Hibike! Euphonium

I'm just now getting caught up on Hibike! Euphonium 2. I stalled out after the third episode, as I was a bit concerned that the latest arc's drama might be much ado about nothing. And yet, of course, the series is absolutely gorgeous. And as much as a certain duck looks forward to his weekly dose of Asuka-senpai, I much prefer hearing Kumiko's deadpan snarks and insults and seeing her space in and out of thought. Plus I like that she's a big girl without being a typical anime big-girl.

Anyway, I'm going to write up some more Izetta, but I may have to wait until the series is ended. The plot is seriously bumming me out, it's soooooooooooooooooooo trope-filled and angsty. So many stereotypes. So predictable. The series had been pulling back from the worst and keeping me engaged, but episode 7 really cranked on my nerves. So I went back to H!E2 to see how the drama and angst levels were holding over in Kyoto-land:



Yep.

Wonderduck sent me a "holy crap!" regarding episode 7, so I know I'll be sticking around 'til then. But, wow.

I'm probably going to disappoint some people, but I'm not entirely sure I can write up episode 14 in any kind of useful manner. As I mentioned in the preview, the episode is about Hazuki moving on from her failed confession to Shuichi, set against the background of Team Monaka making the good luck charms for the other band members. It basically spells out things that were left to be assumed, or that were hinted at in small moments in the original episodes.

Reading some reviews and comments online, a lot of people are worried that KyoAni was setting up one of the supposed major plot points of the second series with this episode. To wit: the sort of/kind of yuri relationship between Kumiko and Reina is, according to some people who have read the novels, not even remotely canon. In fact, Reina isn't even a very important character in the first book, and is barely present in the later novels. Supposedly. I keep saying supposedly because not only have I not read the books, the people making these claims haven't actually provided evidence for the claim, which means it's just a gratuitous assertion. In the second series, Kumiko's relationship with Shuichi begins to blossom, to the point where they allegedly start dating in the third book. So while (possibly, according to some people) Asuka fans will finally get the backstory behind the enigmatic beauty in series two, Reina fans will be left out in the cold if KyoAni has to return to anything like the canon storyline.

And if they do that, they are gonna be in trouble.

For what it's worth, I didn't see anything that seemed to presage a return to the stock plot in this episode. All it does is continue to establish that Hazuki intends to do a bit of matchmaking. And while she successfully convinces Shuichi to continue to pursue Kumiko, there are actually a couple of small moments showing he's looking at Hazuki in a new light, as well.

And, is I mentioned, Natsuki is awesome. She's up there right with Asuka in terms of character you most hope just has something to do in the episode, because everything she does is great.

The episode is gorgeous, but not any more so than the series was. In fact, while some animation may have been stepped up a bit (Hazuki and Natsuki mainly) not all of the animation is improved, and there are a few static shots and scenes with rougher animation. Again, I suspect at least some of this episode was produced along with the rest of the series and was cut out. I would guess the Team Monaka stuff was probably already mostly done and left out, while the scenes featuring Hazuki elaborating on how she feels were probably newly animated.

And that, I think, is all I really have to say about that. Asuka had one moment of funny, Kumiko is a set piece for Hazuki to emote off of, and Reina says "hello" two times.

Nothing amazing, nothing necessary to the story, fun to watch but it could be skipped.

Yes, the final Blu Ray Disc was released, and the promised OVA has been uploaded to the internets. Unfortunately, only raws so far, no english subtitles. So I won't be doing the write up until I can get a better understanding of the dialogue. I have almost no ability with Japanese at all, so all I could really pick out is that a lot of the show was about people talking about other people.

Anyway...Wonderduck emailed me to let me know that the new episode had hit the torrents, only he referred to it as "Episode 13". "Silly Wonderduck", I thought; "you mean 'Episode 14'. Episode 13 was the final episode of the series."

Well, maybe he meant it and maybe he didn't, but he was right. The new episode would be more appropriately labeled "Episode 13", while the original Episode 13 should be re-named "Episode 14". I don't consider that a "spoiler", per se. There really isn't, that I could tell, anything "spoiler-y" in this episode, but just in case I'll put my very brief episode description below the fold.

