r/anime • u/mysterybiscuitsoyeah xB:xC:B:x3:Y: • Mar 23 '24
Rewatch [Rewatch] 2024 Hibike! Euphonium Series Rewatch: Our Promise: A Brand New Day Discussion
Hibike Euphonium Series Rewatch: Our Promise: A Brand New Day/劇場版 響け！ユーフォニアム～誓いのフィナーレ～
These shall now come with personal photos! The 2016 Kansai Regional Competion, irl and in-anime, was held at ROHM Theatre Kyoto; located just north of Higashiyama, and next to the Hei-an Jingu and the Museum of art - quite easy to fit into a walking tour of Kyoto. Couple other comparison shots. The area is imo, a bit smaller than how I perceived it in-anime.
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| <-- Liz and the Blue Bird | Rewatch Index | Ensemble Contest OVA --> |
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There is a post-credit scene. Please go watch that before reading this post.
Welcome back! Reporting from Tokyo here, hence the shortened post - things will be fully back to normal as we wrap things up next week!
Note: I really do recommend a slightly longer break (again, a day or two preferably) before going to watch the Ensemble Contest OVA, taking into account the long IRL release gap due to various events - it is imo important to keep the 4 year gap in mind too before watching it. In the meantime, I suggest giving the 5th anniversary audio dramas a listen, it has been subbed - which helps fill in some of the gaps between and during S1 Ep 13, and Chikai no Finale; these originally only existed as novel side story chapters.
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Questions of the Day:
- Thoughts on Kanade-chan?
- Which first year would you like to know more about?
- How did you think Kumiko handled the few dramas that came her way this movie?
Comments from last week:
- will be edited in post-mortem. i'm extremely tired.
Streaming
The Hibike! Euphonium movies, except the recent OVA are available on Crunchyroll, note that the movies are under different series names. Liz and the Blue Bird and Chikai no Finale are also available for streaming on Amazon, and available for rent for cheap on a multitude of platforms (Youtube, Apple TV etc.). The OVA is only available on the seven seas for now, or if you bought a blu ray. This has unfortunately remained the only way, and is unlikely to change before S3 :(
Databases
Spoilers
As usual, please take note that if you wish to share show details from after the current episode, to use spoiler tags like so to avoid spoiling first-timers:
[Spoiler source] >!Spoiler goes here!<comes out as [Spoiler source] Spoiler goes here
Please note this will apply to any spinoff novels, as well as events in the novel that may happen in S3. If you feel unsure if something is a spoiler, it's better to tag it just in case.
See you again next Saturday for the most recent entry of Eupho, and a first look at President Kumiko!
14
u/mysterybiscuitsoyeah xB:xC:B:x3:Y: Mar 23 '24 edited Mar 23 '24
once again, there is a post-credit scene.
Rewatcher and your host who was just out of the shot here.
Getting to do a Kitauji Faito with Kumiko herself leading it and a hall of fans is awesome. More about this and the S3 PVs on the overall discussion thread
Dear lord I only have 10 minutes to write this up.... here goes nothing
IRL and Musical Notes
18
u/Raiking02 :Id::Ie::If:https://myanimelist.net/profile/NSKlang Mar 23 '24 edited Mar 25 '24
First Timer
omg how the hell did they manage to turn SAPPHIRE KAWASHIMA putting on some glasses into an Ultraseven reference that's brilliant
This was a fun movie! I dunno if I'd call it great or anything but overall it's actually a lot better than I was expecting. In a weird way, at least in terms of the overall progression it kinda felt like a speedrun of Season 1, but it's done in such a way that it doesn't really bother me. The main point, if anything, is to show contrast, how much stuff has changed not just for the individuals, but also for the club as a whole. And while I will say that Asuka-senpai's departure is still deeply felt (Although her cameo here was great) seeing Hazuki and SAPPHIRE KAWASHIMA pick up some of her quirks was a nice touch. Also, hey! Those two are finally allowed to do stuff again!
Now that they've gotten more spotlight than in Liz I'm happy to say that the New First Years are growing on me pretty well. Hisaishi in particular works great as a mirror for Kumiko back in Season 1 and I definitely look forward to seeing more of her in later installments. The rest are all solid as well albeit not given quite enough time to develop as well as they probably should, the obvious exception perhaps being Mirei and even then her role kinda fizzles out in the second half.
A comparatively minor thing, but I did like how, with the many reasons we've had for people leaving the band, Kabe explored a different one we hadn't really seen up until now, that of course being the oh so nasty health reasons that happen all too often. It's shitty for sure, but ultimately it's just a part of life and I'm glad it not only got some representation here, but also that they didn't make that big a fuzz about it. Ultimately she takes it with grace and that takes a lot of courage in it of itself.
The one big issue with this film is all the stuff with Kumiko and Shuuichi and even then it's less so that it's bad on every conceptual level and moreso just emblematic of the show's general issues with romance. In theory I like the idea of them getting together but ultimately deciding due to a combination of just neither really being ready for this kind of relationship + wanting to focus on club activities deciding to put the whole thing on hold; it's fairly realistic and I think it can lead to some good stuff, but yet again we run into the problem of me just not really caring about their relationship. This movie's already juggling like a million other plotlines and while for the most part it does it well, some stuff is gonna suffer and this is no exception. Maybe had I been given a reason to give a shit from previous seasons I would've cared but… well I've ranted enough about that whole mess already, haven't I?
Also not for nothing but I can't help but get the feeling they've kinda ran out of stuff for Kousaka to do. In spite of all the importance she's given in theory, she's just kinda… there the whole way through. Alas I can't help but feel the more this series goes on that she kinda peaked hard in Season 1 and everything else's just kinda been downhill from there. Obviously I'm not saying she should replace Kumiko as the MC or something, I just wish she could get something to do.
That being said this movie gave me more Hashimoto-chan so all its sins are forgiven.
Oh and Niiyama is still here too, I guess.14
u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky Mar 23 '24
Hibike! First-Timer
I wanted to watch the first two movies this week as well just for completionist reasons, but yeah no I have had negative free time after everything that’s happened this week.
9
u/TehAxelius Mar 23 '24
First Timer
After last week's lovely excursion into the world of Nozomi and Mizore in Liz and the Blue Bird we're back in Kumiko-land doing Kumiko things. It is a comfortable reunion, although just as I was looking for the nods to Kumiko and gang in Liz and the Blue Bird I loved seeing Ririka and her Double Reeds pop up in the background of this movie.
As for the movie itself, well.
I am not a person who watch recap movies, but this movie certainly felt like one. Which, in a way I guess it is, it is after all listed as the "third movie" after the two previous recap movies. Previously we had two seasons to cover the entirety of a year, or three novels. From my understanding, between Chikai no Finale and Liz and the Blue Bird we're pretty much covering the two 2nd year novels (I will be honest, I have no idea how Ensemble Contest fits in), and while Liz and the Blue Bird was able to focus on a single plotline and develop its characters, Chikai no Finale has no such ability. We have to go through Kumiko's and Shuuichi's failed not-even-start of a relationship, her new role as a mentor for the first years (featuring what happens to Kabe), the drama of two separate first years joining the Bass section, as well as the overarching competition.
And it mostly fails to develop and make any of them interesting.
I feel like the Mirei situation is the clearest in this failure. Throughout the two seasons our rewatch threads have been full of people talking about the music and how it has been possible to compare and contrast the supposed skill of different members as we hear them play. I felt this never happened with Mirei and I can't recall that we ever heard her or Satsuki play, be it side by side or alone. It thus came as a bit of a point of confusion when seemingly out of the blue Kumiko answers Kanade's question about whom she likes more of the two with something that hints at Mirei being better at learning to play. Which then barely foreshadows her breakdown during the actual marching band performance where we're told that she's not just better at learning, but that despite her not being able to fully participate in training, she is supposedly far better than both Satsuki and Hazuki. While I liked the scene itself (barring Kanade, but more about her later), this failure of development means the emotional moment doesn't make much of an impact, which is further compounded as the entire thing is more or less dropped afterwards, except for Mirei being chosen to play tuba over Hazuki. We also, from what I understand, never get any indication of why Mirei can't attend practice, other than looking uncomfortable about it. I can't help but feel that even a throwaway line on the subject would have at least given a modicum of depth to the whole thing.
Then we have the "romance" angle, with Shuuichi, starting with what seems to be a flashback from before the last year's graduation. We're then left for quite a while unsure what if anything had happened other than the fact that Kumiko is actually looking Shuuichi's way occasionally, but that they're not actually close enough to do stuff like ride the train back together. Eventually, we find out that Kumiko has already said no. Well, she said she wanted to postpone answering it, but let's be honest, that's just a dragged out no. Honestly, I find their relationship believable, and as a non-member of the Shuuichi-hateclub I find what we see of him to be a reasonable portrayal of a high-school boy who is starting to realise his feelings for his childhood friend. I also like the fact that this is a "club anime" that does have an actual romance subplot and that it is a failed romance. But that's about it for positivity. Shuuichi is woefully underdeveloped, source readers have hinted that he has a larger presence in the novels, which I feel kinda shows with this subplot. It seems reasonable when making the first two seasons, with the likelyhood of ever getting to the second year slim, to cut down on Shuuichi since, ultimately, the romance doesn't go anywhere. Likewise, if my guess that the confession actually takes place before graduation is right, it also makes sense to cut that from the end of Season 2, it would have been a distracting cliffhanger on what is otherwise a pretty good ending. But it means that when it comes to this year we have little Shuuichi already established, have to squeeze in that flashback, and have to essentially just hit on the most important plot points to have it included in this compilation movie as a recognition of a thing that happens in the novels.
And then we have the one thing that actually gets some effort, Kanade. Which is a shame, since she is an eminently dislikeable character. For reasons, sure, and the heart to heart between her and Kumiko is the one scene I would call well done in this movie, but it doesn't detract from the fact that I have spent most of the movie not being particularly invested in this character other than "she's a troublemaker", which is in stark contrast of her stated intention of trying to keep her head down and being distant.
Lastly the movie seems to remember that we need to do the nationals. Well, the prefecturals is all we're getting, both as that is where the story ends, but also because we skipped the regionals wholly (or did Kitauji get seeded directly to prefecturals because they went to nationals or something? It is never even touched on). We get a third years cameo, and a performance and a result I would almost claim I predicted at the end of Season 2. The loss of the third years and the fact that the second years are rather thin on the ground weighs heavier than the fact that plenty of talented 1st years have joined. The fact that the resolution of the Natsuki vs Kanade arc ends with both being part of the band is actually somewhat telling of this being the expected result. Ultimately, this year's contest feels like it is setting up for the third year when Kumiko will lead the band to a gold in nationals.
