10 Second Anime - Hibike! Euphonium - Episode 5



The marching band members practice, what else, marching before they make their favorable first impression at the Sunrise Festival.

Heh.

For a marching band, they weren't doing much marching before now.

 

Natsuki, the supposedly lazy sophomore, said that they started practicing marching and formations way earlier this year than last year. Taki-sensei is definitely doing things differently.

 

Asuka was their drum majorette! This explains everything about her oversized personality. She didn't want to be president, though. The more serious Haruka fit that role better.

 

Taki-sensei still made his time valuable. Barely showing up on time just to say he was looking forward to the band's performance, he didn't come close to inspiring like the harsh words of the other teacher. But when they were just about to go on, after Reina used her trumpet to break a sudden rush of despair, he gave them a blast of his confidence in them and told them to make everyone else learn about the new Kitauji High School Marching Band. Not any waste in his time or timing.

 

It looked like a good beginning, but we don't know if it ended well. I hope so.

 

With all the preparations for the festival ongoing, there was still room for the funny stuff, character development and some revelations too. Kumiko did the heavy lifting for the comedy.

Yearning for a C-Cup? By the first year of high school, you should learn to love what you already have, Kumiko. Plus, harsh! Calling Hazuki a pettanko!

 

Reina brings out all the awkwardness in Kumiko. Funny how the thing that brought a smile to Reina's usually serious face was her admitting she thought they had no chance of advancing to the Nationals. Reina wants Kumiko to be open about being herself.

 

Kumiko's friend Azusa, who went to one of the other musical powerhouse high schools, was quite the font of gossip. And her facial expressions were pure KyoAni gold. She asked about the mystery of why Reina decided to go to Kitauji instead of a more musically accomplished school. Kumiko admitted, probably for the first time openly, that she just wanted a fresh start away from her middle school friends. We saw that dynamic in the first episode, but she ended up joining the band and playing the same instrument anyway. So, not a total fresh start.

Sometimes it feels like Kumiko is offering a documentary style narration for how a large club like a music ensemble works. I wonder who she's talking to. The realistic depiction of childhood friends Shuuichi and Kumiko still tickles me. I don't think he's actually attracted to her, but he knows she's a cute girl and still would like a cute girl sitting next to him than not. It's a teenage boy thing that men never really grow out of.

 

Asuka! Asuka! Asuka!

I hate and envy that green ribbon at the same time. Hiding those barking sweater puppies but still so close to them. Die, green ribbon, die!

 

Natsuki made a good point when talking about Asuka as the drum majorette being a natural leader but not wanting the president's job. She said you don't always like doing things you're good at. That made me think of Kumiko's situation and whether she would begin to like playing her instrument.

 

Reina began to open up too. It wasn't just tears from bottled up emotions, but genuine smiles, almost flirtatious glances, dismissive hair flips played to an audience, and perhaps a crazy stare when talking about a certain good looking music club advisor.

"Oh? You think Taki-sensei is cool too? Time to get rid of the competition!" That look had yandere written all over it. Or, Reina went back to her emotionless expression because she was surprised anyone else thought that way. Personally, I got creepy vibes from it.

 

But then she flashed that flirty smile at Kumiko when Kumiko let slip her pessimistic side, like she did in middle school.

Hnnnggg!

"Pardon me for breaking the tension and not following some silly rule about noise. I'll just continue being awesome over here, if you don't mind." A hair flip can contain a lot of words.

 

 

Hmm.

Reina and Kumiko's old classmate Azusa reintroduced the mystery of why a talented musician like Reina came to a mediocre school like Kitauji. We already knew that Kumiko went there to avoid her other musician classmates, to get a fresh start, which is why she was disappointed to see Shuuichi there and surprised to meet Reina, never mind the awkwardness from when they last saw each other at the competition they won but still lost in not advancing to the next round. Could the hint be in how each of Kumiko's conversation starters sputtered, but then Reina asked, with emotion-filled eyes, what Kumiko thought of Taki-sensei? And that cold, hard look at her when she said Taki-sensei was "cool." There's something there, I suspect.

 

Kitauji's first public performance started well, and even the flag girls got that "mystery step" working well, but we didn't see the middle. I hope things went well all the way through, but you never can tell with this show.