Hibike! Euphonium

[Buffalobiian]

Alternative title: 響け！ユーフォニアム

Synopsis: Hibike! Euphonium begins when Kumiko Oumae, a girl who was in the brass band club in junior high school, visits her high school's brass band club as a first year. Kumiko's classmates Hazuki and Sapphire decide to join the club, but Kumiko sees her old classmate Reina there and hesitates. She remembers an incident she had with Reina at a brass band club contest in junior high school. -MAL

Links: ANN, MAL, Official

Download: HS - Episode 01


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A slow episode to start, and it's definitely got KyoAni written all over it. Based on that I'm not expecting it to do too much wrong, but I am getting tired of the constant out-of-focus effect they're using. It's frankly distracting. I can deal with glowing lighting everywhere, but to add that on top is a little much for my liking.

[Ryllharu]

I actually really liked K-ON: Big Brass Edition. In terms of first episodes, this one knocked it out of the park.


Kumiko is kinda...bitchy. I take that back, but only a little. Calling her a bitch is really too strong of word, but she definitely looks down on the type of people who starred in K-ON. People with no talent, but excited about being merely average. Huge disparity from most protagonists in this kind of series; usually people with more enthusiasm than talent.

It was an interesting dynamic. Kumiko really likes playing in concert bands, but she didn't really care about being the very best, like no one ever was. Her friend broke down in tears when they couldn't continue, causing a major rift there. At the same time, Kumiko really has no patience for those without talent. Her motivation is torn between not playing anymore because she didn't understand Reina's passion and wanting a change-up, definitely not wanting to join because they suck, and then finally agreeing because her new friends wanted to give it a shot.

Even more intriguing is that Reina also came to this school. Kumiko only picked it because she liked their uniform the best (another fascinating character quirk that defied my expectations). Kumiko's sister implied that there are two other nearby schools with much better bands. Reina's level of passion for it would like you to believe she'd be there, something Kumiko also expected. So what exactly is she doing at this school with such a shitty band?

Sapphire (Midori) is the third interesting character. It's quite rare we have a character with a bizarre name who happens to strongly dislike it instead of defending it with some garbage story about their parents coming up with it romantically. It added a bit of realism for me.

The crazy perky glasses girl was nice. Always a big fan of Kotobuki Minako voiced perky characters. Kumiko is not really comfortable around her, nor is the short-haired girl, adding to my impression that Kumiko is the antithesis to K-ON archetypes.

This episode was all about characters having natural reactions to natural-feeling developments.

Based on the feedback in the other thread, I'd actually say that this feels like the Yahari Wordspam version of K-ON...and I like it.




Also...puffy hair (shown above if you haven't watched it). Normally relegated to minor side characters. KyoAni is damn good at making interesting looking background characters. Quite important in huge casts like this. I wonder if their features are not even defined in the novel.

edit:

I agree that the visuals were a little distracting, but once I got used to it (took about 5 minutes), it was fine. Nice vivid colors everywhere as well. I'd expect this to be the Hyouka/Kyoukai no Kanata/Amagi staff, but it is actually the KEY/Chuunibyou teams.

edit 2:
Hah, RandomC agrees with me about Kumiko.

edit 3:
Worth pointing out that this is based on a novel. Not light novel. Novel.

[shinta|hikari]

edit 3:
Worth pointing out that this is based on a novel. Not light novel. Novel.

You say this as if it means something. There are as many trashy novels as there are light novels, and the same can be said for stories on the other side of the spectrum.

If you're saying that novels usually target an older demographic as opposed to LNs, then okay.

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Edit: Some discussions below have been moved to a separate LN thread. -Buff

[Buffalobiian]

HS - Episode 02


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Until the end, Kousaka's responses were weird as if Kumiko was just another person around the school. For quite some time I expected her to have had amnesia.

The rest of the episode was rather entertaining. Props to the weird Vice President.

[shinta|hikari]

I started to like this much better when the teacher showed up. For some reason, only girls are onscreen all the time, even though I know some guys are in the club. I hear male voices too when the members speak in unison, but only girls are there. It's odd.

I like the kuudere trumpet girl, but I always like kuuderes.

[Ryllharu]

I'm really liking this series. The episodes seem very long, which has always been a very good sign to me. That means the episodes are dense with actual content. At this point, the series is reminding me more of Sakamichi no Apollon than it is K-ON. Another good sign.