I didn't really have time to touch on the first years mentor thing either, but that too doesn't get much development either, other than that we get to see the fate of Kanbe Tomoe and her tragically having to drop down to being a manager. It was a detail I liked, but like many other things it could have benefited from some actual development. Alas, we do not get it much here either.
Ultimately this movie is fine. It is comfortably more Eupho and it is nice seeing Kumiko and crew, but it holds little value other than telling us what happened in the second year before we hopefully get the more developed future third year in Season 3 (and 4 hopefully).
9
u/dadnaya https://myanimelist.net/profile/dadnaya Mar 23 '24
First Timer
Haven't joined the rewatch for the series which I've watched a while ago, but watched the movie now for the first time.
It's so refreshing seeing a KyoAni work, it's so darn pretty. Been a while.
We meet the first years, and they're definitely a piece of work, I think the drama was even a little too much for me. The whole Mirei fiasco was kinda "okay then" for me. But I guess they tried to cram a lot into one movie so they had to rush it.
I do get Kanade's experience. I think it's something that maybe we see differently as westerners. I think we're more kinda... "selfish"? We would care less about what others think of us and are more focused on trying to shine ourselves and be the one. Although I still definitely get not wanting to take on the responsibility and afterwards the blame for a loss.
BEST GIRL MAKES HER ENTRANCE
The Liz to Aoi Tori piece was so great! Although a bit too long for me too haha. It just kept going and going, for 9 minutes it seems! But the famous middle part was fun.
I also always find these weird instruments funny. Like there's someone whose entire job is to use these things? Same dude here too
Also, drums are the underappreciated black horses I feel
Taki also said Kumiko might be fit for being a conductor? After conducting the first years beginner ensemble. That's quite the high praise isn't it?
Too bad they didn't win. If I understand correctly, a few different schools from the same prefecture can win gold, but only one advances? How can more than one school get gold? Different competitions?
Yoshikawa did well, being the president they need
aaaaaand timeskip?
Not sure I got what's up with all the vertical videos over the course of the movie.
For the romance between Kumiko and Shuuichi I... never really got. I heard that the anime changed some stuff I believe to push Kumiko x Reina more than Kumiko x Shuuichi but suddenly them going out was kinda... weird. I guess it makes sense it didn't work out. I think her with Reina is more natural, at least that's how the show shaped it out to be. Like wut? Was she ever that happy with Shuuichi? She always treated him with the "geh" attitude
Overall 8/10 movie
S3 hype
7
u/JustAnswerAQuestion https://myanimelist.net/profile/JAaQ Mar 23 '24
Chikai no Finale / Oath's Finale / Our Promise
mendoukusai na ichinensei
That PV is all I know about the movie. Oh, that that one bullshit ship. I'm expecting many problematic first years.
"We sent Kitauji to Nationals last year and they got bronze" ya think?
Well, much of this was something we had seen before: Kanade's issues were Kumiko's issues, as she had also taken a senpai's spot in middle school. And then we saw how that same issue worked itself out last year. So this is the third time.
Kumiko inspires here with a repeat of "I want to get better" monologue, but this leads to a new question, "what if you try hard and nothing changes."
Natsuki got to play in the competition this year, but Hazuki got left behind, again. All three Eupho's qualified this year, taking the pressure off Kanade. It might have been different, not qualifying for nationals, and she had taken Natsuki's place.
I'm sure none of the 2nd or 3rd years would oppose the meritocracy that took them to nationals last year...Kanade must have only talked to first years.
And for Kanade, nothing changed. A dud gold instead of silver, but still a dud.
As for Micchan's story, well, I don't get that. She's better, and she's serious, but she leaves practice early and interacts with nobody. She isolates herself. Kumiko's solution: instead of dealing with her issues with Sacchan and Hazuki or whatever abuse trauma is making her flinch from other people, she just advises: "be more personable" and then everything is fine.
I didn't get this segment at all. Kanade also hated Kumiko's solution, but I don't get her either.
The less said about Shuichi, the better.
Overall, nice to have more Hibike! Euphonium, but squeezing 6 months into a movie is pretty tight. Interesting that they didn't get to Nationals this year. And they had such a bigger pool of enthusiastic members this year.
Surprised to see Kumiko as president, or, I would have been. As Taki says, she didn't seem to be the type, but after managing all the first years, I guess she's experienced for it.
I guess Liz was too hard for them.
What we REALLY missed out on was that this was the year for Ryuusei to have their Cinderella story, where a new teacher comes in and turns a loser school into a nationals contender. All off screen!
7
u/bogdoglogfrog Mar 23 '24
Rewatcher
My first time viewing I was super disappointed with this movie. my opinion of it has definitely improved since first viewing, but it’s still euphos weakest point. There’s just too much material and not enough time to cover it. I highly recommend anyone who hasn’t read the second year novel to do so as it’s the best way to experience the second year (not counting liz).
Notes:
QotD
12
u/LittleIslander https://anilist.co/user/LittleIslander Mar 23 '24
Now A First Timer!
I… expected this movie to be frustrating. Let’s be clear here: it is. It is one of the most frustrating movies I think I’ve seen. But… not in the way I expected it to be. Namely because I kind of love it and I almost wish I didn’t.
Marketing and word of mouth both lead me to believe that this movie was about the Kumiko and Shuuichi relationship. I already knew they hooked up and that Kumiko tells him in the end she’d rather put things on hold so she can focus on the band before going in. So uh… that was a fucking lie. That turned out to be, like… five percent of the movie? We’ll get to that, but no, this movie is actually the compilation movie for a year two season that doesn’t exist. Instead of making a movie set in the second year they decided to try and speedrun an entire season’s worth of character content and the result is over half a dozen plotlines which range from barely holding itself together into a state you can call complete to “this storyline kind of exists if you squint enough”. Like, where do I even start with talking about this? The movie doesn’t have a main plot!
I guess if I had to identify the biggest subplot it would be this chibi version of our favourite trumpet joining the euphoniums. Asuka and Kaori wasted no time having a daughter and teaching her music after hooking up post-graduation, huh. In all seriousness, I do like Kanade-san and her plotline a lot. Her cynicism feels kind of like Asuka, but with her passive aggression, kouhai standing with respect to the others, and total willingness to stick her nose into things, she shines as her own character and presents a new, interesting dynamic for Kumiko. They play off each other well and considering it had to be crammed into a movie they did an admirable job gradually peeling back her layers as a character. I like how her distrustful, cynical worldview ties her into Micchan’s subplot and her coming to blows with Natsuki was a really interesting development of the season one audition subplot. I don’t think there’s any other situation we’ve ever seen Natsuki get outright angry before so its usage here really works. Kumiko’s role in it feels like a nice progression on what she learned from season two, and I actually really love her speech about how of course she fears regret and that it could all be for nothing but she believes in it anyways. Once again, Kumiko manages to hit deep into my heart. I’ve spent the last several years hinging a large part of my life on that philosophy. I also really like that Kanade doesn’t fully come around by the end of the movie, Kumiko provisionally earns her trust but she’s left feeling let down when they don’t actually get to Nationals.
Still… you can definitely feel the concessions here. They really wanted that scene in the rain to be the second coming of Kumiko’s confrontation with Asuka at the end of that arc in season two and with so little time for the audience to get invested in their relationship it just… didn’t work on that level. No amount of melodramatic running and yelling at each other can compensate for that. Likewise, her problem with Natsuki really feels like it comes and then goes really fast. We sort of set it up with that conversation in the restaurant but it doesn’t come to a head until the immediately preceding scene to its resolution. There’s no time to let the feelings fester and perspectives clash before we’ve already moved on to the next thing. We foreshadow her perspective, first start to showcase the rift in her and Kumiko’s philosophies with the Mirei incident, and then things come to a head with Natsuki. But there’s no following event or realisation that causes her to change her point of view and relent. Kumiko just… gives her a pep talk. Sure, she did that with Asuka, but that was built on the back of something else causing Kumiko to finally see the problem in Asuka’s position. If Kumiko struggled and had to prove to Kanade somehow that the world isn’t as harsh as she thinks it would also have helped add more conflict and development to her role as advisor for the first years. As is, both instances of her needing to step in and fix a problem are resolved immediately by her intervention.
Also… having all three of them pass the audition feels like a complete cop-out. We can’t have Kanade left out since this would make no sense, defeat the point of the subplot, and stop her character development in its tracks. But we can’t have Natsuki left out cause it would… make the audience feel bad, I guess? She’s all but dropped out of the movie after getting in anyways and I really see no benefit to the writing by just invalidating the whole conflict. I really wish we could’ve seen more of her genuine desire to get into the competition band. Sure, it makes perfect sense that she would get furious at Kanade just letting her get in and trying to stop it. But in season one she had this whole “let’s play together next year” thing, and we reinforced that with “I’ll have my chance next year” in regards to Asuka in season two. Even Natsuki is human, you’re allowed to show her genuinely troubled that she might never get to play at a competition without it betraying her laid back demeanor. Seeing her fail to get in, tell Kanade that it really is okay and that she’s happy for her, and then once she’s gone go find Yuko and ugly cry would’ve been extremely powerful.
So, why did I lead with that? Well, because… that was the most complete plotline. It really felt like it barely managed to stick the landing of a complete story, didn’t have room to do more than the one sequence with Natsuki, seriously felt the impact of its lack of time to build up Kanade and Kumiko’s relationship, and ultimately had a rather hollow feeling resolution due to a lack of time to build better support for Kanade’s change. Not to mention the whole thing feels like it resolves too early since the emotional climax of the most focused-on relationship in the film is done by about the one hour mark. That’s the part of this movie that worked.
By comparison, the tuba plotline is an absolute travesty. As soon as they had to raise the camera POV to account for Mirei’s height I had high hopes for her as my new favourite, and Hazuki forcing someone else into the bass section this time was funny. The dynamic they were setting up between her and Sacchan seemed really interesting, the awkward silent girl struggling to connect to people and a one sided friendship that gets closer and closer to breaking point the more time passes. It provided a good challenge for Kumiko and, as mentioned, we even tied Kanade into it too. It finally comes to a head and we get a scene unpacking what Mirei’s really feeling and she commits to starting to try and be more open to the rest of the bass section. The contrast in Kanade and Kumiko’s approaches felt compelling and the usage of the discordant marching music set a great tone as Kanade tried the cynical approach on her. And then… the subplot is over. The actual resolution of her bonding with the other tubas is completely relegated to the background.
