intention behind those two mediums as opposed to the novel is quite different. I would argue that the novel is in general less geared towards entertainment than it is towards art. As such, the novel as a medium gives the studio a better base to build their anime upon - for its style and language offers a different perspective and vision to those reading it as opposed to other forms of media. In this respect, the first important feature of Hibike that sets it apart from many other anime is its focus on the music itself. I played in a Jazz Band during my high school years, so I do have some experience in the field, albeit in a different context. Either way, I found that some of the scenes portrayed in the music room were indeed real - although dramatized. Furthermore, as a musical anime, Hibike actually shows the band playing music, with both individuals and the collective struggling to 'find their sound.' Even more impressive is the level of detail in the performances; I think that for a skilled player to play badly on purpose is difficult. Yet when the band plays badly, it is obvious enough to tell who went wrong. The pieces themselves were indeed impressive - every time that trumpet solo played, I would feel myself tingle, going, "My goodness that is indeed a beautiful solo." That the studio would even go so far as to get the fingerings and etc correct for each instrument is impressive. One indisputable thing about Kyoani is their art. They have always been famous for taking actual scenes in real life and casting them into the anime mould - and with such detail and precision! I could even recognize some Kyoto scenes from the images in the anime itself! The studio has taken realism in anime to another level in this sense. Yet I couldn't help but feel that this was the best I'd seen from Kyoani just yet. The story itself is nothing very complicated. In fact, it is precisely because it is not complicated that it relays what it should be about: music, and the things that stem from people trying to get that music together. As such, certain plot developments were not entirely unexpected (meaning that some others were, of course :P). In speaking about Slice of Life anime though, I find it crucial to speak about characters in relation to the plot - for it is the characters and their reactions that drive the plot forward. Yes, the characters have the typical cute Kyoani design, but none of them are moeblobs, or 'useless,' in the broad sense of the word. The protagonist of the story, Kumiko, is arguably nothing very special. I didn't expect very much from her. I perceive her as sometimes being more of the sort that 'just wants things to go by smoothly,' even if she does not give such a strong vibe of that sentiment. This begins to change once she starts coming into contact with all the different personalities of the band. This is Hibike's greatest strength: for with such a diverse cast of characters, I find that they have fleshed out a large number of them very well, such that the events and drama between each one actually has effects on the others. What is more amazing is that each one of them is actually very unique in their own right; just like how we humans are in real life. We all react to situations differently, and Hibike's characters are no different. For example, I find that contrasting the attitudes of 'Ribbon girl' with Asuka-senpai would be one combination where the viewer can see two highly contrasting attitudes to a situation. For me to list out all the combinations and characters would be impossible, for that is precisely how much development and thought has gone into many of them. Life is a magical thing, and Hibike has shown that to be true. For only certain moments can be deemed magical in order for them to stand out and make a deep impressions upon us. While most of our lives may come across as mundane, there are times we reflect upon in great wonder, having been enchanted by the atmosphere of the moment. There are such moments in Hibike, the most prominent of these being the development of the relationship between Kumiko and the mysterious Reina. Amongst all the characters in Hibike, Reina is the one I find most enchanting, for she is so distanced from everything else. Yet when she finally gets close to Kumiko, even i was left mesmerised by her entire being - such was the beauty of that scene and moment that I replayed it many times - for it was then that the novel's art reveals itself through in the monologues of Kumiko's mind and later the exchange between the two. For there is a depth and grace surrounding Reina that is an indescribable inspiration - and that portrayal is undoubtedly the product of Kyoani's vision. Yet in the episodes thereafter, that magic did not last - exactly like what life is, for nothing that's good can last; we can only hope to continue developing it slowly and cherishing what we were honoured to have. Hibike is however, by no means a show drowned in unreachable sentiments. There's definitely plenty, but it has many other elements in it as well that constitute the various aspects of school life. One example would be the hints and touches of vague romance within it, for I find that any anime not focused on romance yet display it are some of the sweetest that there can be - and trust me, there are plenty here. It leaves one guessing - but love comes in many forms, and it is our decision as to how we wish to perceive it. For romance to be a feature in an anime focusing on high school life is nothing surprising - but it is merely a part, even if it could be a big one. I would challenge all potential viewers to not dig too deep onto the romance portion of this anime, even if it is so tempting and inviting. Such are slice of life animes. They aim at portraying the world to us viewers in a certain manner and form that is familiar to us, yet they are filled with more drama and sentiment than our lives would typically be - because that's how we are entertained. I believe that Kyoani has attained a certain peak with this anime that have not seen in a while. In all the studio's attention to detail is the creation of an anime that while simple - is art in itself. For it has been executed so well that I felt myself vicariously going through much of what the characters did. Again I cannot help but make it clear that this is nothing like K-On; here, I felt that Kyoani decided to get serious. They were fully intent on creating something great, something worthy of the lives that we live and aspire to live, even if we may not…

Kyoto Animation's success with K-On gave a new face to the genre of music anime—a face that focused on the activities of cute girls in a group, and to a lesser extent, their relationships. Hibike Euphonium is more or less the same formula, but on a much larger scale; a school band of boys and girls alike. Said school band is aiming for a mere shot at the nationals with the help of an instructor much stricter than they'd prefer. It's by no means an original concept, but it would be acceptable if it showcased the trials a band faces in an admirable fashion; instead, Hibike is more concerned about weak shoujo ai coupled with the insecurities of its characters. Kumiko and her friends are the main source of those insecurities, and they're not much more than what you'd expect from a teenage group of anime characters: naïve, overstating, and worried about love. Little can be said about unique characteristics or personalities, since aside from a few cute quirks (like a character naming her tuba 'Tubacabra'), there are next to none. To balance this weakness out, the show introduces the collected and beautiful bandmate Reina, whose mutual admiration with Kumiko tends to go a little overboard. There's a load of flirting between the two without any romantic development, which leads me to believe the relationship is only there to give a reason to the protagonist's unnatural success; the two are driven by a non-existent love for each other, and it is not convincing in the slightest. That wasted screentime could have been better used on the development of the school band, who the viewer only gets to know about a quarter of. Because of that lack of focus, there is no unifying element of teamwork to the storyline—you are merely watching a few people surrounded by background characters whenever they play. Their instructor, Taki, is often pointing out musical flaws or weaknesses in certain sections of the band, but the lack of familiarity with the members makes their struggle to improve near meaningless. Unless you're driven by any personal nostalgia, it is seemingly impossible to empathize with anyone. It really makes the end goal to reach the nationals both predictable and uninteresting, as well as boring to watch. The animation of Hibike Euphonium is great. Crisp, fluid, and full of detail, it's something that can only be expected of the notorious studio behind it. The art itself isn't as impressive, but acceptable; everything looks as if it's been bathed in layers upon layers of oil, even excessive by the standards of teenage hygiene. Regardless, watching each instrument as it's being played is always a real treat. Hearing them is pretty nice, too. It's likely the only real indicator of progress in the series, as they go from sounding like your average school band to something deserving of recognition pretty quickly. In fact, it's a little too abrupt of an improvement. Later performances begin to sound too professional for their age level, and as beautiful as it is, it's immersion-breaking. For better or for worse, you can tell that the soundtrack was performed by a group that makes its anime counterpart pale in comparison. Clumsiness aside, Hibike manages to fit into the formula its predecessors put in place, albeit quite half-heartedly. The fundamentals are all there, but the soul is missing. It's drab, often slow, and questionable in focus, but it is what it is. If you're looking for something light and simplistic, go nuts. Just don't expect much in the drama department, OK?

