At last, it ends. Euphonium’s second season was far messier than the first, and was partially hamstrung by adopting a middle book that always felt fairly superfluous, but it sure did come together well. Asuka and Kumiko’s material has always been some of the best in the series, and watching their relationship grow over the course of this season was a wonderful experience. This was a graceful and poignant epilogue to a consistently rewarding series. Those friggin’ euphoniums did it again.
You can check out my excessively huge review over at ANN, or my notes below.
The third years retired. Time to elect new band officers!
Yuuko and Natsuki as president and vice president. Asuka’s final troll
Though they actually make a good presidential pair, in addition to being adorable together. Yuuko is all the fire and confidence of Asuka, Natsuki is the sensitive clear-headedness of Haruka
Kumiko has vague regrets about things “ending like this”
Oh my god, Kumiko and Asuka
“You never stop talking out of your ass”
Asuka says she “really does love” Kumiko, and Kumiko is actually very touched by that. And then Kumiko feels regretful that Asuka is just walking away
And now she’s thinking of Asuka memories and crying, and Yoroizuka says she’s sounding just like Asuka. WELL
Time passing consistently all through the winter
And then they get back together for the graduation handoff
Kumiko’s Asuka thirst is ridiculous. She keeps just vacantly staring at her through all these events
They’re doing great stuff with depth here, using a panning camera relative to two or three layers of students to create a sense of space in the classroom
Yuuko faces are so good
Love this little cut of Kaori mimicking Reina’s solo fingering
They didn’t need to sell it with the flashback, but that’s fine
Kumiko just staring straight at Asuka as she plays, hah
It’s true. In the end, the two of them match each other much better. Reina was the boost Kumiko needed, but Asuka’s the one who can actually relate to her
We are getting a fair number of flashbacks, which is perfectly appropriate
“I used to dislike you. But now, I love you. I want to play like you.”
Nick I’m so sad you didn’t choose Kizu part II in your best of 2016 list! You were supposed to represent for our Monogatari brothers 🙁 Lol but nah you had a good list and I thought this was a fantastic finish to Eupho season 2. Part of me wishes it would go on further just so I can see more beautiful animation, but I don’t think the writer has enough good material to warrant another season.
I really loved how perfectly executed this last episode was, like a nostalgia punch that makes you realize even more that a great show just ended. Man it sures leaves a hole in you.
And Yeah I agree, this season it had some parts… I didn’t like Reina so much on this season, but the Asuka parts made it all worth it.