Hibike! Euphonium 2

Band has becoming a dying medium as the importance of academics and becoming a top student have gained importance. It's come to the point that many schools have cut off art programs like these entirely simply because they either no longer have the budget to support it, or see it as something that has no real importance in students' lives. So, at the time of this review, while we still have the concept of the school band alive, we return back to KyoAni's adaptation of Hibike! Euphonium, the drama-filled band with aspirations as big as their sound. Story: Picking up from the first season,Hibike! Euphonium 2 continues the same plotline as the first season. Our merry band of...band members at Kitauji high school continue their journey towards Nationals in hopes of winning the event and taking home gold for the school while dealing with a myriad of personal stories given to us by our characters. What separates season 2 from its predecessor are the stories that we're given, and pretty much nothing else. This time around however, we focus more on the protagonists of the story and their internal struggles more so than some other members of the band. As such, Season 2 acts a lot like a knot tier to all of the show's loose ends from the first season, and presents them all at an even pacing with a healthy amount of detail and care put into every story. As a result of this, the emotional impact that we see from these characters and how each event impacts them is well crafted and culminated to a graceful end. Character development for this season in particular is well blended together and doesn't feel as arcic or choppy as the first season did. Multiple stories are developed alongside each other, and given the story's pacing, has reasonable quality despite some maybe I wish getting a little more attention than they deserved. All in all, Hibike! Euphonium 2 was a journey through a school band with twists and turns that culminated into a very satisfying end. Characters' stories had satisfying ends, the music was great, and the overarching story ended well enough that I could at the very least accept the result. Wasn't the best result, but it was good enough. Overview: + Tied up a lot of loose ends + Good pacing + Finished the story Characters: Characters really don't differ very much from the first season. Aside from a few additions that made up the majority of the first arc, the characters are largely the same and the cast has very few significant shifts in them in terms of importance. Most prominently for changes comes with the addition of Yoroizuka Mizore, the most prominent new character of the series. The oboe player for the band, Mizore's main role is to start the series off with a blast and create her own ripple in the story with events that have happened in the past. Her story is interesting, but her character really isn't all that prominent, especially since the rest of the series focuses on already introduced characters whose stories have already been developing since the first season. Aside from her, new additions come few and far in between and really don't have all that much gravity or impact. If anything, they mostly fill up spots to help progress the story along or relate back to a specific character. The one thing I found strange is how both Hazuki and Sapphire were even less prominent than they were before. The series didn't really give them the time of day to begin with, and I find it strange how they're marked as main characters despite being virtually absent from everything that's been going on. Overview: + Old characters all return and have similar standing from S1 +/- New additions are good but a lot less impactful Art: Produced by KyoAni, Hibike! Euphonium comes back in full force with the company's bright, moe artstyle with crystal clear colors and incredible detail and fluidity. Everything from the backgrounds to the individual character designs for each and every member of the band, and even the attention to detail for the instruments are all animated very well to the point that I can find very few flaws, if any, for the animation. Sound: The soundtrack for S2 has a similar tone to the first season with bright and happy music for its OP and ED with a host of different band songs for the characters' ensemble. I don't really have any complaints about the music personally, but I do feel like the OP and ED this time around aren't as memorable as the S1 variants. Personal Enjoyment: As someone who participated in their school band, Hibike! Euphonium was a very enjoyable watch that connected to me personally, as a lot of the events that the characters faced were pretty realistic for people in band, and had the sense of togetherness that 50+ people playing together can have. So all in all, I found this to be a fun, gripping, and all around fun watch from beginning to end. Did I like this series? I loved it. Especially for the characters' personal growths. Each of the characters' stories felt, particularly for the protagonists, felt impactful and meaningful, giving more depth to the show that couldn't exist otherwise. What didn't I like about the series? Shuuichi. Cause honestly, the series doesn't give much of a shit about him, and I feel like he got a little cheated because of that. That and the rest of Kumiko's friends. Talk about being pushed to the side. Would I recommend this series? If you saw Season 1 and liked it, then you probably should be watching this. It finishes the Hibike! Euphonium story and ties it all up rather nicely. Also, if you are or were a band member, then this series is also worth your time. If you're part of neither of those groups, and you want to watch something that's well-paced and emotionally driven, than this series would also be a good fit. Honestly, Euphonium is one of those series that's more than it looks like underneath the surface with fully realized potential that leaves its audience wanting more.

