Hibike! Euphonium 2 Episode 1 Discussion

animefan8800 said:


Your right about needing more details. And the show definitely wants us to keep the glory hunting thing in mind as a possibility, though Nozomi's apparent sincerity and outright oath to not try and play competitively make me think it's a red herring, the glory hunting thing. I believe her, for now at least, and this outright rejection is too cold and narrow-minded for my liking. Reina fits that description perfectly too right now. At what point does it become acceptable for winning to override humanity?

Cryarc said:


Remember how Mizore even got into panic attack hearing Nozomi's flute play? Something pretty bad probably have been happening in the past, moreover it seems they're a close friend before she's quitting. Nozomi was the one who told Mizore to get the gold on highschool but somehow she's the one quitting instead. It's cruel but as a leader would you put one person in with the risk of ruining the whole group down? Moreover the timing is pretty much awkward, in the middle of term and right when they're going into extensive practice for a prestigious competitions.

Turtles_Leader said:
Is it me or they changed Kumiko's voice actress?

animefan8800 said:


Timing means squat, and yes, most likely. It depends on the severity of whatever happened back then of course, but as we haven't seen it yet gotta say innocent until proven guilty.

Black_wind said:
when people say it's good if Kumiko and Shuichi end up together i am always bewildered, because why??they have totally zero chemistry and just in general zero everything. Because they are the "right" dude and a girl pairing?smh

anyway,official kyoani relationship chart says this
http://anime-eupho.us/character/chart/


Oh,and i am glad Eupho is back. Beautiful first episode.

Top_Sergeant said:
Reina in her Yukata was absolutely stunning.

Shuuichi acts like such a wall flower, blah. Kumiko can find better.

Zantius said:

Complete sidebar, what happened with the second-years in season 1 again? I can't remember why half of them quit. I want to say it was because of something Taki-sensei did or said.

Turtles_Leader said:
Is it me or they changed Kumiko's voice actress?

Tenryuu1 said:
Edit: I've this mention...

TuyNOM said:
I found this in an old discussion on MAL.

19Pyro90 said:


screw the novels. Do you not see how they light up when they look into each others eyes? The constant playful flirtatious teasing? The way they held hands at the festival? Their very obvious chemistry together? For all intents and purposes they may as well be yuri in the anime and Reina's supposed crush for Taki may as well be a front because shes a shy girl and afraid to come out of the closet.

Heitokun said:
I'll never understand the freaking Yuri obsession, it's completely unfounded, Reina doesn't even see Kumiko as anything but a friend or a sister, she likes Taki, the end, those who say otherwise are in denial and should read the novels, KyoAni goes full retard sometimes.

shanimebib said:
I love Kumiko and Reina's interactions so much. The reason I love Hibike! Euphonium so much is because the interactions of the characters are so ordinary yet at the same time they never seem mundane at all. This anime allows the viewers to experience something unlike many other shows out there. Each character plays a role to give a different flavour to spice up the viewers' expectations from the story. It's really enchanting for a SoL.

shanimebib said:
which of course followed the moment Kumiko was momentarily left alone by Reina, only for her to look around and the person to show up conveniently right there and then just had to be Shuuichi. Everyone knows what it means in nine out of ten times for a girl in yukata to meet a boy during a festival in Japanese literature—be it classic literature, modern novel, play-write, light-novel or manga. Coincidentally, the festival was celebrating Genji Monogatari.

But really I want to turn blind eye to it for now and enjoy the anime as much as I can the way it is!

Heitokun said:
umiko is the ONLY one who looks at Reina that way, for some stupid reason she blushes like an idiot at Reina. Whether she is a lesbian or not, it's not the problem here, why the hell must they change the story from the source material to pander to lesbian loving otakus. I woud be okay with it IF it were canon on the novels, but it's not, it came out of nowhere and they relegated suuichi to an idiot who can't even be a proper man just so they could turn the story into a Yuri/slice of life/music anime, it's bullshit of the highest caliber, but whatever...

flack said:
I haven't watched season 1, but are the two main protagonist in a lesbian relationship?

