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(no spoilers)

Thanks to Fathom Events, this Hibike! Euphonium fan was able to see the latest installment of the series on the big screen, and I enjoyed it a lot. Hibike! Euphonium Movie 3: Chikai no Finale follows Kumiko and her friends on her second year of high school, directly after Hibike! Euphonium 2. If you're just reading for my general opinion: Overall, the movie suffers from the issues you would expect from condensing a season's worth of story into roughly 2 hours and may not be great as a standalone film, but is definitely worth a watch for anyone who liked the first two seasons.

As ... you would expect, this movie delivers the same outstanding aesthetics you would expect from Hibike! Euphonium and Kyoto Animation. The character designs have that signature kyoani moe, the backgrounds are vibrant and gorgeous, and the animation is a step above their competitors. Not on the level of standalone films like Koe no Katachi, but definitely not a step down or a huge improvement from the Hibike! Euphonium anime.

And that's what this movie felt like, just a continuation of the main series rather than something separate like Liz and the Blue Bird (which is now a priority for me after seeing a particular scene in this movie). There's a bit of deja vu from the first season, and the movie showcases recurring events for the Kitauji Band, such as the Sunrise Festival. Unfortunately, some of the little day to day interactions were cut to make time for these pivotal events. As expected of this series, there's a lot of character drama leading up to the big performance, including freshman recruitment and competition auditions. The narrative doesn't go out of its way to introduce any new concepts, it just shows similar sequences as the first season, but now the characters are in different positions. But that isn't a bad thing in itself, as it shows how Kumiko and the now second and third years have matured and learned from their past mistakes, and their new determination to succeed at Nationals. An example is Yuko, who as the new captain of the band has to learn to become an effective leader, and further progresses from the character she was in season 1.

Speaking of characters, that's where this film faltered. As expected, a new school year brings in lots of new characters. At the same time, some second and third years who didn't get a character arc previously also got an extra spotlight. But of course, there were only an hour and 50 minutes to tell everyone's story, so some of these new faces definitely got the short end of the stick. It was disappointing to see some interesting new characters shown on screen who either completely ignored or given a character arc that lasts about 5 minutes. There was really only one freshman character who we got to know well. At the same time there were some recurring characters that had their own drama, but got so little screen-time in the past installments that I just had no idea how I was supposed to feel about them. But the lackluster character development doesn't feel too bad in this kind of movie, since it's pretty obvious that this was just a bridge to lead into the inevitable Hibike! Euphonium 3. If this was a standalone film, I would've come out of the theater way more dissatisfied. I'm sure these looked-over characters will be able to shine in the next season. I won't say exactly what happened, but the romance progressed further in this movie than it did the past two seasons. The romantic tensions unfortunately felt a bit rushed, but still were so heartwarming and cute that I couldn't help but laugh and smile along with everyone else in the theater. There's something here for fans of all ships!

But aside from the pacing of the movie leading to a lack of character development, this was a fantastic experience. The music is absolutely incredible, as you would expect. Arguably, the best part of the movie was the performance scene; it might just be my favorite in the series yet. The smooth animation, slick camera movement, good use of 3D, combined with the gorgeous soundtrack made for a truly blissful experience in the last leg of the movie. Seeing it in theaters only made it more magical.

And that's what I thought of the movie. This is definitely a must watch for anyone that is still interested in following Kumiko and Kitauji in their quest for Gold, but I would advise anyone who hasn't seen the tv anime yet to watch that before seeing this movie. As a standalone movie with no context, this will be a pretty dissatisfying film. And as always, feel free to ignore the numbers you see here and have your own opinions on the movie. As for me, Chikai no Finale has got me even more excited for the next chapter in the Hibike! Euphonium story.