Sound! Euphonium: Our Promise: A Brand New Day

I just watched the film in theaters and it was great! All Sound! Euphonium fans should watch it, as it is indeed a continuation of the series. Like all movies, material is condensed, and there's quite literally nothing we can do about it except show our support for the makers in hopes of getting more content. The film starts by giving a 10 minute review of what happened in the first 2 seasons, and then kicks off. One should definitely watch "Liz and the Blue Bird" before watching this, because there are quite a few connections to that movie (don't wanna spoil anything). I agree, this couldhave easily been a season in and of itself, but it was crammed into a movie. There was a little bit too much drama for just a movie, and although we know the series has drama, they overdid it a bit for the duration of the film. I really enjoyed the piece they played, and I love how they take the time to animate the entire duration of the song and the characters playing! The piece was not as moving as the "Crescent Moon Dance", but maybe because we don't have a big back story behind this new piece like we did in the first 2 seasons. Also, seeing familiar faces come back on screen was a very pleasant surprise. If I say anything else I might spoil it, so I'll stop, HOWEVER, there is an after-credits scene that some people might enjoy a lot.

(no spoilers) Thanks to Fathom Events, this Hibike! Euphonium fan was able to see the latest installment of the series on the big screen, and I enjoyed it a lot. Hibike! Euphonium Movie 3: Chikai no Finale follows Kumiko and her friends on her second year of high school, directly after Hibike! Euphonium 2. If you're just reading for my general opinion: Overall, the movie suffers from the issues you would expect from condensing a season's worth of story into roughly 2 hours and may not be great as a standalone film, but is definitely worth a watch for anyone who liked the first two seasons. Asyou would expect, this movie delivers the same outstanding aesthetics you would expect from Hibike! Euphonium and Kyoto Animation. The character designs have that signature kyoani moe, the backgrounds are vibrant and gorgeous, and the animation is a step above their competitors. Not on the level of standalone films like Koe no Katachi, but definitely not a step down or a huge improvement from the Hibike! Euphonium anime. And that's what this movie felt like, just a continuation of the main series rather than something separate like Liz and the Blue Bird (which is now a priority for me after seeing a particular scene in this movie). There's a bit of deja vu from the first season, and the movie showcases recurring events for the Kitauji Band, such as the Sunrise Festival. Unfortunately, some of the little day to day interactions were cut to make time for these pivotal events. As expected of this series, there's a lot of character drama leading up to the big performance, including freshman recruitment and competition auditions. The narrative doesn't go out of its way to introduce any new concepts, it just shows similar sequences as the first season, but now the characters are in different positions. But that isn't a bad thing in itself, as it shows how Kumiko and the now second and third years have matured and learned from their past mistakes, and their new determination to succeed at Nationals. An example is Yuko, who as the new captain of the band has to learn to become an effective leader, and further progresses from the character she was in season 1. Speaking of characters, that's where this film faltered. As expected, a new school year brings in lots of new characters. At the same time, some second and third years who didn't get a character arc previously also got an extra spotlight. But of course, there were only an hour and 50 minutes to tell everyone's story, so some of these new faces definitely got the short end of the stick. It was disappointing to see some interesting new characters shown on screen who either completely ignored or given a character arc that lasts about 5 minutes. There was really only one freshman character who we got to know well. At the same time there were some recurring characters that had their own drama, but got so little screen-time in the past installments that I just had no idea how I was supposed to feel about them. But the lackluster character development doesn't feel too bad in this kind of movie, since it's pretty obvious that this was just a bridge to lead into the inevitable Hibike! Euphonium 3. If this was a standalone film, I would've come out of the theater way more dissatisfied. I'm sure these looked-over characters will be able to shine in the next season. I won't say exactly what happened, but the romance progressed further in this movie than it did the past two seasons. The romantic tensions unfortunately felt a bit rushed, but still were so heartwarming and cute that I couldn't help but laugh and smile along with everyone else in the theater. There's something here for fans of all ships! But aside from the pacing of the movie leading to a lack of character development, this was a fantastic experience. The music is absolutely incredible, as you would expect. Arguably, the best part of the movie was the performance scene; it might just be my favorite in the series yet. The smooth animation, slick camera movement, good use of 3D, combined with the gorgeous soundtrack made for a truly blissful experience in the last leg of the movie. Seeing it in theaters only made it more magical. And that's what I thought of the movie. This is definitely a must watch for anyone that is still interested in following Kumiko and Kitauji in their quest for Gold, but I would advise anyone who hasn't seen the tv anime yet to watch that before seeing this movie. As a standalone movie with no context, this will be a pretty dissatisfying film. And as always, feel free to ignore the numbers you see here and have your own opinions on the movie. As for me, Chikai no Finale has got me even more excited for the next chapter in the Hibike! Euphonium story.