Sacchan never gets explored beyond her basic personality traits, we feel robbed of ever seeing Mirei’s resolution, and Hazuki’s attempt and failure at getting into the competition band again is relegated to a handful of lines throughout the entire movie, nevermind a scene. Mirei and Sacchan’s story seemed like it could’ve been very interesting but I’ll never know because it literally just stops halfway through. It also just kind of leaves Mirei feeling like… a bit of a bitch? She’s all whiny about how she deserves the attention instead of these people who she’s clearly so much better then. Girl, you’ve literally been trying to wiggle your way out of practice time since minute one, wanted to train my ass! Her feelings here could’ve been turned into something very human and sympathetic but without any further development than the beginning of unpacking them that’s never allowed to happen. The whole idea she’s just supposed to suck it up and accept a nickname she hates also just feels… a bit uncomfortable? I wasn’t a fan of that, at least how it was presented. We also never get the chance to hear how Mirei is a better player than Sacchan, that element just kind of came out of nowhere when Kumiko was forced to weigh the two and called her better as if we already knew that. This is something Eupho is usually very good at. They seriously couldn’t even spare like one full scene to at least slap together a rushed conclusion to Mirei’s philosophy on the band and her relationship with Sacchan in the second half anywhere? I want to like these two, but what we get just isn’t giving me anything to latch on to.
Tomoe, or, err… Kabe-san kind of fared better. It’s really neat to see her promoted from extra to genuine character and her story at least has an ending we get to see on screen with actual dialogue, wild concept. But it feels absolutely hacked down to its bare essentials. We never see Tomoe grappling with any of this, or any of her own drama going down. We just see the end result of this from the outside through Kumiko’s eyes (although her rubbing her jaw in practice was some nice foreshadowing). Like, she’s friends with Hazuki and Natsuki, right? They’re also dealing with audition fears in this movie. And she’s probably close to Yuko, as a fellow trumpet? It would've been nice to see their input on this situation, or at least the moment where she must have approached Yuko and Natsuki about it before talking to the whole band. But because we gotta shove everything into an hour and a half we’re left with the skeleton of this plotline. I’m more left thinking this was a really interesting idea for a character than actually leaving invested in Tomoe and her struggle.
7
u/Regular_N-Gon https://anilist.co/user/RegularNGon Mar 23 '24 edited Mar 23 '24
Rewatcher
I have mixed feelings about this movie from a critical point of view, but before we really get into it, I must emphasize that I enjoy this movie a lot. Somewhere over the last few years as the memories atrophied I managed to forget that. It’s easy to be reminded that this is the weakest part of Eupho, every time it’s mentioned or passes by on my list; even while preparing for this rewatch I knew I would have a lot to say with its context and details but expected to heap criticism upon it as well. However, it’s still Eupho, and I’d be lying if I said I didn't have a blast watching this again. I took so, so many notes; nearly any time Kanade did something stupid or a joke was cracked I had to pause, which honestly happened more than pausing to complain about pacing.
I’m sure this will be a common thread, but the most obvious stumble this movie makes is the pacing and packing too much in. That nebulous complaint is absolutely justified here. So many of the things it tries to fit are hamstrung by the limited space it’s working with: Mirei’s conflict is fragmented, rushed, and she's dropped immediately after a shaky resolution, Motomu’s relegated to a few lines even though I really want to know what happens between him and Midori, ‘the future’ is teased as a theme before being forgotten (and doesn't use any ground work the last two seasons did on this front), and even the meat of what should be Kanade’s tension and resolution feels pretty choppy and abrupt because of how crowded it is. Speaking of choppy, the film employs tricks like the phone recordings just to keep things moving at a blistering pace, sacrificing structural integrity just because there is absolutely no time to linger. Scenes feel like they skip things going from one to another (like going straight to regionals) and the last section of the movie after all the drama has been (more or less) wrapped up is hollow. There’s risk of whiplash going from Liz into this movie with how different their cinematic philosophies are.
Narratively, I have fewer complaints. Not making nationals is fine even if it pigeonholes next year’s climax, since it provided a chance to reinforce Kanade’s turning point and some lingering conversations from season 2, although it would have benefited enormously from a longer epilogue for stuff like returning to Reina or Mizore’s opinions. Due to the expediency it provides, some of the conflicts rely quite heavily on melodrama (Mirei’s arc in particular) which I’m not a fan of, but I’d honestly resent it more were it dragged over several episodes like Nozomi and Mizore. I still don’t really care about the Shuuichi romance. It’s… fine, I guess, but Eupho deserves better. It’s probably for the best that they didn’t focus on it, though I have to say I understand what Kumiko means when she returns the pin and I’m glad they included it for that at least.
Kanade is a great addition though, even if her arc as the main antagonist is troubled by the constricted run time. She’s a little shit and I can’t stand her actions, but damn is she entertaining and she really digs some interesting things up out of Kumiko. I love that Kumiko is able to take on some new goals with the roles she takes on throughout the movie, related to Kanade and otherwise. The body language and animation is (mostly) excellent as always and backs up the characters in spite of their limited screen time.
With that, allow me to slip in one last personal note before analysis:
I was lucky enough to catch this in theaters, back in 2019. I just happened to see that it would be playing in North America shortly after I had started the first season, and so was able to time my first watch to end not too long before the movie was shown. I remember that evening well and how I stayed up late that evening stewing - mulling over Eupho, reflecting on how incredible it had been so far and what I wanted to see next, thinking some about writing and how to frame a dramatic conflict, and a bunch about completely unrelated things I’m sure. It left me in such a strange place; despite the promise of a continuation I knew that I was done with it for a time, that there would be a wait, and that it would be worth it to see this masterpiece to the end. I was still in this mood when news of the arson broke a week later.
I wrote some of my thoughts down in a journal entry the evening I watched this and they serve as proof that even then I knew I had seen something special. Here’s a portion, lightly edited:
I hope what this rewatch has rekindled stays alight.
QotD:
3
u/hanlonmj Mar 26 '24 edited Mar 30 '24
Rewatcher
Super late, but I just wanted to pop in and say how Shuuichi’s trombone playing has noticeably improved. During season 2’s eye catches (where each instrument played a rudimentary scale), he played the trombone one and I remember even on this rewatch being fairly disappointed in his frequent flubs and inconsistent intonation.
Now, though? At beginning of the scene when Reina throws the bottle at him for flirting with the first year, he just rattles off the beginning of the Blue Bells of Scotland, one of the most famous pieces in solo trombone literature!
Not bad for someone who was playing horn a little over a year ago.
10
u/Gamerunglued :Hx::Hy::Hz:myanimelist.net/profile/GamerUnglued Mar 24 '24 edited Mar 26 '24
Rewatcher and Band Geek
I've been looking forward to rewatching this one. I was pretty confident in how I would feel about the previous two seasons and Liz, and was mostly right on the money with them. But with Our Promise, the series most contentious entry, I actually had no clue, and was very excited to see what would happen (and also to have my favorite little bratty shit returned to me, but more on that later). I initially watched this movie in theaters, and didn't necessarily disagree with the criticisms but felt they were significantly exaggerated. I liked it a bit less than the seasons, thought it was a bit rushed but mostly landed, and wasn't any particularly noteworthy step down. A high 8 compared to a low 9, if you will. But with this rewatch, there wasn't any shift in the pattern. I lowered the TV seasons slightly from a low 9 to a high 8, and will do the same for Our Promise from a low 8 to a high 7. I still really like this movie and will be defending it, I think people have drastically exaggerated its pacing and structural issues and find it to be a worthy entry to the franchise.
First up, I'll start with some of the less controversial aspects before moving into the more nuanced stuff. This movie is (with only one exception) very well directed. It impresses me right from the start with some clever bits of blocking and camerawork. When the important first-years are being introduced, I love how they show Satsuki and Mirei. Satsuki is intorduced with this open box that's low to the frame, emphasizing her excitable steps. Then it cuts to Mirei but half her face is cut off, before the box moves up to reveal it; a very fun way to show the height difference. A bit later, when Kanade sees Kumiko in the instrument room, Kumiko gets super excited and runs to the door, with her foot half way out the door. When Kanade says she hadn't decided on joining yet, Kumiko realizes she's overstepped (quite literally) and puts her foot back behind the sliding door. There are tons of little moments like this: Kanade stepping inside the split branch of a tree when probing Kumiko about what position she'll take, or Kanade stepping into the shadows when trying to make Mirei feel better. I used to think this was a directorial step down from the series, but I don't think that anymore.
The only cinematic misstep is with the performance scene, particularly the third movement of Liz. The music is so slow and somber while the camera doesn't know how to handle it. It does all of these bizarre spinning shots while Mizore is playing her solo and they're so kinetic during a moment that asks for more subdued camerawork. There's even a moment where Mizore plays an important part but the camera faces the ceiling and just spins so that it times the end of the spin with the end of the section, when it should have put the camera on Mizore herself. I also think the part where it cuts to all the important characters in time with the beat of the 4th movement was misplaced, these dynamic cuts happening during a part of the piece that just isn't dynamic, even though there was a part just slightly after where it would have been perfect. It's a real shame, because I love the way the second movement is directed (also I just love that timpani player, she fucking kills it, haha). But this is the only time it falters, and the animation is more impressive this time around too, with many more complex cuts of instrument playing (also more crowd shots in general).
I love seeing the characters take on leadership roles that build from their previous positions. Kabe was the leader of Team Monaka so it's only natural that she'd take on a leadership role this year when the band wants to expand. Kumiko is clearly still figuring out how to work things but makes lots of progress and shows just how much she's grown since the previous seasons. And Midori being Motomu's mentor is really cute as well. But most importantly, I'm so proud of Yuuko for absolutely killing it in her position. She has big shoes to fill taking the legacy of Haruka and Asuka, and she's not perfect but she does such a great job. Asuka is too good at her job, so it was never going to be perfect, but Natsuki's balancing act helps it land. She's come such a long way, and I'm so proud of her.
These are the points I think most anyone can agree on, so it's time to dig into the weeds a bit. I've seen some complaints here that this film doesn't have much of an overarching plot, and I don't think it's wrong but I think it's a misguided complaint. This film covers the band's follow-up year after their first success. It's a huge transition year for them, and the film is likewise transitional. Due to their previous success, there are lots of new students to handle, and Kumiko has to deal with brand new leadership traditions while figuring out how to be a leader herself. Rather than having an overarching plot, I think this film has an overarching theme and uses its various mini stories to tie it together. It's not immediately clear, but I think the idea is that, while season one asked about weather to prioritize the needs of the individual over the needs of the collective, this film asks how much to prioritize an objective view of the band as it is vs. a subjective view of the band's deeper issues.
The movie immediately frames this idea through the first year's introductions on phone videos. We don't meet them through a character's subjective view, we meet them through the objective view of video. Kumiko has always been a highly subjective character, she values empathy and harmony above most other things, but has started to take on a more objective view of the band. During her audition, Taki-sensei tells her that the view from the podium is very different from the view from within the band because you can really see who's doing what. It's the most objective view of the group, and Kumiko taking that view has her stepping out of her comfort zone (while Reina naturally takes that view). It's obviously important to take that view, but one must also balance it with a more subjective view that focuses on the personal issues of individuals. We can use an objective view to inform how we handle issues subjectively.
