Hibike! Euphonium is incredible and felt deeply personal to me (Spoilers for the whole series, only read if you finished season 3)
I recently finished watching the entire Hibike! Euphonium series and I can safely say it's now one of my favorites of all time.
As someone with experience in competitive sports, I have never seen anything capture so perfectly and thoroughly the sort of emotions and dynamics that take place within a highly competitive highschool/college team/club. I had the experience of being an international transfer student into a NCAA Divison 1 team and I have either seen or experienced almost everything the characters go through, it was honestly sort of unnerving and eerie how much of the show felt like emotional deja vu... it was e hell of a ride-along bringing back both good and bittersweet memories (along with the inevitable regrets).
I loved the anime original deviation with the ending too. I have seen online a lot of people who were unsatisfied with not getting the perfect ending for Kumiko and Reina (especially since the orginal novel apparently did) but to me what they did felt much more true to life and if anything showed Kumiko's growth even more. The hint at the end as well that Reina and Kumiko might have started drifting apart with her pursuing her career in the USA is also a gut punch but healthy dose of reality at the same time... if Reina truly wanted to be special, being a professional and world elite requires living a selfish life and you can't wait for anyone else around you. I also lost contact with most teammates from college after graduating and coming back home to my county, even though I know ever time I meet one of them even years later we can always pick it back up right from where we left off given how deep and intense our past bonds from those years are.
I also actually like to believe Taki sensei was going to pick Mayu for the final solo to begin with (like Reina ends up doing) but he left the vote up to the students since he wanted to avoid the drama from the previous audition and in a way test them to see if they were willing to do whatever it took even if it only made a 1% difference towards getting gold at nationals (it worked during the first year, so he decided to try it again). It also worked perfectly in coming full circle from the Reina-Kaori solo drama from season 1, the audience is put in the shoes of Yuuko who you probably disliked at the time for getting in the way of Reina but we are made to understand her feelings this time around. Besides, a lot of people seem to not give any thought as to how Mayu is an even more talented Euphonium player who also wants her last chance to play a solo and win gold at nationals since it's well established by the end that the whole "being willing to forgo the solo" was only her forcing herself to sacrifice in order to keep the peace due to past trauma. We are driven to dislike Mayu because of jealousy and protectiveness towards Kumiko but in the end she is a genuinely nice and talented person who would also deserve her last chance to shine at nationals. It seems like a lot of people took at face value the idea that Mayu and Kumiko were at the same level by the end but it simply not the case (even by Kumiko's admission when she later meets with Reina) and they tried to convey it during the final audition in the performances as well.
I'm not sure if the asphyxiating pace of Season 3 was intentional but it worked really well for me in conveying both the anxiety of being in your last year with your last chance of reaching your goal while all the additional stress from other sources just keeps on piling up. The line of it "all being over in an instant" felt way too real and relatable.
I think the only drawback for the whole series is that the 2nd year is done way too fast and skipping through most of it. I understand the competition is cut short from them not qualifying for nationals but they could have shown us more of the fallout from it. I would have liked to see more of the farewell of Yuuko and Natsuki for example and further exploration of the relationships with the incoming freshman. I watched all of the OVA and Specials as well but it still feels like there are some important gaps between the 2nd and 3rd season imo. In a selfish fan-boyish way, I would love for them to also maybe produce a epilogue "years later" OVA after the final recap movies are released but it would be by no means necessary of course. They could also adapt the Rikka marching back spin off novel perhaps? No idea if Azusa Sasaki's journey would offer anything that hasn't been covered by the main series already though (if anyone has read it, let me know!).
Sorry for the wall of text but this series stirred me up good lol I have so many other questions and thoughts but I wouldn't be able to put them all to writing, I'm still not sure how I feel about Asuka overall for example... I love her as much as anybody else but part of me feels like Asuka is the Kumiko who took the route of selfishness over being a true leader, that's maybe why she cares so much about taking Kumiko under her wing and calls her a "real Euphonium" but at the same time isn't able to face her later on when Kumiko grows to be a selfless leader sort of rejecting her at the end of the apartment visit and not showing up at the final performance (maybe Kumiko's idealism brought on some shame for Asuka). But it's just my interpretation, it's hard to get a read on her and that's exactly the point of the character I believe.