GenesisAria said:
You've got a lot to learn about human behaviour. Some people might be obsessed, but it's a hardcore fact that they're way closer than friends, and are in the territory you'd normally be before you ask someone out. The anime production isn't inherently obligated to follow the source material, as we've all seen a million times over.

Yay, someone else who can actually ponder the nature of this show's magic. I remember when i was first watching this show all i could think is: "they're all so, normal, yet they're so damn cute!"
Why can't everything present normalcy with such magic as this?


It could also be a trope subversion.


Why do you have to bitch so much because an animation studio might not pander a reader who knows it? If this does progress to yuri, it has been well played and well written in this whole time, in fact, turning it over to someone else would be clumsy writing. They had some intimate suggestions last season, but this episode was a large progression from before. If you were paying attention, Kumiko's heart skipped while holding Reina's hand and watching the fireworks. In pretty much any story, a scene like that is a self-actualization of love. (That is ofc also remembering all the things Reina has done in a flirty sense, and Kumiko's indifference to guys.)

You also seem to have a false impression of "yuri pandering" as true yuri anime are one of the most rare genres out there.

Except for the people who get caught up in an obstinate world view, the rest are interested to see a new path of events... Why do you think there are so many alternate setting anime? It's not just because the companies are lazy or someshit, people like to see alternative retellings and alternative possibilities in a single universe. There's nothing wrong with a different production taking a somewhat different route, as long as it's author approved.

GenesisAria said:
You've got a lot to learn about human behaviour. Some people might be obsessed, but it's a hardcore fact that they're way closer than friends, and are in the territory you'd normally be before you ask someone out. The anime production isn't inherently obligated to follow the source material, as we've all seen a million times over.

Yay, someone else who can actually ponder the nature of this show's magic. I remember when i was first watching this show all i could think is: "they're all so, normal, yet they're so damn cute!"
Why can't everything present normalcy with such magic as this?


It could also be a trope subversion.


Why do you have to bitch so much because an animation studio might not pander a reader who knows it? If this does progress to yuri, it has been well played and well written in this whole time, in fact, turning it over to someone else would be clumsy writing. They had some intimate suggestions last season, but this episode was a large progression from before. If you were paying attention, Kumiko's heart skipped while holding Reina's hand and watching the fireworks. In pretty much any story, a scene like that is a self-actualization of love. (That is ofc also remembering all the things Reina has done in a flirty sense, and Kumiko's indifference to guys.)

You also seem to have a false impression of "yuri pandering" as true yuri anime are one of the most rare genres out there.

Except for the people who get caught up in an obstinate world view, the rest are interested to see a new path of events... Why do you think there are so many alternate setting anime? It's not just because the companies are lazy or someshit, people like to see alternative retellings and alternative possibilities in a single universe. There's nothing wrong with a different production taking a somewhat different route, as long as it's author approved.

Heitokun said:
You seem to misunderstand me, I'm not mad at the fact they are going the Yuri route, I'm mad at the fact they're changing the source material, which are two different things. I absolutely DESPISE it when studios become smartasses and start changing things just because they can, for those who haven't read the original source it's okay, because they don't know what changed in the story and how badly they changed the development of the characters just to suit their stupid desires, but for people who have become attached to certain characters, certain events and aspects of a story, it becomes an insult and a fucking waste of time for readers.

I love this anime, so i'm not a hater and don't want people to not like this anime, loving or liking something is not a reason to not criticize it's flaws. You're right about the fact that it's too late forSuuichi to become a love interest since they changed absolutely everything regarding Kumiko and him, so getting her to like him all of a sudden would be an asspull everyone would hate, I was just stating my displeasure with the way they handled the story, that's all.

Heitokun said:
You seem to misunderstand me, I'm not mad at the fact they are going the Yuri route, I'm mad at the fact they're changing the source material, which are two different things. I absolutely DESPISE it when studios become smartasses and start changing things just because they can, for those who haven't read the original source it's okay, because they don't know what changed in the story and how badly they changed the development of the characters just to suit their stupid desires, but for people who have become attached to certain characters, certain events and aspects of a story, it becomes an insult and a fucking waste of time for readers.

