Hibike! Euphonium: Kakedasu Monaka

Kyoto Animation has done it again, even if this is just a special. The care and attention for detail is as present as ever. It's just a special, mind you, but the art is still absolutely gorgeous! Animation is fluid and clean to watch. This made me want to rewatch Hibike! Euphonium all over again and it reminded me of why Hibike! Euphonium is my favorite series of all time. I'm still so amazed by the degree of how I still care for the characters. The feelings hit deep and really, you just have to do everything as best as you can. Loved it! Hazuki, Ifeel for you bruh. (( originally posted as personal notes in website Hummingbird ))

Hibike! Euphonium: Kakedasu Monaka is a prequel episode taking place between the auditions and final performance of Hibike! Euphonium. This episode features great music but the animation and art style seems to be lacking making this episode a combination of many things making it mediocre at best. As previously stated, this episode takes place in between the auditions and the final performance: following the rejects from the auditions who decide to go by the name Monaka to represent their group. The episode makes a lot of references to the show such as making the good luck charms or collecting the mallets from the band room forthe final performance. Outside of this and a bit of character development, not much happens though. There are many great things about this episode. Although I can point out the music, much of it is just reused from Hibike! Euphonium as are the backgrounds. The reference back to the main series and filling in the gaps is a very nice feature and helps to make the world this show takes place in more built and grounded in reality. As for the bad, there isn’t too much to criticize. The worst part was probably the animation that seems to be incredibly rushed in this episode and not really polished. On top of this the idea of an arc following side characters seems cool, but most of these characters are not at all developed during the main series making it feel more like you’re watching this episode to see more of the world of Hibike! Euphonium, not to see these unimportant characters, which to some people is a plus but to me it just seems lazy. I didn’t really have a lot to say in comparison to my other reviews but that is because it is hard to say a lot about a twenty-five minute episode. Overall I would recommend this episode for those who are fans of Hibike! Euphonium due to its length, but those who don’t really care all too much about the world of Hibike! Euphonium and are just watching it to say they have watched it or they were recommended it and aren’t all too interested, or those who are re watching it, this episode is very skippable.

We all have our hour upon the stage, or our 25 minutes to be exact, and that's more or less what Kakedasu Monaka is, an episode through the eyes of 'Team Monaka', the people (mostly just Katou) who failed to qualify in the Wind Ensemble, and the depiction of their role within the competition, a bit unfortunate for them that even when they're technically the main characters, they still have a supportive role, but no matter, it's an episode about Katou, and her accomplices in Team Monaka, and how the big day unfolded, from their perspective. When all's said and done, this is basically a regularepisode of Hibike but this time around Katou's the main character, and, there's all the goodness that you'd see in a typical episode, made marginally different on account of the fact that Team Monaka consists of different people than the performers in the Wind Ensemble, and also the fact Katou has different things that she needs to do compared to Kumiko, but, in recognition of the fact that this was a one-time ordeal, they certainly pulled no punches, which was a good move on their part, since if we're going to get one episode from the perspective of a different character, they might as well make it eventful, and that they do, while high octane isn't something that's usually a particularly fitting description of a high school drama, this time, it is, there's plenty of desperation seen, and, of course, there's a shot of Katou jumping into the sky at one point, because if they've got one episode on their hands, they might as well go for it. All in all, Kakedasu Monaka's a perfectly valid addition to the Hibike Euphonium series, usually with OVAs you can expect them to put in less effort, but not this time around, in fact, the opposite, when one considers the closing 5 minutes or so, the impression I get is that in the knowledge that this was the only episode they had with Katou as a main character, they chose to make the most of it, and it's certainly a fuller experience than most single episodes of the original series. While under most circumstances I'd say if you decide to skip an OVA you're not going to miss out on much, not this time around, this episode is undoubtedly a fine addition to the series, with as much character and heart put into it as any regular episode, if not more so.

It's as good as any episode in the first season. This OVA focuses on the students who didn't pass the auditions, especially Hazuki, the main character here. We see what they were up to while the main band practiced, things like choosing their group's name and making the presents they gave to the band in the last episode. At first, I thought it would just be a light episode with some cute interactions, which would already be pretty satisfying for me. But there were many touching scenes with Hazuki, Shuichi and Natsuki that were great combined with the beautiful visuals. It also shows Taki-sensei supportingthis group, which was missing from the first season, when it felt they were just abandoned. The animation is top-notch, just like in the first season and anything created by Kyoani, it's enjoyable to watch even when there's not much happening becaue it's so beautiful. They used the same opening and ending, and again the OST is really good and complements each scene exquisitely. Recommend it to anyone who enjoyed the first season. I think this completes the series well and it's not just a useless filler. And especially to see more about Hazuki, considering this is probably the last time she receives the spotlight, since she was not a main character anymore in the sequel. For just an additional episode, it was a lot better than I expected.

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