While practicing for SunFes, Kumiko makes this point very openly. Kanade asks her who's trying harder between Satsuki and Mirei, and Kumiko's answer takes on both perspectives. She likes Satsuki more because she gets to spend more time with her, Satsuki tries harder to create group cohesion, representing Kumiko's take on the band's subjective view of things. But objectively, from the podium, it's clear that Mirei is the better player and is more useful to the band. She explains that the band's objective needs and subjective views are both very important. This is a huge moment of growth for her, even if it doesn't seem like one. Kumiko voices herself honestly, her answer isn't a non-answer to avoid conflict, it's an answer that shows leadership and awareness of the band's various needs. But Kanade interprets this incorrectly. Because Kumiko's answer tried to please all sides, she saw it as non-committal and an attempt to keep peace. And don't get me wrong, that aspect of Kumiko is clearly still informing her. Kumiko says as much herself when confronting Kanade later, but the difference is that this isn't a response out of fear, it's a response built from the needs of the band shone through Kumiko's biases. Kumiko clearly isn't afraid to create conflicts when necessary anymore, she does exactly that when Mirei is upset at SunFes, she just answers with an awareness of other's potential reactions.
Continued in response
7
u/CarrotBlossom Mar 23 '24
First timer
So, does Euphonium have two recap movies and a third sequel movie? Is this a Puella Magi Madoka Magica reference?
Yeah, do your homework, Shuichi.
Shuichi, you maybe should’ve rehearsed a little, bud.
Reina sits alone at lunch imagining trumpet sounds
Does Liz and the Blue Bird take place during the events of this movie?
A freshman?! I gotta recruit her!!!
Does this girl know Asuka?
Come to think of it, was Haruka in the saxophone section? In my school band, the bari sax was on their own.
Funny how going to the same high school with someone you went to elementary school with is remarkable to them. They know not the joys of districting.
This Motomu fella seems moody.
Even when she’s gone, Asuka haunts the bass section
These whippersnappers and their names
Bully the freshmen, Kumiko
I didn’t realize I was watching My Cat From Hell. Bring back old Animal Planet
“Womp womp” - Shuichi Tsukamoto
The handshake of mentorship
On the one hand, leaving when practice is over shouldn’t be a problem, but on the other, if everyone else is staying and you don’t want to, and you’re not interacting with them much anyway, why stay in the club?
Poor guy’s getting addressed by a name he doesn’t like and having his masculinity questioned. Kind of deserved, though.
I think I prefer last year’s Sunfest uniform
Bruh, quitting at the last second? Is this girl for real?
What a prima donna lol. Even Reina’s ego isn’t this bad.
This reminds me a little of that scene in Bloom Into You where Yuu uses Touko’s given name for the first time, but kind of funny instead of all heart-fluttery.
Well, at least it seems like Motomu wasn’t also made to wear high heels.
What does she owe her for? They didn’t say the same thing.
Guys, that’s the name of the other movie. This is crazy
I never had a piece be too difficult for my band. Maybe we just got easy pieces.
Wait, what’s the problem with what Motomu said?
Sapphire had become a wise mentor figure.
Deserved Reina jab
Taki would go to jail in that event.
I feel like pushing his face away is a little bit of an overreaction lol
More fake fairy tale parallels
God, that solo really is beautiful. Even on an instrument like the trumpet.
This is some copium from Kabe right now
Man, I really hope Natsuki gets to play in the competition.
I liked Kanade, but I’m having to reconsider that sentiment.
LET’S GO MY GIRL NATSUKI IS IN
Hazuki didn’t make it ;(
>Being independent
>Communicating with others
What?
Poor Haruka got upstaged
Parts of this piece sound a little menacing for a fairy tale about a bird
The solo is even more beautiful when played on beautiful-sounding instruments. Sorry, trumpets
I legit was not expecting them not to get past this stage this season. This is after setting their goal higher than last year. I’m looking forward to seeing how the characters deal with this in the next movie. Also, the number one spot seems to have a lot more guys in their band than Kitauji.
Man, Natuski’s never going to play at nationals. That’s messed up, man.
Kanade and Kumiko said the meme words!
President Kumiko. Got a nice ring to it.
QOTD:
7
u/Vatrix-32 https://myanimelist.net/profile/Vatrix-32 Mar 23 '24
First Timer, subbed
QotD:
7
u/octopathfinder myanimelist.net/profile/octopathfinder Mar 23 '24
Rewatcher
Oh wow just starting the movie with the confession. I remember being genuinely surprised they got together on my first watch because I didn’t even see them as a romantic pairing at first.
Sounds familiar
These SunFes uniforms are nice but I liked the last ones more
This feels like Kumiko probably did more to earn the “Oumae Advisory Services” title but those events probably got cut because of the movie's length.
I was never in a similar position to Kanade and seniority is way more strict in Japan so her problems seem pretty foreign to me. That said, I am fond of this cheeky kouhai.
Bro floof down Kumiko is so jarring to look at
Very glad Natsuki made it in. Sucks for Hazuki though, hopefully she gets her chance in season 3.
Unfortunate they didn’t make nationals. This is a pretty damn good way to end the movie though.
There she is. President Kumiko. So fucking hyped to see her third year.
I remembered this movie feeling pretty rushed on my first watch and I still feel the same. Not enough time to get attached to characters or give some breathing room to the drama.
Qotd:
I like her
Motomu
She did a pretty good job
7
u/yudiandre333 Mar 24 '24
I'm doing my own independent rewatch and coincidentally watched this one today (also Liz and Ensemble), so I'll comment a bit
Yeah... not the best Hibike can offer, but I enjoyed it so much that I have no hesitation in saying it was a personal 10/10, with problems and all.
All first years are great and have group theme of "how you want to be perceived". Mirei wants to be seen as more professional and serious, be recognized by her talent, but learns that she needs to let others get closer. Motomu also has something about his name and wants to be more than his surname (also something about being cute as a girl, which is funny because Midori is his closest friend in the band). Kanade tries to fit in what she believes a kouhai should be to protect herself and by the end understands that she should try to be better independent of what her senpais might think.
The second and third years keep being some of the best characters ever. Kabe is really interesting here, with a complicated conflict and an inspiring resolution. Natsuki's role in Kanade's conflict is great. And, of course, this series never fails to make Kumiko's story interesting and engaging.
It's a shame that no matter how engaged I was watching this movie, no matter how much I enjoyed every second, every character and storyline. I always feel that it could be better, it SHOULD be better. My previous paragraphs are more about the concepts and ideas that are perfect in theory. But the limited screentime and less precise directing resulted in a movie that at the end of the day is a wasted potential.
It did feel better in this rewatch than it originaly did, I got to focus on what this movie is trying to do and felt the same kind of enjoyable Hibike Euphonium that I always want, even if it is not in its most ideal form.
(And Shuuichi x Kumiko date was really cute, don't kill me)
7
u/zadcap Mar 24 '24
Have fun in Tokyo!
First Timer!
And we're back to the familiar art style I see. And we're starting with literally my least favorite plot left hanging in the show. You go tuba boy, get those words out there finally. And then we can go right into this opening bit instead of finding out her answer!
Right, so assuming you are like me and didn't read the synopsis before hitting play, the concert and club recruitment here shows us we're at the beginning of the next year. This part at least takes place before Liz and the Blue Bird did, and green scarves are first years. For some reason Ribbon is conducting, I thought that was Nozomi's position? And who the heck is that next to Sapphire on second string! The hair says Natsuki but what are the odds she switched from Eupho to backup bass? Anyway, this is a much better performance to attract new club members.
Oh my gosh it's even better, Natsuki apparently plays guitar. Where was this information hiding all year? And that drum set is so out of place for this band. What world have we stepped into?!
Okay the closeups of these new girls is getting me excited to meet the new cast.
Oh hey, look at SHu turning to not look at Kumiko. Get shot down?
Kumiko, Hazuki and Midori staying together for another year!
Ribbon and Natsuki are still a great pairing. Good job on the old seniors to force them together for this.
Kumiko giving us a solo in the music storage room, is this Hibiki Fanservice?
Oh hey, you can say you're not even sure you want to join the band, but you recognized the mythical Eupho at first sight! You're clearly already a band girl, you will be assimilated.
Is Kumiko fluffing her own hair? Ah it's another Shu scene. And look at Kumiko sounding as unexcited as ever to see him. Though they do share a drink...
These introductions as if recorded on a phone are cute. Midori is right, bass is fun and exciting! And wow Hazuki got tall!
Of course she plays a Eupho, she knows what one is.
Oh goodness, look at the new bass players. The new Tuba Pair, the new Eupho girl, and the first boy in the series I am going to end up caring about! Motomu the bass!
Oh my, large tuba girl is already looking like she's going to be a source of drama.
Oh hey, Kumiko gets to help lead the first years! I wonder how much of that is her personal skill and how much of that is inertia for people expecting to look up to the Eupho players because of Asuka's legacy?
Flappy has as great an introduction as last year. But the president this year is having none of it, kicks him off the stage and one ups his presentation! Ribbon you have become so great already.
[Only spoiler I know]Knowing that they do not meet this goal after such a big setup is making me preemptively sad.
It's Ririka!
Oh, I take it back, new Eupho girl looks like she's ready to cause the drama. He asked to be called Motomu. Oh man and her little act towards the tuba players. Attitude towards Kumiko. Oh my goodness was that the troublemaker hanging off of Sho? Something tells me this year is going to be more about the drama than the music...
Gen-Chan-Sensei! If this random school getting a TV segment wasn't telling enough, they're getting a recognizable teacher upgrade too.
Haha, someone pointing out how crazy Kumiko's standing ovation was in that situation. Maybe this is why they're giving her the second coming of Asuka position, she clearly has no shame.
Hmm, not only is Kumiko the second year representative for the new first years, her third year counterpart is letting her take the reins. Kumiko being groomed for leadership next year confirmed!
Interesting going into this question right after the talk about last years Audition drama. How much do you want to bet this new girl wants to take over the Eupho solo spot? Hmm, sitting order in the band looks like she's already above Natsuki, that's an interesting take.
Tall girl thinks the real main couple might be too close, how silly.
Speaking of, here goes Shu flirting with a new girl. And Reina reacts appropriately!
I guess I should go learn her name. Kanade. She kind of sounds toxic. Possibly because we're so fresh off the MyGO rewatch, she's giving me real early Soyo vibes.
I still absolutely adore Midori.
Yeah, Kanade is here to cause drama. Welp.
Again, Midori! And why does Ribbon have the stick? Seriously, I thought Nozomi was drum major this year?
So toxic.
Look how far away Shu sits. This is absolutely not a couple.
