10 Second Anime - Hibike! Euphonium - Episode 9



The girls deal with some awkwardness after the festival while also experiencing nerves, disappointment and triumph during the auditions.

Heh.

This was a pretty straightforward episode. There's some fallout from the Agata Festival that needed to be addressed and added into some character development. Then there were the auditions themselves, which revealed all the tensions that had been building.

 

The biggest revelation was Matsumoto-sensei's awesome legs. No wonder she keeps telling the girls to unroll their skirts. Wait, I mean, the biggest revelation was Asuka's temper.

This was supposedly scary. Okay, maybe what comes after this is scary and this is only the buildup. The senior students definitely didn't want to antagonize her into a more agitated state. It was a neat way to reinforce that Asuka is all about the music, but it was also a nice connection to Hazuki's failed confession to Shuuichi.

 

Hazuki appears to be quite alright about things, but it was the sensitive Sapphire who was letting the disappointment affect her music. Asuka hated that and Hazuki set her straight.

That doesn't take away the awkwardness between Shuuichi and the girls, though.

Kumiko is involved because of Shuuichi's feelings for her, but he can't even sit next to her on the train for the time being. Kumiko still notices his presence, so she might be beginning to acknowledge her own feelings.

 

Hazuki had a nice moment saying farewell to what might have been.

There was other fallout from the festival. Kumiko's little excursion with Reina seemed to have inspired her playing. The little glances she shared with Natsuki also underscored their competition for spots in the final ensemble.

Yes, auditions can be nerve-wracking.

Reina had a little pep talk with Kumiko. Reina's already confident in her mind that Kumiko has talent. She just needs to show it.

I guess we have confirmation that Reina likes touching Kumiko's face.

 

 

Hmm.

Judging from the tension, relief and disappointment as the names for the final ensemble were announced, Kumiko realized that everyone who was left in the band club really wanted to go to the competition. Natsuki was the best example of this, as one of the supposedly lazy members, she practiced hard, only to be left off the competition roster.

 

The flashback of Kumiko having a tense conversation with a girl in junior high was explained a little bit as a fight over an older student losing something to Kumiko. This might explain the detached shell Kumiko had built around herself so as to avoid those kind of feelings and confrontations. But with Natsuki losing out and Reina gaining the solo position over Kaori, causing resentment among her fans, Kumiko is going to have a snootful of these feelings.

 

Kumiko's sister provided a bit more information about Taki-sensei, which explained Reina's fangirling over him which tied to Azusa from Rikka explaining that Reina turned down that musical powerhouse to follow him. Which school did Mamiko the older sister attend? Was she one of the bad influences at Kitauji?

We'll have new kinds of stress and drama as the band club prepares for their first real contest. The old drama will still be there too in the form of Shuuichi's feelings for Kumiko and the little rivalries, serious and unserious, between the competition ensemble and the other club members. I'm curious to see what role these students left behind will have.