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Sound! Euphonium: Ensemble Contest Arc is the first installment in this series that fully features Kumiko Oumae as the president for Kitauji’s concert band club. I don’t have too much to say about this TV special other than it’s a decent OVA that focuses on Kumiko in a role she’s never been in before. I really like how this arc is just centered around Kumiko not having her shit together, which works really well for her character as she struggles and learns all of the hardships of being THE leader of the concert band club. This TV special alludes to and references the struggles that previous presidents of this club have gone through, with it all perfectly reflected in Kumiko’s arc. The Sound! Euphonium series has done a really good job giving its central protagonist challenges that ties in with all of the experiences Kumiko has been through, which end up being moments that she uses as lessons to help her find a satisfying resolution for not only herself, but for everyone else around her. The Ensemble Contest Arc keeps up with this tradition by having Kumiko reflect with her experiences with both the club president in her first year, Haruka, as well as the hardships she has been through with characters like Reina Kousaka.
The only aspects of this hour long special that I have some reservations about were its pacing and the ending. There are many scenes in this arc that dragged on for too long, whether it be small talk between characters or just doing menial tasks. I definitely think that at least 10-15 minutes could have been shaved off of this special in order to maintain a decent level of brevity in this arc. The ending for this arc kind of took me out of it a bit. Instead of actually seeing Kumiko’s group perform at the auditions, this special uses a glorified slideshow to announce the results of said auditions while her group’s piece plays in the background. I would have preferred if this TV special took the same approach as other installments in this series by having a climatic performance and having an actual announcement of the winners. I understand that this arc isn’t anything big, and is ultimately something to hype up the third and final season of this anime, but I think something like what we got before would have made this arc just a little bit better. Overall, the Ensemble Contest Arc is a fine little piece of Sound! Euphonium to build up what we could expect to see in Season 3.