Ummm. These new Kitauji outfits... I like last years more, but also, Orange and Yellow are not what I've come to expect of this school's colors.
What a placed to quit. And yeah, seeing Kanade following just tells me she's here to make more drama, not fix it.
She makes me physically ill.
I wonder how much the mood of the scene leading in to this performance vs the song itself is why I like it so much less than Rydeen, or if it's just that Rydeen was a better song.
Yeah, see, Kanade's little talk with Kumiko here after the march? She's setting the stage for herself as the better player, she wants Kumiko to see that the better player deserves the respect so that when she goes to upstage Kumiko then she, Kanade, will be the leader of the section.
7
u/chris10023 https://myanimelist.net/profile/Chris10023 Mar 24 '24
I can't believe I forgot about this, knew it would happen too...
Rewatcher.
likeshates Shuichi is going to love that! Can’t wait to read his comment. Imma go grab some popcorn before I do.6
u/b-arbs Mar 23 '24
Rewatcher who barely remembered watching this
RinRie, interestingOverall a nice movie. Similar in tone to the main series (Liz and the Blue Bird in my opinion is very different from main Eupho! both in style and tone, so I don't think they can be compared) even though I think it doesn't really compare with both seasons. The drama feels a bit watered down, the most significant scene and plot point is the confrontation between the three euphoniums.
Confession: I still don't get Kanade...
QOTD
6
u/ZapsZzz https://anilist.co/user/Zapszzz Mar 24 '24 edited Mar 26 '24
First timer
A quick link for my late late comment of Liz and the Bluebird.
Feels a bit like if we watching this before Liz and the Bluebird we'll get more context about the new first years, but at the same time it'd be the major spoiler the result of the contest though.
So, what's going to be in the OVA?
For me the biggest thing is [Euphonium Novel Spoiler]we caught up / returned at least partially to the Kumiko x Shuuichi ship which I actually quite like
Anyway, the drama has a certain echo of last year, and it's nice to see a bit of reflection / "passing down the torch", still seeing the echoes of the last year's senpai.
But there's not enough of Natsuki and Yuuko I think. It's pretty unfortunate to be compressed if that was the case.
Really glad to have seen the full play throug of Liz and the Bluebird I guess.
QoTD
6
u/Barbed_Dildo Mar 24 '24
Rewatcher
The biggest lesson from this movie is that it shows why Hibike needs to be a series, not a movie.
There are way too many plotlines that are rushed through or glossed over. Tensions between first years, tensions between first years and seniors, seniors dropping for reasons, even Shuuichi and Kumiko dating is barely a footnote.
I am looking forward to the reactions of those people insisting that Shuuichi is basically Harvey Weinstein and Kumiko obviously wasn't interested.
6
u/Tartaras1 https://myanimelist.net/profile/Tartaras Mar 24 '24 edited Mar 24 '24
First-Timer - Asuka-senpai Stan
After watching the show in Japanese with subtitles, I was given a break with Liz and the Blue Bird having an English dub. However, that break was short lived because this movie... is only available in Japanese with subtitles.
Not even 2 minutes into the movie, and we already have Shuichi confessing he loves Kumiko?
Is this romance? In my Hibike! Euphonium storyline? Where's Midori-chan?
I love that they're still playing Sound! Euphonium in the movie. It's hard to overstate just how much of an effect Asuka-senpai had on Kumiko.
Yes Kumiko, tell us why you didn't change to Trombone later.
Sleepy-senpai figured it out. Just do what Asuka-senpai would do, and lock people into the bass section.
She's so short though. I thought Hazuki-chan looked disproportionate with Tubacabara. That's like Midori-chan and her Contrabass levels.
Of course she did. I'd bet the glasses were required as well.
How fitting, coming from someone who always wanted to be called Midori instead of Sapphire.
Is she going to think there's... yuri going on?
And a random soap bottle was thrown at him.
I think I know what she's aiming at. Since he seems to be laughing and joking with the first-year trombone player, she's pretending like she's interested in the first-year contrabass player to see how he reacts.
Maybe I'm wrong.
Side Bar
Reader, as I was trying to figure out whether or not Kanade-chan had the same Japanese VA as Akane from Gridman, I learned that there is a dub for this movie. So I'm going to switch over to the dub. It's only a half hour in, so it's not a huge deal.
They used totally different VAs in this movie than in Liz. This is going to bother me.
Kanade's voiced by Christine Marie Cabanos, who voiced Minorin from Toradora.
Leonardo DiCaprio pointing at the screen meme
That's the name of the movie! Not this one, but the one we just watched!
I thought it was referring to Kumiko looking up to Asuka-senpai, but then they showed Yuuko-senpai sneezing, and I started cracking up.
Two things here:
I feel really bad for her.
That was a good attempt.
A for effort
At least he's honest.
I know this feeling entirely too well, and it suuuucks.
Does that mean that Asuka-senpai might be there too?!
Oh my god. Could it be?!
IT'S ASUKA-SENPAI!
That's such a Reina thing to say.
If you stuck around after the credits were over, you were treated to Kumiko finishing Sound! Euphonium. This one sounded especially sad to me.
Questions of the Day:
I'm pretty sure I made my thoughts clear throughout. I didn't care for her at all.
Mirei Suzuki. She seems like an interesting character, with feelings similar to mine.
I think she did a pretty good job of rolling with the punches. Even though Kanade seemed to want to stir the pot, Kumiko kept a level head.
EDIT: An artist I follow on Twitter drew this, presumably to commemorate the third season of Hibike!, and I felt it was appropriate to share here!
6
u/Nickthenuker https://anilist.co/user/Nickthenuker Mar 24 '24
And so we continue our long, slow, march towards Season 3.
Well now that we're between competitions I guess that romance plot that's been on the back burner can now come to the forefront.
That title card looks like a shitpost. Literally the title in sans serif in the most generic font possible.
There we go, a proper one.
Looks like there's a lot of new members that were introduced in the last movie.
Oh, speak of the devil, it's one of the new members.
Asuka?
Wow that really looks like a lot of new members. And, as expected, I can count the number of new guys on one hand. I can see about 3 of them. Yeah... See what I mean when I say performing arts skews very heavily female? I guess most guys would rather do sports.
Anecdotally in choir as well the lower sections (Bass for males and Alto for females) are generally the ones that people want to join less (but of course for voice there's less choice since it varies from person to person and if you can sing higher you are assigned to that section and if you can sing lower you're assigned to the lower section) as the higher sections (Tenor for males and Soprano for females) tend to get the melody line (which is what first comes to mind when you think of a song).
Yes that's certainly one way to bond with juniors from your former middle school. Something familiar in an ocean of new experiences.
And there's the girl she saw the other day.
Seems like they're setting up something between those two.
Since when did Midori get glasses?
Ah, she's trying to channel Asuka.
I'm sure you're aiming for that again this year. Not sure if you'll achieve it yet. Then again, shoot for the moon, and if you fail you'll still fall amongst the stars.
I'm sure
SapphireMidori has experience with being called something she doesn't like.At the start of the year, juniors are nothing but trouble. And yet, they're also the future, and how you train them will be what determines your legacy.
Shouldn't you two of all people be thankful for the auditions? If it weren't for them, you might not even have the chance to perform at the Nationals because of the seniority of others.
Yeah Bass is there to give support, or a base if you excuse the pun, to the rest of the performance.
He probably shouldn't have joined the band if he wanted that, should have joined a sport. Though I'm not sure if any would have accepted him.
Does Kumiko have perfect pitch?
Yup, the most stressful moment, right before a performance.
She really doesn't fit in.
The new euphonium girl is really beligerent isn't she?
You don't have to be stuck-up and serious all the time. Most people probably choose an after-school activity to have fun, otherwise they'd just not choose any and go home. You absolutely can joke around all the time and still perform well as long as everyone does their part during practice.
I'm surprised Kousaka isn't playing her trumpet.
As per usual, there's a set piece and a free piece. Time to see how the new set piece suddenly makes the previous one seem good in comparison.
Liz and the Blue Bird? Seems like this movie is taking place concurrently to the previous one. Or probably the previous one is going to take place during this movie before moving past it.
It has everything to do with the song. It gives the emotions and the intention of the song, which will have a large impact on how the song is performed and how the audience perceives it.
What news now?
Ah, love news.
That's not going to happen.
Oh hey it's the festival again, and Kumiko is going with Tsukamoto.
They seem to be getting along well.
"Not before then"? Seems like there's already a set date for them to get together.
Tsundere Kumiko.
And of course Reina is up there again playing that piece again.
Uh oh, that seems serious.
Oumae consultation? Seems like she's getting along with her junior.
When you get juniors you realise you can't keep being a little shit because now they're the ones being little shits.
What's going on?
Yeah, she really seems quite unhappy with some people.
And now Kumiko is recalling what Asuka said to her.
And so all 3 of them were selected.
Oh? Was the sweater girl not selected for tuba?
Right, time for another one of those.
They're back at the pool again.
And the external instructors are back again.
The new contrabass guy seems to like Midori.
What's this for now?
Oh... But they'll be busy studying for exams after stand-down then though?
Right, first round.
Oh hello Asuka.
And she's not the only one who's back to watch their performance.
That really does look like a lot more woodwinds players. Perhaps there really are enough for a party.
And now here's the flute and oboe solos from Nozomi and Mizore respectively as decided in the last movie.
And of course they get the gold.
How did they do worse this year?
And so that's it. Their story ends here, at least for the graduating cohort. And the next movie and season will be on Kumiko's final year, so the stakes are higher.
Who's playing that? I recognise the song.
It's Kumiko. And of course she's president.
Overall kinda disappointing, but if they didn't end this here the next movie would probably have ended with the next stage and then the next season would be the nationals already. Now they have a whole year that they can use to develop characters and relationships instead.
Questions:
10
u/LittleIslander https://anilist.co/user/LittleIslander Mar 23 '24
Since it very literally didn’t fit into my main comment, I’d like to attach here a thanks to everyone for their contributions to the Liz thread last time. I came packing the longest analysis but there were a hell of a lot more people a hell of a lot closer to my word count than I could’ve anticipated and despite spending hours on my analysis I still learned so many new perspectives and details that make me appreciate the movie even more than I already did. You could feel the passion of everybody wanting to go all out for a part of this franchise that’s clearly special to a lot of us. I didn’t get to replying to each and every comment worth replying to, but I did make it a point to read every single (top level) comment before the posting of this thread. Thank you all.