The review counts the first season score too! Hibike! Euphonium is a musical anime (woooow, really?), but doesn't shows just music, I would say. The focus doesn't is the music in itself, but in how the music and the effort at the trainings can interfere at socializations between the musicist and your family, school and objectives. That anime is sooooo cute, have an so pretty weather, even when happens the hardest scenes and with psychological fight. Also have comedy, isn't as that slapstick comedy tho, maybe a pinch of Yuri or just fanservice?! Thriller, yes, Thriller, always happens that thriller in what gonna happen and howthe characters will feel about yourselves, and mainly, Drama! Dude, what dramatical anime, some episodes will make you do want to cry with the character or just want to give a hugh in them (Your waifu isn't real, idiot). Story - That anime revolves around Kumiko, yes, all what happens in the anime her is in there, being good or bad, and she always have to fix it. Even for this I think she'll be the president when she will have at 3º year. The history is very simple, there is a School who is underestimated, and who have a dream: Go to the National championship. Already at the beggining have a discussion about who really wants to fight to get that objective. Scenes who shows fights with themselves, even the their bodies and their minds doesn't tolerate more training and training. But, neither all are roses, that anime would can approach so much more about the presentations, but they didn't it, I felt as only Kitauji school does strive, and it's definitely bad, they didn't approached that, or barely approached another schools, neither done an interaction with each other, and at ep 12 of s2 they didn't show the final presentation!! Do you believe it? Art/Sound - That's really the strongest point of his anime, all characters are good drawed, all scenes are beautiful (and some scenes were maked with CGI!!!), and they "fit" perfectly in what is happening at the episode. And dude, if a musical anime, doesn't have a good OST, in what he would have? hahaha, I confess, I like a little bit of orquestry already, maybe because Shigatsu Wa Kimi no Uso (Who doesn't is in the subject now), I really liked about the combination of the presentations (scenes showing the members and the music playing), gave me a big feel of reality, they even did the sweat in the characters!!! Really, maybe it was perfect. Character - AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA, I really liked the characters, and how they were approached (even the characters that I hate), all characters who have your apparition, although is short, they could be developed and shows their personality. Kumiko - First thing of all: I loved her voice, the way she speaks and behaves, seemed so real, dude, simply wonderful!! I did liked as hell her personality, and the way she always try to do the things, and fix the problems, she's like that character type who doesn't call attention for her because she wants to, but always receives our empathy (like Miyamori of Shirobako), she always is prepared to help others, even with the problems appears just for her hahaha, maybe she's a magnet problems xD, poor her. I don't have very things to say about her, when you're going to watching it, you'll feel the same thing as I felt. Reina - Judge me, but I thought her very cliche, but even so, I liked her too, I confess that in the beginning, I didn't like her a lot, but slowly she was conquering me, how she've charisma!! Btw, all character have your own charisma and can conquer our empathy. She's a shy girl, very talented, and who have objectives very "whole", and maybe impossible ambitions xD Asuka - She's the orquestry group vice president, she is so straight, and always, yes, always can manipulate people around her, and does make they "forget it" the why they're correct, she's willing to leave all away to conquer the main objective (really, everything), even for have these quality, she's more noticed than the orquestry group president, and she's most important for the group than the president, no for nothing, she's my fav character of that anime. Enjoyment - Idk for where to begin... Well, that anime is so good and sometimes so tiring, they were get a lot for the opposite side to default of musical animes and with contest, and they were gone to the character development, they spend it precious episodes who develops the characters at the right moment: as Yuuko, dude, what a annoying character, and Kumiko sister, who starts to interfere even indirectely in Kumiko performances. BUUUUT, there are so many sensational episodes, mainly the episodes who envolves Kumiko & Reina and Kumiko & Asuka, when happens the Yuri flirt xD, and also they complement with a music, who serves as clue of how the character is feeling yourselve in that moment, as if it were a vent, just beautiful! Conclusion - Hibike! Euphonium is a musical anime not so musical, the moral of history is about conquer objectives if you get effort to get it, but in the same time shows all problems who happens during the way. With a lot of drama and empathy with characters, watch it and feel yourself through the world at Kumiko's sight!

