History Literature / SoundEuphonium

A recap film of the first season, titled ''Sound! Euphonium the Movie: Welcome to the Kitauji High School Concert Band'', premiered in Japan on April 23, 2016. A second season for the anime premiered in the Fall2016Anime season, and covers the two sequel novels. This season also received a recap film, ''Sound! Euphonium the Movie: May the Melody Reach You'', on August 30th, 2017. Additionally, due to the anime's success, the series received two new theatrical films: ''[[Anime/LizAndTheBlueBird Liz and the Blue Bird]]'' (2018), which focuses on side-characters Mizore Yoroizuka and Nozomi Kasaki, and ''Sound! Euphonium: The Movie - Our Promise: A Brand New Day'' (2019), which focuses on Kumiko's second year at Kitauji.

* PictureDrama: ''Photo Session e Youkoso,'' a set of three shorts teaching theater manners that were shown before the ''May the Melody Reach You'' movie.

* ACupAngst: Kumiko is rather conscious of her breast-size, though she does take some comfort in the fact that her friends are even flatter than she is... and then she's floored by [[{{Gainaxing}} a view of Asuka]]. This later comes up again in the second season, as Kumiko compares her chest to Reina's, who is more filled out than she is.

** Since Creator/KyoAni [[LightNovel/AmagiBrilliantPark once again]] chose to adapt a single book from an ongoing series, this has to happen. Of particular note is Reina's increased role and importance in the narrative, particularly with regards to Kumiko, which actually changes much of the LesYay between them. By comparison, Kumiko wasn't as fixated on Reina, and indeed the first time they really had a chance to interact on a meaningful level was at the Agata festival. In this way, Reina has been PromotedToLoveInterest.

** The show has put a ''lot'' of effort in showing the intricacies of how a concert band works, particularly the instruments, but also the complex web of interpersonal relationships (and conflicts) that form when one tries to make fifty or more teenagers work together as a harmonious whole. Many viewers with experience playing in a competitive musical ensemble especially appreciated the latter.
** The show also happens in "real time", marching in step with the same timeframe in the real world, enough to count as ViewersAreGeniuses at times. For example, in a brief scene in episode 12, we are shown a shot of the night sky, which coincides with an ''actual'' astronomical event during that time period. [[labelnote:Explanation]]A planetary conjunction between Jupiter and Venus at the start of July 2015.[[/labelnote]]

** The anime sticks to Creator/KyotoAnimation's tradition of shows with real life Kansai backgrounds with hardly any Kansai dialect to be heard, even though, unlike ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'' and ''Manga/KOn'', this show states outright where it's set. The scene in episode 3 where Asuka speaks on behalf of Kumiko's new euphonium using a Kansai dialect and Kumiko wonders why the euph would speak with an accent might seem jarring, but it makes sense considering that Asuka used the old-fashioned [[UsefulNotes/JapaneseHonorifics honorific "han"]] and [[UsefulNotes/JapanesePronouns first person pronoun "wai" (a variant of "washi")]], both pretty uncommon in modern Kansai.

* CryCute:
** Yuko in episode 11 after [[spoiler:Kaori decides not to play the trumpet solo at the concert.]] This after all of making a mountain out of a molehill about it.
** Kumiko in episode 12 after she's unable to play a tough part in the music. [[spoiler:Taki-sensei doesn't say anything about it. Rather, he just tells Asuka to play that part by herself. It's here that she also has a revelation on how Reina felt back in middle school when their band didn't win.]]

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: Well, it is about a concert band after all. The members of the band total up to over 60, each with their own consistent design and relationships with other band members, which aren't focused on but evident in the background.

** The anime sticks to Creator/KyotoAnimation's tradition of shows with real life Kansai backgrounds with hardly any Kansai dialect to be heard, even though, unlike LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya and Manga/KOn, this show states outright where it's set. The scene in episode 3 where Asuka speaks on behalf of Kumiko's new euphonium using a Kansai dialect and Kumiko wonders why the euph would speak with an accent might seem jarring, but it makes sense considering that Asuka used the old-fashioned [[UsefulNotes/JapaneseHonorifics honorific "han"]] and [[UsefulNotes/JapanesePronouns first person pronoun "wai" (a variant of "washi")]], both pretty uncommon in modern Kansai.

* SpiritualAntithesis: The anime adaptation serves as this to [=KyoAni's=] previous music-based work, ''Manga/KOn''. While ''K-On!'' is a very lighthearted comedy centered around the main characters having fun while playing, ''Euphonium'' is more dramatic and focuses on the struggles of becoming a great musician.

* {{Meganekko}}: Vice President Asuka.

** Rikka High School, the school in the city for Kitauji to beat if they want to have even a chance at competing at the Nationals, is a twofer. First, they're clearly based on real-life [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bAc1Crhw1M Kyoto Tachibana High School]], who are famous for their international-level marching band; for double bonus points, Kyoto Tachibana has been nicknamed "The Orange Demons", whereas Rikka is called "the Blue Devils" in-story. Second, the real-life ''Blue Devils'' are an American drum and bugle corps based out of Concord, CA who are famed for being one of the best even among their fellow World Class peers, having won more Drum Corps International championships than anyone else.

