Sound! Euphonium had a pretty subdued episode this week, and seemed to be in something of a dramatic transition period. Mamiko’s clashes with her family were the most compelling moments here, but those generally rode on the inherent nature of the conflict or the show’s terrific voice acting more than astonishing visual execution. Certainly not an ostentatious episode, but still a pretty reasonable one. And of course, small Kumiko is very good.

You can check out my full review over at ANN, or my notes below!

Tiny Kumiko!!!

Inspired by her sister to join band

“I’ve been saying I wanted to be a beautician since middle school. You were the one who said no!”

Mamiko is her sister’s name

“I wanted to keep up with band, like Kumiko!”

And Kumiko just lounging in the background, hearing but not making a sound

“If you’re really quitting, you’re leaving this house.” Jeez

Mamiko is her name. She played trombone

But she never opened up to Kumiko about any of this. We only see a small fragment of even our family

Asuka echoes her sister’s words – Kumiko expresses concern, but Asuka won’t open up to her

Asuka invites Kumiko to her place in her own idiosyncratic way

Kumiko gets sick

There’s a strong grey tone over all of this episode’s present-day material, matching Kumiko’s status

Kumiko being defensive for a few people’s sake in saying that everyone has issues with people. Through Asuka, she’s defending her sister as well

Great sequence of expressions for Aoi here

This episode’s direction is honestly kinda bland

Cute scene for Reina and Kumiko

Very nice fight between Kumiko and Mamiko. Great voice acting, and the framing doesn’t oversell it

I like how senseless their disagreements are

Shuichi’s actually being a great friend

Oh my god these flashbacks are too much