Sequels are like a double-edged sword. For the good shows, the creators are always under immense pressure to replicate the success from the first season, but if done correctly, will be able to grow the cult following for an even bigger profit. For the bad shows, though there are no such expectations, the need to create a series to a non-existent fan base is illogical. Hibike! Euphonium season 1 was in the middle of the spectrum, dwarfed by the popularity and sales of the likes of K-ON while still having sales andpopularity success to be remembered by the anime community for a while. It is a show that has promise, known for beautiful visuals in typical KyoAni fashion, niche concert band soundtrack, drama among friends, and the all but famous YURI vibes between our two wonderful heroines. Those who are curious or eager to watch of season 2 are most likely avid fans of the first series in the first place, and the looming question would always be: ‘Is it as good as season 1?’ as viewers would inevitably draw comparisons from the shows predecessor. Well, is it better? I would sit on the fence here and say that its different. The world setting of this show does not need much of an introduction. We are shown the lives of Kumiko and Co. to experience the life of both a high school student and a member of a highly competitive concert band. When looking at both these aspects together, one would predict that certain problems would naturally arise. The most basic one would be how does one juggle their studies between club and academics? or how does severed bonds or a broken past affect a performance? These are touched upon, albeit in shallow levels in some aspects. A positive note that is easily overlooked would be that all these issues are not just experienced by the MC, but some are shared to the minor characters that were deemed irrelevant in season 1, implying that the show does not completely revolve around the MC, and that other characters are not one dimensional, but are also people who do feel emotions as they are each given their own screen time when facing hardship. The show also doesn’t lose its bread and butter of being a music anime, as we are shown how concert band members struggle and train for long hours by coaches, in training camps, etc. It’s a flare that has not been lost since season 1- A balance between light hearted moments shared by high school students as they casually hangout together and share small conversations, while still maintaining the immense pressure to perform and thus develop drama with heart-to-heart conversations and people yelling and screaming their frustrations out. It is a very different take compared to season 1, who took ample time to introduce us to the world of concert bands as they took their time to introduce the instruments, the training regimes and competitions. The drama involved are also different in their own rights, as they mostly revolve involve the band concert itself, such as the competition to get a prominent role or into the team with limited seats, the dilemma to balance playing to have fun or to win, and the living hell when two sides are at war with one being in the middle wanting to bring both sides together. Season 2 takes the assumption that we clearly know the world of ‘Hibike! Euphonium’ and how it works, and brings the drama to the factors outside the club that could heavily effect one’s performance. Such factors include past mistakes, family background, and even trauma, these factors were not entirely absent from season 1, but are merely brushed upon. This could be refreshing, this could be easily heartfelt by us, the viewers. If done right, this would not bear any complaint. But great ideas need great executions to be shown and illustrated, and in my opinion, this is where it failed to deliver. In almost every drama arc, it felt repetitive, it felt like there was always a pattern, in that the entire group could not do anything to help some troubled companion, and it was always up to Kumiko to be the mediator, to be the one who goes out of the way to help the friend in need. Kumiko then shows vulnerability and confronts the troubled friend, and the troubled friend would always be touched, and hence, mission accomplished. This leaves the impression that Kumiko is the Great Counsellor that could listen and solve everyone’s problems. Is it because she is a good listener due to her personality? Or is it merely because she is the MC? That is debatable. Nevertheless, it does leave me to think that the nature of the drama of season 1 is discarded, as the problems there are usually solved naturally without the need of any intervention whatsoever. It slowly unfolds and finds closure in due time with no saviour or counsellor whatsoever, which beautifully left the underlying message of how not every problem needs a heartfelt speech or hug, but through facing off and let reality decide who is in the right or wrong, eventually finding its own