I found Aoi's speech to be very interesting. Her line that, "Three years pass by in a flash," combined with her vote against aiming for Nationals and stating that she was looking for an alibi makes me think that she will just randomly quit the club soon. The impression that I got was that she felt the last two years were completely wasted. They either didn't get to Nationals or got a Bronze at best. Maybe Aoi felt that all the hours she put in could have been better spent in a different club, getting better grades in classes, going out shopping with other girls, or finding a boyfriend?

Then we have the teacher asking what type of club they want to have. He was gauging how he should treat all of them. The way I took it was that if they just want to have fun he will casually teach them how to play and just have a good time. If they want to make it to the Nationals...he's going to be much harsher, not tolerate repeated mistakes, and make sure they place well so they can leave the Nationals satisfied.

And all the while, you have Kumiko, being a very real person. She's terrified of facing Reina, but at the same time, she treats Aoi as an equal, sneers at the Shuuichi like he is some kind of huge annoyance, and still comes off as a little stuck up. I find her very likable for those reasons. She's shallow to a degree, dishonest, selfish, and greatly dislikes confrontation or having to make a choice. She's forced back into euphonium by Aoi's slip up, but after all the time she's spent learning euphonium and playing bass, was there any doubt she would really enjoy playing trombone? She's been doing euphonium for so long (even placing gold in middle school) she's got to be able to play it pretty naturally. She's amusingly fake, but so adverse to confrontation that she still ends up honest to herself. That is a very realistic character.

Asuka and Hazuki are both good for comedy relief. Hazuki essentially tricked into playing tuba was amusing.

Honestly, the Kumiko-Reina plotline is far and away the least interesting.

[Kraco]

Episode 3 - HS



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This felt a bit boring, to be honest, maybe partly because there was no fricking musical performance of any sort to speak of in the first three eps, almost. Fortunately at the very end the best girl, Reina, alone decided to save this show and make me not drop it after a 3 eps trial.

Ryll calls Kumiko realistic, and I won't deny that. But that's also why she annoys me. Real people of that age aren't interesting at all unless they are really focused on something. Kumiko isn't. She even wanted to change her instrument when she's already in high school, which means she in reality wanted to vote for the second choice of only having fun. She had the kind of ambition a group mentality can generate, but for her personally it doesn't matter at all whether the band gets anywhere. Although I have no doubt her home environment is partly to blame, with the bitch of an older sister.

Apart from Reina, Tanaka seems like the only energetic driving force, but unfortunately I don't really like her character type. The president is worthless. She might be okay if the band was composed of really focused and eager people, but since it's the opposite, the president is a waste of brass. I hope the end of the third ep means that Kumiko will leave behind her ultimate ordinary personality and do what an MC should do and reform the club with her own example.

The teacher is quite interesting, but again the useless president makes it all go to waste. The teacher said right in the beginning he honours the students own initiative and decisions, yet the president is totally incapable of making any decisions or lead anybody. She should be replace asap. The new president could then select a more inspirating composition as well. It would be 100% guaranteed the teacher wouldn't mind if it produced results.

[Kraco]

Episode 5 - HS




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This series has found quite a good balance between training (the core content) and what goes for drama in shows like this. The drama feels somewhat stretched for me occasionally, but when I remind myself of the fact these are still school kids, it's okay. School kids can be awkward and shy, after all, and when they are bold, it can get stupid, not constructive. What I'd like there to be more is music. We are only getting bits and pieces of it. Music related series ought to have plenty of music to really fly. We have seen that numerous times in good and bad.

[Buffalobiian]

I find the little bits of fanservice to be a little out of place in a series as "natural" as this, but all that said I don't want them removed.

[shinta|hikari]

They're cute. Shut up.

[Buffalobiian]

They're cute. Shut up.

That they are. That they are.

[Kraco]

Episode 6 - HS



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A bit too much K-ON, but there was also some real development going on. Could have used more music, but I guess that's a complaint repeated too much. At least there was some. On the other hand I suppose it's good there are all kinds of music shows, even if they can't all reach Shigatsu or Nodaime levels. This seems to be the path KyoAni has chosen.

[Ryllharu]

I dunno, Kumiko's persistent sarcasm keeps this well out of K-ON territory in my opinion, and her perspective is carrying the show.

Hazuki and Sapphire emphasize the innocent love of music that K-ON had, but is heavily offset by Kumiko's sarcasm, Reina's legitimate enthusiasm and possible inappropriate attraction to Taki-sensei, and Aoi's cynicism and Debbie Downerism.

It keeps it grounded.

The fact that their school actually has boys helps too.