Honestly, I didn't really think we needed this movie, but...eh, I'm not against it. Could it have been better? Oh definitely. Story probably could've used a proofread. Story: With the new school year incoming, Kumiko Oumae and the previous veterans of the Kitauji High School Band come back with new members, new drama, and a new goal in mind for the school year. Now with the bronze reward in Nationals under their belt, it was finally time to try again and get the coveted gold they weren't able to get in the year prior. Given that the entirety of the movie is centered around Kumiko's entire second yearof high school, it comes as no surprise that the series is the most rushed it's ever been. Given the fact that the series prior had cemented its story into giving both the regionals and nationals competition its own season, seeing the entire journey up to regionals be given less than half a season of screentime is not exactly the most ideal situation. In doing so, both of the character stories for the new members of the Bass section feel rushed, a lot of smaller plot threads (including the romance one) feel less than satisfactory, and a staggering amount of jump cuts are used to progress the flow of time. And I mean A LOT of jump cuts. Watching the movie, I couldn't tell which month we were in because the chronology is simply that fast. One minute we're given the introduction, and maybe twenty minutes later we've hit summer vacation and the band camp. It also doesn't help that the stories of the characters at hand were solely based on their respective backstories without enough meaningful interaction between them and the rest of the band to give full weight of the problem. It was honestly more annoying to watch because one of the girls kept snapping or leaving the situation to the point that that was her only worthwhile character trait before we were given her spiel/trauma from her past. That being said, the movie did still provide enough of the series's themes and existentialism that's been around since the series started. Kumiko and Reina deciding for themselves what's to come while proving that life is full of failures whether we like it or not are mainstays that keep the series engaging and unique from a lot of other school series. Even more so, the ending was a great poetic tribute to the themes of the series though expected as it was. It's the one redeeming quality I can say about the storytelling in this movie and is at least a decent takeaway from the whole thing. Characters: I feel like this is Kumiko's most major existence in the series thus far. While she was always the 'protagonist character', she never really felt like that due to her tendency to always sit in the back while everything happens in front of her and more important events and stories became the spotlight of the series. Because she now has seniority in the club, Kumiko seems to be taking a more active role by trying to sort out problems with others rather than always sitting back like she used to. That trait even ends up biting her later on and the reflection of who she is and what she wants is positive growth to become motivated and really push the spirit of the series in an attempt to try give her all. Much of the rest of the screentime is devoted to the newer additions to the cast, specifically Kanade Hisaishi as Kumiko's underclassmen in the Euphonium section. Much of the movie's character drama focuses on her and the new tubas in the band, storylines that really feel the weight of the rushing storyline the movie was unfortunately forced to deal with. In a way it feels like the movie was just following the steps of its predecessors as they didn't feel naturally integrated or abundantly present through conflict of gut reactions like before. Fortunately, Kanade still does have a presence in the movie, though only through proxy of being next to Kumiko the whole time, which is not something I'm fond of even though she is an interesting character. The rest of the Kitauji veterans do not get much time in the movie's run aside from a few small plot threads sprinkled throughout to detail the state of the band and the changing times. Some old characters make cameos, the romance subplot was shot down before it started, some other characters that I don't particularly remember get some time to themselves, but only enough to make a small impact or change without upheaving the entire storyline. It's ok, but personally I wish there was a little more to them being their at large. Aesthetics: Of course KyoAni pulls out all the stops for their better shows; why wouldn't they? Is what I would be saying except for some reason, despite being a movie, 'Chikai no Finale' looks almost identical to the normal art for the series. Hibike! has always had REALLY good art as the care, love, and detail the series is given