I’d like to think of music as a form of art. It’s a vocal expression by taking the form of instrumental emotion. And by talent, we see the beauty of it. What does that mean for a show like Hibike Euphonium? A lot. To me, this series is a musical adventure. If you’re interested in a series about following dreams, building strong friendships, and exploring youth with an unforgettable experience, then you’re in the right place. What is Hibike! Euphonium? (Sound! Euphonium) It’s an anime adaptation of a Japanese novel written by Ayano Takeda. Taking place in Kyoto, the series has its focus on a group known as the Kitauji High School Music Club. Directed by Tatsuya Ishihara with storyboard written by Jukki Hanada, this series is an explosive youth of the coming ages. The series is pretty straightforward to be quite honest. It brings a rather strange nostalgia-like feeling when just thinking about the premise. Remember those halcyon days when you first sung a song or played an instrument? That’s what kind of feels like when watching this series. To start off, we have a young girl named Kumiko Oumae coming from Kita Middle School. Now fresh with a new start at her high school, what better way than to make a first impression? Well, the catch is that Kumiko is reluctant in joining the school’s brass band club. Despite having some talent in playing the euphonium, the series makes it clear that she had some sort of negative experience in the past with another member of the club. That would be Reina Kosaka. However, fate has it that she join the club anyway and the instrument she ends up with is none other than the euphonium. With its direction of the first few episodes, one must be wondering what sort of relationship Kumiko used to have with Kousaka. Before that though, we also meet her other friends including her classmates Kazuki and Sapphire. A series like this will leave a first impression that music is not just the main focus. No, it’s about also establishing a forte and build relationships to survive their spots. This is because the club’s advisor, Taki-sensei has a goal in mind. He wants the club to go on and compete in the Nationals. Small group and big dreams. The series brings up a lot of questions for the first half. Many of them aims at the main characters’ potentials and what their dreams are. Not to mention, we also don’t know much about most of their past. This is why it take some patience to get through the show. Admittingly, there are some pacing issues and parts that are omitted from the novel. However, the series does its job to capture the vocal expression of the characters. Some of them are confident to make the game while others have doubts. For Kumiko, I’d say that she’s somewhere in between. In regards with the other characters, it’s quite diverse. Characters like Hazuki and Asuka are surely confident in themselves while Sapphire has a more timid nature. Then, there’s Reina, a character I’d describe as a lone wolf, the ice queen, and in general someone that is not easy to make friends with. She’s not unfriendly though but just someone who is very dedicated in pursuing her goals. Her past shows that she has some emotional problems with Kumiko and thus is a reason why the two have somewhat of a mixed relationship in the present storyline. Or is it? A good part of this series also makes time to craft their moments together. Every episode shows a bit of their chemistry whether it’s direct or indirect. Some of the moments may be short but are meaningful, especially for Kumiko. One of the later episodes really take this forward to another level in both friendship and perhaps a bit even subtle yuri by their body language. And that’s another thing I find interesting about the series. Music on the surface is an expression but the characters themselves too show genuine human emotions with body language. Every concrete detail has some sort of meaning to reflect the actions of our characters. Even when it’s hard to notice, it depicts part of their personality. This is important as relationships in the series are forged by their experiences. Each episode shows us more about the main characters. Each episode wants us to learn even more. Each episode gets to show us why they are there. And by the end of the day, it can win the audience with all these ideas mixed in its story. Of course, competition is also there. Rivalries are established especially for something as big as the Nationals. If you’ve ever been involved in some sort of contest, your goal is to win right? Unfortunately, the series puts less emphasis on actual rivalries but more on the characters’ development themselves. I wouldn’t say this is a drawback though especially since it gives on insight on characters’ behaviors. Characters who quit or doubt themselves brings a saddening emotion into the show. Likewise, there are also others who truly wishes to inspire and bring a light of hope. Regardless, Hibike Euphonium also likes to play a lot with its character cast and their roles. A main course of this series involves their development with one another as well as their individual progress. Even romance is part of the series although much of it is subtle and thus not a central element. To enjoy a series like this, it’s important to realize why the characters are there and what they do in the story. It can even be supplemented by the charming comedy especially with the clever usage of its dialogues. Indeed, this series can feel snarky at times but accomplishes with humor in a sort of cheeky delight. How do I describe the feeling of the artwork? Imagine a color blind person seeing color for the very first time. That’s pretty much a gist of it. Kyoto Animation not only takes the character designs to a whole new level but also with its stellar visual quality. Beauty is expressed by the colorful backgrounds and rich resources. There’s also a great amount of focus on character expressions. Like I mentioned before, this series expresses music with ensemble through human emotions. In essence, the artwork adapts that to precision and understands how to portray them each episode. This is also enhanced by the noticeable body gestures where characters can at times express their actions without dialogues. There’s probably a lot more words to describe the overall tone of the artwork but this series knows what the audience wants and lives up to the hype of what the studio stands for. When it comes to soundtrack and music, the series is well aware of what it needs to do. Music after all, is a centerpiece of this series. Without it, it would be like a grey little world without color. But with its colorful music, the series enlighten itself to its highest degree thanks to its instrumental music. There’s all types of sound you’ll hear from this show ranging from those played from the tuba, contrabass, trumpet, and of course euphonium. Now, I’m not a big expert on music but the show achieves its purpose to deliver what the audience needs to hear. The OP and ED theme songs are also decorative with an uninformative style on par with its musical merit. In addition, the show does a decent job to weed out the strongest and weakest links through music talents. Finally, voice mannerisms are tolerable especially for our main cast. Each of them shows a different personality that is quite diverse and matching thanks to their voice. From Sapphire’s timid voice tone to Reina’s cool yet confident style, it’s something that’s hard to miss. Hibike Euphonium takes the idea of music and brings in a story with charm, emotion, inspiration, and youthful appeal. In a musical genre where there’s emotions, you’d have to believe what the characters are doing. Thanks to its execution, the show accomplishes that in a variety of ways. From the experiences and relationships that our characters forges, its shows that Hibike Euphonium is more than just about producing music. This series is a lot easier to understand though once…

EDIT: Now that the series has finished, here are my thoughts of the series. I am sick and tired of seeing people saying that this is just another show like "K-ON!". Because it's KyoAni, people will think that this show is less on music and more on moe blobs. Seriously? It isn't. The story is really simple and I like it because it stays that way. It doesn't go overboard and it doesn't even complicate stuff. The story is about a struggle of one band trying to get in the Nationals and take home the gold. And guess what? They portray the story realistically. It portrays so much real life problems of a band and KyoAni really pulled it off so well. Now, I am not a band geek nor have I joined a band but probably, those things happen. If you're asking if there is some romance on this anime well, just a bit. There's one episode where it's pure romance but then they get back to music on the later episodes. This anime is heavy on Slice of Life, Drama and Music. Not Romance. Yes, this anime does have some moe stuff on it but trust me, it's more than the moe stuff they show. The ending of this season was also well executed. That's how you end a season. The only flaw of the series is the part on who is going to play the solo for the trumpet. Now, actually it was good at first but the execution was bad and corny. For the animation, it's colorful and amazing. Everything on this anime has details. Well, not as detailed as Zankyou no Terror but for a music anime and placing a lot of moe blob, it doesn't really need to go overboard and it works already. The fluidity of the animation when they play the instruments was really good and KyoAni did a great job on that one. For the sound, maybe I'll just give it a 9/10. I am not onto trumpets and stuff but, I really like the music. The opening theme is also really catchy. For the characters, they portray it so well. The conflicts of each character are portrayed realistically. We have Kumiko. She's just a normal character. Now, this isn't a character where she's so passionate about music. No, this character is different. She doesn't have a lot of passion in music (Anymore... Maybe) and yet, she ends up joining the band but why is that? Well, it's probably because of Kumiko's experience when she was on a band in middle-school. The anime portrays a lot of flashbacks about Kumiko's experience such as not getting into the Nationals, her getting in the audition but her rival failed, etc. These emotional flashbacks affected Kumiko but why is she joining the band? Well, this is my opinion but something is telling me that she isn't ready to let go with the band. Deep inside that if she lets go, she doesn't know what to do anymore. She doesn't even like playing the Euphonium but she ends up playing with it because that's her signature instrument and that's where she is good at. Another main character is Reina who really strives getting into the Nationals and take home the Gold. Unlike Kumiko, she has a passion on the band and she has a passion on playing the trumpet like her Dad. She takes the band very seriously and she doesn't take the band just to have fun. She really tries hard to get into the Nationals. There are still more characters on this anime who portrayed a life of a band in High-school really well. So, why are you not enjoying the show? It's either you cannot relate to it or you're looking for something deeper on other than this. I can't even relate to bands and yet, this anime tries their best to let me understand on what a life of a band in High-school is about. This is one underrated anime of Spring 2015 and I think it deserves more attention. Especially for people who hated K-ON! thinks this show will be bad and I think they're wrong. I haven't watch K-ON! but, I think this isn't another K-ON!. I've seen other reviews about K-ON! and it's flaws are not found here on Hibike! Euphonium. This isn't another show where they focus heavily on Comedy and focuses a lot on MOE BLOBS. Unlike K-ON!, this show portrays the struggle of a band really well. If you love the first 2 episodes, watch further. However, if you were bored to death on the first 2 episodes, it's best if you drop the show. The director of this show is Ishihara Tatsuya - the one who directed The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya. He has shown his potential on how great he is in directing. Hopefully, there'll be a second season of this show. This time, how they will become No. 1 in Japan. Score: 9.4/10 - FINAL SCORE

As a person who has had his fair share of pointless Moe blob shows I admit that my initial impression of Sound! Euphonium wasn't the best. In all honesty, The moment I saw the cover of the show I dismissed it as another Moe blob show and skipped it without much thought, and It was only through high ratings and numerous recommendations that I decided I would give it a chance. But even then I wasn't convinced. I went into the first episode with a face of disdain. Only to watch further and further until I realized how terribly wrong I was. Sound! Euphonium gave me a slap in the face and made me realize how shallow I have become. I shall never judge a book by it's cover again. The story follows Oumae Kumiko, a former Euphonium player who looks to change her life as a High School Freshman. Ironically although she wants to avoid the High School Brass Band she gets pulled into joining along with her two new friends, and there she accidentally meets her former bandmate Kousaka Reina. A girl she accidentally insulted in junior high. The story itself is pretty simple and isn't very original.If that's the case then what exactly is so good about this show? One of the reasons is because of Euphonium's representation of youth. Sure Euphonium is a show about music. The show is centered around music. But even more than that Euphonium is a show about hardships, ambition, frustration, friendships,life. Euphonium is just so much more than an anime about music. That doesn't mean the music is overlooked or anything. On the contrary the music in Euphonium is absolutely spectacular. The band pieces that the club plays sounds exactly like an actual brass band. When I say that I am not only talking about the good pieces but also the bad pieces in the beginning of the show. The band sounds very much like an actual High School Band and I definitely appreciate that.The soundtrack apart from the actual music pieces are also quite varied and all fit the mood quite well. As a show created by KyoAni you would normally expect the usual eyegasm inducing animation that the studio has become commonly known for. Well let me tell you Euphonium takes Kyoani's standards and puts it on a whole new level.I am not kidding at all.The amount of detail from the fingerings of the instruments,character expressions,backgrounds,etc are just amazing. There is also a hint of realism in the animation that fits the show just perfectly. I really couldn't do the animation justice explaining it here. You just have to go see yourself. It's nice to see that Euphonium has a nice story, stunning animation, and beautiful sound. But that would all go to waste if the characters weren't good. Well fear not, for Euphonium's strongest aspect comes from it's characters. You have Oumae Kumiko, A High school freshman who doesn't seem to have any special goals in her life, and wants to have a fresh start at her new school. At face value Kumiko doesn't seem very interesting, but dig a little deeper and you realize that there is so much more to Kumiko than your average female lead. Probably the most enjoyable part of her is watching her change along with her interactions with the other people in the band. Seeing her grow over the course of the show from an indecisive person who doesn't really know what to do with her life to a person who hungers to get better with her Euphonium is truly a rewarding experience. On the other hand you have Kousaka Reina. A cold and seemingly distant trumpet player. Reina to me is a person that puzzles me constantly because it is often very hard to see what she's thinking. On the outside she has this cold demeanor but through her various interactions with Kumiko you realize that there is so much more to Reina than what you see on the surface. Most people who has ever been in a school band can probably attest to this when I say that usually not everyone is on the same page. What I mean by this is that not everyone has the same goal in mind. Some people are in the school Band to just have fun playing their instrument while there are others who take music more seriously and want to start a career out of it. Some people are naturally better at others while there are others who drag the whole band down. It's not as simple as just putting up a goal and working towards it. Everyone has their own opinions and their own ideals. Sound! Euphonium knows this and represents this perfectly. The side characters are not just there to become background characters with little relevance, but each of them have their own personalities, their own opinions, their own motives. Probably one of the greatest examples of this would be Tanaka Asuka. An eccentric but extremely talented Euphonium player who is liked by most people. Her energetic personality and humorous demeanor makes her a very fun person to watch, but as I watched deeper and deeper I realized that there was much more to Asuka than meets the eye. Honestly speaking Asuka couldn't care less about the emotional drama that happens in the club. Asuka is always neutral. She never picks sides and always distances herself away from the drama that goes into the club. Asuka doesn't have any emotional investment whatsoever with the members. This can probably be seen best in a scene where Kumiko asks her who she thinks should be the solo, and Asuka answers frankly that she doesn't care. It's these types of differing attitudes that make the club seem like an actual school band, and not one that is conveniently made for anime. Honestly speaking one of the reasons why I have become so attached to this show is because of the chemistry between Kumiko and Reina. At the start of the show part of the reason Kumiko didn't want to continue the Euphonium was partly because of Reina. In the beginning of the show Kumiko seems to have a really hard time understanding why other people can play with such dedication, and this is evident when Kumiko asks if Reina thought that they would actually make it to the nationals in Junior High. If anything Kumiko just seems to want fun with playing the Euphonium. She doesn't want to be so devoted playing an instrument at the beginning. Through the course of the show though Kumiko ends up finding the motivation to play from none other than Reina herself. Although they seem to be completely different from each other. They are similar in the fact that they both isolate others from getting too close to them. Reina realizes later on that Kumiko is isolated like herself and wants to become close with her, because she thinks that Kumiko might be able to understand her motivations for wanting to stand out from the others. This is what becomes the motivation for Kumiko to take playing the Euphonium seriously. After learning more about Reina's ambitions. Kumiko wants to become special to. She doesn't want to be left behind by Reina. This intimate relationship between the two characters is just absolutely beautiful. That's not to say the show is completely devoid of any problems though. Kumiko and Reina's chemistry end up taking up too much of the spotlight which ends up making the other potential romance completely fizzle out and become something that completely gets shadowed over.This is a very minor problem but its still worth pointing out. To say that Sound! Euphonium was surprising to me would be an understatement. It completely blew away my expectations and then some. If there was anyone who was in a similar situation like me and decided to skip this show I urge you to give this show a chance. You might be surprised to see what you find.

