***Warning, the following may contain spoilers for Hibiki Euphonium 2. Reader discretion is advised.***
Series Synopsis
Kitauji High School’s Concert Band Club has done what its members thought was impossible only a few short months ago. They have won the qualifying concert tournament and have taken a huge step towards performing on the national stage. Never has this club’s lofty dream been so close.
Having once been disheartened by concert performances and her chosen instrument, the euphonium, Kumiko Oumae (voiced by Tomoyo Kurosawa), doubles down and gives her music everything she has. For the first time in a long time, she knows she is with people who have the drive to shoot for the top.
Unfortunately, as the finish line grows ever closer, so do the challenges.
The smallest hiccup could jeopardize all the work Kumiko and her clubmates have done. If even one person, for whatever reason, doesn’t put in one hundred percent of their effort, everything will have been for not.
Kumiko already knows what it’s like to lose her passion. She is determined to ensure that never happens again.
Series Positives
On May 6th, 2016, I published my review of the first season of Hibiki Euphonium. In the Final Thoughts section of that review, I said this:
“[I] already know that future installments [of Hibiki] are on the way. In fact, [a second season] is planned for later [in 2016].”
Since covering the first season of this series, I have gone on to add over a hundred more anime to this site’s catalog of watched shows. LofZOdyssey Anime Reviews also went on to celebrate its second and third anniversaries. But most importantly, as well as, most embarrassingly of all, Hibiki Euphonium 2 came and went; just like I knew it was going to.
So, after a little less than a year and a half after Hibiki 2’s final episode aired, and more than two years after reviewing the first season, I have finally returned to this series.
So, after a little less than a year and a half after Hibiki 2’s final episode aired, and more than two years after reviewing the first season, I have finally returned to this series.
Thus, without any further adieu, let’s, at last, take a look at the second season of Hibiki Euphonium.
As a refresher, I recommended Hibiki 1. It was a fantastic watch; from what I remember, that is. Again, I allowed a lot to happen before getting to this continuation. Therefore, I might have forgotten a thing or two. This means I don’t have the confidence to judge which of the two Hibiki seasons was the stronger. But I will say this:
Hibiki 2 was as solid as they come.
Be that as it may, I didn’t go into Hibiki 2 expecting to remember all the details. Low and behold, I didn’t. However, that was never a problem.
There were a few story bits from Hibiki 1 that came back up in Hibiki 2. Fortunately, these were only ever the big picture points that were easy to pick back up. This season never required you to remember an obscure detail that happened in some random episode from the first series.
The only thing you needed to know when beginning Hibiki 2 is that the club won the qualifying competition at the end of season one. If you have that, it won’t be hard to jump back into this story.
As a testament to that, while watching episode one of Hibiki 2, Mid-summer Fanfare, I found myself getting invested instead of growing confused. That was a massive relief since this season didn’t waste any time getting started. That and Mid-summer Fanfare’s runtime was twice as long as the rest of this show’s episodes.
A fifty-minute kick off this season could have been an ominous sign of things to come. Luckily, this was actually an indication of potential that Hibiki 2 delivered on.
Kumiko
The Kumiko from Hibiki 1 I can describe in a single word – unremarkable. 
However, the Kumiko from this season was not that. This Kumiko had enough self-confidence to work as a person the club could turn to when there was trouble. But it was her self-doubt that made her a believable character because the only person who didn’t trust in her ability to be there for others was Kumiko herself.
Seeing this story from Kumiko’s perspective was fascinating because of her mistakes. She would misjudge situations. She would fail to read people’s emotions. Sometimes Kumiko would let things slip she should have kept to herself. Other times, she would stay quiet when she should have said something.
Despite her shortcomings, Kumiko was clear on one thing. She wanted herself, her friends, and her club to reach the top. This was a drive she found back in season one, but it wasn’t until season two that she realized how far that drive needed to go.
Kumiko believed, or at least, wanted to believe everyone thought the same as her. The dilemma wasn’t if that was true or not, it was learning everyone had a variant of the similar passion Kumiko felt. Although the end goal may have been the same for the members of the club, why a specific member wanted to achieve that goal could be wildly different. 
Watching Kumiko face this reality was one of the primary reasons Hibiki 2 was a great sit. Merely having Kumiko want to remain in the club out of her own volition gave her character the chance to leave more of an impact.
And if there was one thing Hibiki 2 succeeded in doing, it was leaving an impact.
The First Half: Episodes 1 Through 5
Wow, this was good.
For the first half of this season, one of the major focuses was on a former club member trying to rejoin the group. This caused a lot of tension because this was a holdover from a volatile event the series had been referencing since the beginning. Making the situation even more complicated, the person who was trying to return was adamant in receiving the blessing of the club’s Vice-President, Asuka Tanaka (voiced by Minako Kotobuki); a blessing Asuka kept refusing to grant.
For the current third and second-year members, who were still very shaken over this past drama, this entire incident brought up a ton of painful memories. Compounding the issue was the upperclassmen’s decision not to bring the first-year members into this problem. Unfortunately, this caused many first-years, such as Kumiko, to wonder what was going on, making them worry even more.
From a storytelling perspective, the timing of this conflict couldn’t have been more brilliant.
The club had earned the chance to compete at Regionals. If they succeeded there, that would secure their spot at Nationals. There was plenty of work left to be done, but the club was becoming a force to be reckoned with. As the big day grew closer, so did the club’s chances.
The strife caused by this former member wanting to return threatened to destroy everything.
Making this setup even more interesting, Hibiki 2 didn't turn this problem into pure black and white.
For example, I agreed with the upperclassmen and Asuka’s decision not to readily accept this person’s plea to return. However, I understood why the first-years felt uneasy, and why that unease caused some of them to act on their own in response.
