I don't say that lightly because many people will claim that about anime because they found their favorite waifu, etc., but this is so much more than that. I barely have enough words, but I'll try.
This anime has a very simple premise: Oomae Kumiko, a first year high school student, joins Kitauji high school, and then the band. Along with her friends Reina, Safaia, and Hazuki, they work towards entering, and hopefully winning, the national championships. (This is not a spoiler. It's established very early that this is what they are trying to do, and it's news to no one. I will not say whether or not they succeed, *that* would be a spoiler).
This is, at its core, a sports anime about music. And the music is treated with at least the same passion with which a sports anime treats its chosen sport.
Let's start with the music. The music is *top notch*. Since this is an animation based around music, KyoAni pulled out all the stops and created music that not only pulls you into its world, but can stand on its own amongst serious compositions in the genre. In fact, "Crescent Moon Dance" *has* become a serious composition in the genre, and is played unironically amongst many other great compositions. As a musician, I can tell you it is an amazing piece and the composer did not phone it in. But the same care was taken with all the other music, and the background music as well. They took the music *seriously* in this anime, and it shows. They also take great care to animate the instruments *properly* - every instrument is animated perfectly, or nearly so. The OP is catchy, stands on its own as a work of art, and perfectly encapsulates the spirit of a high school or marching band. I'm not too big a fan of the ED, but can't win 'em all.
The characters are fleshed out, and in amazing detail. Every member of the band has a name, and a consistent character design - all sixty or so of them. While there are a few main characters, there are some band characters that you only see once or twice, you don't know their names, but they *have* one. They are human, too, with human motivations. As the anime progresses, you can see the growth in all the characters, including the teacher.
And the story is amazing. It's very emotional, and it's difficult to not get invested into the characters and their goal. When they perform, you find yourself on the edge of your seat along with everyone else in the anime, to see if they make it.
There is a small amount of fanservice, particularly in the second season, but it's handled well and isn't in any way excessive. That's not the point of this anime, and I think KyoAni was well aware of that.
Essentially, this is a work of art, and I believe everyone, but particularly people who are or have been in a band, should watch this anime, and would enjoy it.
Now, for the flaws. While this anime is amazing, there *are* a few flaws.
The first one is the "yuri-baiting". There are several scenes that could very easily tip over into yuri. They don't, and some people got upset about that. I don't really see it that way, personally - I see these scenes as a rather hamhanded attempt to display close female friendship while also trying to satisfy the yuri-lovers. It kinda falls flat at both. It would have been perfect if they'd dialed those scenes back just a smidge. Nonetheless, I wasn't really bothered all that much - I saw only close friends, who were a couple of adolescents trying to figure out what close friendship actually is. It's pretty realistic, actually. But they kinda didn't know their audience on this one, and made no one happy.
Also, it started kinda slow. As I was watching this, I didn't see what was so special about this show until episode 8 (if you know, you know), and then I fell in love with it. But I could easily have left it before then, and almost did. I'm glad I didn't, but my advice is to stick it through till at least episode 8, it starts getting really good right around then and doesn't stop even through the second season.
My third criticism is that the band was too good. Reina was a trumpeter on the level of a professional, and while they were believable as a high school band, it was on the higher end of believability, and I almost got knocked out of the suspension of disbelief a couple of times with how good Reina actually was. They could, and maybe should, have dialed that back a little as well.
This review isn't about me, but I will say, as I mentioned earlier, this anime changed my life in a real way. It inspired me to write a concert band piece of my own (which I have completed and made available to the world, I don't think I can tell you here, but feel free to ask and I'll point you at it), and now I'm taking composition and piano lessons (I'm working on the Revolutionary Etude as I type this), and this anime was, in large part, my inspiration. Who knows where it will take me, but I don't think I would have done any of this if it weren't for this anime and "Bocchi the Rock". 'umaku naritai" (I want to become good) has become one of my personal mantras, right up there with "I refuse to let it end this way".
So is this "recommended"? This is not only "recommended", this is "Don't be baka and watch it already, you may not love it but you owe it to yourself to experience this absolute *awesomeness* at least once." This is an anime that sets the bar for other anime, and it's one of the few that earns a perfect ten from me.
And the next piece begins.