Did anybody else reading have a similar experience as me in sports or performing arts and resonated personally with this series? I had a similar experience watching certain moments of Kono oto Tomare! (mostly the Akira backstory) but this time around since the story and characters were much more grounded and the story is told in such an intimate way, it was even more powerful and relentless in a way...
As someone with experience in competitive sports, I have never seen anything capture so perfectly and thoroughly the sort of emotions and dynamics that take place within a highly competitive highschool/college team/club. I had the experience of being an international transfer student into a NCAA Divison 1 team and I have either seen or experienced almost everything the characters go through, it was honestly sort of unnerving and eerie how much of the show felt like emotional deja vu... it was e hell of a ride-along bringing back both good and bittersweet memories (along with the inevitable regrets).
I loved the anime original deviation with the ending too. I have seen online a lot of people who were unsatisfied with not getting the perfect ending for Kumiko and Reina (especially since the orginal novel apparently did) but to me what they did felt much more true to life and if anything showed Kumiko's growth even more. The hint at the end as well that Reina and Kumiko might have started drifting apart with her pursuing her career in the USA is also a gut punch but healthy dose of reality at the same time... if Reina truly wanted to be special, being a professional and world elite requires living a selfish life and you can't wait for anyone else around you. I also lost contact with most teammates from college after graduating and coming back home to my county, even though I know ever time I meet one of them even years later we can always pick it back up right from where we left off given how deep and intense our past bonds from those years are.
I also actually like to believe Taki sensei was going to pick Mayu for the final solo to begin with (like Reina ends up doing) but he left the vote up to the students since he wanted to avoid the drama from the previous audition and in a way test them to see if they were willing to do whatever it took even if it only made a 1% difference towards getting gold at nationals (it worked during the first year, so he decided to try it again). It also worked perfectly in coming full circle from the Reina-Kaori solo drama from season 1, the audience is put in the shoes of Yuuko who you probably disliked at the time for getting in the way of Reina but we are made to understand her feelings this time around. Besides, a lot of people seem to not give any thought as to how Mayu is an even more talented Euphonium player who also wants her last chance to play a solo and win gold at nationals since it's well established by the end that the whole "being willing to forgo the solo" was only her forcing herself to sacrifice in order to keep the peace due to past trauma. We are driven to dislike Mayu because of jealousy and protectiveness towards Kumiko but in the end she is a genuinely nice and talented person who would also deserve her last chance to shine at nationals. It seems like a lot of people took at face value the idea that Mayu and Kumiko were at the same level by the end but it simply not the case (even by Kumiko's admission when she later meets with Reina) and they tried to convey it during the final audition in the performances as well.
I'm not sure if the asphyxiating pace of Season 3 was intentional but it worked really well for me in conveying both the anxiety of being in your last year with your last chance of reaching your goal while all the additional stress from other sources just keeps on piling up. The line of it "all being over in an instant" felt way too real and relatable.
I think the only drawback for the whole series is that the 2nd year is done way too fast and skipping through most of it. I understand the competition is cut short from them not qualifying for nationals but they could have shown us more of the fallout from it. I would have liked to see more of the farewell of Yuuko and Natsuki for example and further exploration of the relationships with the incoming freshman. I watched all of the OVA and Specials as well but it still feels like there are some important gaps between the 2nd and 3rd season imo. In a selfish fan-boyish way, I would love for them to also maybe produce a epilogue "years later" OVA after the final recap movies are released but it would be by no means necessary of course. They could also adapt the Rikka marching back spin off novel perhaps? No idea if Azusa Sasaki's journey would offer anything that hasn't been covered by the main series already though (if anyone has read it, let me know!).
Sorry for the wall of text but this series stirred me up good lol I have so many other questions and thoughts but I wouldn't be able to put them all to writing, I'm still not sure how I feel about Asuka overall for example... I love her as much as anybody else but part of me feels like Asuka is the Kumiko who took the route of selfishness over being a true leader, that's maybe why she cares so much about taking Kumiko under her wing and calls her a "real Euphonium" but at the same time isn't able to face her later on when Kumiko grows to be a selfless leader sort of rejecting her at the end of the apartment visit and not showing up at the final performance (maybe Kumiko's idealism brought on some shame for Asuka). But it's just my interpretation, it's hard to get a read on her and that's exactly the point of the character I believe.