Heitokun said:
I love this anime, so i'm not a hater and don't want people to not like this anime, loving or liking something is not a reason to not criticize it's flaws. You're right about the fact that it's too late for Suuichi to become a love interest since they changed absolutely everything regarding Kumiko and him, so getting her to like him all of a sudden would be an asspull everyone would hate, I was just stating my displeasure with the way they handled the story, that's all.

You seem to misunderstand me, I'm not mad at the fact they are going the Yuri route, I'm mad at the fact they're changing the source material, which are two different things. I absolutely DESPISE it when studios become smartasses and start changing things just because they can, for those who haven't read the original source it's okay, because they don't know what changed in the story and how badly they changed the development of the characters just to suit their stupid desires, but for people who have become attached to certain characters, certain events and aspects of a story, it becomes an insult and a fucking waste of time for readers.

I love this anime, so i'm not a hater and don't want people to not like this anime, loving or liking something is not a reason to not criticize it's flaws. You're right about the fact that it's too late forSuuichi to become a love interest since they changed absolutely everything regarding Kumiko and him, so getting her to like him all of a sudden would be an asspull everyone would hate, I was just stating my displeasure with the way they handled the story, that's all.

GenesisAria said:
Sorry, but as a scientist i can't ignore how many assumptions you made in your statements there. Unless you can honestly tell me that you've seen direct evidence of these claims: #1 being that they change stuff just because they can, and #2 being that they were too lazy to read the source material. Both of which could be completely false.

The author could have signed off allowing the studio do make their own production, or even signed off the specific changes. An example i'm familiar with in western production is Ender's Game, were O.S. Card openly said that the movie is their production and they can do what they want.

Changing from source material is an absolute necessity in film production. In a book you can write until your arm falls off, but in animation/film you must conform to time constraints and budget constraints, meaning subtracting elements is necessary. Now as the case with many stories, if you subtract enough things, you actually break the plot and have to do some re-writing to make it work.

I'm an avid supporter of particular works seeing perfect replication in animated form (namely Negima in my case), but there is nothing wrong with it being an alternate timeline with it's own events either. All it means is that it wasn't what you hoped for, but that also means it's a new avenue of discovery in which you can find more reasons to like something, due to an expanded perspective on it.

TuyNOM said:


Heitokun:

I think you are mistaken. In the novel there are also many passages where readers can think of a shojo-ai relationship between Kumiko and Reina.
To my mind, the series follows the original novel.

Furthermore, Kyoto Animation is used to correctly follow the original media, for example: Haruhi Suzumiya.
The disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya follows the book closely.

So don't worry, these shojo-ai scenes are just there for the fan service.

shanimebib said:


But almost everyone changes the adaptation from source material. I think there are very few that remain loyal to the story. Look what they have done with The Adventures of Tintin. As an avid fan, I was taken aback seeing how they butchered the story. Yet, it was critically acclaimed as a very good movie. I think creativity is something that motivates directors/producers to work on something. There are exceptions like LoTR which had phenomenal making and thus retained critics' approval despite of being close to the source material as much as possible.

When you come back to anime industry, the same can be seen. How many anime out there that followed the exceptionally good source material yet didn't even get nominated for recognition/awards? An example would be FMA (2003) which diverged from the source material yet won multiple awards and FMA:B (2010) which remained true to the source material and not winning anything.



Everyone who read the novel or at least took a glimpse from the story know that Asuka and Shuuichi's roles in the novel are as important as Reina's when it comes to Kumiko's development. The story is told from Kumiko's perspective and Reina, Asuka and Shuuichi (not to mention the latter two are listed as protagonists in the novel alongside Kumiko and Reina) shape up the story as it progresses. Even in the original source material Asuka and Shuuichi start to play important roles much later. This season is definitely going to cover Asuka's part. As for Shuuichi, they just haven't started showing Kumiko's childhood yet. The opening left a segment where mini Kumiko is shown playing a trombone (note: not an euphonium) sitting in between mini Shuuichi and Mamiko. The next segment showing Shuuichi playing trombone in a concert and then so on. So, I am not entirely sure that they are just going to chop off Shuuichi's part in the story. Those who know about the source material would not NOT notice one of the items in Kumiko's room. KyoAni could easily not put it there to show their real intention. But again, that could be their way of keeping the doors open to converge to the source material or just keep the readers of the source material quiet for the time being.