by KyoAni is miles above what a typical anime gets. But it almost feels like even on the big screen, it's still like watching the show when generally there're higher production standards for movies. What those higher production standards would be, I don't know, but something in me thinks there should've been SOMETHING. The only standout part that the movie has in terms of art or animation appears in the final section of the movie during the performance. A whole variety of shots ranging from wide angle shots to zoom ins, pan arounds, to close ups of each individual key or lever being pushed on a specific member of the band. (I suspect this is where the budget went). It was honestly really impressive seeing this particular scene given how 3-D models were only used sparingly during the wider shots, but the more up close areas were all in 2-D with the same level of quality the rest of the movie had. There were a number of somewhat unsatisfactory shortcuts that happened during this scene and many of the wider shots in the movie, but given how grand they decided to make the final performance, I can look over that. Especially since the sound quality from the band is something of a nostalgia trip to me with a number of small details that give the series its own sense of flair. Everything from the small breaths in between the lengths of making notes, speedier tempo in one specific scene in an attempt to throw an audition, and the quality of the pieces shown in the final performance were (quite literally) music to my ears. I love how much time and effort the 'Sound' in 'Hibike!' Euphonium is given, and this movie was certainly no exception to the already impressive repertoire of sound bites this series has given. Personal Enjoyment: This movie is a lot of ups and downs for me. I have a personal attachment to Hibike! mostly due to the fact that, as a previous band member, a lot of the practices and little mishaps that occur during the series put me back in a time when those things became an every day occurrence. The solid sound of the band tuning, the stops midway through the piece to adjust how one section sounds, and the general contempt for wanting to play a bass instrument all give me a reason to really like this series. But the awful pacing makes the story feel like a requirement than a natural part of the series. I didn't really get invested in a lot of the newer freshman because they didn't get time to sink in. I didn't care much for the smaller side threads because there wasn't time to explain them. I felt cheated at the romance because while it made sense, not enough effort was put into build it up before breaking it down. It's these things and so many others that makes this movie feel average instead of great. I wanted reasons to care about other people other than Kumiko, which wasn't possible given how many people are in the band and how many of them were featured in this movie alongside with her to create the personal drama the series is known for. It feels kind of satisfactory, but not at the same time, which is a damn shame because I've always had a soft spot for this series. On its own, the movie is a pretty good trip. But when put alongside its sister seasons, it's probably the lowest point the series has had in progressing its story. Time crunch is a real problem and movies that fail to properly work around this problem are unfortunately given a poor treatment. Apparently there's going to be a season 3 after this, but in my mind, this should've been what Season 3 was going to be about. Because I'm sure a full length cour was straight up just going to do better than adapting it into a movie that didn't have enough time.

Hibike! Euphonium always impressed me with everything it has to offer. From the start to the end, I had no regrets watching the show, and I just couldn't wait to see how it ends! So how was Chikai no Finale for me? Well. Mhh. I'd say it was something I didn't really expect but still expected it to a degree... And here's why : I started the movie expecting for romance development and a good closure. What did I end up getting? Just a realistic closure with a few life lessons in which some were already used back in the series and that's about it.The movie wasn't great enough to surpass my expectations. But at the same time, it wasn't too bad either. The sound covers up for pretty much everything else that feels missy. So Hibike remains at the borderline of 10/10. But despite the fact that I've given it a full score. I think the ending could be way better than this if the show didn't take a turn into the realism of bands n' stuff too much. Ok. I mean it's ok. But at least don't dump other things like romance into the bin. That's all I ask for. Overall the movie was OK. Not too good not too bad. Slightly disappointed, kinda expected. That is all.