Hibike! Euphonium is a curios production that in narrative, visuals and music has moments where it truly shines, but sadly they are diluted by mediocre plot points, unnecessary characters and unusual story structure, taking what could have been a strong and emotionally resonant series down to a pleasant, but ultimately scarcely memorable watch. The story, centered around Kumiko Oumae and her music class companions as they try to get to the nationals, is very inconsistent in terms of emotional intensity, pacing and enjoyment. Throughout the early episodes, the story is focussed on introducing Kumiko and her friends, Midori and Hazuki, to the audience, however this is little initial tension or overbearing atmosphere to keep the audience engaged through this middling introduction. Hazuki increasing her capacity to breate, though insightful to those who are interested in the qualities required to play a wind instrument, is neither comedic nor engaging; even worse, it feels as though the audience are being forcefully pulled away from the considerably more interesting side characters like Asuka, Reina and the instructor, Taki. As the narrative progresses, other characters do become more relevant, but the results are mixed. An entire episode is spent focussing on a love triangle that goes nowhere, a conspiracy of nepotism that adds nothing and the main character faltering the episode before the climax. However, that’s not to say that the story is a failure; specific moments are so well written and directed that they are simply breathtaking, such as second halves of episodes 8, 11 and 13. On the whole, this leads to a story that feels too long in some ways, as it has many redundant gears that simple exist to pad out the series, yet too short in others, as the more interesting and resonant parts are never given the focus they deserve. Tragically, though all the ingredients were there to construct a heart-warming, memorable story, they were not handled with the competence required to make this a truly great slice of life series. The characters are much like the story in terms of how mixed they are. Reina Kousaka is without a doubt the highlight character, boasting a stoic and occasionally cryptic attitude that makes her intriguing, but having sufficient depth and believability to make her relatable. Her scene on the mountain with Kumiko was the magnum opus of this anime, having sufficient build-up to warrant the reveal of her ideals without feeling cheap or melodramatic. However, her full potential isn’t quite reached, as conflicts are introduced regarding her, yet they rarely reach a resolution. Taki, the instructor, is also a very watchable character, but he gets little development or screen time, which, given the conspiracy surrounding his relationship with Reina, is quite a missed opportunity. Speaking of missed opportunities, Asuka has little done with her character after it is established, though thankfully this fault isn't nearly as glaring, as her interactions with the rest of the cast more than make up for it. However, regarding the character cast of Hibike! Euphonium, the praise ends there. The other characters all fall into the categories of being either disappointingly mediocre or outright boring. Kumiko joins the former category; perhaps she was intended to act as a character through which the audience could view the others, but this approach leaves much to be desired, because she seems like too much of a blank slate. She does have some development in the penultimate episode, but by then it is too little, too late, coming off as more of a desperate attempt at character growth instead of a relatable problem. Instead of giving her more consistent growth, time is wasted on her friends, Midori and Hazuki, whose company would perhaps be more appreciated if they didn’t distract from the emotional core of the series, Kumiko and Reina’s relationship. As they are, they’re annoying, uninteresting friends who say way too much and add much too little. Though other characters, like Natsuki and Aoi aren’t bad by any means, they waste ample time in an anime that really needs to pick and choose its foci better. However, though everything mentioned thus far is mixed to a varying degree, there is one constant in Hibike! The comedy is uniformally bad. There is not one genuine laugh provided even though every trick in the moe-book-of-laughs is used. Breast gags come off as more obnoxious than anything else, awkward character interactions make the audience feel just as uncomfortable and the over the top facial expressions don’t gel with the more dramatic nature of the series. Sometimes the comedy and drama are shifted between with so little grace that the audience suffer from tonal whiplash, and occasionally it feels like even the series doesn’t know what it’s trying to communicate. That’s not to say the drama is done poorly; quite the contrary. The climax of the series sent chills down my spine, and the aforementioned conversation between Reina and Kumiko in Episode 8 resonated to my very soul. If there were more moments like this, Euphonium might have been great, but it must simply settle for being decent. Surely the animation is its saving grace, right? Kyoto animation always delivers in this regard, right? Well, if you consider a spotless glass of water to be beautiful, then this will probably appeal to you. However, for me it didn’t stick out nearly enough most of the time to make this series a real spectacle. The character designs are bright and consistent, fluid and detailed, but lack a sense of identity needed to make them memorable. Chuunibyou’s character designs had a exuded a sense of silly optimism, giving the audience an idea of who they are before they even spoke. Hibike! Euphonium’s character designs, on the other hand, didn’t really have much emotion. Aside from Reina, who the animators seemed to priorities above everyone else just like the writers did, Kumiko and the others, particularly the males, are monotonous to watch, with their plain uniforms and uninteresting expressions. The animators not only seemed to put their best efforts into the best characters, but the best scenes as well. For the most part, the series is set in a detailed, yet ultimately blandly coloured and designed room, feeling very claustrophobic and unengaging, both visually and narratively. On top of that, wind instruments are, by design, not particularly notable visual stimulants, and the anime fails to work around this. Aside from the occasional mouth movement, the euphonium and trumpet players only occasionally move a single finger, and that’s in the rare instance that the frame is focussed on them. That's not to say the instruments themselves were bad, as they are extremely well drawn and lit, but they weren't utilised properly. The occasionally visited lake, however, is absolutely breathtaking, as is Reina’s resplendent white dress in episode 8 and the bridge shown during Kumiko’s meltdown in episode 12, which, along with the accompanying strong facial animation and soaring music, leaves me both wistful to see more, and disappointed that such well-directed scenes are so few and far between. On the whole, Hibike! Is easy on the eye, but serves very little purpose for the vast majority of the anime. The score is much like the visuals; technically, it’s high quality, with crisp sound effects and realistic instrument sounds, but it feels much too safe and by-the-numbers to impress like it should, particularly in an anime the focusses so heavily on music. The OP and ED are both completely forgettable, often starkly contrasting the more dramatics episodes in the series and they’re both overall weak, generic songs in their own right. The voice acting for the male characters in this series is completely forgettable, even for Taki-sensei, barring one or two emotional moments. Kumiko’s fairly good, Asuka and Reina are both great, but Midori and Hazuki are nails on a chalk boar…

