Hibike Euphonium is one of those shows where what you see isn’t at all what you get (in a good way!), it initially presents itself as this ensemble show about learning and moving up in a concert band, but after a certain point early into S1 it becomes clear how much more ambitious this show actually is. The characters are all so life-like and feel uniquely ‘independent’ that even every single one of the supporting cast steals the show at some point. While the show obviously has an overarching goal with regards to the band, every character deals with their own baggage.

Kumiko is the character I would like to talk about first, the opening of the first episode shows us a glimpse of her past in the concert band with a scene of her brief disappointment, after this we see her prepare for her new life in Kitauji, even wearing her hair differently which can mean several things but it does tie in to her seeking a fresh start since changing her hairstyle evokes a sense of rejuvenation or new beginning which later comes to ahead when she chooses to move forward (ironically) by going back to her new friends in Kitauji rather than reminisce about the past with former classmates and friends. Back to that opening scene, seeing the person beside her be significantly more troubled by the result causes her to deflect, you can’t be too disappointed if you didn’t even aim that far in the first place. This scene stuck with me quite personally since it’s a common rationale I often fall back to myself. The sight of Reina’s discontent stays with Kumiko throughout the duration of the season, every once in a while she stops to contemplate about what she felt during those moments and Kumiko coming to realize for herself what Reina felt during that moment later on is a perfectly executed payoff. The show is excellent at conveying such an emotional moment that is arguably the most important moment in the whole show, the way Kumiko cries when the frustration of it all hits her is so raw and visceral it gives me chills every time I watch it, the feeling of being so frustrated she isn’t even acknowledging the fact that she’s doing this in the middle of a somewhat busy night, she finally understands exactly what Reina felt that night.

Reina is without a doubt the first character that stood out to me when I first watched the show and is by far my favorite character looking back. She’s a wonderfully layered character and how the show portrays her struggles are incredibly compelling, even comparable to Kumiko herself.

Despite showing vulnerability in one of the first scenes of the show, Reina early on has this layer of mystique and an intimidating aura about her when. Right from the get-go she exhibits her skill for music, it’s not an outlier either, it's quite the ongoing scene of her peers and superiors being impressed by her talents for better and for worse. It’s almost as if she starts out already accomplished, which is especially confusing with her joining a concert band that Kumiko herself deemed sounded rough.

But just because Reina starts out as already a talented musician and passionate about music from the start means she has no journey to undertake herself. One of the things established about her other than her comparative disappointment with the results is her isolation, we see this constantly throughout the show, where Reina frequently practices on rooftops where no one can bother her and bikes from school to home alone. If we skip ahead to Episode 8, one of her most striking scenes is her desire to be “Truly special”, this ties well with her first scene, Reina is completely alone aside from Kumiko who just happened to sit there, for me it’s likely a similar reason to her isolation now, she’s on a completely different wavelength from everyone else. Kumiko’s remark to her during that opening scene is pivotal for her character, in a way it sort of did make her ‘special’ for wanting to aim that high while everyone else settled for what was expected of them. Fast forward to later, that fixation on becoming special goes from something thrust upon her by a combination of her attitude, ambitions and personality to something that she sees as something to work towards.

Kumiko is really the only person Reina can really express herself towards, the red string of fate connecting them in the ED makes that evidently clear, to everyone else, especially after the incident with Yuuko, she’s completely fine playing the villain to everyone else as long as the end result benefits her but with Kumiko it’s different, throughout their conversations she’s always asking Kumiko if she gets what she means, despite wanting to be different and stand out it’s almost as if she’s hoping Kumiko ends up being like her. Despite this, Reina doesn’t go through a drastic change overnight, she maintains her ambitions but recognizes that she doesn’t have to burn everything down around her or be alone, playing in a band isn’t something you can do alone after all, we see this when she apologizes to Kaori-senpai and takes the train to catch a ride with Kumiko. To end this section about Reina, I’d like to talk about the end of episode 3. It's a simple but beautiful scene, it encapsulates what Reina said when she wanted to be special and why she chose the Trumpet before she even said it. When practice got cancelled, everyone else walked away, possibly disappointed, possibly overjoyed at having to go home early but Reina? She has to express her lament by playing a piece for (probably) 1/3rd of the school to hear belting out her frustrations in a scream.

Kumiko and Reina are the most I wanted to talk about when I decided to make this review but over the course of my rewatch I found myself fixated on characters I brushed off or didn’t even think about the first time, though I’ll only briefly touch on them for now as I’m saving them for my season 2 review. The first character that stood out to me was Kaori, who is arguably the most involved with the drama outside of the 4 main characters. Seeing someone like Kaori who is considered very gentle and welcoming as opposed to Reina who (to most people) is cold and blunt be pitted against each other in universe and to the viewer is interesting, the easy route would be to make the ‘correct’ choice someone with the more pleasing personality but this show doesn’t take the easy route most of the time and to its benefit (even later on..), it’s honestly hard to watch and not because it’s actually bad but because it tackles something uncomfortable so it’s hard to watch for a good reason. As a senior and as someone who holds the position in the concert band you’re naturally put on a pedestal with expectations everyone expects you to deliver and getting put in her position has to hit hard, not just because of the implications socially but also because of your expectations for yourself.

The last character I’ll talk about is Natsuki who is a fellow Euphonium player and a year above Kumiko, she is initially presented as an uncaring and non-chalant member even as early as the OP. However this is partly due to her calm nature and the state of the band, in reality she is an incredibly caring person, even setting aside her slight jealousy over being overshadowed by her junior. This is in contrast to Kumiko’s past experience, where her senior lashed out at her for ‘taking’ her spot in the performance whereas Natsuki not only does the opposite of that, she even uses it as motivation to get better herself and becomes more passionate about the band’s goal. It’s sort of an unexpected pay-off to Kumiko sticking to her principles, instead of bowing down to the rule of seniority.

To top this all off, Hibike Euphonium deals with a lot of subjects but the one that leaves a lasting impression to me to this day is passion, it’s the show’s lifeblood. Without passion we could just choose the easiest option and be done with it but there’s a certain thrill and satisfaction beyond all the hardships of wanting to stand out and be special or wanting to improve and be the best, it gives us a purpose, a reason to keep going, to keep improving, and to not settle for any less. That's something no shortcut or easy option can give you. To me, that makes you pretty damn special.