In the context of Sound Euphonium, the word “finale” takes on an extra layer of meaning. This is the final act of an anime series that has been around since 2015. We have spent three times the number of years a Japanese student actually spends in high school with this series that is redolent with nostalgia for high school. Today we’re going to look at the other anime this season that came close, but just did not quite nail the landing.

As some of you may remember, I did not like – indeed, actively avoided – this series, until the unbridled genius of Liz And The Blue Bird convinced me that, despite my distaste for the animation, the story would be worth my time. I have not been disappointed…but this series has left me with as much frustration as admiration.

In Sound Euphonium, Season 3, streaming on Crunchyroll, Kumiko is now the band president and once again the band has voted to push themselves to their limit in hopes of gaining gold in the Nationals. This series does not look away from the level of effort that it takes to excel, even going so far to show it as a kind of emotional and physical abuse. Even knowing that young people choose this kind of training every day in a myriad of endeavors, does not make it less horrible for me to watch. I remember the late nights and early mornings of band practice in a band that was never going to win anything but a participation trophy. We still tried. We tried our best, even when the adults around us failed us. I remember the best performance we ever gave was heard by no one but us, as we waited for our dumpster fire of a band director to find keys to let us back in to the band room after a miserable performance at a competition.  We were amazing, playing out our anger and frustration as we stood there, late at the end of a long day. I still hate that song.

It is because of my personal experience with some of the worst band directors ever to have been born on this planet that I loathe and despise Taki-sensei, a man who allowed his capricious and pointless decisions to make the band members question their existence and throw the band into chaos for no good reason. Knowing that the anime is different from the novel slightly makes me want to read that, to fix the crime which we all witnessed.

The crime? Simply that the second performance…was better. Kumiko *should* have gotten the soli part.

You’ll argue that the students picked the winner that time…but Reina calls that into question with her confession. She has an unhealthy obsession with Taki-sensei and knows how he chose.  She even said, repeatedly that they all have to trust his decisions. But I, at a distance want to shout, “No, you do NOT have to trust this man. You should not, he is not on your side.” He’s unwilling to care for the emotional well-being of the band, ignores a very problematic situation with a student and admits he just goes with his guts. You are forced to trust in him, but at no point is he trustworthy.

So the end of the series is bittersweet, in the way so many Japanese high school narratives are. And then we get a coda which almost, but not quite hits the gold. I expected exactly the scene we were given, but hoped it would take place literally anywhere else. It felt too much like holding on to the past and not enough like moving forward.

I would consider this series, like so many this season, to be a deep dive into intimacy and friendship, but I will also acknowledge that Reina and Kumiko’s skinship was a consistent player on the field. Nonetheless, it never once read  – to me, obviously – that their relationship was more intimate than a friendship borne of shared experience, heartbreak and joy. Really, that was so much of what band was. We had crazy ups and downs all four years. In the end, what I remember most were all our parties, rather than the trips for hours only to lose a competition.

So…was this a good series? Yes. Beautifully animated (and we can really see in the flashbacks during the musical performance how much the animation has changed in 9 years) well-written, except for those niggling annoyances that I cannot let go of, and the music is, honestly excellent. Every season the musical performance has impressed me and this season may be my favorite of the three. The fact that the music is not hidden, or truncated, and that we are able to hear what we would normally just have to imagine for the competition, made this series worth watching.

Ratings:

Animation – 9
Story – 9
Characters – 9, but I have opinions about individual characters
Service – The carving up of body parts is less intrusive, but still distracting to me.
Yuri – 0, but 8 for intimacy

Overall – 9

As a person who now seeks out series in which women can be non-romantically intimate and build different kinds of relationships, even with the problems in this narrative, Sound Euphonium is a very solid recommendation from me.

I most especially liked the moment when every single band member, their instrument, position and name are listed out.