In my short life watching animated series, if there's something I learned through the years is that the best pieces of animation are those ones which can balance remarkable and original art, animation with a fascinating or at least compelling story with well written and rounded characters, and last but not least, making a good use of music to make the experience more delightful, memorable and even complement the atmosphere and characterization, especially if music is the central theme of the aforementioned series. In this case I am reviewing one which art is kind of remarkable, with decent musical compositions, but appalling melodrama and cardboard characters: Sound! Euphonium. Art & Animation: I am, like everyone, a biased person, and I have to confess that I'm not a fan of how Kyoani confront their creations: they clearly are almost unbeatable in how they animate every detail and how fluid can look, only comparable with cinematographic works of Ghibli, CoMix Wave, or any film with high display of production values like Redline or Sword of the Stranger. Of course, they lack of creativity in some aspects like character design in order to make them look as cute as possible ends up falling into the generic department, losing against other formidable pieces like Dennou Coil, Cowboy Bebop and FLCL. And don't make me start on how some animes with budget limits prove that your animation can have high standards like Haibane Renmei, Rakugo, Trust and Betrayal, Evangelion or Berserk '97. Music: In a series about music, someone may expect masterpieces that can give classical musicians a run for their money or at least if the staff are using non original soundtrack, to use it properly like Nodame Cantabile so you can mentally relate the music with the anime. And even though it's not bad music per se, it's unfortunate how average are such compositions and how wasted it feels at the end of the day (you can separate it almost completely from the anime and enjoy it more on your own!). I can forgive this if we weren't talking about a slice of life where the cast is in a school band. Fortunately, sound effects are extremely polished but that can be expected from Kyoani. Story: So far I haven't spoken about what is this all about. So, what's this all about? Well, a group of Moe girls walking and talking nonsense most of the time, and supposedly focused on winning a place in the school band and rehearsing as hard as possible. This second part is, again, supposedly to be the main plot but Kyoani preferred to focus on their specialty: giving queerbaiting between cute innocent schoolgirls because yuri-bait helps a lot with merchandising. At least 30% of the camera is entirely focused on schoolgirl thighs just for the sake of having them somewhere rather than giving more space to actual characterization, so far we've been told rather than shown the motivation of the main cast to find the Euphonium, hence the pace of this series is also appalling in spite of having less than 15 chapters. Characters: And now the biggest offender: the characters. To be fair, Kyoani never was a studio that gave half a damn about good screenplay or writing, so the closest thing to decent writing that I've ever seen of them is the characterization of Haruhi suzumiya (instead of being a cute retarded cardboard, she's a full sentient girl with bad manners) and the comedy of Nichijou, that worked somehow in each chapter. Nevertheless, do not be fooled by those who claim that the portrayal of these girls are totally realistic -whose names can be replaced by the main girls from K-ON due to how awfully similar they are-. There's nothing that helps people to point a single trait of personality of ANY of these girls. Why? Because it's not necessary to even try to give them a personality. On the other hand, checking other music-centered animes like Kids on the Slope, Beck or Kono oto Tomare, you can easily make a distinction between each one of their respective casts. Also, there's not character development at all, not saying that this is mandatory but at least the writer could make these moe dolls had some charisma and more traits to convince me to care about them. And before you ask, no, Liz and the Blue Bird is not realistic or even remotely good either, but wins against Euphonium due to the segments of the tale of Liz where animation and music actually merge with each other smoothly and they forget about the high school setting Overall, it's only worthy if you are a hardcore fan of this overrated studio. Otherwise, I advise you to stay away from it and find the other examples of how great some anime music can be: Nodame Cantabile, Kids on the Slope, Beck, Kono oto Tomare, Forest of Piano. If you really want to see how good Kyoani can be with their high production values, go check Violet Evergarden or Nichijou, which are so far their best works. And if you wanted an actual GL story rather than dirty pandering, Revolutionary Girl Utena is always available, or Shinsekai Yori.

I really don’t know about this series. I know for sure that it WAS NOT good, but I don’t really know what to think about it and what exactly I liked and disliked about the series. I know that it looked really pretty and there were some beautiful moments, but many of these key scenes didn’t have a purpose that was fulfilled by how they looked. Its as if the show wanted to look nice just to look nice and the images didn’t enhance the plot as much as they should have. Speaking of the plot, it was mostly hit or miss with both the first and second halves feeling weak in their own ways. The first half had some enjoyable parts but the main cast didn’t really mesh together in any real or believable way, and most characters didn’t have anything to really like about them. Many were bland and didn’t have much purpose aside from either being an obstacle or fulfilling an aside that fed into the main conflict. Kumiko was likable to an extent and received the most development, and I can really appreciate that she isn’t put into a certain mold and feels conflicting and layered enough that she feels the most real, but she was a character that would have been better served in a better plot. The plot was, personally, the weakest part of the series in part to how inconsequential it felt at times, and how many of the surrounding elements did not service it in a meaningful way. What I mean by this is that many of the asides that the series which served to either flesh out the world, provide character development, or explain the situation in a practical way, didn’t seem to have much impact because the time spent developing these scenes did not, in turn, provide a similarly large effect on the world. Often the understandings of other characters to what is happening or the status quo does not change and it feels like most of these moments could have easily been tossed aside and it almost seems like they were. That is not to say that certain scenes such as Kumiko and Rikka on the mountain aren’t memorable, but that it instead feels like it came out of nowhere and disappeared without any real impact on what is going on. You could call it subtlety and say that development on these characters is meant to be subdued and realistic, but even in that case it doesn’t work because we do not spend enough time getting to know these people to really know how their feeling. Other than Kumiko who, admittedly, did believably change over the course of the series. Aside from this, the series feels the need to shove all development down our throat with useless narration which often repeats to us things we could understand just by watching what is happening, and most of the time comes off as redundant and unnecessary which ultimately takes you out of the experience. As a whole, the plot showed promise, particularly at the beginning where the destination and the obstacles were made clear and the possibilities of truly coming together while working towards something meaningful as a group seemed like what the series was aiming for, while emphasizing the attempted repair of an awkward friendship. The problem, I think, is that the series was too short. I faulted the series’ inconsequential asides but I believe if this same story was told over more episodes and we really got to know more members of the band then while seeing them all interact would have given the story more impact as we see how the events of the story matter to them and better understand what makes them who they are. Instead nothing feels like it really matters because as certain elements are introduced, they often don’t have a worthwhile conclusion or don’t add anything to the story. They may tell you more but not enough that you know why it matters. As the story progresses certain events only add unnecessary drama or hold the overall plot back either because the whole story also has the misfortune of being largely predictable, and because they do not add any further tension when the stakes were clearly established and characters act in a way that defy what is best for everyone and holds everyone back. Finally, and this is much more personal, I did not enjoy Kumiko and Rikka’s relationship. To be clear, most of the characters lacked meaningful relationships, but I did not see a reason to enjoy their’s in particular. Nor did I see any reason to justify them as a yuri pairing. NONE AT ALL. I am being entirely serious. None of their interactions in the beginning gave me any reason to believe either of them even liked each other nor do they even seem to get along most of the time. They just have vaguely romantic moments that serve no purpose and feel very out of place. All in all, I don’t hate the series, but I do have many problems with it, and would easily say that it is my least favorite Kyoto Animation show of recent memory. I can give credit to Kumiko being likable enough to make some parts bearable, and for the ending actually feeling fulfilling. However, most everything else was not enjoyable and I began to actively dislike the show by the 3rd quarter. I didn’t like the characters, I didn’t like how the plot flowed, and while the show is beautiful, the art does not add anything nor do anything to bring you closer to the world. Its pretty but without substance.

Hibike! Euphonium was absolutely gorgeous and blew away my expectations in every field. Kyoto Animation at their best what I mean by that is their ability to make the viewer fully engaged into a slice of life anime. Throughout my extensive catalog of anime I have had my fair share of the slice of life genre and I can say with the utmost confidence that Euphonium is definitely one to check out. I started watching the anime on the pretext of a group of people saying it may be the anime of the season. Upon hearing that statement from my high horse I decided that it may be worth looking into. In the course of watching the show I constantly reminded myself that SNAFU Zoku was the anime of the season and as I completed the final episode of Euphonium I painfully, but not regrettably, give Euphonium anime of the season. Story - You have to "love" anime Synopsis' because they merely scratch the surface. The Story focuses on a band club that commits to make it into the national competition little did they know how far away they were from meeting that goal. Art - The backgrounds! The highlights! I haven't been shown the beauty of 2015 animation until Euphonium premiered. Kyoto Animation really made an outstanding piece of work. No matter how familiar I am with their works it still did not prepare me for the beautiful display of emotional scenes that were blissfully captured. Sound - Its of the Music genre of course the music would be emphasized. The music was very dependent on the skill of the club so as you would watch the show from beginning to end you could see their growth as well as hear it. I am no where near a person that can critique music but if you listen closely you could see how just a small change of sound and a strength of breath can take music a long way. Characters - Kumiko by far was my favorite as her inspiration was Reina who possessed an undying dedication to music as well as her future. Kumiko broke my preconceived image of her as the optimistic protagonist we have all seen before within the first episode. These two made for the most stunningly beautiful scenes I have ever seen in a long time. In the beginning each club member was made to make a decision not only as a club but also as individuals. The characters that were focused on in the anime each had something different that would propel them past their limits. Enjoyment - Hands down this is a contender for anime of the year. I enjoyed every episode and I can potentially see myself rewatching Euphonium in the future. For my closing remarks I would like to talk about how good of an anime it was for the music genre instead of the slice of life aspect I have been ranting on about. Musically, it was superb for an anime for being set in high school. So for my final piece, I would like to say Euphonium is better than "Your Lie In April" for many reasons that I wish I could disclose to the general public, however, I am afraid I cannot incorporate spoilers in this review. I know it is a bold claim as I too, am a fan of "Your Lie In April". In whichever case I hope you take this review into account when you decide on your next anime.

