(L+CR) Hibike! Euphonium [anime]

[blakstealth]

Episode 13....no regrets. NO REGRETS. NO FUCKIN REGRETS. HOLY SHIT. So good. SOOOOO GOOOD.

[Marina2]

Wow, that was beautiful final episode.

I really like how they give viewers the focus shot / close-up shot on all band members during the play. Even members who didn't paticipate in competition do something nice in this ep.

Oh and thanks for, Kumiko x Shoe1 , Kumiko x Reina, and Natsuki x Yuuko scene.

[HandofFate]

I cried T_T

[Kaoru Chujo]

Originally Posted by Verisimilitude

Actually that's not Reina. Notice she's wearing a wedding ring?

I think you're right it's not Reina, but I did notice the ring: it was counteracted for me by how tiny her hand was. More mysteries. The way this show developed so many little angles (and relationships) only to leave them in doubt (or in play) didn't bother me in the slightest: they all counted, and added to the show's humane richness.

Was Kumiko's sister in the audience?
_______

Not to forget this show, which I will now start rererewatching, but I've changed my avatar and sig for the new season, which starts tomorrow. I've already done a few character/seiyuu pages for new shows. Links below. The "Komatsu Mikako" link is to a feature blog piece on her.

[Fizix]

I'll just repost what I said on the MAL thread:

Well, I never thought I'd end up watching this show, its not the kind of thing I normally watch and I'm completely music dumb. But its been really enjoyable.

It was a great ending to the season and I loved the contrast between the first episode and the finale. I also found myself willing them on when the result was being announced, so I think the show did well at building tension, although subtley. Hopefully we will get a second season.

The only thing I would say is that, as a viewer, I think it could do with a little more "showmanship" in the performances and some more lively music, whether that's realistic or not, as they do feel kinda subdued at times. But that's nitpicking.

I'd give the series a 9/10

[blakstealth]

Once again, we see my gf Asuka look so indifferent about everything. And then she talks to Kumiko about how all the fun shit that was had and wishes that summer would last forever and zuuuuutto. Even when they got the gold, she doesn't seem to show any excitement. I wonder why. Does she not care? Or is she one of those types that feels a lot of things on the inside but doesn't show it? It definitely isn't the latter. And it doesn't seem like the former to be honest. She even suggests that she forgot about their goal of going to Nationals. She's hard to understand.

I have good feelings for a season two. There is so much more that needs to be shown and explained.

[Boukenxha]

Bravo!! Bravo!!

Hehe just have to let that out. What a great episode, great season finale, great series this has been. For the past 3 plus months, week after week, the show took us through the band's little discord, witness their hard work and growth. From the key characters even to the side characters, like Haruka, Koari and Shuichi. I really like that they all had their troubled moments en-route to the final stage is set but at the brink of it's most glorious movement, the show did not forget to give them a nod for their efforts. I also say this, because I got a kick out of that little exchange, fist bump between Kumiko and Shuichi, that was really sweet. I think all most everybody here can agree that we have grown invested to their goals and equally share the jubilation of their successful performance and advance to the nationals.

As for the topic at hand about Taki-sensei's picture folder, you guys have great eyesight to notice the marriage ring on the girl's finger and there should be no doubt this is the same girl at the 13 min mark who sat down in the auditorium. Gotta be Reina's elder sister, I mean who else given the resemblance? What a tease to introduce her in the last episode. Can't wait to hear about the history between onee-chan and Taki-sensei which I'm sure they will touch on in.... damnit where is the announcement for season 2?

[Dop]

ENCORE!! ENCORE!! ENCORE!!

No false gold this time, this was true gold.

Now that's how you end your season, and I repeat, ENCORE!!

[Triple_R]

An excellent climatic episode.

I'm glad they devoted the entire episode to the performance to make the Nationals, and the immediate lead-up to that performance. At the same time, there was many very nice one-on-one moments in this episode, as other viewers have already mentioned.

One I particularly liked was actually the Hazuki/Natsuki scenes. I don't recall those two characters interacting much prior to this episode, but their interactions during the performance itself really came across well. Hazuki's tension and excitement and awestruck face made a good compliment to Natsuki's relative calm and "big sister" vibe (relative to Hazuki).

The Shu and Kumiko moment was a good one. I think that the narrative had focused on them enough to warrant some sort of resolution to this subplot, and I do see some of that here, thankfully. Kumiko gesturing for a fist-tap with Shu could be taken that she's letting go of old grudges here. This is fitting for this episode, as I think it represents a victory of sorts over past disappointment. I agree with Fizix that there was a good contrast between the first episode and this finale.

As for the key Kumiko and Reina moments... Well, they were truly beautiful! Their strong friendship shined through well in this episode. And the big final moment of getting Gold had just the right amount of pizazz and emotionality to it, especially coming from Reina. I also liked how Reina's solo section was handled and framed.

The final performance itself was certainly a very pleasant listen, and I'm glad a lot of time was devoted to the music itself. Taki came across very well as the Conductor here.

All of the characters came across well here, really. A truly excellent finale for a very good show.

[BBOvenGuy]

Haven't seen the episode yet, but I just wanted to drop a reminder... tonight is the closest point of the Venus/Jupiter conjunction. Look for the two planets together in the western sky after sunset.

www.space.com/29768-venus-jupiter-close-encounter-skywatching.html

[Eragon]

Everything apart from the actual performance(and Shuichi getting screentime) was great. The nerves, the excitement the sadness, the happiness everything was conveyed beautifully in this episode.

The reason the performance didn't do anything for me is because I watched Nodame. There's just no comparison between the two when it comes to music.

[Proto]

The reason the performance didn't do anything for me is because I watched Nodame. There's just no comparison between the two when it comes to music.