I can see why KyoAni was drawn to wanting to do this series. It is essentially a series filled to the brim with side characters for them to flesh out (K-ON nameless side characters style), but led by a KEY-style jaded protagonist. In addition, it taking place in their studio's hometown makes hunting for reference photos to animate to trivial.

[Kraco]

I dunno, Kumiko's persistent sarcasm keeps this well out of K-ON territory in my opinion

Maybe I should have said too much KyoAni, then, but I kind of wanted to avoid saying that as I have got nothing against the studio.

The boys being there, despite not belonging to the MC cast, really helps this show as far as I'm concerned. Even if this is KyoAni moeblob and it shows through in all the interactions, but there's still something different in the scenes and the characters behavior when the girls are talking to other girls or to the guys. Though at the same time the biggest difference is only there when Kumiko is talking to Reina, for whatever reason. It even looked like Hazuki was falling for Shuuichi when he saved her from falling on top of... Tsubakabura, or whatever it was. K-ON was naturally totally free of all such tension.

[shinta|hikari]

I just hope they show more guys onscreen. The ratio is blatantly wrong most of the time.

[Ryllharu]

Though at the same time the biggest difference is only there when Kumiko is talking to Reina, for whatever reason.

I've felt that the reason Kumiko gets all weird, shy, and cutesy around Reina is that she still feels guilty about the time Reina cried in Middle School. Kumiko has had her shitty, sarcastic, blasé attitude for some time, and some of it probably has to do with her sister and their relationship.

But in Middle School, Kumiko found out that Reina has a passion for music that Kumiko used to have. We saw Kumiko's passion briefly in a flashback where Kumiko is crying on her couch at home holding her Euphonium, during a discussion of how much it hurts when it doesn't feel like you're getting better (or whatever). Every time she sees Reina, she gets reminded of that time at competition when she didn't understand why she didn't feel the same way that Reina did. It took apart their friendship.

Kumiko also doesn't understand why someone like Reina would go to their shitty-band school, and not Rikka, where she later found out that Reina was actually invited to, but refused. We do know why Reina stays, and that's Taki-sensei.

It's a really strange an interesting dynamic. I love Kumiko's current shitty attitude (shown most vividly when she's talking to Shuuichi), but Kumiko has started to discover her old one while tending to Hazuki's growing enthusiasm more than interfacing with Reina again.

There's a similar attitude contrast going on with Kumiko and Aoi, though to be honest I still can't even figure out what that is. Aoi has either given up entirely and is just going through the motions, or jealous of Kumiko's minor enthusiasm and continued love for the Euphonium. I just can't figure out what part of it is making Aoi so damned bitter and two-faced about it.

It's these kind of undertones that, for me at least, are putting this series more in line with Nagi no Asukara Hanasaku Iroha than K-ON.

[Kraco]

So, Kumino is still unsure whether she wants to change and take music as seriously as she used to, and that's keeping her from making up with Reina and sorting things out? Because if it turns out she won't bother to invest her everything in music again, they would just inevitably clash again. Yet at the same time some part of her does yearn to get closer to Reina and become her friend. Considering how Kumiko is quite good and at the time being is practicing and performing sufficiently, I don't think there's anything concrete keeping them apart, especially since Reina clearly doesn't hate her and in one way or another even forgave her, if there was anything to forgive in the first place (indicating it's just Kumiko's personality quirk that caused the conflict).

Dunno. It's much easier between guys, right?

[Ryllharu]

Right, that's what makes it weird.

Kumiko is the one that feels guilty about the whole Middle School Competition thing and maybe even feels her words had hurt Reina, but Reina isn't affected by it. If anything, Reina might be confused why Kumiko is so standoffish.

All their relationship problems are Kumiko's issues.

The only mystery is why Reina came to Kitauji. Wanted a band that didn't take things so seriously so she could be the best? There's already a rivalry/jealousy dynamic building in the trumpet section. Likely about to come to a head during the audition phase. Is the beloved trumpet section leader not as nice as she acts? I am surprised to find that I can't wait to find out.

[Kraco]

The only mystery is why Reina came to Kitauji. Wanted a band that didn't take things so seriously so she could be the best?

That feels kind of unlikely since the success depends on the whole band, and she seemed to care about the success. It's meaningless if only a single or a few persons are good. Such a band wouldn't still advance in the competitions. On the other hand if the beginning level is quite low, then there's only one way forward: Up. The progress would feel big. Like Hazuki's situation on a much larger scale. Hard to say whether such a thing would be a reason enough for anybody. Maybe she really chose the school because of that teacher.

[Buffalobiian]

I think Kraco is right and Reina came to Kitauji because of Taki-sensei