Watching a Kyoto Animation anime is like being served up a delicious cake. It’s the same cake every time but you know what to expect. There’s icing on top, being the pretty visuals and animation, but usually plays it safe with a ‘vanilla’ group of characters. It’s easy to digest. Hibike! Euphonium however wants to be different. Not only does it comes with sprinkles of substance but it has layers to it, different flavours working in harmony. They aren’t the most incredible flavours you’ve ever tasted but they are still enough to put a smile on your dial. This high school, musical showpiece took me by surprise with its fun blend of band politics and self-improvement. While it hit the odd sour note in the dialogue and story department, this sill became an easily recommendable music feast. Story We follow the story of Kumiko Oumae in her first year at Kitauji High School. A long-time player of the euphonium, she finds herself looking for a fresh start in the concert band. She makes friends with Hazuki Katou and Sapphire ‘Midori’ Kawashima along the way and the group look to breathe life back into the band. Former band dramas come to the fore however when Kumiko’s former junior high bandmate Reina Kousaka enters the frame – the two not leaving on the happiest note last time they saw each other. With an unmotivated and underperforming band to work with, things are shaping up to be tough for the new members. Euphonium is definitely one of those shows that needs to be approached with the right mindset. If you watch this expecting music to be at the forefront 24/7 then you may end up disappointed. The music is instead a vehicle for exploring the motivations of the different band members. While that may sound a little too deep for a show about cute girls playing instruments, you’d be surprised. Those with concert band experience and music students will take a lot away from the drama behind the curtains. That said, you can still take a lot away from the show without such involvement. The show loves diving into a lot of the little intricacies that go into learning an instrument and learning to play as a group. People get singled out at practice and people have to make sacrifices. Such is life when you want to reach new heights. This isn’t some happy-go-lucky musical field trip. Some students contemplate their future and how band could impact it while others think about their impact on the band’s morale and ability. You can bet relationships get strained over it. The drama is rarely overbearing and makes sense given the current situation of the band. I always was interested to see how disagreements could be resolved, in the musical and the personal department. I was a little turned off by some of the over-dramatic dialogue. You can find most of these examples when the cast talk to each about wanting to reach another level in their playing. None of these conversations feel natural at all. They sound like they should be standing on a podium with a microphone in front of them. It’s a common complaint I could make about a lot of anime conversations though. It’s nothing new and it’s very easy to overlook. The romance elements also feel a little shoehorned at times. Love has its own part to play but it’s at its best when it’s being subtle. Some moments simply aren’t, and whenever they come around I’d think to myself ‘I wish they’d just get back to the music already’. To delve any deeper into this goes into spoiler territory so it’s one of those areas you have to judge for yourself. Characters One of Kumiko’s most interesting points as a character is watching her reasons to play changing. Different events make her want to back away from it all while others spur her on. While maybe having the least distinct personality of the lead quintet Kumiko is never dull. I wasn’t too interested in her over the opening half of the show but as things change, and she’s forced to become more proactive, her story is more engaging. She isn’t the most memorable main character ever made but she’s one you want to see succeed as the episodes roll by. Reina is an enigma. She’s easily the most interesting person in the show with that combination of her brooding nature and a desire to be at the top. You can never be sure what she’s thinking. Reina is focused, driven and shut off from the more upbeat personalities she’s surrounded by. I liked how alien Reina behaves in that area. She’s the necessary cool head in a sea of more emotional classmates, but of course she has her own flaws. Her relationship with Kumiko is assessed on a few occasions, they being some of the series’ turning points. At times she steals the show and feels more like the main character. Hazuki bounces up and down in relevance. She has her moments but feels swept under the rug beyond a certain point in the show. Her energy is infectious and she could have been used a little more often. Then there’s Midori who could have been invisible the whole time and it wouldn’t have made a difference. It’s a pity because there’s something about a tiny contrabass player that’s amusing. I needed more of that. I love that most of the characters have some value to them, even those on the sidelines. It’s rewarding as viewer to see side characters develop and watch them constantly interacting with our main players. In a show with a large group together like Hibike! Euphonium it helps the concert band feel dynamic. Whether it be the quiet club president Haruka Ogasawara or her polar opposite vice president Asuka Tanaka, they’re all fun to watch. It could have been easy to let this show play out just focusing on one or two characters, but I’m glad they didn’t. This isn’t a show built on deep characters. It’s a show built on different personalities clashing against one another. I personally found that a good experience, one that matched KyoAni’s setting and design well. You could have taken a more serious route through a different studio, and that could have been fine, but I like what’s been put to screen here. Visuals & Sound Speaking of setting and design, there are some mesmerising scenes in this show. There are even scenes that made me say ‘wow’ simply based on its animation quality. Background art is lovely and the instruments look and sound wonderful. KyoAni don’t shy away from animating finger movements at regular intervals, showing off both their handy staff and their budget. That’s an area most like to avoid when it comes to animating musical performances. They’re also at the top of their game when it comes to animating minor facial expressions and details. It’s the little things that can make a show engaging. There’s twitches, shrugs and other movements studios often decide to leave out of the process. These keep coming at you every episode in Euphonium. Kumiko and Asuka are big winners in this area. It’s also nice to see KyoAni break away ever so slightly from their regular, predictable character designs. Eye design and colouring are the big points there. They’re almost hypnotic. They’ve made some adjustments from the source material that really help bring some spark to certain characters, fusing their own style with the novel perfectly. It’s a show based on music so the sound better be on point. Thankfully it is. There’s a selection of great group pieces and some amazing solo efforts. Overall it’s a great audio package. I don’t normally make space to discuss OP’s and ED’s either but both deserve a round of applause. Both upbeat blaring brass numbers “Dream Solister” and “Tutti” capture the energy and tone of the show perfectly. Summary When you strip back all of the gorgeous KyoAni visuals there is still plenty to be found in both the story and characters department. All the conflict makes sense and people have to make tough decisions. In the face of that, Euphonium rarely becomes too serious for its own good. There are times when it does jump that shark however, particularly in the dialogue department. The sho…

I'm a music person. I've always been one, though at the beginning it was in heart alone. In middle school I played violin, trumpet and sang in the choir, and I was told promptly and I quote that I sounded like "a cat being run over by a lawnmower". This didn't get me down though (for some reason,) in fact I saw my apparent absolute lack of any talent whatsoever to be a sign that I was meant to pursue music. I continued to practice much to the suffering of everyone around me, and though I experienced harsh criticism along the way I'm now in college and I'm part of two prestigious music groups and consider myself to be a functioning member of the music community. I can look back and track my progress from hopeless wannabe to soloing for Joe Biden at his Christmas party at the National Observatory. I still have the napkins I stole from his bathroom. Hopefully no NSA cameras were watching. Sound! Euphonium is a show all about this struggle, the burning desire to make your seemingly impossible ambitions come to life, and so while I am obviously laden with personal bias due to my background I will still stand here and testify as an equally great fan of storytelling that as the great Euphonium yuri shipping fad of Spring 2015 comes to an end, what we're left with is... a pretty spectacular show. Kyoto Animation has developed quite the reputation for itself over the past decade with shows such as Haruhi Suzumiya, Clannad, K-On and Hyouka, to name a few. Anyone who's seen more than one of these has probably noticed a trend; it's not something they try to hide. KyoAni loves three things, or rather they know that anime viewers love them: high school, slice-of-life, and moe. Literally everything they've put out in over ten years has had these traits, and they've been spectacularly effective at least in part due to them. I've heard a lot of people complain about how KyoAni's endless fluff shows are ruining anime, and to that I would say: KyoAni really hasn't made that many shows. Blame other studios trying to replicate their success for the moeblob spam that inevitably flood every season. When KyoAni DOES make a show, however, anyone who is willing to put up with the inevitable fluff should check it out, and Sound! Euphonium is no exception. Actually, I would go so far as to say that Sound! Euphonium is one of the best KyoAni shows to ever be produced. Euphonium is pretty much the perfected embodiment of KyoAni's strengths: the art is stunning. The character animation is out of this WORLD. The writing and drama are strong and honest. The music... ohhhh the music. As the name would imply (and contrary to what many lusting fans seem to believe,) Euphonium is a show about music. Yes, there are drama and romance in it but its first-and-foremost focus is on the growth of the high-school band in which our protagonist Kumiko is a euphonium player. Because of this, the show has a very group-oriented focus, because hey, bands are a group effort. The band cannot succeed without the effort and cooperation of ALL of its members, not just the protagonists, and while Kumiko and her close friends strive for personal improvement both in attitude and talent Euphonium shows us time and again that they are inevitably only part of a collective whole that must all come together in this way in order to be successful. This is the first aspect in which the show absolutely wowed me: THE CHARACTERS Euphonium is a short 13 episodes, and yet not only does it manage to deeply develop the protagonist and her close relationships but also follow a supporting cast of an unbelievable size. More than ten characters have full arcs across the length of the show and countless others gets development and recognizable personalities. Despite this, the show never feels rushed and it never feels as though its detracting attention from either the main cast or the band itself. It does this by carefully weaving the character's struggles together so that each episode focuses on a plethora of conflicts, showing how they may or may not be connected but also how they all matter as part of the band's dynamic. No one gets left behind: there are small, quick scenes all over the place keeping tabs on all of the characters, and by the end when I'm watching the band preform it feels like I'm actually connected to the ensemble rather than just some of the people that are in it. On the other hand, the main cast are individually compelling as well: Kumiko is definitely up there as one of the best female protagonists of all time, as someone who is relatable, charismatic, and a touch-- dare I say-- deep? She begins the show as directionless but contemplative, and as her obviously intense thought process slowly guides her towards something she cares about she experiences some of the most profound moments I've ever seen in an anime: spectacularly executed scenes about the pursuit of passion and trying to weigh what's supposed to matter against what matters to you personally. (Of course, the show handles these ideas in a much more tactful way than I just did, and that's really what sells it.) Her exceptionally driven comrade (and secret lesbian lover) Reina is actually equally compelling: her frustration with others apathy, her honesty about her own ambition, and her struggle to try to interact with others in a way that is more tactful but still honest all add up to make her a suitable romantic counte-- I mean, "best friend" for Kumiko, the protagonist. You'll get plenty of heartwarming scenes from the two of them, but you'll also get ones that are powerful and true: Euphonium is one of KyoAni's most driven shows, and it is not content to just sit back and be cute and charming. Much like Reina and Kumiko it wants to go places, and go places it does. THE PLOT I was actually amazed by how much story the show managed to cover in thirteen episodes. Much like an elegant trombone slide the story of the show progresses fast but smooth, blending together with the character's development to achieve that most desirable effect that all slice-of-life shows dream of: a plot that is driven by countless small moments rather than a few obvious big ones. Life doesn't move in big shifts, it moves through countless small moments, and Euphonium captures that. The band grows and improves, both in sound quality and relationship, such that it is an unrecognizable ensemble by the end of the show. Progress and change are steady in the show, but they aren't dramatized. You can look back and see how far the band and the characters have come (and they do the same thing) but it's not something where you can point to a specific moment and say "this is where things changed". Things are ALWAYS changing. What I will say, without spoiling anything, is that Euphonium has a definitive story and conclusion. It isn't just a slice-of-life where stuff happens and then at the end some stuff has happened and it teeters off: Both Euphonium and its characters have a goal, and by the end of the show we are given a definitive resolution to that goal. While a sequel would be both possible and much desired, it is not required as the show does a great job (especially amongst anime, which are known for having obnoxious unresolved conclusions) of having a powerful and definitive ending, with what was in my opinion the best episode of the season (and maybe even the year if not for episode 9 of Death Parade) thanks to its top-tier character moments and ABSOLUTELY FRIGGING GORGEOUS MUSIC THE SOUND This is the VERY BEST soundtrack I have EVER experienced. Not because it's the prettiest or catchiest music-- though it is extremely enjoyable, but because like everything else in the show it is the most impressively nuanced thing I've ever heard. People don't comically suck in Euphonium: they're usually just kind of sloppy and sad, so that you can tell not just that they're not great but exactly how "not great" they are. When the band first plays, it's not an abomination:…

