Time: Sound! Euphonium

"I believe music is a powerful language that speaks to peoples' hearts,
no matter where you are in the world."
-Sapphire "Midori" Kawashima​

If anyone knows me well (or taken a peek at my MAL), they'll know that I'm a very huge fan of Kyoto Animation. With having said this, I have to ask myself...what in the hell took me so long to watch Sound! Euphonium? Well, in all honesty, I've been disappointed with music anime involving instruments ever since I watched K-On! many many years ago. On top of that, my past self never really cared for music in general, especially high school band concerts. So, does Sound! Euphonium manage to break this ice or am I just as callous of this genre as I was before?

Plot:

Sound! Euphonium, for the large part, centers around a group of high-school students participating in the school's concert band in order to compete in the national competition. Now, if you've seen competition-centered anime before (Love Live!, Girls und Panzer, etc.), you can have a pretty decent idea of how this show will play out: the band begins mediocre at first, not being able to synchronize and time their instruments with one another to being able to play eloquently enough to get to the final round and compete for the gold. But the anticipation of whether or not they will succeed in the end is only, in my opinion, half of the story.

Characters:

The characters of the show comprise the second half of what makes the story whole. Yes, the main focus is the viewer hoping that the band succeeds and finishes and first, but the buildup is not possible without the many interactions of the characters within and without the band. Each character is unique in their own way and, if I say so myself, are the most down-to-earth and relateable characters I've ever seen in an anime.

Audio:

To say that you didn't come to watch this series because of the music is a dirty. dirty lie. I mean, for God's sake, the main theme is music. But something I find astonishing is how many score pieces the producers had to gather in order to create this show, including the numerous mistakes that the band makes early on in their venture for first place. As for the voice actors, dubbed fans will be disappointed that (as of the writing of this review), there is no dub. And in all honesty, I do not wish for one. Each of the seiyus perform their roles exceptionally well, but my biggest praise goes out to Tomoyo Kurosawa for her portrayal of Kumiko. Even more praise to whoever made this megacut of (nearly) every weird noise Kumiko makes. Because why the hell not?

Art:

As I said in the preface, I LOVE Kyoto Animation's work and it still baffles me as to how it took me this long to watch this show. Though I can see that they may have slacked off a bit in some departments, still shots of characters, such as this one, show KyoAni's exceptional attention to detail.

Verdict:

I can proudly say that Sound! Euphonium did change how I view music and my appreciation for it in general. If you're a fan of KyoAni's works, please give this a watch. If you're a fan of music, please give it a watch. If you're a fan of both...well, what the hell are you waiting for? Go watch the damn thing already. It's well worth your time.

 

im amazed you even included this masterpiece to your review. its also sort of agreed that its the summary of the entire series as that one itself has an episode length of playtime.

 

It's also agreed that Kumiko is best girl

 

correct if i am to choose other than her then id go for asuka.