Story - 9/10
The story begins as Kumiko Oumae is starting her new life in high school. Now she wanted a fresh start, completely new school, she ties her differently and she doesn’t want to bump into any of her old friends from middle school, little does she know she bumps in Reina Kousaka, who she had an awkward experience with back at Middle School. Kumiko quickly makes new friends and joins the school’s concert band club and that’s when the drama begins. The school’s band is known for underperforming and never getting anywhere, however their new teacher asks the students whether they just want to have fun or compete for the Nationals. So by peer pressure, they all said they want to compete for Nationals, but that’s not where their hearts lie initially. So the overall main goal of the band is compete for the Nationals.
What I love about the story is it’s not a simple aim for the top story, but more a story that has to do with the behind the scenes of a band. We get to see a lot different relationships and ideas being bought to the table. There are some members of the band who try hard and compete, there some who don’t care at all. And it’s a topic that’s rarely touched, because we get to see a conflict between the people who really want to try hard and the people who would rather goof off. The story is very interesting, because it feels so real and I love that, however at times it does get overdramatic being an anime.
Characters - 8/10
Kumiko Oumae is our main protagonist of Sound! Euphonium. At first she’s not very enthusiastic to join the concert band and play the Euphonium as well, because she wanted a fresh start. You see she has a tendency to be awkward, whether speaking her mind she can upset some people or not speak at all. At first before she joined the band, she notices that they are bad. However even though she says they are bad, she’s not the expert professional type of player as well. Kumiko sorts of hangs around the middle, where she not bad, but she’s not great. So over the course of the show we really see her get better at playing the Euphonium. We see her gain that motivation to get better as the series go on, and that’s what I love about her, she’s not a complete noob, but not a complete perfectionist as well.
Two of the other main characters are Hazuki Katou and Sapphire Kawashima, who are both cheery happy girls. Unlike the members of the club band, Hazuki is a complete novice picking up her first instrument in the band, and it’s a tuba. What I like about Hazuki is her personality, she knows she’s not that good, but tries hard to get better, and we see slight improvement, because you don’t become a professional in a short amount of time. Sapphire plays the Contrabass, and is the only member of the band to play it. Unlike Kazuki she is an experience player and good to see how she supports others with her knowledge even though she plays a different instrument. Only thing that bugged me was, we didn’t get to see enough development out these characters because they showed potential. But most of the time we see them, they weren’t really contributing that much to the storyline. I don’t why they were mains, because they felt more like supporting characters.
And lastly there Reina Kousaka, who aims to be a professional. And this can easily be seen when she starts playing the trumpet. We always see her practicing and dedication to the band. She aims to best player, to be someone special. She is a quiet girl, but we really get to see a lot more of her when Kumiko starts interacting with her, and we see their relationship grow the more they interact with each other. What I love about her character is that she is straight up expressing her feelings. And also the fact that everyone knows she’s probably the most gifted member of the band, they all reject her, simply because of how she acts. And when Reina changes a lot, when Kumiko comes in to help, and I love their interactions with each other.
Even though the show is more about Kumiko and Reina, it doesn’t mean the supporting characters are completely left out. As I stated earlier in my review, they bring up a lot of different conflicts in the band. We see characters who are not interested and the reason why they aren’t interested. We see characters who are ecstatic that they are competing for spot in the Nationals. We see some jealously, which plays a huge part of the story. I love the conflict between the characters, I just wish there was a bit more development to some the supporting characters, because even though some of them do developed, the majority don’t really change too much. But we get to see a lot of different personalities because this is an ensemble cast, so we can’t have too much of the same, and it’s really interesting to see a lot of different friendship groups.
Animation and Sound - 9/10, 10/10
Kyoto Animation has changed their animation style a bit for this anime. It is very clear to see that the characters are completely different to the background. The characters are much more cleaner and clearer, which is amazing to look at. However they do spot that very moe look, with their cheeks being really bright red. Another incredible thing the artists did if you noticed, is that the background band members all look different. They are uniquely design, and we get a clearer picture as the series progress, because in the middle of each episode, they show the band members and their respective roles in the band. However you’re all wandering how the animation looks like when they’re playing their instruments. We don’t get enough of an actual performance to actually see them play. However we see a lot of practicing, so unfortunately there’s not too much to awe over when it comes to the animation in that. But we do see the sweat the characters gain over the course of playing which is a nice added touch. The lighting in the anime looks gorgeous as well, we really get nice colour bright light setting, that fits in with the music.
Being a musical anime, the sound has to be the main focal point. And it doesn’t disappoint at all. It’s really sounds authentic. Because everyone in the concert band is of different skill level, so when they’re not good we can clearly hear the mistakes and if they are good, we can see why it’s better over the other. Even though they only perform probably 2 main pieces during the series, we get to hear different parts of it bit by bit, to appreciate the hard work that one must put into a section of the song they have trouble with. And when it’s time to perform it is amazing to listen to, because it’s great to hear the final polish product after the initial rendition. And it legitimately sounds like an orchestral, because we hear so many different instruments. It really adds to that atmosphere as if you were in the auditorium. Also the opening and ending themes are catchy as hell and I love them.
Enjoyment - 9/10
Now I don’t pay too much attention to musical anime, unless their idol anime. But I really enjoyed this show, because it looks and sounded very real. Seeing the improvement of the music as the show progress was good enough for me to keep it entertaining. The story was enjoyable as well, because it was interesting to get an insight on how the concert band members interact with each other and see the conflict that arises within. It’s really fresh to hear a lot of same piece, but played differently by different instruments so we get enough of variety out of the music. I loved watching the characters practice and interact with each other; I loved how the music separates the ones who are good to the ones who aren’t as good, because it really shows how realistic it is.
Verdict - 9/10
For the story gets a 9, for being a really authentic story. It may sound like simple concept to begin at first we story aiming for the top and overdramatic moments. But the story overall is very interesting in seeing the development and the backstory behind the band’s drama and conflict. The journey to the Nationals is the main reason why I love the story, seeing how it’s developed with a really realistic setting as well.
The animation and sound get a 9 and 10 from me. The animation is gorgeous and clean to look at. I really love clean animated series, and the fact that they came up with a unique design for every band member adds more to the authenticity of the show, however there wasn’t a lot of main performance to admire them that much. The music being played is amazing, because it really feels like a concert band and seeing it at different skill levels makes it all the more better. It really helps telling apart who is good and who is bad. The performances sound real and the opening and the ending themes are good as well.
As far as characters go, they get an 8 from me. I love the interactions between Kumiko and Reina and seeing their relationship build up. I like the interactions between each band member and seeing the conflict between them. However I think Hazuki and Sapphire weren’t used properly as mains and we didn’t get enough development for some of the other supporting characters, even though we got some, they weren’t all developed.
A 9 is the score for my own personal enjoyment. I really enjoyed listening to music and seeing how the story and characters unfolded. Seeing what separates them apart and listening to a huge variety of instruments playing the same track. I love seeing how realistic it is and watching it made me appreciate music much more, as it gave me a clearer mind on what sounds good and sounds mediocre.
After rounding the scores up I give Sound! Euphonium a 9/10, making it the 5th anime I’ve given over a 9 in Anime Reviews. It’s incredible how genuine the show is when it comes to story and characters. Not only is the show pretty to look at, but it also sounds incredible, and that’s what you want from a musical anime. I recommend this anime to Musical fans or any fans of the club genre of anime. It is definitely one of my favourite anime of Spring 2015, and one of the better anime in the Spring Season of 2015.