Did anybody else reading have a similar experience as me in sports or performing arts and resonated personally with this series? I had a similar experience watching certain moments of Kono oto Tomare! (mostly the Akira backstory) but this time around since the story and characters were much more grounded and the story is told in such an intimate way, it was even more powerful and relentless in a way...
Commentaires
I really wish now some publisher would pick up the novels and the manga for physical English releases... for some reason they only ever published the first volume of the novel series back in 2017 from what I could find :/
I found it so consistent across seasons and movies, normally I have a show where I like parts of it significantly more than other parts (Monogatari for example) but that is not the case here. Kumiko's character arc is possibly my favourite ever despite its simplicity. The art and animation, I mean KyoAni cooked. It knows when to be quiet, subtle, tender and when to be dramatic and go for the gut punches. And I agree with you one finding it very relatable coming from a sports background. It'll probably be my favourite anime for a long, long time.
Compared to something like Your Lie in April (which I also love) the amazing thing with Euphonium is that it manages to be just as emotional without relying on some catastrophically tragic events, it really just shows how masterful the people involved at Kyoto animation were on this project from beginning to end.
Steping in Mayu support is Kumiko definitory moment. Because this anime is about frustration: how to manage it, how to overcome it and understand that some times it doesn't go away.
I don't know about the light novels but I agree with you. It's a masterful move by KyoAni and I'm so glad they went that way
It feels so far away now, but music was my life for like 8 years in school and this show causes all those memories to come rushing back.
But it's also still a phenomenal show even if you don't have that personal connection.
I don't know if I would have appreciated it the same way if I had watched it back in the day when I was still a young kid with tunnel vision dreaming of the Olympics.
I'm sure it must have been even more surreal of an experience for you having been in band, honestly makes me wish I interacted more with the band kids while I was in college in the US (even though our college didn't have an ambitious program in that regard as far as I'm aware).
I've been realizing this a lot lately but watching some of these series as I'm getting older with more life experience definitely makes them hit differently, I had the same while watching Frieren for example: sometimes having lived longer and having more experiences and regrets in life will make you connect to these stories much more closely.
Honestly these sort of shows make me happy to have returned to anime/manga after years of absence, I just don't connect with other media the same way for some reason 😅
At the time, I didn't care about group competition, and frankly most of our bands didn't either. I cared more about individual accolades/competition while the group stuff was mostly something I just *"*had" to do. But looking back, my fondest memories are of the few times that we did pull together as a group and try to achieve something greater.
The show makes me wish I would've taken music more seriously and continued pursuing it, despite having been very much over it at the time. I don't regret my decisions, but it's just so interesting that a cartoon about high schoolers can have me feeling that way.
I did for some reason watch Liz and the Blue Bird though and I enjoyed that, I guess because they kept a lot of the more specific band-related stuff out of that. Not sure if anyone can relate to feeling put off about the band stuff as a former band kid though, I may need to give it another try now and just suspend my disbelief a bit more.
On the other hand I've been enjoying anime based around music competitions probably because the emotional journey and struggles are similar but I'm not knowledgeable enough about music to be put off by any inaccuracies or creative freedoms being taken.
I feel like many people in the west look at Kumiko and Reina's confessions as romantic love, but at least in Japan, there seems to be a lot of layers ad tiers of friendship and love. I certainly wouldn't say no to Reina coming home one day and getting hitched to Kumiko, but I also agree that Reina has big dreams and it requires her to sacrifice some of those relationships.
Regardless of all that, while I didn't always find Reina's attitude acceptable, I can respect her desires and seriousness to be the best and to be successful. The fact that she had at least one good friendship and connection probably means the world to her, she just has a hard time expressing it.