closure. It can be hypothesised that the kind of drama in season 2 could be far more engaging compared to season 1, but that is entirely subjective to the viewer. Personally, I love the characters so much that even though I am aware of the execution flaws, the drama was satisfactory for me, but if one looks at it through an objective lens, this could be very off-putting. In typical KyoAni fashion, the art is nothing to be scoffed at. We are shown astonishing backgrounds that could be easily mistook to be meant for wallpapers: The grand stage of the competition with wonderful lighting, the birds eye view of the city lights from the mountains, the scene of a character playing its instrument in a conveniently beautiful scenery, these are the eye candies that made season 1 such a delight to see, and the sequel does it justice. Simply breath-taking and wonderful. Characters are their usual pretty selves with introductions to characters who are just as pretty. Frame qualities are excellent especially at where it counts, with the fluid movement of fingers pressing against the instrument valves during soloes to the well portrayed yelling and crying of the characters in distress. It is by no means perfect though, as the usual plague of modern anime remains, with distorted character faces especially when the characters are far from a shot, a predicament of a studio who is rushing through frames with no time for checks. It is unfortunate that this is the norm nowadays with tight deadlines to meet. A notable highlight of the quality of the art is how beautifully the instruments are drawn, be in in shining gold or silver, as the artist leaves no detail left behind. With music as the main foundation that the world of this show builds upon, this anime is indeed a delight to the ears with quality coming in spades. The soundtrack of the series is relatively the same as season 1 and does not fail to bring up the atmosphere, be it a cheerful or solemn one. Sometimes there is no soundtrack at all, as it gives centre stage to the wonderful melodies played by the concert band instruments. What’s wonderful is that most of the time during conversation, there are no soundtracks whatsoever, as we are then able to focus on the tones of the character’s speech, this control of knowing when to have a soundtrack and when not to is a huge surplus itself. The main highlight of this show, which is the pieces performed by the ensemble, are up to the standards that we expect to be, marvellous performances that we the viewers are tempted to give a round of applause to. Songs like the ‘Crescent Moon Dance’, and Japanese jazz like ‘Takarajima’ by T-Square opens up a whole different world from the usual anime music that we listen to, and if one is an avid fan of Japanese music outside of the usual J-pop, they could probably pick up more songs than I could that were being performed in the series. A totally refreshing sound that differs from the usual electric guitar and drums. Even if you think the drama is off putting to you, I recommend searching up the moments in which the ensembles are playing on YouTube. Unfortunately, these moments come few and far between, as more time is given to watch the drama unfold instead. Like a high-class restaurant with the highest quality of meats given in such small amounts that leaves us wanting for more. Season 1 definitely has the upper hand here as it not only has the quality, but also the quantity of these juicy moments to back it up. Being a sequel, we can also see the already likeable characters that were polished so nicely by season 1 come to life once again. This time however, the side characters from the previous series are given more screen time for development, thus the main quartet, aside from Kumiko are not given as much prominence as before. The second years take up a significant brunt of the show and more sides of their personalities are shown, the crazy fangirl of her senpai Yuko shows us that she is not merely an annoyance to be cringed at, Nakagawa’s don’t-give-a-damn attitude is peeled off, and the all reliable senpais are shown to be not so reliable. This is amazing, as this shows that these characters are actually people with different emotions instead convenient plot devices, an issue that is nit-picked about in season 1. Kumiko is in the middle of all the drama and her growth from those experiences can also be seen as well as the usually smug girl who observes from the distance reveals that she is also vulnerable, and that she will come in close and personal to help her friends in need. Fans of Reina could be slightly disappointed, as she is typically shown as the typical talented first year who is the best friend of Kumiko. With most of her scenes being her playing the trumpet and asking the always contemplating Kumiko what’s wrong. This however leaves me with an underlying thought-Since we love the main characters so much as season 1 has developed so nicely, do we want to see