"Music is nice. You can't lie. You can only admit when something sounds good." Isn't that so true? Whether or not you like Kyoto Animation, it's hard to deny that Hibike Euphonium sounds amazing. Hibike sounds alive. I don't know how they pulled it off, but the show sounds so human. You hear as students warm up and tune their instruments together, you hear when the trombone players goof up, you hear the protagonist's tone change as she develops her skills, and when the whole band plays together, it's a real treat. This is great sound design--this is music anime done well. Besides the music, Hibike looks fantastic too! The attention to detail is especially high with instruments, and with how well the animation syncs with the sound. The combined result of vibrant visuals and lush sound is a truly immersive show. But what's so cool about this show is that unlike K-on (...which I still guiltily like), this show is a kept promise. Looking at the poster, you are sold the promise of good orchestral music and cute characters. And if you came for that...you will not be let down. But, saying this show is JUST cute girls playing music would be slighting it. The show undersells itself with its moe-looking setup. Hibike tells relatable tales about the struggle of not feeling good enough, shooting for goals that seem out of reach, and of course, relying on friendship and love to power through it all. But believe me when I say that none of it is cheesy--not everything has to be cynical and brooding like 'Whiplash' to be awe-inspiring like Hibike can be. I would point out specific moments, but you just have to see them...and hear them. Hibike is a classic example of "short but sweet." The 13-episode length keeps the action rolling and the production value consistent. As you watch these 13 episodes, you'll be introduced to underdogs you can root for and relate to, as well as geniuses you can admire. You'll follow the steady growth of one determined orchestra band as they reach for the top of their game. And through it all, you'll hear everyone's music, and whether or not you like the soundtrack as much as I did, you won't be wrong--after all, music can't lie.

Hibike! Euphonium is a wasted opportunity. It has great attention to detail in both art and sound design when it comes to the instruments, but falls flat on its face in almost every other aspect. Having just come off of Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso/Your Lie in April, which has two great musical sequences in the first two episodes, the fact that it took until episode 3 for any real music to pop up in this series frustrated me too much than it should have. That frustration followed me throughout the series. The series seems to at times WANT to be about music, but is dragged into drama because that tension is supposed to move the story and characters along. Ultimately, it seems as if only a few characters really meaningfully change, and we're left with maybe four decent performances in the 13 episode series. In spite of the fact that the series roughly covers a school year, the entire pace seems slow, since there are only really two major plot points that involve playing pieces of music, and the series builds to the second over the course of the majority of its episodes. This is slightly understandable, since the point of the series is the drama of the club more than them actually playing music. If there's a sequel and it continues to follow this format it will be inexcusable. Overall, I'm probably judging this harsher than I should for what it is, but looking at it as a fan of music anime and seeing what it could have been... In the end, I'm just glad that I'm done watching this series so I don't have to fret over how much it annoys me any more.

Hibike! Euphonium is like a symphony. It starts off slow and mellow, then comes at you full force, not letting you go until the very end. Story: Being that it's a KyoAni work, many people deemed the show "K-On in Concert Band" without further thought. From the first two episodes, the show seemed to just be a simplistic slice-of-life, albeit a cute and fun one. However, the plot picks up surprisingly quickly from the show's brilliant third episode. From that point on, Hibike! Euphonium becomes a terrific coming-of-age story, that roused feelings of nostalgia from my very core. The storyline is paced wonderfully, never going too slow or too fast. Plot threads reveal and close themselves in beautiful ways. Sadly, Hibike! Euphonium is based off a series too large to adapt in one cour, so there isn't a defining conclusion. But, because of that same fact, we can hope for a second season. Art: KyoAni has great animation. It's a well known fact. However, what amazes me is that KyoAni upped their game even more. Every single side character has a unique character design, full of personality, even if they never speak a single line. The particle effects that fill the show make it burst with personality and life. The lighting and colors on the instruments are almost like photographs. The backgrounds are gorgeous. Everything about the art is just perfect. I could rave about it forever. Sound: This is an anime about music. Unsurprisingly, the music in it is great. The actual soundtrack is orchestrated wonderfully, driving in the emotion of powerful scenes. However, the sound truly shines when the characters play their instruments. The amount of work that must've gone into the subtle differences between each player and each time they play a song astounds me. I mean, the show literally has Sound (Hibike) in the name. The sound better damn well be astounding. Character: This is where the show truly shines. Well, I give everything about this show a 10/10, so I guess I have to give character an 11/10. The character development is just so realistically written, it hurts. It reminds me of my own high school experiences and the sometimes dumb, confusing ways I felt. I don't know if I can think of another show that has character development so fluid and natural. At the same time, every character is multi-layered in amazing ways. Even some of the side characters who only make a few appearances get their time to show off development or multiple dimensions. You'll love some characters and you'll hate some characters, but ultimately, you'll appreciate how all of them grow. Everything in Hibike! Euphonium comes together to create a piece that I think is truly special. Give it a shot. You won't regret it.

There is a sense of wonder and grandeur that hit upon witnessing the first episode of Hibike Euphonium. Perhaps it was due to the outstanding score or the sheer glow the characters had. Perhaps it was how its main character, Kumiko, was immediately presented. It’s hard to quantify such a feeling, but it’s an undoubtedly great feeling as you discover that you’re going to fall in love with a show that is confident in its own greatness. Perhaps the most immediate aspect to hit me was the soundtrack composed by Akito Matsuda. Several of the show’s background pieces convey a sense of tenderness and swelling emotion that few OSTs can truly match. “Hajimari No Senritsu” stands out as the first piece to provide that intimate and wondrous feeling the soundtrack wishes to convey, and others such as “Shintenchi”, “Iroasenu Kako”, “Ichiho Zutsu Mae”, and especially “Unmei no Nagare” also excel in this regard. It’s impossible for me to do this monumental OST justice, as it’s become one of my favorites in the medium to date and there are several stunning tracks yet to be mentioned such as “Tsutaetai Omoi”, “Ishiki no Houga”, and “Ao Haru no Kunou”. This also fails to include the pieces played by the Kitauji High School band over the course of the show such as the jazzy “Starting the Project (Big Band ver.)” and the centerpiece of the second half: “Mikazuki no Mai (Reina Trumpet Solo ver.)”. On top of that, the show does a wonderful job at cueing the audience into the differences in quality of a character or band’s performance over time and when something sounds perfectly cohesive or disorganized. The epic, expressive, and swelling vocals and instrumentals on the OP, “DREAM SOLISTER” by TRUE is another great song that keeps up with the OST. The ED, “Tutti!” by Kitauji Quartet is also amazing with wonderfully cheerful vocals from the seiyuu of the main 4 characters, and how everything swells up in the climax of the song. It might even be preferable to the OP, which just further highlights how outstanding the show’s music is. Another fascinating aspect of the show is its unique sense of lighting. Kyoto Animation is generally known for its outstanding attention to detail in its animation and artwork, and this show is no exception. There are several wonderful facial expressions and pieces of highly detailed animation to be found. However, outside of a few slideshow dips, this isn’t what caught my eye the most about the show’s wonderful visuals. The character designs by Shoko Ikeda are beautiful adaptations of the original designs by Nikki Asada, as there’s a sense of shininess to them that takes full advantage of the show’s lighting. Unlike shows such as Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei and The Asterisk War which just have gaudy, oversaturated lighting for no reason, this show has a natural sense of lighting complemented by its beautiful art direction. Water and sweat glisten more vividly than any other show I’ve seen, and whenever characters or their instruments are surrounded by street lights or any other light source, there’s an organic glow that radiates from them. Instruments shine intricately during major performances for similar reasons, and these scenes are all sights to behold. The direction by Tatsuya Ishihara only enhances this, as it rivals his work on The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya. The presentation feels so intimate and tender, which brings the most out of the show’s mesmerizing music, lively lighting, and wonderful writing. Everything feels so organic and lovely that it’s astounding. This organic nature is also what makes the writing so much better than it could have been. Melodrama has become a dirty word in the anime community, describing an overdramatization of conflict which several fans deride. This is most common in high school dramas, which this show happens to be. There are certainly melodramatic characters in the show which drive a lot of the conflict in the latter half of the season such as Yuuko and Reina. However, the show highlights them in contrast to a lot of the more grounded characters such as Kumiko and Asuka. Kumiko is a wonderful main lead, as she feels particularly natural. Her penchant for thinking out loud and accidentally letting things slip is such a rare trait in anime that the show explores, and the character herself is very expressive yet down to earth. Perhaps more so than anyone else, she feels like a genuine, complicated person with her own well-defined feelings towards others. Others such as Hazuki and Midori have their own fun quirks and struggles with how they play or whenever Midori finds herself catching hopeless feelings for someone with his own complicated relationship with Kumiko. The last 7 episodes feel especially great at managing a careful tenuous balance between its drama and the show’s tender, more down to earth nature. Melodramatic conflicts such as love triangles, rumors, and competitions for a specific spot that a competitor’s adoring friend escalates are all handled tactfully and are never overplayed in this second half. Even events that Kumiko is haunted by that seem like they might repeat have a wholesome resolution that feels earned and natural to every character involved. Even those such as Asuka and Natsuki, who clearly have their own somber sides that the former hides and the latter exudes at first feel natural and multi-layered when contrasting those sides with their more understanding, cheerful, and good-natured selves that we see them as most often. Even more minor characters have their own personal struggles and layers that are made abundantly clear such as Kumiko’s sister, and events such as the audition tryouts and reminders of the turbulent year had before present-day bring out the most in them with how everything is explored so tactfully and earnestly. It’s hard not to feel sorrow or joy in several moments in the show because of that. Everything feels earnest and natural, rather than forced. This isn’t even mentioning every character and subplot that gets intricately woven together and addressed, otherwise we’d be here all day with spoilers throughout. The first season of Hibike Euphonium is an astounding show that is far better than I could have anticipated. Its uniquely lively sense of lighting is matched only by its tender and resonant nature exemplified by its direction and music. The natural character writing and drama that rarely feels overplayed only add to how lovely this show is. Sure, there are minor issues such as Kumiko’s narration sometimes feeling unnecessary or there being a few slideshow moments, but they mean little in the face of such a great show. Here’s hoping season 2 matches the quality of this first outing.