Lastly, while Kumiko-sensei is pretty cute, I miss whatever the name of that hair style is where has those thick tufts of hair on her shoulders. I know a certain Uma who wears a similar style of hair. >\_>
Personally I thought it contributed a lot to creating the right atmosphere for a club environment, you end up spending every day with the same people and especially with sports where you have locker rooms and shared living spaces you do end up creating some platonic relationships with certain people that are definitely more than a regular friendships even if romantic feelings are not involved (even with physical intimacy that doesn't exceed into sexual acts). I feel like there are definitely types of attraction that don't fall in the friendship or lover category but are just as strong, I don't know how to better express it but I've definitely experienced it.
Regarding Reina's character I could unfortunately relate to her a lot. I've definitely lived most of my live with that attitude of "I'm not here to make friends" when I was an athlete and it caused me to miss out on many relationships and inadvertently hurt people along the way, I wasn't even entirely aware of it until re-examining myself years after quitting.
Even Kumiko makes the conscious decision to be more like Reina for the sake of them winning gold at nationals by deciding to give precedence to the club over her relationship with Shuuichi. Realistically there was no real benefit to it: they were both in the band so would have understood the needs for practice time etc but it's mostly a psychological trick to assert to yourself that your commitment to your goal is absolute with no other distractions.
But when you are that sort of unapproachable person the people who are willing to reach out to you anyways and brake down those walls become even more important to you, so the sort of "exclusive" relationship between Reina and Kumiko immediately made sense to me.
I think by the end Reina opened up a lot to Kumiko but we get definitive prove that Reina is truly special an meant for bigger heights when not even the incredible bond with Kumiko was enough for her to compromise even slightly on the solo for nationals, in spite of all the pain it causes both of them.
I might be projecting too much of my own thoughts and feelings on it but that's the sort of thing I love about this series, every single event and relationship had my mind ruminating on it :)
I do kind of see the "yuri baiting" claims but they're a bit unfair. I feel like humans don't realize there are more levels to relationships, as you've stated. I would also agree that relationships are not black and white (friendship vs romantic love), and when people find those in between relationship places, I think society as a whole finds that strange or tries to label them and stuff them in an existing category.
I'm glad we live in an era where people can explore more facets of human nature and be more accepting of the our granular states. When we see bonds like Reina and Kumiko's, we get a good example of one of those states, and can be immensely happy for them.
As an Asuka fan, I'd say that I overall also am not sure how to feel lol.
I agree with you calling it a route of selfishness, but I think there's a particular nuance of it being a sort of "will not compromise her _self_ for others", rather than a more typical everyday usage of the term - she refuses to become President because she knows that she does not suit the role, the whole arc of her will-she-won't-she imo shows just how painful it was for her to accede to her mom and the effort it took to put up the facade (along with the effort it took Kumiko to dig her back out), and I feel like her interactions with Kumiko in the later seasons give a similar vibe - she has her own values of what's important and Kumiko's concerns about keeping the peace with others and the club don't really register with her.
I didn't actually take her not showing up at the final performance to be indicative of anything - from a meta perspective you expect side characters to show back up and make cameos (and she did visit for the second year performance) but in real life everyone is the main character of their own story and as someone who's already left the club and is now busy with college life it just kind of felt realistic that she wasn't there, in a life moves on sort of way.
But overall I definitely agree with the "she's a hard character to get a read on" and I feel like that's what makes her so compelling as a character - it gives you the feeling of realism, that she's an actual complex person with layers and nuances, even if perhaps as fans we end up reading too much into things haha
The big thing that frustrated me so much in her arc is that Kumiko's big speech to Asuka was pointless. That was Asuka's plan from the start - to focus on exams, get a sufficiently high score and return to the band. If Kumiko said nothing, nothing would've changed. It's not like she actually convinced her to return.
The tone is also very different. The music is a lot more upbeat and high paced, more or less all of the students are music freaks who want to do a bunch of weird shit with their instruments. There's a lot less of the jealously, resentment and heavy emotions of the main series and a lot more frank, open anger and arguing. And Azusa as a character is such a joy. Just a ball of cheerfulness, confidence and hard work, very different from Kumiko.
I played in orchestra in high school, and will its not band its still extremely similar, and this show portrays every dynamic and emotion (like you said) perfectly.