characters we love to have more screen time? Or do we want to have characters we don’t really like shown more in hopes of us to start to like them as much as the main cast? Overall, the enjoyment of this series can’t be measured on its own, as one has to look at the overall picture of both series combined. The first season introduces us to the world of a high school concert band and polishes up the main characters for the exact purpose of them to make us feel connected to them as even more dramas unfold in season 2 and ultimately tie up the series in a perfect knot with a satisfying end. It is not the kind of show that depicts how handwork would leave success to be in the harvest, it is much more than that. It is about how a group of different come together to perform in one unit. The overall anime shows that not everyone will always be on the same page, and people’s differences will naturally come to produce friction between one another. There will be times when one member stumbles due to weakness, and the entire group is affected. And there also will be different ways of doing things due to different experiences, even though all of them are striving towards the same goal. It is about how each member of the team are to become a support to one another, like how the 4 parts of soprano, tenor, and base are always meant to be combined to produce a wonderful Harmonia of symphonies. Hibike Euphonium shows us the essence of harmony in terms of music, and in life. Perhaps the show precisely puts Kumiko in the centre of all the drama so that she could be the support to her friends, like how she supports the entire concert band when she plays the euphonium, though this is my own opinion. [SPOILER]Another Beautiful touch, in what I thought, was how the name 'Hibike! Euphonium' came about, and it was eventually revealed as Asuka gave Kumiko her personal euphonium piece, which was named after the anime title itself. 'Hibike' which means 'to play', 'to release sound' was not merely in a literal sense to tell the students to play instruments, but I think that it is to also to play and resound those frustrations and everything that has been building up inside them, releasing those emotions in terms of wonderful music, and that is a huge chunk of what is the story is all about, to overcome conflict by expressing them and showing weakness.[SPOILER] If one only desires to seek for the musical wonders, this show will disappoint, if one only desires to seek the drama that unfolds, one could be better off looking elsewhere, it is the combination of both elements that make this show a good watch, as all the emotions are all blared out in a wonderful symphony, as one. The characters in this show all join the club for their very own desires and reasons, and all of them express it out though their instruments, producing a wonderful harmony that leaves one to do nothing but to put their hands together in urge for an encore. The drama to some may be considered mellow and illogical to some, and the music may not to be the tastes of everyone, but for me, it is indeed a delight to the eyes, ears, and heart. It is the type of show that introduces us to something that we the layman would hardly brush upon: the concert band, while also showing us something that we are all too familiar with, heartfelt emotion. Heck, it made me look back about my own high school life, and had thoughts of how I should’ve made golden memories by being part of a club that has all the shit going on instead of being uninvolved, leaving a bittersweet taste in my mouth. +Wonderful Concert Band Music + side Characters that show more than one side of themselves to avoid looking like cardboard cop outs +Likeable MC who runs the show + Realistic drama that is easily relatable to the audience - Negligence of polished 1st season characters - Drama can be in a pattern and repetitive * Yuri Bait doesn't focus on OTP, the Kumiko X Asuka ship is sailing, with a treat of Shuiichi looming in the background

Writing a review for the second season of Hibike was not an easy task to do. Maybe because I'm a musician, this get even more emotional and hard to express in words. But all I can feel for this anime is love. I have the most deep and fond love for this whole story. So, please, don't expect a totally unbiased review, I really can't talk about it without showing how awesome for a musician is to see a music genre anime like that and not talk about it with passion and even excuse some minor failures. Specially because here I'm talking more as musicianthan as an anime fan. Even more specially when there are so few animes about concert music. One of the things that enchants me the most in this anime without a doubt is the art: the typical trait from Kyoto Animation purely amazes me. You can lose yourself in the small details of the eyes of the characters, the lights in the landscapes, all the random background scenarios... They're all beautiful. But, do not fool