No, we don’t have any castanets!
Now that we’ve seen that Hibike! Euphonium is very different from the comedy of K-on!, we can somewhat make our own minds up about each character, as opposed to comparing one character to Yui, or one character to Ritsu, and so on. I don’t have any doubt that Kumiko is a talented bright young girl, but to me she just doesn’t seem to have the main protagonist aura about her. There is precious little outstanding about her; she’s just your average high-school girl who just so happens to play the euphonium.
However saying that, having a lead character as the ‘normal’ kind of person could well work. I can’t judge too much though. We’ve only had two episodes; two episodes that, somehow, seem very very short. Maybe it’s just me…But after only 2 episodes, Reina has already started to annoy me. Not only has she become something for Kumiko to…I don’t know…fear, but I can already picture her causing friction in the trumpet section. Her own stubbornness and pride as a talented trumpet player could well put off the others in the section, who all know and love each other very well. Not sure if I want to wholly focus my attention on just her, but it seems that her very presence in the band is key to the story.
- And people are already calling Asuka best girl; I’m just going to be a jerk and say I don’t agree. Her jokes and comical manner stick out like a sore thumb somewhat, in comparison to the school drama story. What with everyone deciding what instruments to play and whether to go for the Nationals, and the Kumiko vs. Reina affair going on, as well as the new band advisor who, despite having made his first appearance with ‘Orpheus in the Underworld’ on his little iPod playing in some flashback scene, has come across as one of those teachers who wants to get hip with the crowd. Glasses, check. Ruffled hair, check. Soft voice, check. No tie, check. But he kind of fails miserably at trying to get hip with the kids, I think.
Resident hipster sensei.
- As the characters in this show are clearly more focused and more determined than the 5 girls in K-on!, I would definitely dwell on the idea of either taking it seriously and aiming for the Nationals or just playing for fun. So that scene of deciding on what to do was extremely interesting. It was obvious from the beginning that the school wanted to play to win, after only getting a Prefecturial bronze medal. Our hipster sensei only wants to keep his harem of students happy after all. Personally I wouldn’t have cared, but I was never the ‘aim high to win’ type. But Kumiko’s own senpai, Aoi, has confused me now after all this. An ‘alibi’?! Was that some kind of translation error? I think ‘keeping a balanced point-of-view’ would be a better term.
- I like Hibike! Euphonium so far; K-on! it is definitely not, and this will be the last time I ever mention that show in these review posts. It doesn’t have all the traits of the high-school comedy shows KyoAni are renowned for, but it doesn’t have the traits of a high-school drama show either. Not yet anyway. Would it be safe to call it a comedy-drama? Yeah. I think that’s a better term. I hope we see more activity from the secondary characters as well as the other main ones; so far, we’ve only had Kumiko and her uncertainty, Hazuki and her silly mouthpiece, Sapphire and Asuka’s new holy matrimony in the bass section, and hipster sensei (sorry, I forgot his name).
