Hibike! Euphonium Episode 1 [First Impression]

KyoAni finds a way. 

Impression

Kyoto Animation is a big name within the industry. You even get people who are compelled to watch whatever they produce purely because they are the ones producing it – I am not too ashamed to admit that I am one of those people, although I had slight issues with their latest production, Amagi Brilliant Park. The point is, they have a solid general backing and the anime they churn out are by no means bad.

But one day, the bigwigs at KyoAni sat in their big plush chairs and remembered the huge piles of money and success they swam in, back in the days of old. Not to say that a strong track record across many series didn’t play a big part. It’s just that there was a certain production, filled with light music and after-school tea time, which struck a particular chord. And now, several years on, they’re trying to recapture that success once more.
Have they found a way?

If I had to describe Hibike! Euphonium, I would say that it very much suits KyoAni – and it thus follows that it very much suits me. You can begin to tell what kind of show this is when the main character essentially spends all of the first episode wistfully pondering on whether she should join her school’s concert band or not. A friend went “it’s basically made for you” upon hearing that synopsis, to which I responded “I was about to say that, yes”. It seems like it’ll go a bit further than I’ve imagined, though. It’s cute girls doing cute things, but interestingly enough it’s not really the crux of this anime’s entire purpose – it doesn’t seem like it’ll overshadow stuff like character development or drama, hints of which have already appeared. So yes, KyoAni have yet again found a way. It’s like a mellow entry into the genre, and the fact that there isn’t an all-girl cast is already one indication of that – I had initially assumed the strict teacher we saw would be the band adviser, but now it looks more likely to be the guy listening to past competition performances. Still, some things never change – the childhood friend route was practically ruled out from the get-go.

I thought it was a rather snap decision for Kumiko to suddenly agree to join the concert band. I mean, it’s easy to see that she still has an attachment to music, and was very much influenced by both her sister and her new friends, but it felt like she had long made up her mind to stay away from music in high school, having decided to join a school unknown for music on purpose – although she says that she also likes the uniform. I like the uniform too. We have no idea what her relationship with Reina was, but it must have been something if falling out with her made it uncomfortable enough for her to give up playing in a concert band completely. Of course Reina ends up at Kitauji as well, but the stranger thing is why she’s even there in the first place – why didn’t she join a strong school for band competitions? A school like Rakushu or Rikka would have helped her get the gold she wanted, who now sound like competition rivals Kitauji will almost certainly lose to. The situation Kumiko ended up in actually reminded me a lot of both Saki and Girls und Panzer – both Saki and Miho specifically picked schools whose clubs were not well-known in their respective sports, yet found themselves joining them anyway due to various reasons.

I don’t actually know a whole lot about brass instruments. As a pianist, the most contact I’ve had with ensembles are when I’ve accompanied them – and I mostly did choirs and orchestras instead of concert bands. But I’m pretty sure that a couple of good players joining will not miraculously save the day, unless they’re the equivalent of whatever the first violin is for a concert band – the idea behind ensemble playing is that sounds mesh as much as possible, and so it’s a team effort. Of course, winning competitions is hardly the only reason for joining – I’m sure Hazuki and Midori (or Sapphire) joined because they loved music, or thought it would be fun.

It’s possible that this will be what the show is about in the end – maybe they won’t try for Nationals at all, and it’ll be a story about the girls and their relationships. At least, I don’t expect the drama with Reina to be over in as soon as a single episode. I’m actually really hopeful for the characters – all of them are vibrant, and it feels like they’ve tried their best to make most of them likeable, not least of all due to some strong performances from what is a fairly green seiyuu cast. I’m fairly impartial to both Hazuki and Midori for now, and may or may not like Reina the more we get to know her – but I like Asuka. It’s partially the sweets bribe and partially the hand prank, but just that general eagerness and hint of an ulterior motive makes her really fun to watch. Also, she makes a great pair with Hayami Saori’s character. It’s the characters who determine exactly how cute the girls are when they do their cute things, and it affects the quality of the banter too – it’s the little things, like how the signal didn’t change because Midori forgot to press the button, or how Hazuki tries “Opal-chan!” only to have Kumiko reply “…no, it’s something greener”.

I think this could be really good. I don’t know what they’re aiming for here (be that a competition-style series or otherwise) but there are certainly no issues with production values. We’ve had some shows this season that certainly could have used more budget, and I’m glad this isn’t one of them. The animation was pretty incredible throughout, and again that’s very KyoAni. In particular, I really loved the opening segment – as awkward as it might sound, Reina’s tears of frustration were beautiful. The idea is that we all don’t end up crying similar tears of frustration by the time the finale airs.

Possibility of Watching: Guaranteed
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