Oh boy oh boy. So many good anime and the great thing about this one is that the second season is already out! I'm absolutely ecstatic. You don't even understand. My cheeks are burning in exhilaration because I've just binged this in one day and I have all the feels. All the feels I say.
{Spoilers because I'm in love}
Somehow this was just an open tab on the Chrome app on my phone. And it was the best decision I made at 1 AM to start watching it because it's actually pure gold. All of the characters are precious cinnamon rolls and as an added bonus, this was basically like a sports anime. Ugh I'm such a sucker for plot lines like this. Honestly though the original reason I watched this was because I was expecting a Haruchika 2.0 ya know? A more musically focused band anime. And I wasn't disappointed.
From the beginning I was hooked. It's a little confusing if you're not really familiar with concert band terms like I was. Heh I was really confused when they were crying over a dud gold, but that all gets addressed later in the series anyways so no worries if you're a complete amateur like myself. Where should I even start? All of it was so great. I think I'll start with the plot and ramble my way to closure.
This follows the journey of a mediocre high school concert band and their rise from the bottom to the top; literally they went from winning bronze one year to winning gold and going to nationals the next. It starts out with Kumiko wanting a fresh start and perhaps a change from concert band. However, her deep ingrained love for music keeps her playing and together with Midori and Hazuki tries her best in their performances. When she resolves the somewhat one-sided feud between her and Reina, she is able to fully unleash the love for music she's had and really go for the gold. Although from my crappy summary it might seem like Kumiko is the star of the show, in actuality I think it's more of a group effort like the team sports animes. Each of the characters, even the ones that don't make it through auditions are given their chance to shine in the limelight. It really shows the solidarity between all the members and their unwavering commitment to the club. It was somewhat disheartening to see the conflict with the members not having motivation which led to Aoi leaving and such, but all of these conflicts only made them better in the long run.
The character development was really outstanding considering the amount of characters and screen time given to each of them. Like I said earlier, at first it might've seemed like Kumiko was the star of the show when in fact many other characters were given lots of developmental time on screen. For example even though Hazuki was a newer member, she was able to demonstrate the difficulties that go along with starting to play an instrument for the first time: the embarrassment when you can't get the notes quite right, the lack of motivation when your expectations aren't met etc. This was especially emphasized by the fact that she was tricked into playing one of the less praised instruments: the tuba. Her eventual devotion to her Tubacabra (the name is so cute) really inspires people to hopefully take up an instrument or anything really and devote time to improvement. On the train of thought of Kumiko's friends, Midori is the cutest one. Her and her obsession with Tuba-kun is really unnecessary, but at the same time so great. Although she doesn't play a huge role in the plot, she shows with her devotion to the contrabass that when you really love something it's logical to go to any lengths for it. Speaking of devotion, Kaori was the greatest and sweetest senpai truly deserving of the title of the Madonna of their concert band. Even though she was shown up by Reina, she tried her absolute best and even though she didn't get the solo, she's number one in everyone's hearts. Hehe speaking of which, Reina was absolutely amazing. Her dynamic with Kumiko where you couldn't really tell if it was a real romantic relationship Kumiko was aiming for with her confession of love to Reina or not was a real mindtwister. I'm still wondering about that myself. It's open to speculation I suppose...but I'd ship it if I wasn't so set on Shuuichi ending up with Kumiko. I'm a sucker for childhood friend romances (it's so bad I know (´꒳`)). Her duet with Kumiko at the top of the mountain, lit by the festival below was a beautiful moment. You know what was also beautiful? That time that Shuuichi and Kumiko were on opposite sides of the river and practiced their instruments across from each other. That was sooo cute. And in the extra episode when Hazuki heard them and just smiled happily for them while Nakagawa (the coolest senpai) comforted her was iconic. It was beautiful, breathtaking even. Okay, okay last character fangirling (this time *snickers*) goes to Asuka, the best senpai ever. Her character was in some senses the most complex. Some of them were very straightforward like Reina who does everything she can to be the best or Kumiko who has decidedly the most horrible personality (Reina said it not me), but not Asuka. She's different. At first introduction she seems like nothing more than an airhead jokester. However upon further analysis she's actually quite difficult to puzzle out. She's very supportive of her kouhais, but at the same time she doesn't care if Kaori or Reina gets the trumpet solo for the competition. She simply wants the best. This joking part of her is indeed contrasted by her seriousness when it comes to her euphonium. Also right before they compete in the prefecture competition it seems like she's doubtful if they can win gold and compete in nationals. This seemingly dreamy and distracted senpai might actually be the most realistic and smart one. But who knows for sure? (ー_ーゞ
And I'd just like to give a great big thanks to whoever decided that this wouldn't be one of those excessive romance animes. There's enough of those out there. That one festival scene was enough to serve as some character development, but any more than that would've just been excessive. It was a satisfactory amount of romance, but best left as an inspirational anime focused on music and improvement.
Also as a random side note I'd like to say that the instrument gachapon should be a real thing. Did anyone notice how the euphonium character looked like an alien referencing Hazuki's mixup between euphonium and UFO? hehe I love it when things are detailed like that.
Overall I'd say anyone who's looking for an enjoyable school life/slice of life anime should really consider this one. If you like music, even better. It's not super stressful or anything, but it just keeps you really hooked as well as motivated to better yourself! o(〃＾▽＾〃)o
And now my favorite part (jk every part is my favorite part), I present all the screenshots I took while watching and maybe some GIFs because I really love this anime. Boooooh there's not a lot of great GIFs for all those memorable moments. Maybe one day I'll take the time to learn how to make GIFs to satisfy myself when things like this happen. But ohoho I guess this means you will
really have to watch it to know the beauty of Hibike! Euphonium.
Pffft this was mostly just funny because of the 2016 trend of roasting people
Midori: the Love Expert
She's soooo cute. As expected of Midori's little sister. ♡＾▽＾♡
This part both broke and warmed my heart. Just watch for this part man, the feels.
See what I mean? Asuka is a mystery
Besides Shuuichi and the unnamed cute guy with the blue eyes, he's the cutest
*snickers*
And thus we end until...SEASON TWO!!!
ImageSources: https://thechuunicorner.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/6xwcl8a.png, https://i.imgur.com/kKzesMw.jpg, http://pa1.narvii.com/5745/71edc785be06d51acf35853502d9771d613f7ebe_hq.gif