Regardless of who was right or wrong, when this finally came to a head, my god, it was tense.
Making this even better, Hibiki 2 outdid itself when it reached episode five, Miraculous Harmony, which saw the club at Regionals. As the team was waiting for their turn to perform, you could see the worry and doubt that was filling their heads. It felt like something was going to snap at any moment and this season didn’t let up.
I know I couldn’t help feel for the club. After all, one of the few elements of Hibiki 1 I remember, and which carried over into Hibiki 2, was this series making an effort to illustrate that this group was making an effort. Playing at Regionals wasn’t something the club was doing for giggles. These kids put in the work and earned the right to stand where they did.
At this point in episode five, as far as I was concerned, Hibiki 2 had done enough. Had this season decided to cut from the club walking onto the stage to the results ceremony, that would have been fine. The point had been made.
But where’s the fun in that?
Hibiki 2 gave us the club’s performance. There were a full seven minutes of nothing but music. And for those seven minutes, I was at the edge of my seat.
Did I mention that by the end of 2018 there will be four Hibiki Euphonium movies? I know it would be foolish for me to promise when, but thanks to this season, you better believe I intend to check them all out.
Series Negatives
The thing I remember most about Hibiki 1 was how much it surprised me. I did not expect to like it as much as I did. With the existence of Hibiki 2, this marks one of those exceptional instances where a series not only earned a sequel, it got the sequel it deserved.
Hibiki 2 was an outstanding watch, and I’m happy I finally saw it.
That said, I do have some issues with this season.
There was nothing that made this series a chore to sit through. No, I enjoyed my time with Hibiki 2 because when it struck, it struck hard.
Too bad that excellence made the parts that wobbled stand out that much more.
Too bad that excellence made the parts that wobbled stand out that much more.
For instance, Hibiki 2 ignored a lot of the character building that happened in season one. Although this resulted in a well-focused story, too many people felt unnecessary, and that shouldn’t have been the case. For example, all of Kumiko’s core group of friends, minus Reina Kousaka (voiced by Chika Anzai), were wasted.
Had Hibiki 2 been a stand-alone series, many of this show’s characters would have come off as removable fat. Fortunately for these characters, their more substantial presence in season one justified why they were here in season two. 
This was not a huge problem. Again, Hibiki 2 was very deliberate with what it chose to explore. The first half of this season was a great success because of that.And you are going to realize how much of a success that was once you hit episode six.
The Second Half: Episodes Six Through Thirteen
The second half of Hibiki 2 was not bad. It was very good. But compared to the first five episodes, the intrigue level was not as high.
Imagine the second half of this season earned Silver at the Olympics. Sure, it wasn’t the first half of this story which won the Gold, but Silver is still super impressive and a huge accomplishment.Where the last eight episodes lost some points was when this season decided to have three major dilemmas going on at the same time.
This was a problem because only one of these storylines was worth caring about; the other two just happened to be along for the ride. The route that should have been the entire second half of this show focused on Vice-President Asuka, and this would have made for the natural last step.
This series had been framing Asuka as someone who was hiding her real personality. Behind her goofiness, there were hints of a much more troubled person. Given how critical Asuka was to the club’s morale, if anything happened to her, there would have been severe ramifications.
Hibiki 2 finally touched on this, and it worked. That was until this season decided to simply solve the problem in a very anticlimactic way that also simultaneously undermined the entire struggle the club, particularly Kumiko, went through to be there for Asuka in her darkest hour.
As for the other two storylines, I get what one of them was trying to do.
Hibiki 2 introduced a conflict between Kumiko and her older sister. This served as a parallel for the larger Asuka problem. However, this was, ultimately, unnecessary. Had this obstacle not been here, nothing would have changed. Fortunately, this wasn’t a burden on the bigger story either, so it being in this season was fine.
I cannot say the same for the third dilemma.
To be fair, this third storyline was significantly smaller than the other two. It didn’t leave much of a stain. That notwithstanding, it was still a pointless waste of time.
This storyline was the last storyline to center on Reina Kousaka and her crush on the club’s advisor, Noboru Taki (voiced by Takahiro Sakurai). This unrequited love was part of Reina’s character, so this was nothing unusual. The difference with this instance, though, Reina ended up freaking out over something childish. This made her come off as bratty rather than sympathetic.
Despite some odd turns at the end, Hibiki 2 finished off strong. The finale came, and it was exactly what it needed to be. After two seasons of leading to it, Hibiki Euphonium ended in a place that successfully closed off this chapter of this story.
And should there ever be a Hibiki 3, I wouldn’t be against it.
Final Thoughts
It’s amazing. I went this entire review without ever mentioning how beautiful this show’s animation was, and how it was wonderfully paired with a great soundtrack. So, just add those two things to the already long list of reasons of why this season was excellent.
As a continuation, this series could not have asked for anything better. This story went in the absolute right direction to make everything feel more intense and more volatile. When watching this season, keep in mind, these kids’ rise to greatness happened over the course of a few months. But in those few months, they put in so much work, and you can feel their determination emanating from this show.
It took me way too long to get to this point, and I’m happy I get to say the following:
I can’t recommend Hibiki Euphonium 2 any higher.
But these are just my thoughts. What are yours? Have you seen this show? What would be your advice concerning Hibiki Euphonium 2? Leave a comment down below because I would love to hear what you have to say.
And if you liked what you read, be sure to follow me on my social media sites so that you never miss a post or update. Also, please share this review across the internet to help add to the discussion.
I’m LofZOdyssey, and I’ll see you next time.
 |
| Google+ Facebook Twitter |
Others in the Hibiki Euphonium Series
| photo b |
|
No comments:
Post a Comment