Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: Sound! Euphonium 2
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Valhern
 Posts: 916 |
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Beautiful finale. The only thing I really, REALLY did not want to have in the adaptation did not happen and it helped a lot. It realy didn't have to do much, just like in its first episode, it needed to do some stretching after a long exercise, and be done with it, but it was nonetheless great, especially Asuka's moments. I will remember this show and staff very, very fondly.
I think that, in that sense, it's not that Reina hasn't been the right person, it's just that she became normal. Early in S1, Kumiko is actually scared of Reina on how she will react when they meet again after the dispute they had, and I, like her, honestly feared that she would be this sort of edgy dramatic girl. However, gradually, Kumiko is amazed and in awe of how Reina is certainly not remorseful, but also how ambitiuous and how she has such strong personality which inspire her to take a new route in music. We as audience can feel this aura of amazing power of Reina, because she is so different from Kumiko, she says almost chuuni-like embarassing stuff (like that "I want to be special" stuff) with a straight face, and at first she is just a ray of inspiration in the middle of Kumiko's weak position. The problem (well, it's not a problem exactly) is that they become friends, and after that all that Reina does doesn't surpirse either Kumiko or us, they just bounce off each other because they connect really well and have a deep understanding on how each other behave, and it becomes a routine. Asuka, on the other hand, is just non-stop, every single time she has the chance to, she brings out a new layer to Kumiko's character and her own character, which feels much more dynamic. I hardly believe that Asuka could have accomplished Reina's role, considering Reina is basically an honest fool. |
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invalidname
 Contributor Posts: 2444 Location: Grand Rapids, MI |
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I hate that I'm never going to be able to collect this on Blu-Ray, because of PonyCan's brutal prices. I bet it looks amazing.
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maximilianjenus
Posts: 2862 |
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so, good ending, I hope the next kyoani work (nope, not the yuri one) is one where the plot is actually as good as their direction efforts.
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zrnzle500
 Posts: 3767 |
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I think Sound Euphonium is the closest they have gotten to that. I'm not confident the next one will be closer, which like I said earlier is the dragon maid one. Though the more I see of it, the more I like it so it might be enjoyable nonetheless. |
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Valhern
Posts: 916 |
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As far as I've read the manga (10 chaps.), spoiler[the dragon girl outright says to have "Fallen in love" with the main character and does a couple of things someone in love would do, no step forward has been taken but it kinda looks like a married couple living together and their antics.] |
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zrnzle500
Posts: 3767 |
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^so maximilianjenus was not incorrect in characterizing it? Is it any good? To be clear my comment was directed at the end of their comment not the yuri part
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Valhern
Posts: 916 |
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Yeah, it's pretty charming, funny and heart warming. The anime might play up some fanservice potential it has, but it also has some cool action scenes which I'm looking forward to. Last edited by Valhern on Thu Dec 29, 2016 1:41 am; edited 1 time in total |
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zrnzle500
Posts: 3767 |
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That's the impression that I got from the most recent PV. I'll leave it at that here at least. |
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Edl01
Posts: 117 |
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Well that ending was way better than I imagined, I've been pre-emptively cringing all week about the Shuuichi/Kumiko thread since I was convinced it was coming and the two have some of the weakest chemistry of the entire cast(in fairness that's not saying much considering the show). I haven't been this swerved since Goldberg vs Lesnar(Am I allowed to make that reference here?). I never considered an Asuka ship, but I'll take what I can get.
A few weak episodes in the middle aside I really enjoyed this season, it wasn't as great as the first but it was still leagues above most other shows in near every respect: with amazing direction; gorgeous aesthetics; and one of the best casts in the medium, with Kumiko in particular being one of my favorite protagonists ever. I agree with Nick that this is a worthy successor and an easy contender for AOTS...if Flip Flappers doesn't end well of course. Although my curse of not being able to watch finales uninterrupted continued, I swear that I only get interrupted watching shows during the finale, it happened during the concert in the first season as well. It really takes you out of it. ;'( |
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jojothepunisher
 Posts: 799 |
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It wasn't until Nick mentioned how this was one of the best shows in terms of technical merit KyoAni dished out in the past few years that I got reminded that this show was very much up there with Hyouka. One thing I learned after watching this ending episode was that KyoAni's animation effort will NEVER be the burden of their shows.
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vonPeterhof
Posts: 729 |
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A lot of people (as well as some websites, at least in Japan) picked up Ayano Takeda's tweet that she now wants to write more Eupho, but the tweet that caught my eye after the final episode is this one, in light of my thoughts on the previous episode.