* RomanticTwoGirlFriendship: Kumiko and Reina, Mizore and Nozomi, and many more in Band have this relationship. Discussed in the novels, in which Kumiko muses why the girls are so close to each other and not the boys:
--> "The ratio of girls to boys was usually nine-to-one, but strictly speaking, it was even more lopsided than that. So it wasn't uncommon for girls to end up idolizing someone of their own gender. The objects of such infatuated gazes--ones too fervid to be simple envy-- tended to radiate either pure femininity or possess a boyish stylishness. Unfortunately, the boys in concert bands were rarely seen as actual boys and so were never the object of such idolization."

* SailorFuku: The school uniforms worn by female students at Kitauji. Initially, the only reason Kumiko chooses to go there is because it's one of the few high schools that still have them (since in RealLife, SailorFuku are being phased out as high school uniforms and are more often worn by middle school students).

* RealityEnsues: You can be the best musician around, and completely motivated to become even better, but it don't mean jack if the rest of the ensemble isn't even half as serious as you are.

* CoverVersion: Kitauji's piece for the [=SunFes=] in the anime is [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xfi70IhFFg "Rydeen"]] by Japanese SynthPop group Music/YellowMagicOrchestra, a band widely considered one of the most important and internationally influential Japanese artists of all time. In the book, however, it's an arrangement of "Can't Buy Me Love" by Music/TheBeatles, to whom YMO's influence is often compared in Japan.

A recap film of the first season, titled ''Sound! Euphonium the Movie: Welcome to the Kitauji High School Concert Band'', premiered in Japan on April 23, 2016. A second season for the anime premiered in the Fall2016Anime season, and covers the two sequel novels. This season also received a recap film, ''Sound! Euphonium the Movie: May the Melody Reach You'', on August 30th, 2017. Additionally, due to the anime's success, the series received two new theatrical films: ''[[Anime/LizAndTheBlueBird Liz and the Blue Bird]]'' (2018), which focuses on side-characters Mizore Yoroizuka and Nozomi Kasaki, and ''Hibike! Euphonium: Chikai no Finale''[[note]] titled ''Sound! Euphonium: The Movie - Our Promise: A Brand New Day'' for North American release[[/note]] (2019), which focuses on Kumiko's second year at Kitauji.

* TheAce: Vice President Asuka is a very skilled player who commands pretty much everyone's respect without even really trying and manages to stay above the various internal squabbles of the band. This, however, hides tha fact [[spoiler: that she's actually rather the BrokenAce and uses her overachieving to shield herself from the problems she experiences.]]

* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming: Every episode of both series is named in the same format as the title: a Japanese word followed by an English loanword. For example, the first episode of season 1 is named "Yōkoso Hai Sukūru" ("Welcome to High School"), while the first episode of season 2 is named ""Manatsu no Fanfāre" ("Mid-Summer Fanfare").

** Whenever Kumiko wants to talk to Asuka privately, Asuka jokingly deflects by asking if she needs relationship advice.
** Played straight in a flashback at the beginning of S2 E3.

** In S2 E10, Asuka teasingly asks if Kumiko is finally going to confess her love, before Kumiko shuts her down with "That isn't it."
** Subverted in the last episode of S2, when Kumiko responds with a Blunt "Yes".

*** Played straight in a flashback at the beginning of S2 E3.

*** In S2 E10, Asuka teasingly asks if Kumiko is finally going to confess her love, before Kumiko shuts her down with "That isn't it."
*** Subverted in the last episode of S2, when Kumiko responds with a Blunt "Yes".
*** Subverted in the last episode of S2, when Kumiko responds with a Blunt "Yes".

* AmazinglyEmbarrassingParents: Asuka's mother is overbearing and demanding of the school staff to make them bend to her whims in relation to her daughter. [[spoiler:After slapping Asuka across the face, the girl has to lead her out of the teachers' lounge without flinching, indicating that this is not the first time something similar has happened between them.]]

** Kitauji's piece for the [=SunFes=] in the anime is [[http://youtu.be/r23gU7JzGNc Rydeen by YMO]], considered a cult classic among synthpop enthusiasts. In the book however it's an arrangement of "Can't Buy Me Love" by Music/TheBeatles.

* ArtisticLicenseMusic: In minute instances. In spite of being faithful to the intricacies of ensemble music, former band players can still pick out minor things like clarinet players emphatically bobbing their heads while playing, which doesn't quite happen because the instruments are more restrictive than they appear, or even Mizore's over-handling of her oboe mouthpiece, which is ''very'' sharp and can cut her lips. A more nitpicky example of the liberties taken by the adaptation can be watched [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a802q2-UpGU here]].