Ah, band. The fond memories of a music player such as I, remembers the time back when you were but one of a group of 50+ students, playing a piece conducted by the music teacher at your school. But since there isn't much anime out there that encapsulates such an idea, this season of Spring 2015 brought us Hibike! Euphonium, a show that truly does capture the essence that is the high school band. Story (7.66/10): Euphonium follows the story of Oumae Kumiko, a Euphonium player (basically the instrument is that of a smaller tuba) our main female protagonist of this series. After a brutal experience in middle school with her middle school band not making it to the ever coveted spot of being a participant in Japan's band Nationals, she becomes very distraught by the experience and swears not to join again. But, as chance may have it, her new friends want to join the band, and so by peer pressure, she does too. Now, she is once again holding the instrument she has been playing all her life with a band that has quite a divided history. In essence, Hibike! Euphonium is an anime deconstruction of the idea of a high school band. Every part of what the characters do for the most part is what actual bands do. The sectionals where all the different instruments split off and practice individually, the tuning of the instrument before practice, the instrument maintenance, competing for that coveted solo part, and even the general attitudes both positive and negative from members within a band. It accurately shows what one is to expect whenever they join a band, which makes it a great watch for those who haven't actually been in one (if they're curious as to what they do), and for those who have just to say "yep, I've done that before." One of the bigger ways the show showcases these trials within a band are through the use of small character arcs, each of which dealing with a different member within the band who has an issue with the way the band politics are working out. Each of these different arcs vary in importance and length in terms of screentime, but they make the show more interesting because it isn't always fun and games with band. Each of these small arcs are different and require the use of different character each time, hence a lot more use of the band and in the end, make for a much better storyline cause it's different people having different problems, making things more interesting. However, Euphonium sometimes does miss a note or two. One of the more prominent things about it is the fact that it is a KyoAni show. KyoAni as of late has had a track record of moe shows, and as a result, Euphonium does showcase quite a few of your stereotypical moe moments for the sake of comedy. Of course, to me, this doesn't hamper the show all that much, but if you're not a fan of moe, then here's the warning for that. One of the bigger problems that Euphonium has with itself is the fact that there are unnecessary conflicts. In some cases, the show attempts to fill its runtime with conflicts within the band that sometimes feel unnecessary. There're moments where other characters attempt to change whatever's happened within the band to no avail, thus going back to the show's status quo, and even a romantic sideplot that was completely unneeded, all parts of the story which I think bring down the overall quality of the show. Overall though, Euphonium as a whole brought to the table a deconstruction of a topic that hasn't really been talked about in anime. While there were parts of its story that were somewhat unfavorable, the end result was still able to showcase what the true feeling of being in a concert band was, and was able to deliver that concept very well. Overall Score: + Deconstruction of band + Show's problems are similar to that of a band's +/- Moe moments (this is good or bad depending on your taste in anime.) - Unnecessary developments (like romantic sideplot) Characters (7.41/10): The characters in Euphonium differ than what you would normally see in a general anime in terms of presentation. Rather than having a true, defined set of main and supporting cast, the show bounces back and forth with character importance, with each mini character arc dealing with a different problem focusing on a different member/section of the band. But let's start with the main character of all of this, Oumae Kumiko. As a Euphonium player, Kumiko wished to follow in her sister's footsteps at a young age and started playing the Euphonium just like her sister did. Now in high school and the tragedy that was her middle school audition for nationals, Kumiko has become somewhat pessimistic, and very unmotivated to continue on band even when her friends say they're going to join as well. Kumiko's character is very different from the other kinds of characters that KyoAni has made the star of the show. Rather than being all cutesy and fussing adorably, Kumiko is a rather mischievous and downright mean character at times which I personally find to be a nice change, seeing how this is a much different personality than you would see in your standard moe fluff. In terms of development, Kumiko, in simple terms, gets her instrumental spark reignited, the spark that encourages one who plays an instrument to do better, play better, and perform better. And then we have Kousaka Reina, Kumiko's middle school friend who is also a trumpet player. From the start of the series, Reina's ideals are plastered on the idea of becoming special, becoming a better player and standing out from everyone else. Representing that player in the band that never lets go of their instrument, Reina never lets go of that trumpet, and holds the brass instrument dearly, playing it even when there's no one else around. While she doesn't particularly change all that much within the anime itself, she does spark some changes in other characters, creating her role to be more of that of a push onto other characters rather than herself. She also makes her own contributions to the show in other different ways, but for the most part, she doesn't really change much herself. The rest of the characters in Euphonium vary in terms of importance, but for the most part, all serve to represent different members of a concert band. (Though Midori is a special case. I don't remember having a double bass in MY band.) While not all of the sections and their problems get featured within this anime, the supporting cast was still able to fill up the show's runtime with the various problems and issues that goes into participating in a band. With every new group of characters, comes a different problem that needs to be resolved. As a result, these characters are for the most part plot devices, but it works well for the show since you both learn about the character and progress through the story with every new change. Still not a fan of Hazuki and Midori basically becoming the moe fluff of the show. Overview: + Good main protagonists + Actively utilized more of the band +/- Side characters were mostly treated as plot devices - Some of the main characters were basically moe fluff Art and Sound (8.44/10 and 7.99/10): As usual with KyoAni's work, Hibike! Euphonium is a very high quality looking show that has a moe flair to it because that's really all KyoAni's been doing for the past couple of years. As such, Euphonium has a very bright look to it, utilizing a bright and colorful color scheme that gives off this very glossy and refined look. In addition, KyoAni puts a lot of attention to detail, seeing as how all of the instruments all look staggeringly great with the way they're animated and the attention to detail for each individual button, valve, and tube on the different woodwinds, brass, and percussion. In addition, the character design is something that has to be noted for this show. Rather than pointing out the main characters in the series by giving them a unique character design and making the other 50 members plain by co…

I had a lot of hope for this anime and it not only disappointed me but also upset me. The premise of the series was promising and it offered characters and a plot I could relate to being about high school band and such. It was also produced by Kyoto Animation who did a phenomenal job as always with the animation and character designs. You’ll still see me reblogging pictures and gifs of this series because-despite what I’m saying now-I appreciate how much effort went into the presentation of this anime. My issue lies with the writing and character development because there is little to no substance there. I understand that you can only do so much in the span of a 12 episode series, but even so I felt that it introduced too many characters that were never fully developed. What started off as a series focusing on three friends (one of which learning about music and her instrument) became a pandering storm of yuri fanservice at the expense of developing Kumiko’s (the MC’s) character really at all. My main gripe however was that her two new friends were left in the background halfway through the series. As an audience member, I was happy to see Kumiko helping her “friend” Reina, but I’m biased towards hating unnecessary romantic subplots, ESPECIALLY when it takes over the series. After the semi-romantic tension is introduced between Kumiko and Reina, we barely ever see anything beyond the occasional glimpse of what Midori and Hazuki are doing besides just assisting the rest of the band. We’ll see them sometimes slip in and help Kumiko or offer passive assistance but they back off and their presence isn’t important to the story anymore. Why introduce these characters who both have confidence issues only to make them friends with a character too dense to give a care about them? It’s honestly beyond me but it began to frustrate me as a viewer to see Kumiko (who was already a fairly shallow MC) begin to just pay no attention Midori and Hazuki. Meanwhile, Reina gets the most time on screen as Kumiko’s supposed “love” interest. My problem with this series does not lie in the fact that it has a semi-”yuri” love interest, (Yuru Yuri is one of my favorite shows) it’s that it completely overhauls the show, takes it over, and rams whatever remaining plot and character development right into a brick wall. People honestly thought this show was Kyoto Animation’s saving grace while bashing series like Hyouka, Beyond the Boundary, K-On!, and Chuunibyou for having shallow characters. If that’s your opinion you’re completely entitled to it, but I much prefer those series. What I dislike about Hibike! Euphonium was that it had so much potential and deep characters only to have them become a tiny little helping hand for Kumiko’s shallow character who was too busy being a fanservice gateway to notice them anymore.