I'm not 100% sure there's anything new in this, but it's fun:

KyoAni announced today they will produce a second season of Hibike! Euphonium.

That's tremendous news.

The reason the title for this post wasn't nonsensical gibberish or "Squeeeeee!" is because, like everything else these days, the name of the second season isn't "Hibike! Euphonium Series 2" or "Hibike! Euphonium 2" or "Hibike! Euphonium: More of the Same!"

It's "Hibike!! Euphonium"

I am getting sick and tired of denoting second series with punctuation.

Thirteen episodes from when we started, we reach the end of the series. Not the end of the story, of course; I think that's been discussed...but we don't know yet if KyoAni is going to do a second series. There will be an OAV released with the final BD (or packaged with the BD, I'm not sure which) that will probably finish out the original Hibike! Euphonium novel. Again, this is all as far as I understand it. KyoAni hasn't departed significantly from the novel, but they have done some things differently.

Not very much happens in the final episode. Most of it is KyoAni showing off their art, their animation, the attention to detail, and the effort put into making the sound as real as possible. There are also a few hooks that lead to second-series information, or rather information that doesn't get covered until later books. This final episode is very much about experiencing what happens. It's a series of images and sounds, with very little narrative.

This is actually a little sad. KyoAni did some of their finest work with Hibike! Euphonium, and I'm going to miss it.

Let's get started!

Day of the regional concert; 5:00 AM.

The ponytail is back!

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This was the most important moment in episode thirteen, and we don't get to find out why. We can speculate, and there is at least one possible explanation hinted at in the show, but we know so little about Asuka, despite all of the little hints dropped.

I expect Wonderduck might have quite a bit to say about episode 13 when he gets a chance to watch it, because very little moves along, plot-wise. We finish the story, and there aren't any surprises.

UPDATE: Considering I'm not going to get the finale writeup done in a timely manner, please check out Wonderduck's Your Weekly Asuka.

On the one hand, very little happens in this episode...like the past few having to do with the audition/re-audition story arc, the episode is focused on one key event and how the different characters deal with the event emotionally. That isn't unusual for this series, although entries prior to the audition storyline usually hit a few plot points, instead of just one. On the other hand, the emotional journey Kumiko takes through this episode is practically a story in and of itself. Is it the best storytelling done by Hibike! Euphonium? Arguably no, not really. Like the audition episodes, does ep 12 take one event and magnify it to the point that significant characters become one-dimensional? Yes, it does. Is the Kumiko story absolutely necessary to the plot? Ummmm...I don't know. It's interesting, but I'm not sure it tells us anything about Kumiko that we didn't already know, or at least use as an operating hypothesis. Still, parts of this episode are indeed well told, and it features some of the most astounding animation done in the series so far.

I'll warn you now: I'm going to abuse screenshots for two scenes.

.....................

It's summer break, and the first competition is only days away. In the middle of reheasal, Taki-sensei asks the two euphoniums to play the contrabass part for a few measures to add to the bass line. Sapphire runs her music over to Kumiko:



It's a difficult part. The runs are fast and reach right to the top of a standard euphonium's tonal range. To be sure, professional and very-well-practiced amateurs can play comfortably throughout the euphonium's range, but it's not terribly common with first-year high school students.

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It's the penultimate episode (I'm pretty sure), and almost everything comes full circle. Ok, not everything. But all of the major themes of the audition arc are finally completed, as Kumiko has to face the same issues as everyone else. There are callbacks to earlier story arcs, and even a return to the first episode. This is definitely the "Kumiko" episode, but it's looking more and more like we're never going to get a Sapphire episode or, more damning, an Asuka episode. Although, if you need something to look forward to, we finally see Asuka not get something she wants.

For those interested in the meta, there's also a scene that, in visual novel parlance, would have been an opportunity to set a flag (that would have returned the story to novel territory, reportedly); but KyoAni skillfully dodged that trap.

No rundown for this episode. It's the main character's motivation episode, so it has all the feels; and that's really all you need to know...Kumiko does this a lot:

Is it time for re-auditions yet?

NO!!! Don't be an idiot. You need your DRAMA first!

Shuichi still can't play the trombone part! What idiot let him into the competition band?!?

...and what the hell is Yuko doing to Kumiko?!?

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