I watched both too and I'm not sure where you are coming from. Do you mean the animation? The actual music? The music performance? the choreography? The animation script?

[Eragon]

^ The animation, the music and the performance. But, that's not the fault of Hibike since, at its core it is not about music so much as its about what surrounds the music, imo.

Nodame is all about the music so, it being better in that department is reasonable.

[Proto]

The music comes down to personal preferences. I like and prefer the more proper classical music reportoire too, but there's nothing to nickpick with here. The performance itself didn't sound faulty to me at all, but then again I'm bad at finding execution errors so maybe you could point me to a specific timestamp you think there was an issue.

Animation wise I think you have your nostalgia glasses on. As much as I like the interpretations in Nodame's first season (It's performance of Rachmaninoff's second piano concerto was particularly good and made me fall in love with the piece) there was extensive use of stills, animation loops, far shots and camera pans over there.

[Akito Kinomoto]

Comparing Nodame Cantabile to Sound! Euphonium is like comparing The Avengers to The Dark Knight.

[wolfie74]

Here's a big thanks from Hibike! Euphonium's Official Twitter account:


https://twitter.com/anime_eupho/stat...12878768414720

皆さま、全13話ご視聴有難う御座いました！





--Wolfie

[Spoonroo]

Originally Posted by Eragon

^ The animation, the music and the performance. But, that's not the fault of Hibike since, at its core it is not about music so much as its about what surrounds the music, imo.

Nodame is all about the music so, it being better in that department is reasonable.

Not to mention the fact that in Nodame, Chiaki starts as a senior at (what was supposed to be) a prestigious music conservatory, then moves on to conduct and perform with the best musicians in the country/world, who also have music degrees. As a masters in music degree holder and high school music teacher myself, most of the performances (except for Chiaki, Miki Kiyora, and eventually Nodame) weren't THAT amazing, considering the level that they were supposed to be playing at. It was a lot of TELLING us that they were good.

Not that you said this, but one shouldn't expect a high school club, no matter how good they are, to sound as good as Nodame's college degree holders do. I appreciated that they made the group sound realistic for a bunch of good high school kids. Believe me, that's much harder than just hiring some professional musicians in and have them play. Hibike did a much better job at getting the audience to hear differences in playing level and improvement, too.

Hibike does a great job showing how musicians breathe and move in their seats very well, too. Look at the the tubas in the theme song, bass drum-chan in the last episode at the start of the second performance piece, and Shuuichi about 10 seconds later - that LOOKED like a trombonist playing - and his slide positions were correct! Nodame used a lot of still shots, far shots, and loops (as mentioned before). It almost never looked realistic in that show.

Also, just a personal gripe - I run an anime club at my school, and I SO MUCH WISH that I could show this (a lot of my band and orchestra kids are in anime club), but all this romance yuri implied stuff makes this so I shouldn't ever show it to them. I can just hear the complaints! I wish that Kyoani had done an high school band/drama show, and did all that shipbait stuff in a separate show. Who knows when we'll get another band show again? But we'll definitely get those hints again and again and again in other shows. So frustrating!

[Wandering Soul]

Beautiful ending. Their performance was pretty good and they did a great job building tension to the results. I also liked the looks of happiness on just about everyone when they saw the results and that they gave everyone a scene.

Seeing Asuka have a moment of weakness was nice too.

This was a great anime and I really hope for a second season.

[ices]

Originally Posted by Spoonroo

Not to mention the fact that in Nodame, Chiaki starts as a senior at (what was supposed to be) a prestigious music conservatory, then moves on to conduct and perform with the best musicians in the country/world, who also have music degrees. As a masters in music degree holder and high school music teacher myself, most of the performances (except for Chiaki, Miki Kiyora, and eventually Nodame) weren't THAT amazing, considering the level that they were supposed to be playing at. It was a lot of TELLING us that they were good.

Not that you said this, but one shouldn't expect a high school club, no matter how good they are, to sound as good as Nodame's college degree holders do. I appreciated that they made the group sound realistic for a bunch of good high school kids. Believe me, that's much harder than just hiring some professional musicians in and have them play. Hibike did a much better job at getting the audience to hear differences in playing level and improvement, too.

Hibike does a great job showing how musicians breathe and move in their seats very well, too. Look at the the tubas in the theme song, bass drum-chan in the last episode at the start of the second performance piece, and Shuuichi about 10 seconds later - that LOOKED like a trombonist playing. Nodame used a lot of still shots, far shots, and loops (as mentioned before). It almost never looked realistic in that show.

This. It's as if the animator recording a real performance in their drawing board.

[Arya]

Excellent final episode from the start to the very end. The tension during the whole preparation from early morning was really there and it lasted to the end.

The execution and the direction did a great job balancing the ensemble and the individual moments. And glad that on the latter they touched every thread between the single characters adding Natsuki and Hazuki bit that enforced the unity of the whole group in their enjoyment despite some being left out.

Ahh, the only sad note, in-universe, is obviously Asuka. Her behaviour and detachment played as a minor key within an otherwise major key execution of the whole episode. If not even a dissonance. I'm confused since despite her words may imply, as already speculated, she will move soon, that still won't add up with the enjoyment and excitement of the moment. Going even against the usual concept of building your memories and then cherish them onwards. A disease could make more sense, but I can't absolutely see it in this kind of story.

In any case, just with this bit I'm already wanting a second season. Adding to this Taki's picture of that girl (that seemed a kid to me, giving him a flower, if not for the ring) that may easily be the same who sat in the audience and given her outlook could also be Reina elder sister or her mother. And also Kumiko and Shuuichi finally coming to terms with each other.
I mean, aren't they putting a bit to much of new inputs here and there?

Now I'd be tempted to go reading some bits in the novel thread just to know about Asuka, but in the hope of a second season I won't.