Transitioning From Second to Third Year

Sound! Euphonium: Ensemble Contest Arc (Hibike! Euphonium: Ensemble Contest-hen / 『響け！ユーフォニアム』アンサンブルコンテスト編) is the fourth Sound! Euphonium movie. But, it’s a bit different from the previous three movies. The first three movies are a trilogy, with the first two being recap and the third being a sequel to Season 2.

So, how is the Ensemble Contest Arc different? Well, for starters, it came out four years after the other movies. It’s also not numbered like the first three; this isn’t “Movie 4.” And, it’s shorter than the first three, only being an hour long.

Alright, but, is the Ensemble Contest Arc worth watching? This is the same question I asked in my review of Movie 3. And, my answer is still the same. Yes, you should (probably) watch the Ensemble Contest arc before watching Season 3. Why? For the same reason as why you should watch Movie 3.

The first two seasons of the series covered Kumiko’s first year at Kitauji High School. Movie 3 covers the majority of her second year. And, the Ensemble Contest Arc covers the end of her second year. That’s important because Season 3 takes place during Kumiko’s third year.

Now, before watching this movie, I thought the Ensemble Contest Arc took place during the third year. Kumiko’s the club president, so she must be a third-year student, right? Not quite. Yes, she’s the president, but the grade above her hasn’t graduated yet. This movie takes place in a transitional period.

The Ensemble Contest Arc takes place at the end of the year as the older students are stepping back from the band. The students in Kumiko’s grade are taking on bigger roles within the band. And, we’re getting to know more of the first — soon-to-be second — year students.

The Ensemble Contest

Okay, but what is the Ensemble Contest, anyway? It’s not the same as the other competitions we’ve seen the band compete in. In the Ensemble Contest, the full band doesn’t play. Instead, groups of 2-8 compete, with only one group from each school allowed.

But, how do you decide who gets to play in the contest? You have another, mini-contest. The band members are going to split themselves up into small groups and perform. Then, there’s going to be a public vote involving both current and outgoing students to determine which group gets to compete.

This system is supposed to be a bit more transparent. However, it has its own set of problems. This didn’t end up happening, but the public vote could have turned into a popularity contest. What did end up happening, though, is that some students were left out.

Since the students weren’t assigned groups, they had to form their own. And, if a student isn’t particularly close to other students in the band, they’re not going to be a first choice. We saw this happen with quite a few students who ended up forming a hodgepodge group.

What I liked about this movie is that it didn’t have the same drama as the previous two seasons and movie. It had its own drama — like seeing Kumiko struggle with how to get every member of the band involved as the club president.

I was actually far more interested in seeing that side of things than seeing the petty drama. Hopefully, Season 3 continues with more of this kind of content. I know the first episode of Season 3 is already out. But, I haven’t watched it yet because I wanted to wait until after this review.

Prequel to Season 3

Let’s make some predictions about Season 3 based on this movie (and Movie 3). Then, after Season 3 finishes, I’ll revisit my predictions in that review and see how well I did. Or, what’s also possible is that I forget I made these predictions and never bring them up again.

It seems very clear that a few of the first-year students were positioned to be important in their second year. In particular, there are Kanade, Mirei, and Satsuki from Movie 3, who were also in this movie. And, there’s Tsubame Kamaya, the featured first-year student of the Ensemble Contest Arc.

These four are going to be taking the place of the upperclassmen who are now gone. Mirei and Satsuki have a similar relationship to Yuuko and Natsuki. Kanade is like Asuka. And, Tsubame reminds me a lot of Mizore. I see these four characters continuing the roles of their predecessors.

Characters aside, I’m also expecting the Ensemble Contest to be a sort of B-plot in Season 3. We didn’t actually get to see the competition happen in this movie. The Ensemble Contest Arc was all about forming groups and deciding who was going to compete.

Since the competition didn’t happen in the movie, I’m guessing it’ll happen in Season 3. And, that could be a source of drama in the season. Did splitting into these smaller groups fracture the unity of the band? Will the incoming first-years feel left out because they didn’t get a chance at the Ensemble Contest?

I know the key visuals for Season 3 highlight one first-year girl, in particular. So, I’m interested in seeing where she fits in. How is she going to disrupt things? I’m guessing Kanade, the resident pot-stirrer, is going to cause problems for this new girl.

Final Thoughts

I gave Sound! Euphonium: Ensemble Contest Arc a 6/10. As with the previous movie, It’s pretty good. If you like Sound! Euphonium, you’ll like it. But, it is only an hour long, so there’s not that much time to explore the new drama. And, it also features a literal slide show, which was an interesting choice.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to share it with everyone you know. Also, follow me on your social media of choice so you don’t miss out on any future articles — links are in the footer.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman and JasonHK for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. To learn more about the perks of supporting this blog, check out DoubleSama.com/support.