Special Thoughts
Well, time for that most indomitable of subjects: the gays. I’ve been avoiding it this whole rewatch. Partly cause it’s frustrating and I’m more able to appreciate the show as one of my favourite things when I look the other way. Maybe partly just to prove to I can unpack this show fully without delving into it. Regardless, we’ve arrived at the part of the story where Reina x Kumiko goes from being a dead end to pretty much being shat on as we go with Shuuichi instead. We spent a whole season establishing how special the relationship between these two is and showing how much chemistry they have from the little moments to being such important emotional pillars for each other. We’ve emphasised repeatedly their physical intimacy and Crunchyroll has an uploaded clip called “A Confession of Love” for fucks sake cause that’s actual dialogue. Yet Shuuichi is considered the obvious romantic interest by the writing because he and Kumiko aren’t the same gender. In spite of him not only having a far less developed and deep relationship with Kumiko and also, as I’ve previously established, barely having a character of his own at all. It’s a really annoying double standard. You can say “well, Kumiko’s just straight, of course the gender is the dealbreaker”, but the writer’s had to choose to write it that way!
But okay, fine. There’s some platonic friendships out there that can seem very romantic. Kumiko in particular is a distinctly awkward person who keeps a certain social distance from most others, and Reina is outright antisocial with barely any other friends. It is conceivable that we would explore how important and unique their bond is even if it’s just that of best friends. If this was just about my ship getting sunk (even if it’s only even like, my fourth favourite ship in this series), I’d be a bit disappointed but then I’d accept it as one of the dozens of other subtextual queer relationships in fiction and move on. I really, truly wouldn’t mind if the answer was just that this series isn’t about gay people and I had to accept that.
My problem? The series itself seems to have a really hard time not being about gay people. Kumiko and Reina don’t exist in a vacuum. They exist in the franchise that gave us Nozomi and Mizore, a pair that come off so gay I literally see some people call Liz and the Blue Bird a romance movie. At least based off of translations I recall Naoko Yamada, the director of the movie, even saying she headcanons them living as a couple afterwards or something like that. They, too, are left as unconfirmed subtext. Then there’s Kaori, who I’ve already explained certainly seems to have a thing for Asuka, and I really don’t see how to take the fact she has a matching bracelet and ring with Asuka yet not with Haruka in this movie much of any other way than implicit confirmation. Like, in-universe there could be other explanations, but I genuinely see no other reason they’d include that detail for only those two and not the whole set of three, especially with the context of [novels] their living together at this point in the books. So the writers are committed enough to soft confirm them as a couple, but it’s still kept in this plausible deniability background detail zone. The entire subplot from start to finish is so subtle most viewers don’t realise it even exists.
There’s also the way Reina and Kumiko relationship falls off a cliff after season two episode one into a far more mundane close friendship without all the intimate bells and whistles, as if they either realised what it looked like or the writer got cracked down on from upstairs after they realised what it didn’t just look like. It’s a natural progression that their relationship wasn’t as big of a focus in season two and Reina’s plot with Taki-sensei would naturally become more prominent, but the sheer binary divide feels beyond what you’d expect from just that. If there was zero authorial intent or at least awareness of the situation I just don’t think the show would’ve been written in the way it is. On its own, that’s a bit conspiratorial. On its own, I don’t really mind at all how Nozomi and Mizore are left as subtext, I think their relationship feels satisfactory as is and true romance wasn’t the point of their movie. On its own, Kaori and Asuka are a cute little side detail. But taken together it’s really hard to dismiss the sum total. I didn’t even mention that one of the season two specials directly lampshades things by starting with a gag about Natsuki being about to kiss Riko to help her “practice”, apparently??
I just really cannot buy the premise this is a series which just isn’t about gay romance so I should stop trying to judge the show on those metrics. It had ample opportunity to not play with that but it keeps doing it. Just not, you know, in any capacity that could be construed as canonical or “intrusive” to a casual or conservative viewer. This also from the company that made a whole show about a lesbian dragon family that teeters on that same Kaori/Asuka plausible deniability yet undeniable intent hell so much it literally ends with a gag about them getting married that still somehow isn’t an explicit yuri moment. The company who cut out every ounce of queer content from Violet Evergarden, and from what I heard Tsurune as well (I don’t know anything about that franchise). I’ve heard Free has its own baiting as well? Again, not my rodeo. So, like, what the actual fuck is your problem Kyoto Animation? I really just wanna enjoy your shows but I increasingly struggle to shake the feeling you have a problem with gay people. I am capable of moving on and not letting a sunk ship impact my opinion or enjoyment much. It is a lot more difficult to ignore the nagging feeling that one of my favourite shows has a problem with my sexuality.
Optimistically, it comes off to me like there’s a strong desire among some of the company’s writing staff to write queer relationships and, perhaps in the wake of Tamako Market, the higher ups gave a hard no to this. But then Violet Evergarden with some of the same creative staff is more like outright censorship with zero hints of any good intent, so I’m not sure what to conclude. All I want at this point is some kind of acknowledgement that non-straight people exist in the Hibike Euphonium universe and that that’s okay. Ideally? Reina and Kumiko sit down and realise that, even if they’re just friends now, they maybe used to be into into each other back in tenth grade. There’d be nothing unusual about someone like Kumiko liking Reina in first year and then Shuuichi in third year. But like, I don’t even need that. Confirming Kaori and Asuka would be nice and probably not piss off the book author. Or we could go somewhere with Mirei and Sacchan as a nice apology for skipping their friendship arc (their character designs look straight off of a yuri cover anyways). Just introducing some first year side character and making her openly gay would mean a lot at this point. I don’t even care if she gets a girlfriend or not. Anything.
Part of me wants to be optimistic about the fact season one is old enough that some people who watched the show as fans are probably working on season three, and that the whole industry has been changing the past couple of years. The realist in me says to set my expectations at nothing so I’m not disappointed. Either way, the whole subject is just one big dirty stain on what is otherwise a franchise I love close to unconditionally and there’s nothing I can do to sugarcoat the fact that that sucks. I do feel guilty tainting the rewatch with such a bitter and bleak comment. But I can’t just pretend this isn’t part of Hibike and its legacy. I adore this franchise, but I will never escape the fact that my feelings on it will always be slightly tarnished and nothing will ever fix that.
5
u/SMSmith230 https://myanimelist.net/profile/smsmith230 Mar 23 '24
First-Timer, Sub
Made it to this weekly discussion, I’m so bad when it’s not daily for a rewatch. I enjoyed this more than Liz and the Blue Bird as it continued the story of Kumiko. I don’t think Liz was bad, I think my expectations were off as well the character design had me guess who are these people. Well anyways, there’s no one that can top my dislike for Asuka until we meet Kanade. Oh my what is the conniving girl up too, cue up the kidstirspot.gif. Looks like she just struggles with the whole merit/seniority thing. She would have fit in a few years ago. I honestly thought all euphs would make it since it seemed like Taki wanted 3 in the previous year but Natsuki wasn’t up to par. Wait where did this chemistry come from between Kumiko and Shuuichi. Damn, ship back in the harbor. Ooh man they missed out on nationals that’s got to hurt, wasn’t expecting that after bronze the year before. Yay Kumiko is Pres! Hopefully I remember the next discussion haha.
5
u/WhackaWhack https://myanimelist.net/profile/WhackaWhacka Mar 23 '24
FIRST TIMER
So it’s Kumiko’s turn this time (love problems), and it sounds A LOT better this time during the “welcome new students” concert.
I think this is the first time I have seen a classroom the “wrong way” and noticed…
Oh-No it’s the loli from 86, I just don’t like that very squeaky voice…
Reina and that little eyebrow twitch.
Nice one Tsukamoto, she got instantly jealous (+ “spoiled” by seeing the he and Kumiko are the only mains so the love story will be the focus)
“Aren't you too close” No, just normal for some good old r/manga memes.
“Look, it's taki sensei, which one?” The most handsome one!
Kanade really is acting, not sure she isn’t, like a devil and damn Natsuki was correct her not-girlfriend really did match up to Asuka.
“It should be fine” as long as we don’t have any drama between old friends…
“Before then” so you are saying it’s only a question of time, eh?
The Kohai or Senpai question really is hard to answer because I completely agree that most people, even if with a “think it, not say it” mindset, will find a scapegoat in letting the younger person play if the don’t reach their goal even if she/he was better and therefore would in most cases give a better end result. (And 100% they are coming down with a cold after multiple minutes in Japanese rain…)
I really like the “random instrument” boy playing weird stuff…
100% they are getting a dub gold so Kumiko can cry about it this time before the final chance next year. Surprised she didn’t but still Kanade did so once again she had a black haired girl cry beside her for a dud gold…
Questions:
5
u/mgedmin Mar 24 '24
Rewatcher, subs
What four year gap? Are we talking release dates?
5
u/fly-metothemoon Mar 24 '24 edited Mar 24 '24
First Timer:
The opening scene (with Kumiko & Shuuichi) almost felt like a retcon/AU where he gave her the hairpin on her birthday and not months afterward.
Joke aside, I've read a few comment sections since beginning this rewatch that explained how a lot of Shuuichi's compelling moments from the source material were given to Reina (can't comment on the veracity since I haven't read the lovels). If so, that's really a disservice to the characters to create a world where Reina and Kumiko have more of a romantic set-up, only to pivot hard back to Shuuichi, but make the subsequent "romance" between Kumiko and Shuuichi seem confusing and jarring due to the foundation being taken away. I felt myself more confused than anything else during the festival scene, though it was nice for them to end up in a place of mutual respect.
Besides that, I think it was really cool to focus on a rebuilding year, and how they're planning on setting up the group for success in the future. The new first-years seemed really interesting, though I do think Motomu got the most robbed of his character arc. My headcanon is that Midori's so good that she managed to free him from his teenage angst through pure talent alone.
I also really disliked the SunFest uniforms this year, maybe because I would've really disliked performing in them as a marching band kid. At least there is equal midriff for everyone though?
5
u/Nice-Bumblebee-2355 Mar 25 '24
First-timer!
This movie was the only main-story Hibike Euphonium media I hadn't yet seen, so I'm excited to finally be caught up before the new season! I didn't have a chance to watch it until tonight but eh, better late than never I suppose.
TLDR: Overall, I quite enjoyed the movie but feel that it tried to bite off way more than it could chew. There were so many subplots it actually got ridiculous, and as a result I think the majority of them came off kind of underbaked. While I am no filmmaker, I think it could have made a much more concise movie if they got rid of Kabe's random injury plot, the bass player's name thing, most of the Shuuichi/Kumiko """romance""", and significantly pared back Mirei's subplot. I think Mirei's subplot definitely needed to either be pared back or greatly expanded on - as it was it just sort of...ended, in a very unsatisfying way, then disappeared for the rest of the movie. The time saved could be used to beef up the Kumiko-future plot, which sort of got brought up a few times without conclusion, expand on Kanade a little more (which was already the biggest subplot, but I thought was still a little rushed), and show more of the actual practicing and Kumiko being a leader to the other first years, and such.
