Hibike! Euphonium

I stumbled upon this great anime yesterday after a funny gif strips of Asuka’s character in 9gag. Always a sucker for funny anime with musical theme in it I decided to give it a try. I partly blame that habit on K-on.

My verdict ? 11/10 would re-watch again and again.

Before reviewing let me share my after thought of marathon Hibike’s anime last night. It was awesome.. Too awesome that I thought “Oh come on this can’t be true. This is like a professional brass band playing” is what I thought when I saw them performing in marching band and at the final competition.

So I did the unforgotten thing, the YouTube search which ended up me dropping my jaw to the floor. Check out Seika Girl High School performance here and tell me Hibike! Euphonium story is just an animation.

No.. You can’t even say Hibike story ain’t real after watching real 3D high school girls playing can you? It’s real guys.. Japanese ain’t exaggerating when they claim to be the best.

A kind reminder, review contain spoilers. lot’s of it.

Hibike! Euphonium ( Sound! Euphonium ) stories revolves around Oumae Kumiko who once entered concert band competition in middle school with Kousaka Reina. They didn’t win the competition, Kumiko didn’t think much about losing which upset Reina and strain the relationship between them.

When in high school it turns out Kumiko is again enrolled in the same school with Reina. She didn’t manage to hold any conversation with her until a few weeks of band practice.

But the story aren’t tied to just these two. The school band itself has issue from the teacher to the members. The band has previous issue with “aiming for the national” motto which break up most of the first and 3rd year from previous years.

This is where their new Sensei role comes around, Taka Noboru is a talented music conductor and he aims to make this band a winner again following an unanimous vote of “aiming for the national”.

His teaching is however a bit questionable as he left them to practice which makes club members thinks of him being unreasonable. But yada yada yada yada things happens and they realize they wanted to win and improve self so they work hard and see lots of improvements under his strict harsh guide.

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So what makes Hibike! Euphonium great ? The characters.

Kumiko has a personality , that looks like a nice girl but she is actually a detached cold tone with a cynical view on things.

Reina is a strong willed girl that’s is straight forward but secretly does yuri action that lures everyone into her (particularly Kumiko) .

Hazuki and Midori is just filler characters that adds color to the story, theirs wasn’t needed but it shows how having friends in club is a fun thing.

Tsukamoto Shuuichi is not needed honestly. He’s only there to spread rumors he heard around club to the girls and for the summer festival touch up storyline. Personally I don’t think any male characters needed in this anime and they should’ve stick to as High School girl band since 90% of members in their club is girls anyway.

However I love Kumiko’s snide reaction towards Shuuichi. Shuuichi added colors to Kumiko’s personality. That’s the only thing he’s useful for.

Senpai tachis — I think the Senpais of this club could have be given more in-depth story if the anime wasn’t so short. Personally love Asuka’s , despite her cheekiness and a genius portrayal in music , she was not given much screen time or storyline.

Most of the seniors speak highly of her almost in every episode which somehow makes me think she has a hidden storyline in novel which they didn’t include in anime.

So if you haven’t watch this, do watch it. Highly recommended by me