Kyoto animation is often described by many people as the studio in which they keep producing the exact same shows endlessly, that show being cute girls in a school type setting. While it is true that many, if not all do feature some kind of cute girl in high school, each one of Kyoto's works carries its own distinct flavour and personality that sets it apart from the others shows they have made. Hibike Euphonium is the latest anime by Kyoto and perfectly presents the reason why I fell in love with this studio in the first place. Furthermore, while this anime can be compared to K-on since they both feature cute girls playing music the content is quite different which I'll get into a bit later in this post. Like most of the works from this studio, I was blown away by the high quality animation, character designs and the absolutely beautiful shot composition and design of the school. The music room is incredibly memorable just from how well designed it is and how much detail is put into creating this room much like the club room from k-ON! Another thing that impressed me is the changes in expressions the characters would have mid sentence which conveyed a better sense of their emotions than any other anime from this year, rather than simply having the character explain in black and white what their emotions are. The hair colours for each of the girls are more realistic, although it does push it in a few places, which works well with the more realistic approach to music this anime was going for. The lighting is fantastic and emphasises the playing perfectly and the characters move with such fluidity and movement that it is breathtaking to see. But there is more to this show then just simply the well done design choices. Hibike Euphonium tells the story of musicians and their complex relationship to their art and our main character Kumiko struggles throughout the entirety of the show with her feelings towards playing music and finding an aspiration in life. This sets up an interesting narrative and sinks the character with a higher level of realism. Kumiko's conflict stems from the opening scene where we see Reina, a character who takes playing the trumpet extremely seriously and somebody who is always working, begin to cry as they didn't make it into nationals. Kumiko is confused by this and enrages Reina even more therefore setting up the emotional conflict of these two characters, as well as their stance when it comes to playing their instrument right from the beginning. Upon entering high school, Kumiko is more or less ready to give up her playing of the Euphonium and move on with her life with a fresh start but soon becomes mixed up with people who all have the same interest as her in the brass band and kind of joins in reluctantly as the first two friends she makes also join. Kumiko, in contrast to Sapphire and Reina has no aspirations or motivations for playing in the band and tries her best to avoid this topic, most likely stemming from the fact that she herself is not aware of her own passion yet. However this is ironic as Kumiko is someone with so much talent for playing her instrument as she almost made to the nationals and has the ability to tell when people are performing badly or not while also carrying around a plushie of her instrument. Kumiko's character does become more and more inspired and motivated by her music through the course of the show as she begins to mend her past with Reina leading to some thick homosexual sub tones in later episodes and by realising how fun playing music is. Her commitment to playing the instrument becomes almost overwelhiming as it becomes her main priority. Reina's character is also very interesting too, as she strives hard for some kind of recognition in music and even at times goes as far to proclaim herself as a better musician in front of her seniors. She is somebody who whole heartedly believes in herself and her craft which makes for an enjoyable and realistic approach to music. Similarly, Sapphire, one of the people who befriends Kumiko is driven by her desire to play her instrument as best she can and expresses a very optimistic persona that they could make it to nationals. These characters are interesting in their growth and how they change throughout the course of the show. Each of the supporting cast has such depth and character all growing more and more throughout the anime. Each character is given enough time to breath and spread their wings. The growth of the characters is also evident by how well they can play at the end of the anime from the ability to play at the start. While musicianship does take up a large section of the narrative there are other themes thrown in such as love which doesn't feel tacked on but handled in such a way to invoke realism and character growth for Hazuki. The relationship that grows between Kumiko and Reina is very believable and they both complement each other well. What impressed me the most was the small attentions to detail. Simply just a teacher telling the girls to make their skirts longer sinks well in the pacing of the story and adds to the realism of the story. Also, the instruments these girls play all seem like real instruments with the amount of detail put into creating them. The drama between the different characters in the music room as well as the different opinions of how music should be play coupled with the anticipation of performing their music was all implemented amazingly into the story. The music and overall soundtrack was amazing with noticeable highlights being the final performance at the end and the scene in which Kumiko runs down a road proclaiming her desire to play the instrument. The soundtrack is amazing and really highlights many of the scenes bringing them to life. Overall, whenever people say that Kyoto have lost their touch, this is a show I'll bring up in retaliation to what they just said. There is so much more to this show then what I could possible express. Parting thoughts: One of the best anime of 2015

You know, the circumstances surrounding Sound Euphonium are more interesting to me than the show itself. With the moe trend all but dead because “light-novel fad” didn’t want to play nice and share - and KyoAni proving said fad had a point when their attempts to jump in on its territory whilst still maintaining a commitment to cute were about as well-received as second-degree sunburns in the middle of the North Pole - their fall from grace in terms of the public was pre-determined the moment K-On became so big. Word of advice: nothing ages faster than an anime that tries to cash in on a popular trend. Because even the really good products to come from ‘em don’t connect well with future audiences. Or at least, that’s the reason I use for why I can’t get into Bringing Up Baby. Unfortunately, there’s still a crowd for KyoAni’s shit, and it doesn’t help that the ones that actually do try to do more don’t sell as well. So I guess some trends just won’t die easy in the East, but the West was a different story. I’m not participating in that FAL thing this season - and I never intend to play in it again for that matter - but I can suspect that some participants were frustrated at how so many of KyoAni’s diehard fanbase pretty much gave up on the studio’s new thing prior to airing because they saw it as their version of Sasami-san@Ganbaranai in terms of them repeating themselves. Sure, we knew Euphonium would actually have people play their instruments before we jumped into it, but the lack of focus on the topic wasn’t the only reason why K-On was backlashed so hard. The fact that it wasn’t funny, had dull-as-brick characters, and no f*cking story are problems that quite frankly were impossible for me to ignore, and Euphonium looked like KyoAni’s revenge for all the shit we dished out at their shit, right down to hiring hack-writer Jukki Hanada again. It’s a never-ending cycle of despair worthy of the Vengeance Trilogy. But then it turns out that Euphonium was less revenge against the shit and more of the studio’s determination to not let PA Works be the only studio to pull out a “darkest before dawn” surprise hit, because now the anime is considered by critics and fans to be KyoAni’s big comeback anime. It’s doing well on MAL’s top charts, it’s pretty much the blogger favorite of the season, and considering my recent record in shows with those sorts of reputations (especially when they involve cute girls like Shirobako and Girls Und Panzer), I’m sure most of you are expecting me to give it a lot of shit. Well of course I am; but in a twist that’s praise-worthy of the Shyamalan meme from Robot Chicken, I think it’s my favorite of these cute girl shows, let alone the popular ones. Because rather than dryly explaining the process like I’m sitting through a construction company meeting despite the fact that I’m an apprentice chef, or trying to cover up for your lack of substance with style like pretty much every movie Guy Ritchie has ever made, it’s a sports-like show with characterization on its mind. And considering that Ping Pong is one of my favorite sports anime, I’m all for that if it’s executed well. That’s the thing though, isn’t it? I mean excusing the fact that KyoAni are well-known for not focusing on developing their characters, how much can you really achieve in terms of characterization with light-hearted slice-of-life to begin with? After all, it’s a genre designed by nature to have no grit in terms of goals and humor, and the notion of watching fiction in order to relax and “be friends with” is completely lost on me these days. The only way you can possibly get some good substance out of it at this point is to be self-reflexive regarding the genre, and even that has its faults, as Euphonium excellently demonstrates for good and for bad. Sound Euphonium’s story starts off like practically every KyoAni show in that it’s pretty much exactly as it’s advertised in the summaries whilst being nothing like it’s advertised in the initial PV. On her first day of school, a young girl named Kumiko Oumae notices that her music club kind of sucks and after much prodding from her friends, joins said club with them. However, her middle-school friend (Reina) is also in the club, and due to a music-related incident in the past, she’s pretty nervous around her. But Kumiko and the rest of the “mostly-female for some reason” band don’t have time to focus on their personal problems, because the school hired Cillian Murphy as the club advisor in order to make sure that they achieve their goals of making it to the Nationals. And unlike Will Schuester (if he was channeling Negi Springfield), he’s pretty ruthless underneath his “kind” nature and won’t hesitate to stand in the band’s way if they don’t take things seriously. He’s not exactly Coach Carter or the main teacher from Whiplash, but it’s practically impossible to have a caeki~ moment around him if you know what I mean. Seeing as how only one novel was released by the time this anime was put into production, you know what that means right? KyoAni once again expanding/changing the source material in their own ways in order to get a decent runtime out of it. I’m not sure what they changed considering I never read the book, but something tells me that the yuri undertones weren’t part of the original package. Yes, the very thing that finally caused the show to get out of its “oh KyoAni are making another anime? Whatever” phase was when something I can only refer to as “that episode” occurred, more than halfway in. “Wait then, Mr. Flawfinder? If the turning point was halfway in, then what about the stuff prior?” And there you have my main problem with Sound Euphonium. Whilst I personally thought the episode prior to “that episode” was the turning point that I wasn’t sure was a turning point at first, the show nevertheless is similar to Steins;Gate in that it suffers from an entire “not very interesting” first half. The parts when Cillian was put into conflict with the entire band were fine, but everything else is pretty much fluffy and kinda vague setup for what is to to come later, and said setup doesn’t even pay off a good chunk of the time. Despite having four official main characters, it’d be more accurate to say the show has two, and even KyoAni knew that the other two girls were the equivalent of S;G’s trap and cat in terms of uselessness, given how quickly they get shunned from events after they go through their own boring personal arcs that don’t even lead to anything. Hell, the third-years got more attention than them in the end. Rightfully so too, because the parts of the story that did interest me was any of the drama focused on the third years. Why? Because being on the verge of graduation, they actually had to struggle in regards to whether their participation in getting to the Nationals was worth sacrificing school and possibly their future for, and when you combine that with Cillian’s teaching methods, it makes for something I can really sink my teeth into. Since all of the main four are in their second year, this means they don’t have said worries and thus don’t have as much stake in the band, causing the initially huge focus on them to be kinda iffy. The main two do get a compelling reason regarding their own participation eventually, but before then, they’re so tight-lipped about their true agendas that I wondered why Kumiko was the main female to begin with other than to be the female version of the typical KyoAni snarky lead who doesn’t even get involved in the actually interesting personal turmoil most of the time. For the record, like most people, my favorite character was the Vice President, Asuka. Not because of her chipper attitude, which didn’t do too much for me in the beginning and has been known to annoy both the other characters and even fans of this show. I liked her because said attitude functioned as a good contrast to a darker side that does whatever it takes to avoid drama w…