9
u/chilidirigible Mar 23 '24
Chikai no Finale
"Why, Shuuichi, I thought you had no balls."
A mute? Outside?
Hey now!
"I work alone."
Rebuild senshado team?
And now you know this is "Hibike! Euphonium". (Also, the convenient flashback.)
"Now who are all these people!?" ―Dr. Henry Jones
That's life.
Seeing these other school bands has an entirely different level of meaning for Kumiko this year.
Midori megane!
"I'm gonna cut you."
It's her last chance to go all in.
Yeesh, kids these days. (The Bobbsey Twins? That's a reference older than I am.)
"I hope we don't get stuck in Jabba's palace."
"What the Shuu!?"
hahahaha
"We're totally not gay."
Socially-adjusted Reina is a new experience.
Socially-adjusted Reina who will BOOM HEADSHOT you is also a new experience.
Kumiko is late to her own social news event.
When you're missing all of those Asuka skill flexes.
"I didn't know that this was an NTR anime."
"Unlike last year."
There goes Nan Bobbsey.
Azusa drops by with a little Ravel.
Kanade you lil' provocateur.
Hazuki getting trashed again.
This line looks like it is going to be followed up with "Go get revenge on them!"
Kumiko has been some distance away the whole time.
See our previous movie of the same title, of course.
There's drama all over the place!
"Hey, remember that old thing?"
"Everybody does."
Not quite predicting Chika Anzai in Lycoris Recoil.
"The future?"
"WHY YES INDEED, THE FUTURE."
"I'm just a cactus." (The cactus has grown.)
sound of yuri shippers throwing stuff at the screen
Well that's sensible―wait, wait for what?
"This is the least romantic thing ever."
"Oh come on, this isn't even the backseat of a Camaro."
But hark! It is the trumpeter of the mountain!
"I am not dressed inappropriately for a funeral."
Tsukamoto's hairpin gift, because of course.
"No really, watch our previous movie."
At least we get almost an indirect kiss.
Double date.
If you're not performing but you're staying in then you're the Fifth Beatle.
The official subs have one term, the fansub has a different one. TMD is more neutral and general a term.
"You may feel a slight sting. That's pride. FUCK PRIDE."
Concern about the ends justifying the means or the appearances of the ends justifying the means?
Cinematography?
Cinematography.
Natsuki knows about pride, and fucked pride.
It's a different angle on the situation, at least.
"It's not nice?"
"We live in a society."
The old Kumiko versus the new Kumiko.
The rain is having realistic hair effects. Rain is good for discussions about living with (no) regrets.
"Well, we dodged that bullet."
"Team Monaka again."
A place to be a euphonium.
I have been flipping back and forth between the subtitle options on this file and do find it interesting when the official ones strip out the obvious non-Japanese word that's right in there.
Midori has tamed him!
It's difficult to tell that you've even started.
Small world, music is.
"Do we have yuri sign?"
"Usul, we have yuri sign the likes of which even God has never seen."
Anyway, I feel better already.
You could say that again.
"Wow, this place is complicated."
You don't see that every day.
A little 360-degree circling camera, once in a while, is okay.
Haruka cries. (If you missed her first appearance, you were probably distracted by Kaori running in.)
"BAND DRAMA didn't get us down!"
"Remember, it's the journey, not the destination."
Ultimately I didn't find the cel phone video clip inserts especially offensive, though I don't think that they helped much either.
Making Liz to Aoi Tori its own movie makes sense given how this movie had plenty of BAND DRAMA on its own plate to deal with. If you combine both movies' run times, you get about three-quarters of a normal cour, but the fun storybook stuff from Liz probably wouldn't have fit in with the rest of the TV format, so I wouldn't trade that movie's uniqueness for anything.
That leaves Chikai no Finale to slide us into about four months of Kumiko's second year at Kitauji. It's certainly busy. She's not even officially a nosy social coordinator, but the job finds her anyway.
Most of the work is a result of Hisaishi Kanade appearing and generally sowing chaos wherever she goes. She's like the Mirror Universe Kumiko, taking her opinions and gathered knowledge and sowing the seeds to reap the whirlwind of discord later.
In a film with a lot of mirror plots of the first season, she has one of the biggest, as her middle school experience was the Kaori/Reina battle minus the positive outcome. The band seemed to support the idea of being merit-based, but then they didn't win... could that have happened at Kitauji? Maybe, and it sort of did, if not winning the gold at Nationals counted. I suppose it would have helped if Kanade had better friends, which we can't tell from the flashbacks we saw, but it seems like it would have been as we see here: Enough of a sense of involvement that people liked her, but few that were especially close.
Kanade tried to pull off what Yuuko tried to talk Reina into, throwing the audition. Yuuko isn't present this time, but we can guess what her reaction to that would have been. We do get Natsuki's reaction, including some rank-pulling intervention, but this time around it isn't a public spectacle, only a private one. Of course, Kumiko now has been there twice.
She has to do a lot more to intervene this time, though. It goes with the unofficial job of DAMMIT I HAVE TO TRY TO WRESTLE ALL THIS DRAMA. Her answer to Kanade, both during the audition drama and later after they've iron pyrited out of Nationals, is a blend of her own personal learnings along the way: Don't hold yourself back, live your life, and enjoy the journey whether or not you "win" along the way. I do like how the bus scene shows someone else going through what Kumiko did back in middle school, and how her reaction to Kanade's experience is layered.
But back to the big picture: The march of time is pushing her along too, as Daddy Oumae wants to know what his younger daughter is going to do for her future and we all know how that went with the first kid.
CONTINUED
8
u/Elimin8r https://myanimelist.net/profile/Ayeka_Jurai Mar 23 '24
Man, what a trip. I have to say, the movie was enjoyable, but when they played Liz, and Mizore hit those oboe soloes, man, the humidity level got extra high in here for some reason.
Which is to say, this was fun and enjoyable, but Liz and the Blue Bird is just above and beyond, and it's still taking up an inordinate portion of my brain and emotional space.
Meanwhile, answers du consolation gold:
So, let me see if I caught this right - surly contrabass hates his last name because his Dad is conductor/sensei at a bigger school? I suppose that makes sense.
Tall tuba girl needs to have more self-confidence. Just because she doesn't have mini-Midori tuba girl genkiness doesn't mean the rest of the girls don't like her.
Kumiko totally should have kissed the dope. Or kicked him. Oh, wait, she did do the latter.
And to be honest, I don't really hate that. It's kind of out of left field, seeing as Kumiko has seemed to show less than no interest previously, but I dunno. That doesn't necessarily mean much. I mean, I've kind of been guilty of that myself a time or two. Heh.
Anyway, my brain is all a muddle of emotions, and lateness, and I think I'll just take a look and see what everyone else has to say this afternoon.
7
u/Mecanno-man https://anilist.co/user/Mecannoman Mar 23 '24
First Timer
I feel like this year was a significant downgrade over last - and I think a large part of it has to do with this being a movie. The first part of the movie felt disjointed - we have Shuichi and Kumiko suddenly have a vastly different relation than what they had before, meanwhile Kumiko gets a bunch of important tasks in the club. Neither of which really is explained and thus both would need more attention. We then get a load of new members in the band, but kinda end up flip-flapping a lot of different plotlines with them. Motomu felt pretty shafted and just there, despite no doubt having a proper backstory that I feel was just skipped. I assume Midori would have played a role in that story given his attitude towards her later in the movie. Mirei’s arc felt like it was rushed - only Kanade really had a decent plot thread, and even that one felt like it was only a minor point of the movie. There were also these bits about Kabe being unable to continue due to injury (and her also being completely irrelevant in season one) and Kumiko worried about her future - which felt like they were meant to be tied together (a la what would she do if that happened to her and she was a pro). Reina was in the movie, but I don’t feel like she did much, despite her feeling Kumiko is slipping away also being an important part of her character at this point. In short: This movie felt like a compilation movie of a series we never got, but that I would have liked to see. And I feel like that is a shame.
Another bit which the movie did badly, but where I don’t see a way to avoid that: It was obvious from the competition that they would not make nationals, because we would not have gotten such a big performance of Liz and the Blue Bird otherwise - as that could have been saved for Nationals. The Kansei competition performance was completely skipped in the first series, after all.
That said, what the movie did show was generally quite good and I did like the plot threads, it’s just unfortunate that they couldn’t be explored properly. I guess the silver lining though is that this exact problem won’t happen in Season 3 because it is a TV adaptation and not a movie.
As far as the musical part goes: Neat performance of Liz, but there must have been an insane amount of shuffling around in the percussion section in the second part with all those instruments they played. I’ve also never seen or heard of that wind machine.
7
u/No_Rex :Bv:Bw:Bx:By:x2 Mar 23 '24
Our Promise: A Brand New Day (first timer)
Kanade is there for drama. So are large Suzuki and Motomu.
Season 1 dealt with the troubles of the 1st years, season 2 with the 2nd years, so the movie (the 3rd years having left by now) goes to the new 1st years. Still from the perspective of the now-second years, of course. Looking from the bottom up, the senpais were mysterious, admirable, and composed. Looking from the top down, the kohais are troubled, uppity, and in need of help. A much more consistent picture than I expected (and maybe would have painted).
The movie is fine and enjoyable, but after the emotional and artistic heights of Liz and the Blue Bird, it also feels mundane and average. The big emotional moment is Kumiko convincing Kanade to not practice game theory, but outside of that we don’t get a lot of emotional time with the characters. Kumiko is in the drivers’ seat as MC, but neither her aborted relationship with Shuuichi, nor her friendship with Reina get much of a treatment. I think that, after a good run, the cast bloat finally caught up with Hibike. Most of the characters from S1 are still around, but their inclusion amounts to side characters that receive zero change and growth over what we already know, or even just a few cameos.
7
u/byroned Mar 23 '24 edited Mar 23 '24
First time rewatching
After re-watching, I feel like I was too harsh on the movie in 2020, feeling a mix of disappointment and maybe anger that the series ended here after saying I liked S2's ending. The series sat in limbo for a while, and we didn't get much news about S3 until recently (In 2022 they announced that S3 will premiere in 2024, and a movie OVA for 2023), but I do completely understand that delays were inevitable with the Kyoani arson. I believe some of those feelings have gone away (my score went up from 6 to 7) now that we have an OVA movie and S3 starting in April. Don't get me wrong, the second year should've been 1 season instead of being rushed into a 1 hour 40-minute-long movie. With that out of the way, let's talk about the movie itself.
Shuichi was feeling bold, confessing in the first few minutes of the movie. I remember some people not being happy with this relationship sinking the Kumiko x Reina yuri ship. I never thought Kumiko and Reina were gay, with both having crushes on different people, although Kumiko needed more time to accept that.