New Year, New Band Members

Sound! Euphonium: Our Promise: A Brand New Day (Hibike! Euphonium Movie 3: Chikai no Finale / 劇場版 響け！ユーフォニアム～誓いのフィナーレ～) is the sequel to Season 2. To some of you, that might not make sense. How is the third movie the sequel to Season 2? What about the other movies? What about Season 3?

Allow me to explain the order of this series. First, there’s Season 1. Second, there’s Season 2. Then, the first two movies are recap movies of Seasons 1 & 2. So, you can skip those. After those comes Movie 3 (this movie), which follows Season 2.

Do we go to Season 3 next? Nope. Following Movie 3, there’s the Ensemble Contest Arc, which is another (shorter) movie. And, finally, after that, we get to Season 3 which begins airing tomorrow. But, can’t you just skip the movies and go right from Season 2 to Season 3 anyway? I wouldn’t recommend it.

You see, this movie covers the entire second year. Seasons 1 & 2 covered Kumiko’s first year at Kitauji High School. The entire second year is condensed down into this one movie, which felt really weird. And then the Ensemble Contest Arc and Season 3 both take place during the third year.

So, why shouldn’t you skip Movie 3? The simple answer is that it introduces quite a few new characters. Now that Kumiko and the gang are second-years, we get new first-year students. Those new students are still going to be around in Season 3 as second-years.

That’s the big chronological reason why you should watch this movie. But, there’s another reason. If you’re planning to watch Season 3, you probably like Sound! Euphonium. So, why would you skip this movie? It gives you more, canon, Sound! Euphonium content.

From “It’s So Over” to “We’re So Back”

I’m sure it comes as no surprise to many of you reading this that I’m on the Kumiko x Reina hype train. Kumiko might not know it, but she’s in love with Reina. And, Reina might not know it, but she’s in love with Kumiko.

Now, Reina has always been very open about how she has a crush on Taki-sensei. But, I don’t see that going anywhere. He’s quite a bit older than her, has already been married before, is her teacher, and has known her since she was a kid.

Considering all of those factors, it’s pretty easy for me to brush Reina’s crush aside. Kumiko is a bit of a different story. There’s always been something between her an Shuuichi. However, it never amounted to much. In most cases, it felt like a one-sided crush on Shuuichi’s part.

This all changes in Movie 3. Much to my horror, Kumiko and Shuiichi actually started dating. I’ll admit that it was cute seeing them going on dates and holding hands. But, the main thing I was thinking was, “It’s so over. The Kumiko x Reina ship has sunk.”

Luckily for all the Kumiko x Reina stans out there, this isn’t where things ended. Kumiko and Shuuichi broke up. We’re so back! The Kumiko x Reina ship was salvaged from the ocean floor, repaired, and set sail once again. At least, for now.

Kumiko and Shuuichi mutually decided that this wasn’t the right time for them to be together. But, they left the door open to rekindle their relationship at a later point. I haven’t seen the Ensemble Contest Arc yet, so I don’t know if it happens in that movie. But, if not, it’ll probably happen in Season 3, unfortunately.

Seasons 1 & 2 Drama, Revisited

Alright, it’s finally time to talk about the main plot of the movie. New students come into the Kitauji High School band and have some concerns. They want to know if who gets to perform in competitions is based on merit or seniority.

By that, I mean they want to know if third-year students get preference or if it’s purely based on skill. And, if that sounds familiar, it’s because it is. We did this whole song and dance already back in Season 1 when Kumiko was a first-year student.

Remember how Reina was chosen over Asuka to perform the solo in the competition? Yeah, the same exact thing is happening again. And, it’s also very similar to what happened in Season 2, which focused on the mess that occurred two years ago. Basically, this movie doesn’t do anything new.

So, what exactly is the drama? Wasn’t this all solved last year? Yes and no. It was solved as far as the current second and third-year students are concerned. They know that Kitauji’s competition band is merit-based and have come to accept that. The incoming first-year students, however, were not around for that.

Some of the first-year students don’t believe that this is a true meritocracy. Or, if they do, they believe they’ll be punished for outperforming the upperclassmen. For example, the rule might be that a first-year who’s better than a third-year gets the spot. But, will the upperclassmen then shun that first-year student?

We know the answer is no. And the second and third-year students know the answer is no. However, the first-year students still aren’t so sure. They’ve also heard about what happened two years ago. So, it makes sense that they’d be wary. Some students from back then are still around.

Final Thoughts

Sound! Euphonium: Our Promise: A Brand New Day gets a 6/10 from me. It was a fine movie and I enjoyed watching it. But, the big issue was that it reintroduced the same drama that we just saw for two entire seasons. If it did something — anything — different, it would be a better movie.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to share it with everyone you know. Also, follow me on your social media of choice so you don’t miss out on any future articles — links are in the footer.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman and JasonHK for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. To learn more about the perks of supporting this blog, check out DoubleSama.com/support.

My review of the Ensemble Contest Arc is available now.