Sleepy Impressions: Sound! Euphonium
Sound! Euphonium, known as Hibike! Euphonium in Japanese, is Kyoto Animation's latest series, currently airing in Japan and streaming on Crunchyroll.
It's about a Japanese high school band club who used to compete in national tournaments. Nowadays, they suck so bad they can't even challenge them anymore. Even the main girl, Kumiko Oumae, admits that this band club is terrible. She normally would have joined the band club, too, but they sucked so bad that she had to consider it good and hard before joining.
I can only name two Kyoto Animation shows that didn't have clubs: Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid, and Amagi Brilliant Park. It's like the signature KyoAni style is destined to be entertwined with clubs and school girls. Well, school boys in Free's case. But still! It'd be nice to have a little more variety.
Kumiko is a euphonium player, which is a musical instrument I've never heard of before. I suppose that's why it's named as such. That's also why she wanted to join band club, until she realised they sucked.
The first episode takes place on the first day of Kumiko's new high school, when clubs are still looking for members and friends are still meeting. We watch Kumiko meet a couple girls and then head off to eavesdrop on the terrible band club, where she discovers Reina Kousaka, the girl she likes, has joined.
At least, it's hinted that she likes her, in the ending sequence of the anime, with the red string of fate tying Kumiko to her seemingly crush Reina, who is also hinted to be the reason why she ended up deciding on joining the club. Pretty suspicious if you ask me.
I think a lot of things about Sound! Euphonium are average. The art definitely seems to have improved, which is impressive in itself when you consider how good KyoAni's animation usually is. Other than that, it could get exciting in the future as you watch the club work its way to improving, but I have a feeling that KyoAni is going to make it into a more laid-back atmosphere than that. For now, it's more comparable to something like K-On!.
First Impressions: Average