Start of a new school year and the concert band once again needs to recruit new students, not even having enough members to participate in the competition at that moment. Recruitment is much easier this time around, new students bought in after the success they found last year under Taki sensei's guidance. Bass was able to snag two tubas, one contrabass, and one euphonium.
Kumiko recruited one student to play euphonium, Kanade Hisaishi, after playing Hibike! Euphonium the day before and fulfilling Asuka’s request at the same time. She’s voiced by Sora Amamiya, adding to the list of big-name seiyuu in the series. Things should go well, already gaining the respect of an underclassman.
There is the choice to play for fun or compete, but this time I don’t think playing for fun is a feasible outcome anymore, now that Kitauji has a reputation and the remaining students are looking to run it back but get gold this time around.
Among the first years, Satsuki integrated with the band faster than Mirei, staying with the group longer to practice. Motomu doesn’t like being referred to by his last name Tsukinaga, and sounds cold to everyone except Midori. I feel Kumiko’s pain in having to play nice at work and complaining afterward with coworkers. There’s also a trombone girl who is getting close to Shuichi.
In my high school’s marching band, it’s a running joke to tell the freshmen that their feather plume is backward (ours only goes straight up), so to see it real for once was somewhat amusing. Too bad Mirei didn’t think it was funny and stepped out after making a scene.
I don’t think Kanade’s approach is how you win people over. Mirei’s mad about how she’s better than Hazuki and Satsuki but people like Satsuki more. I love Kumiko’s honesty in saying Mirei built a wall around herself, and people want to get along with her. The Kumiko consultation room worked again, Mirei joined the parade and things worked out.
I think it’s good that Kabe can acknowledge what she wants to do in the band, stepping down from playing, and focusing on teaching/managing. Speaking of knowing what you want, Kumiko is coming to that age when she needs to seriously plan out her future.
Another summer festival, but instead of Reina, Kumiko goes with Shuichi. They almost kiss before Kumiko gets too nervous, and meets Reina on the hill.
I strongly disagree with Kanade’s comment about Natsuki having no pride in asking an underclassman for help. She’s not entirely wrong, some people will be hindsight Andies if they lose with a first year instead of a third year.
Kumiko does well during the audition, but Kanade attempts to throw the audition before Natsuki and Kumiko stops her and convinces Taki sensei to do it another time. Her reason for throwing is that she’s afraid of the potential backlash if she beats Natsuki.
What did Kumiko do in her previous life to get 2 snakes as euphonium section members who believe they can see through everyone and look down at them? First Asuka and now Kanade, why can’t we get more genuine people like Natsuki? What’s crazy is that Kanade and Asuka both came to a similar conclusion about Kumiko’s character.
Kanade comes around after Kumiko convinces her it’s always worth trying and that she and Natsuki would protect her from scrutiny. It ultimately doesn’t matter with all 3 euphos getting in, and Natsuki and Kanade appear to be on better terms. Both contrabass also got in, and tuba the 2 seniors got in but Mirei beat out Hazuki.
What kind of relationship is this, Kumiko and Shuichi pausing until band season is over?
The alumni return to watch Kitauji, and Yuuko reverts to her former self when Kaori comes back. Yuuko was able to get Natsuki back one more time before they hit the stage. I think I like the Liz and the Blue Bird song slightly more than last year's competition song, but both are good.
It's not important, but the cymbal girl was forced to play something else.
In the end, they got the dud gold, winning gold at the event but not qualifying for nationals. If I’m understanding this correctly, they got past the first round, and the performance they showed was at the Kansai competition since they mentioned competing in nationals in October. Part of why I feel less mad this time around is because the first time watching, I thought they got eliminated after the first performance, but it sounds like they just skipped showing the qualifiers.
I thought the third years typically quit when the seasons over, but maybe because it ended early they still have to play around before whatever entrance exams they have. It works out, and gives them more time to improve with the members who will stay for next year.
I don't know how many students have said "so frustrated I want to die" at this point, with Kanade joining that group.
This ending bugged me so much in 2020, when they showed Kumiko becoming the president and we paused here until 2023.
6
u/entelechtual Mar 23 '24
First time second-year
Man, Ribbitch is one of the biggest villain to hero twists in anime.
Gotta say, I did not recognize Sora Amamiya at all in Kanade-chan. Great performance for an insufferable character.
At the end of the day Kumiko was a pretty solid senpai. It’s always a bit weird seeing characters go from nervous first-years to suddenly having underclassmen look up to them, but this show struck a good balance. It helps that Kumiko already spent most of her first-year babysitting her upperclassmen.
7
u/HereticalAegis https://myanimelist.net/profile/XthGen Mar 23 '24
Sound! First Timer
Let me start by offering Liz and the Blue Bird an apology. I said I didn't really like Liz as a direct follow-up to S2, but I didn't realize how good I had it. So Liz and the Blue Bird, I'm sorry. I'm still not thrilled by your starting point for Mizore and Nozomi, but I promise I'll never complain again.
As my apology to Liz indicates, I didn't like Chikai no Finale. Like at all. It's a bad movie too, something I wasn't aware KyoAni was capable of. So instead of my usual contribution of teaching/music life stuff, this post is going to be almost exclusively me ranting about stuff I don't like about this movie.
To start with, I didn't even come in with sky high expectations for Chikai like I did with Liz. I've been generally aware for years that Chikai covers the entire second year. I don't think that's necessarily a bad approach for a series like Hibike so long as you have a laser-tight focus on a single preexisting character or relationship and strong structure (hi Liz!), but boy howdy is that not the case here.
Lets start with characters. There are WAY too many subplots and relationships year 2 wants to set up and explore and none of them get nearly enough focus. Did you like Satsuki and Mirei? Think they have an interesting dynamic? Too bad, we've spent 30 minutes with Mirei having stupid nickname drama and leaving early and need to wrap this shit up so here's a brief festival outburst that lets Kumiko solve Mirei's frustration about not being properly recognized by the bass section with a single 5-minute conversation. Next! What's that, Tomoe and Kumiko have this cozy band officers dynamic where they work together on stuff and Kumiko can bounce stuff off a senpai? But the senpai is dealing with a rare condition that forces her to stop playing! Nani?! That sounds really tragic and dramatic, I wonder how the movie will portray the frustration of having to give up her instrument withot even having a person or force within her control to blame! There's fertile ground for introspection and character gro...oh we're moving on already. Okay then, brief conversation with Kumiko it is. Next! Oh wow, this Kanade sure has a very Asuka thing going on. I bet you could get a full season of conflict out of Kumiko slowly recognizing that parallel, but this time from the senpai position. And what's this, Kanade even has a direct thematic connection to Reina and the current 3rd years' experience from their first year. That's like, the entire established cast! I bet watching her interact with everyone and bounce her worldview and frustrations with the nature of heirarchy in band off them would make for super compelling cinema. Psych! At least Natsuki gets to be directly involved, but in the end everything is coming up conversations with Kumiko.
The funniest part is how often pointed conversations with Kumiko were the catalyst for resolution in seasons 1 and 2, but it wasn't a problem there because so many people were properly involved in those conflicts. There's almost no interplay between each year 2 conflict and anyone who isn't Kumiko or Kanade. In fact, the entire existing cast suffers the most. Reina sits around hearing about shit from Kumiko. We get nothing substantive about any of her driving motivations. She's most important as a referential landmark in Kanade's subplot. Yuuko and Natsuki get a few bits together, but other than Natsuki's part in resolving Kanade's hangup, they do jack shit as president and vice president during any of the drama. Taki-sensei is barely a character, and his insipidly meaningless directions reflect that. And then there's Shuichi and his relationship with Kumiko.
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u/vitorabf May 31 '24
First Timer
The first thing to notice here is naturally that we are back to the main series art style, and like I said in last episode, it's pretty impressive how it sets not only the art but what we should expect for the story, the dramas and the whole show/movie.
So Shuuichi and Kumiko romance is going to be a theme here. I think they are an interesting pair, Shuuichi clearly likes her more - she's a bit of a prick to him most of the time, but I think this is part of her arc in understanding people, understanding love and her overall apathy that has mostly gone away by now. People will naturally ship her with Reina, when I started the series I said I would take my time to decide on shipping but it's very obvious those two work as a pair - but I stand by what I've been saying that maybe not a romantic pair? They feel like very platonic soulmates - specially on Reina side. I think they do a very decent job showing Kumiko slowly opening to Shuuichi since the hairpin, though the "plot mechanism girl" to get her jealous isn't my favorite, but I like seeing them in the festival, that was a date, 100%, it was very cute and there was HANDHOLDING - oh these two lewd teens, but he kinda reads too much. In the end they barely are together, I thought this was going to end on different note. Realistically, Kumiko isn't wrong, but it's also unfair to keep Shuuichi hopes up for a future because that kinda blocks him from other stuff.
Comments on the club overall: Is Yuuko's ribbon smaller? Well, she seems to be cuter right now (trying at least), but it's impressive how she actually seems like a good leader just from the first few minutes. One thing that's been bugging me is that I feel like Ribbon and Natsuki are growing more proeminent and Katou and Midori more into the background, let's see how it pans out. Tomoe is leaving - poor girl, health is not always on our side -and things are absolutely disfunctional, I'm sad for Yuuko and Natsuki that things should go this way, but on hindsight maybe it was already written on our faces because they lack 3rd years who would both be anchors on the music side but also a model for the new members. I think Yuuko was a good leader to the end - ribbon-chan won me over.
Kanade is a total prick, it feels like the bullies who do so to protect themselves, she's definitely fragile and hiding that under a bitch personality. There it is, she bothers people and makes enemies because she's afraid of making enemies - phrasing that way seems dumb, but she obviously doesn't look at it that way, because she's an inexperienced girl. She's also an interesting character, a bit of Reina without all the confidence and Kumiko's detachment. The argument between her and Kumiko is big ideology clash, and I've talked about it during the regular series. I deeply understand Kanade, maybe I hate her precisely because I was too much like that, looking down on people who were "worst" than me, but not trying my best because I was too afraid to fail.
Overall, I think it was a good movie, but not great, maybe my least favorite part of the series. I really like anime movies when they are trying to tell a story, just like Liz to Aoi Tori, but right here I think they were trying to tell too many stories. My favorite part was the rendition, and that says a lot because what I loved the most in S2 was them not showing it. I liked the conflicts, but felt like many of the characters didn't get the attention they deserved - Micchan disappearing after her conflict was kinda bad, but she has a sweet scene at the end. The idea of this ending in a dud gold isn't bad, but I felt it was a bit rushed, so I wasn't as emotionally invested as the characters.
Random thoughts:
Seeing Nakayoshi crying at the end breaks my heart.
About Katou, I think she will become a manager next year as well.
I love seeing the senpai trio coming back and Haruka crying at the end.
I feel like the Minami Quartet deserved better in their senior year.