Kumiko Oumae is imo one of the best female protagonists in anime. She is so damn relatable it’s actually scary. Her entire arc in S3 figuring out what her future would be resonated with me so badly, because i was practically the same. I had no idea what i wanted to do after high school. I struggled to not cry during literally every episode when i rewatched Hibike.
Also, just gotta pay my respects to Liz and the Blue Bird. This movie is nearly perfect. How does KyoAni takes two side characters and create one of the most deep, emotionally complex dynamics ever. Its by far my favorite anime movie.
Im glad you enjoyed Hibike, i try and spread it as much as I can because i feel like its kind of niche but definitely growing in popularity recently.
Go try Medalist and Girls Band Cry next.
I did end up doing my undergrad in music though. So if anything, Nodame Cantabile captured my experience studying at a conservatorium to a creepily accurate degree.
Even nerdier, the scene where this show went from "really damn good" to "special" for me was a scene in S1 where Kumiko is practicing in her usual spot outside (I believe it was the Crescent Moon Dance part that she was cut from & later re-added to). She's flubbing the articulations a bit, but tries to power through it, but it falls apart and she ends up hitting a couple of low Bb's to kinda "recalibrate". To the average viewer, that probably registered as little more than a throwaway scene. But I was just there like "THAT'S WHAT I DO DURING PRACTICE". It's smaller details like that that really set this show apart to me.
Easily my favorite anime of all time. Crossing my fingers for a Rikka adaptation
(That said, there's also the point where if you're in it for final year joy and sadness, well.... go watch K-ON!! S2 again. You know you want to. Kyoani already delivered a banger on that theme and maybe didn't want to do it again, even if in a more grounded tone)
There's some socioeconomic commentary in Asuka being from a single parent household who is clearly shown to be not well-off, compared to Reina with her gleaming house and home studio, fashion sense, and aspirations/connections to study music in the US without regard for cost. Full international student fares, yo. And god that felt so real too... some of your classmates are just crazy loaded and it becomes starkly apparent as the enforced egalitarianism of earlier universal education breaks down in the transition to higher ed.
Even S3's brief glimpse of Asuka shows the reality of money biting: her relationship with Kaori is hinted to be unhealthy - Asuka can't afford to solo rent and needs to mooch on Kaori, who knows she is being taken advantage of but is still too lovestruck to refuse.
I hadn't made the same connection with Asuka personally but I think your thoughts on her relationship with Kaori are interesting. Kaori is definitely in love with Asuka (the S3 extra episode with Kaori and them living together sort of seals the deal for me) and there appears to be clear power imbalance there affection wise (at least on the surface) but the extra episode made me think that Asuka and Kaori maybe had a much deeper relationship from the start that they were trying to hide from everyone else. Like the whole shared apartment thing later on was also sort of a facade to cover them just wanting to live together.
During my first watch Asuka seemed much closer to Haruka but that extra scene shows us that even when they were in school she was meeting up with Kaori after school out of sight of everyone else and opening up about her insecurities with her.
I still think your theory is also interesting and potentially valid, on one hand I wish they gave us more closure on Asuka but the mystery around her is also part of what makes her such a great and memorable character in the end 😁
* No-longer-living-at-home Asuka basically mooches on Kaori for food and gifts that she can't pay back and instead reciprocates in shallow, uncharacteristic physical affection, viz., putting her head in Kaori's lap
* Kaori can tell Asuka is keeping her emotional guard up and is putting on a façade, as Asuka does in S1/S2 at length. But if you loved someone, would you drive them away because you think they're faking it?
* Whilst Kumiko is there, all they talk about is fights and Kumiko being a straight shooter who speaks her mind (in contrast to, presumably, the incumbent dynamic in the room). It's just a really strange thing to confess to a junior you don't really know that well (unless, you know, you were desperate to talk out your dark suspicions of what's going on to *someone*).
Kaori does buy matching gifts for Asuka in high school (in the LN, Asuka mentions that Kaori gifted the Asuka the tea cups that Asuka serves the tea with in S2E9)
460 anime under my belt and it's still my favorite show of all time.
I never grew up playing an instrument but it still resonated with me
Regards from a fellow Hibike fan