I wasn’t as big of a fan of this episode as the last several, but this is still a very good show, and now I at least can actually see how this show might end within a single season. Kumiko remains great, Taki got another standout episode, and everything’s still pretty and well-written and at least reasonably composed. Sound! Euphonium continues apace.

Here’s my full ANN writeup. Notes below!

The cut-ins to the OP are always so good

Starting with the tense section leader meeting

The whole team waiting to hear what happens is great

“As if to say she didn’t give a damn about any of that nonsense, Kousaka’s trumpet blared across the sky.”

Sensei’s doing crazy training, making them jog around the fields

Kumiko is bad of course, but Midori’s worse

He’s trying to get them to learn fundamentals in unorthodox ways. Not sure of the pacing, though

Nice harmonica-driven track here with good percussion and guitar twang

Yeah, working on breath and endurance

“If you can all play perfectly together ten times in a row, we’ll move on to the next exercise.”

Taki-sensei trying to make Hazuki learn the tuba basics. And they nicely demonstrate her not being able to keep the note evenly

Kumiko being a bit of a perfectionist on whatever she’s currently working on is a nice choice for her character. She’s happy to fixate

Lots of great tiny moments in this episode

“Haven’t you spent years of your precious time on this club?” Taki to a crying flautist

“Personally, I don’t hate the way he does things.”

Getting little moments with all the band members, trying to keep this ensembly. But it means the episode feels a little less tight, focused, and graceful than the previous ones, with fewer standout emotional moments so far

Hazuki’s scared tubaing face is great

Solfège – when you sing the notes. The episode title, and what the bass section is forced to do, since they’re the backbone

Taki-sensei is sharp in his criticism, but not needlessly cruel. He’s just very precise in what he knows and what he wants from the team

Teaching them the overtones of their sound when they play in pitch

He’s very agreeable when people are moving forward

Midori put out that the others didn’t invite her to sneak a look at Taki-sensei

Running into Tsukamoto, Kumiko’s old friend

“Do you understand what I’m saying?” Taki-sensei isn’t letting them get by just agreeing with them – he wants to make sure he is understood, and that each problem is taken care of, before he moves on to the next task

“Kumiko’s pretty cynical, isn’t she?” “Huh?” Great Kumiko face here. She’s a great protagonist

Kousaka of course speaks directly about problems in the trumpet section, causing trouble. A natural conflict of her personality

And now we learn this is Taki-sensei’s first time teaching a concert band

Gorgeous outdoor shots with nice framing here

“Just so you know, Taki-sensei’s awesome.” Kousaka likes him. Maybe he’s why she went here?

Great framing devices throughout this scene too. Kousaka and the others separate by bars, everyone slotted in a picture frame of scenery

We offhand learn in the next scene that Kumiko originally followed her sister into concert band, which makes sense for Kumiko

Some pretty great Kumiko faces this episode

I do love the KyoAni backgrounds. They often feel like pencil sketches done over in watercolor

Kousaka just wanted to apologize, but Kumiko’s now blabbing all of her insecurities and apologies

Oh my god Kumiko is adorable. She apologizes, says Kousaka is inspiring, and then runs away with that ridiculous face

Whole lotta leg shots this second half

Kumiko feels good saying what she means for once

I like how the parent-teacher conferences are just referenced on the periphery of this episode, just something that’s happening as the story’s proceeding

Goto, the big tuba player, getting a bit of a scene here

Kumiko steeling herself to trying and prompt the lazy one, Nakagawa, to actually contribute

And the performance is a success. The show’s work of making this an ensemble piece has paid off – it can jump between simple parts to show everyone contributing their piece

He had the practice schedule for SunFes all ready, of course

“If we gather the time you all waste being young, this much practice shouldn’t be that difficult.”