yourself, despite the delicacy of the traits, the plot is a little more deeper than the vast majority of this genre from KyoAni, especially K-on!, that is probably more known and relatable to Hibike. I also want to make it clear that I simply admire a lot the work of a studio that is bound to make an anime of this kind with such dedication and offer the viewers an outcome in which hardly are found visual and aesthetic defects. This enables us to pay more attention to details, let's say, "more important" as the details of the plot. Still, the art is absolutely seductive. Throughout the story all the characters and especially Kumiko had a lot of developing, maturing and growing both intra and interpersonally. It's a fun and interesting process to watch and sometimes this get really exciting, especially for those who like to keep up with musical improvements and friendship strengthening. Also, there is something about each character that gives you the feeling that there aren't really just one main character and some other few supporters. They are all important, they all have background stories, they all matter somehow. The same thing happens when you see an orchestra: all musicians are important, all of them makes a difference and all of them have their special solo moments of shining bright. Then you get lost in the stories and personalities of every one of them, even the annoying and cliché ones. Nevertheless, some shine enough so you'll probably forget the most boring ones. I had a quite funny time paying attention to some characters in particular, though my favorite character, which is Reina, end up stealing this attention several times. There are some characteristics in her personality that blend in me sensations that I feel and some that I really wanted to feel. In fact, talking about the story, Hibike is very focused on relationship issues. You see the characters having all kinds of relationships: lost love, platonic love, unrequited love and pure love. And despite KyoAni appeal, unfortunately there's some fanservice when it comes to love relationship among girls, especially between Kumiko and Reina. All the scenes that they were together saying suggestive things about their relationship made me very happy and cheering for them, so it's a pitty that is seemingly something that only will be there for fanservice. This is why I don't give the story the maximum rate. Forget about fanservice, KyoAni, please. We had enough of it. Also, the pace. Gosh, don't kill me with that slow pace. I can handle drama quite well, just make it fast and end it up okay, for goodness sake. Now, to talk about the sound part is my favorite thing ever in Hibike. That's the part that makes my body shiver from emotion. The first thing I want to say is that if you guys like this kind of music and never been into an orchestra concert before, I strongly recommend that. Because then you can fully understand the feeling of being in a musical presentation and lose yourself in each musical movement of the piece. Only then you can comprehend how it is for a musician being pressured to impress, to touch and reach the heart of the audience. That all the effort until there was worth it. And believe me, it's A LOT of effort. Second thing I want to say is that I'm envious. I really wanted that kind of club when I were at school. Because that kind of effort is really something, to get so far in musical competitions IS a big deal, and to see that this is being taken seriously by students that probably won't all become musicians, you know, seeing non-musicians liking music that much is a heartwarming thing to see. Third thing: the OST is amazing. Really beautiful. The choices they made for the songs for the band to play are incredibly invigorating and astonishing. Matsuda Akito did a wonderful job here, I became a huge fan of him and I'm going to listen to the soundtrack whenever I can. Also, the choices of female characters playing instruments that aren't common or expected to the gender was something that made me very very happy. Seeing girls playing brass and percussion instruments was something inspiring. Finally, I wanted to say that episode five, in especial, brought me to tears. And, of course, made me happy for being a musician and gave me more strength to keep on doing what I love. It's absolutely wonderful to be encouraged to do what you love by something else that you also love. So, Hibike is an anime about the burning desire to make your seemingly impossible ambitions come to life. And that's why I like it so much, and also that's why I was super anxious for this new season. I wanted to feel all of those emotions again. Even though I probably haven't been able to fully explain as well as I would like and demonstrate to you guys how beautiful I found this animation, I really hope each of you, who read this wall-text to the end, can give it a look and be surprised yourselves.

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