NOTE :

My history with Hibike.

• Keeping it short and sweet here. Discovered this absolute gem back in August and it instantly shot up to my 2nd (potentially 1st) favorite show of all time.

- I procrastinated a whole lot (re-watched s1,s2 and Liz once) before finally getting to the latest entry.

- Part of the reason was because I'm usually just reluctant to finish my favorite shows because the idea of "All good things must come to an end" fucking sucks.The other more important reason was that I heard that this movie did not live up to its predecessors.

Unfortunately, the rumors were true.

Review

Problems

Pacing and Content

• I'm going to address the elephant in the room right from the get-go as it is the most glaring problem. I don't know how or where to begin but the movie is a cramped mess. I don't want to get into the tiniest of details so I'll give you a general idea of why this was the case.

- In case y'all didn't know, the original Hibike! Euphonium Novel is split into 3 years, spanning over the course of MC Kumiko's high school years. The first 2 seasons of the anime adapted Kumiko's 1st year of high school. This movie adapts the 2nd year.

- IF it's still unclear, Year 1 had an 8hr runtime while Year 2 was hastily packed into a 1hr40m movie. Naturally this would lead to TONS of content being skipped/skimmed over. I don't want to get to into spoiler territory so just know that the pacing and content of the movie sucks, from start to around 3/4 of its runtime. This is my biggest gripe with the movie.

Budget

• I have one more issue with it, that being the budget and how it was spent. I love the performance, but there were a few things that made it miss the mark for me.

- I've never cried at any music performance in my life, until I listened to the third movement of Liz and the Blue Bird's titular piece. I mention this because its plain as day to see that this is where most of the budget went. It's not a bad thing, but...

- the performance is merely a backseat. I shit you not, we can have a 360p crappily animated performance, slap it on s1, 2 or Liz's climax performances and they would still be good. It's because...

- Hibike! Euphonium is about the journey, not the end. So blowing all their budget to do such a grand performance didn't sit well with me because I'd much rather trade the entire performance for a good middle section.

Positives

Potential

• Even with the scuffed pacing, it's clear as day that Hibike! will always have some of the best characters this medium has to offer. Though most of the drama that would otherwise be emphasized on if this movie was instead turned into a series were short, they were super interesting. Perhaps it's due to them being rushed that piqued my interest, but I could actually see it de-throning S2's drama if stretched out.

Authenticity

• This is one of the rarest things in Anime nowadays. Hibike! is one of the few possessors of said Authenticity. I will probably never have the right words to describe what I mean by this.

Characters

• Another Hibike special. Every single key Y1 student brings so much new conflicts to the table, while our Main Y2 cast continues to discover about themselves and their futures. Lastly, the remaining Y3s try their hardest to make their final year a memorable one.

Conclusion

• All in all, this movie is but an installation in one of the best Animes of all time, and if you liked it previous seasons, this one will be no different.

• Finally, for all those who just scroll down to look at the score, note that my scoring for movies (except Liz) don't matter for shit because I haven't seen enough of them. Read the actual content to get a better understanding of how I truly feel.