So while the anime did weaken the contrast between the band's hard work and the disappointment of the result, by instead focusing on things like Kumiko's relationship with her sister, Asuka getting noticed by her father and Taki getting reassurance of his students' appreciation, it arguably strengthened the above message. As for the final episode, aside from removing the notorious "KumiShuu ending" (which I've deliberately avoided discussing in this thread and, now that I've written about it in the other thread, don't really feel like going back to right now), the key differences from the epilogue of the novel are the addition of scenes between the competition and the third years' graduation (though at least one scene, the appointment of new club officials, was in the short stories) and the way Kumiko opens up about her feelings towards Asuka (in the novel she doesn't go as far as detailing the progression of her feelings from dislike towards admiration). While I did like the send-off party for the third years and Kumiko exchanging letters with her sister, at first I wasn't fully satisfied with the changes, as it seemed like they were trying a bit too hard to emphasize the parallels between Kumiko's relationships with Mamiko and Asuka. Having revisited the episode now I feel like it actually worked, because anime Kumiko's personality and progress as a character do make the kind of send-off she gave to Asuka the most fitting conclusion of their relationship. All in all, I agree that the second season has been messier than the first one, but I still rate it almost as highly, and it's definitely in my top five for 2016. Since I'm much more of an anime watcher than a manga/LN/VN reader, it's a highly unusual experience for me to watch an anime whose source material I've already read, so I'm thankful that the adaptation was in such good hands, and I apologize to everyone else in this thread for my excessive commentary and nitpicking. And an extra apology in advance to those of you who will be seeing me in the thread for season 2 of Attack on Titan 
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motormind
Posts: 89 |
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This has a lot to do with the fact that the writing didn't let Reina focus on Kumiko. I'm sure Reina would have been a lot more interesting if she had consistently showed interest in Kumiko in her own oddball way, asking her out on weird dates, playing hide and seek with her feelings, keeping Kumiko on her toes and pulling her out of her comfort zone. Instead, Reina had to play the role of the smitten schoolgirl having a crush on her teacher, which weakened her personality and thus her role considerably. While I do agree that Kumiko would be a better match with Asuka, personality-wise, I also feel that it makes for a much less interesting story. While it's true that in reality people look for partners that resemble themselves, Asuka and Kumiko are a bit too alike. It also doesn't help that Asuka was so damn unlikable for most of the show. I am glad they didn't opt for the Shuichi route for the anime. I cringed when the girls asked Kumiko about that stupid hairpin, but it luckily got defused pretty quickly. Really, having Kumiko get together with Shuichi wouldn't have made a lot of sense, seeing how she completely snubbed the guy for most of the series. So in the end, I view this series as the coming-of-age story of a euphonium-playing girl who develops feelings for her trumpet-playing fellow club member. Trumpet Girl at first seems to answer her feelings, but turns out not get over her crush on her teacher, so it doesn't go anywhere. Still, Eupho Girl is pulled out of her closet because of this, and slowly gyrates toward another flow club member who, like Trumpet Girl, is tall, pretty and with long dark hair, but who also plays the euphonium. Our Eupho Girl finally confesses to this girl when the latter graduates, and then finds herself alone Yes, in my eyes this is actually a pretty sad story: Kumiko falls in love twice, and gets rejected both times. She stays friends with one of the girls, while the other walks out of her life forever. This is so recognizable to me that I find it hard not to identify with Kumiko to the max. Luckily the show does not overly focus on that, and actually ends on a high note. Yes, this was a good show. I honestly haven't felt so involved with an anime in years. While I still loathe episode11, the last episode saved the show from total self-annihilation. Next time I'm in Japan, I will make sure to visit Uji once more. |
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zrnzle500
Posts: 3767 |
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^Yeah I'm glad they don't get Kumiko together with Shuichi too. There is nothing there, at least on Kumiko's end, so if they put them together, it wouldn't have made the most sense. I liked that on both occasions any possible progress was made on that front, it was upstaged by Kumiko confessing her love for someone else, first her sister and in the last episode Asuka, whether one views those loves as romantic or not.
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darkchibi07
 Posts: 5468 |
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So how many of ya switched ships from Kumiko x Reina to Kumiko x Asuka?
I'm pretty much in the same camp that S2 was rougher than S1. It really doesn't help that the first arc dealing with Mizore and Nozomi felt so detached compared to the other characters we've known. And Reina sadly didn't do much with Kumiko throughout the series though it was a fine, subtle touch on how much she mellowed out. Once Asuka got in the full spotlight, that's where S2 really shined brightly. I believe Nick did a few articles on Crunchyroll about Asuka's character and why the payoff worked so well. |
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Luke's Yu-Gi-Oh! Channel
 Posts: 159 Location: Australia |
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What a great last episode that was. Very sad but very happy at the same time.
I really hope for a season 3. Just the interactions between the 2 presidents will make it fun |
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