There were a couple of other hints when Kumiko and Reina sat next to each other. If you have read the novel, you should probably know why Kumiko stopped with a pause immediately after saying a certain something. And then tried to change the topic. And while holding Reina's hand she suddenly looked surprised (as if her heart skipped a beat) and then making her grip stronger. This wasn't the first time she made her grip stronger. Just my thoughts. I will leave you to ponder however you may want to depict it.

TuyNOM said:
I found this in an old discussion on MAL.

Heitokun said:


Sice you claim to be a scientist, then you should be very careful of what you say and try to be as accurate as posible, because last time I checked, I didn't say "being that they were too lazy to read the source material" or anything of that sort, I never claimed they didn't read the source material and yes, they changed things because they CAN, whether the author allowed to do it or not, the result is the same, if they were in a position were they couldn't change something then it wouldn't have changed, but a lot of things did change, so my so called "assumptions" are in fact, correct, they can and will change things as they see fit.

I know things need to change in order to be optimal for the medium they're being adapted, but here's the thing, making Kumiko a lesbian is not something inherently necessary for the medium it's being adapted, making her heterosexual wouldn't compromse the medium in ANY way because either way she has to fall in love with someone, one clear example of why things are adapted differently from the source marterial in a smart and logical way would be Sauron from the Lord of the Rings, in the books he barely appears AT ALL, but the audience needs a visual aid as a means to identify a character, hence his "fiery eye" depiction in the movies, that's a logical change and it's something that enhanced the expierience of the viewer, but this? this is just fanservice, plain and simple, they knew people wanted the Kumiko x reina ship to sail, that's why they relegated suuichi to just a guy with an unrequited love.

People want to justify the Yuri in this anime, I don't think they have to, but please don't tell me there is a more complex reasoning behing these changes because if that were the case, the Yuri would have been in the novels too.

GenesisAria said:
Hot damn, yeah i must have intended to respond to someone else's comment, i know i read somewhere someone commenting about them not reading the source material. My bad. Saying they change things "because they can" connotatively refers to acting on whims, or changing something to pander someone. There's no proof of that, thus i'm incluned, due to my extensive exposure to their way of doing things, there was more likely a though out reason for a particular change, at least in a production of some respectability. There are times when accidents happen in production, but overall things are well thought out. One random example of same is when they choose hair colour for a character with unspecified colour, if full spectrum is applicable to the particular style, then they will study the character and apply a colour that best represents the character through colour theory.

Well that change in the Lord of the Rings would have changed the existence of Sauron from a mystery to obviousness, and damaged the entire undertone of it. I've never read the books, but if i were to author those stories, i'd definitely leave the Sauron element as a thing everyone tells you about, but you have a hard time believing because there's no empirical evidence (until you're forced to believe it). If Tolkien is as good of a writer as people claim, he would have done that (indepth suspension of disbelief via occupying your background thought with context-relevant questions).

You may claim it's fanservice, but the way they've progressed it thus far... okay let's pretend you're me, never read the source material, and are unbiased to it. Looking at these progression of events, it's hard to believe it's not a progression towards yuri, and in all honesty, it's a pretty decently written progression. Honestly, if i were there with them (Kumiko/Reina), i'd tell them they should hook up, because they're so happy together. No need to (regardless of the author's original intentions of writing a cliche "childhood friend always wins" plot) shove in a male relationship just to conform to normalcy and fit in with social commentary.

GenesisAria said:

You may claim it's fanservice, but the way they've progressed it thus far... okay let's pretend you're me, never read the source material, and are unbiased to it. Looking at these progression of events, it's hard to believe it's not a progression towards yuri, and in all honesty, it's a pretty decently written progression. Honestly, if i were there with them (Kumiko/Reina), i'd tell them they should hook up, because they're so happy together. No need to (regardless of the author's original intentions of writing a cliche "childhood friend always wins" plot) shove in a male relationship just to conform to normalcy and fit in with social commentary.

You know, it is possible for the anime writers to do a better job than the original writer...