Hibike! Euphonium’s final season, now a final duology of movies, has come to an end. In recent years, it’s turned out to be Kyoto Animation’s most successful anime project, rolling out from a project under their book publishing label to a multimedia celebration of music with a search for purpose beyond the expectations placed, to push beyond. Backed by a soundtrack of roarcous orchestral sound that rallies the energy of these young people seeking to find themselves in the most turbulent moment in their life, turned into performance.
At this point, the question is not really whether you should watch this movie or not. If you have not seen the series prior to this point, you should, but this is not going to be the movie you jump into. If you know the series, you will likely want to see it through to the end, and the question is whether it can actually live up to the expectations of fans and provide a satisfying conclusion. Of course, that conclusion came some time ago, both in its original medium and as a TV show, but people still want to see where its movie can enhance it.
In that sense, it certainly achieves that. These final two movies cover the final year of the Kitauji High School life of Kumiko and the orchestra group that got so close to winning nationals and have one more chance to achieve it. At least, one more chance as the group who, together, helped to revive and elevate the orchestra. It should be a thrilling adventure to see it to the end, but the focus instead shifts to one of anxiety for Kumiko as she feels the responsibility of her club president role with uncertainty for the future. She’s the club leader, and so talented! But what if it’s not enough? What if she doesn’t even want to go on with music to a professional level?
That’s part of what the first movie covers - a new third year joins the school and orchestra as a euphonium player, and rivals Kumiko in her abilities. For the first performance to get to nationals, she even gets chosen ahead of Kumiko to perform, because of the agreement everyone made to prioritize performance over sentimentality. And it leads to a reconsideration of what the future can and should look like as university entrance exams approach.
There’s a risk such a story, so close to the end, could feel disjointed. As much as you’ve focused on this orchestra up to this point, splitting their final nationals push with a story so removed from that risks feeling like a story split and unfocused. But it’s our built-up love for these characters that allows this story to work - as much as we want to see them achieve their dream, we care about the journey because we care for these characters. So naturally, we care for their concerns and see them not as some disconnected tale but deeply integral to the nature of what it means for them to achieve their goal.
It leads to some of the most emotional scenes in the series to date, right at the end. Kumiko will get her chance to perform at nationals, in the end, but the decision on who will perform the euphonium solo will require a blind second audition in front of the entire orchestra. In other words, performing the part behind a screen, so the group can judge only the sound to pick their winner.
The value and the pain and the competition of their goal all coalesce in this one scene, and the result of who is chosen is felt and reverberates against the past and remaining moments of the story. In a sense, its these moments that matter more than the nationals, which have a sense of inevitability to them and are allowed to occur more as support for the personal arcs finding their conclusion. We see parallels for Reina and Kumiko’s friendship play out while analyzing the fallout of this moment and what it means.
That doesn’t mean nationals are unimportant. Indeed, when we finally reach that performance, it’s a moment that makes me relieved the choice was made to take this finale and transform it into a movie version for the big screen. Alongside the animation improvements and a re-edit that feels so natural you would never think it was once episodic, the sound and scale of a big screen can overwhelm in a way a TV adaptation never could. Hearing their final performance at nationals over the speakers of a well-tuned cinema is genuinely moving to the point of tears.
But ultimately, it feels like a closing of a book not just on the series but these characters. There’s a distinct finality that embodies the idea not to be sad because its over but glad that it happened. Spending our final moments with graduation, and taking a step to the future, what matters moment is that they found a place to belong for three years in this orchestra and come together to achieve something incredible. The next step is not irrelevant, but it doesn’t matter where they choose to go, the lessons learned and the belief earned from being able to come together as they did will suit them in their future no matter what happens.
It makes Hibike! Euphonium The Final Movie Part 2 such an emotional experience, provided you are invested in these characters. When it can often be so difficult to find an ending to a long-running story that satisfies everyone, Ayano Takeda’s original story and Kyoto Animation find a solution by de-emphasizing the actual events for a more personal question of whether the characters have found peace with their growth and path forwards. After all, over the years we have enjoyed the story with them, we have grown just like them. The question is, are they glad they went through it all to come out the other end, regardless of the outcome?
It’s an ending bound to bring tears because, ultimately, they are. Something that isn’t a spoiler to say, because it’s a feeling divorced from what actually happens, but embodies the emotions felt as the credits roll.
Over the years of this anime’s run, Hibike! Euphonium has been more than just a story: it’s led to a renewed interest in orchestras and learning an instrument the way Kyoto Animation encouraged a boom in k-on bands with their K-On! anime. It introduced characters people have been able to fall in love with to the point that their happiness can trump even the content of the story they exist within. For that, Hibike! Euphonium The Final Movie Part 2 has closed that book with verve, in a way that ensures the legacy can live on. Continue to inspire. Isn’t that what matters most?
