Looking back on S1 of Sound Euphonium it didnt seem to have any overarching themes. One that comes to mind was the relationship between certain key characters and their instruments showing how their personality and behaviour can change with a piece of brass or wood in their hands but thats at least slightly farfetched. Comparatively S2 not only has a central theme but also a plot building it up and then exploring. Namely why those key characters are in the concert band or rather because of whom. This is a good point to mention that Ill take some liberty with mentioning plot threads from later episodes but Ill try to avoid spoiling particular events as much as I can. The season starts right where we left off the Kitauji High School Music Club has passed the first stage of the AllJapan Band Competition and continues to aim for the Nationals. In order to achieve that additional coaches are recruited and students are putting even more focus into practicing. However some issues from the past are rearing their heads again. The infamous incident that caused most of current 2nd years to quit is still finding ways to affect the bands life. Asuka continues to be an enigma in a way that can seriously screw with people. Kumikos relationship with her sister which was only very briefly touched before now proves to be its own bag of problems. The interesting thing here is that first few episodes tell a story which centers around none of the main characters. Instead it introduces two new ones and the entire conflict is between the two whereas everyone else is only tangentially attached to it if even that. Thus the show takes its time telling us the nature of relationship of this duo and everything around it and by the time we know everything the entire situation is resolved. However once thats out of the way four other characters simultaneously go through a very similar story. In a way the second part of this season retells the events of the first one in more detail and on more examples which is quite an interesting story structure in my opinion. Those branching threads share some of the particularities while differing on other aspects. One subplot is about the everlasting conflict of club activities versus studies truth is most of these characters wont become musicians so every once in a while the reality knocks on the door and asks are you sure its wise to practice for some competition you probably arent going to win instead of studying for your exams? Which in turn begs the question Ive mentioned in the opening paragraph why are you playing in the concert band in the first place? And Ill have you know those answers can be quite suprising. At this point its worth to mention that S1 adapted only one volume of the light novel series the anime is based on. S2 decides to go for two at once which I havent noticed in terms of the material feeling rushed or anything of that sort but it does explain the structure of this season compared to the previous one. It seems like a good decision although I dont know what if anything was omitted. Also I have to say that its interesting that despite looking as part of main four in the promotional material theres even less Midori and Katou this season compared to the previous one with the former being reduced to a goofball who likes to say simple cliches with completely straight face and the latter being almost completely nonexistent. Not that Im complaining those who were given attention are inherently much more interesting characters. Also this shift of focus gives a nice feeling of getting closer to the characters that received more of it this season even if this leaves others in a position of filler characters who already said their piece and can now be let go. But again those characters were never made interesting in the first place so it feels fully intentional and works well. Theres really nothing to say about the production of this show KyoAni has accustomed us to high quality animation and voice acting and Im not the right person to explain what exactly is high quality about it. What I can commend is the directing with some amazing atmospheric scenes and scenery shots good use of camera shaking during emotional scenes cuts that feel just right and great use of background music. One thing I have to say is that the show started slightly losing me near the finish line with seemingly infinite torrent of scenes where characters loudly express their rather simple feelings towards each other but there was enough nuance in the very last episode to leave on a high note. Additionally I have to shout out my very favorite scene of this season where The entire conversation is definitely my favorite one in this show period and seemed like something out of an entirely different show but it also fit really well with context of that episode and overall plot. I wonder if well see a return of Sound Euphonium. The ending seemed like something that couldve been the final scene of the entire series and I would be satisfied by that but therere easily more stories you could tell with those characters and the themes this show revolves around. I love the melancholic atmosphere this show can so effortlessly create and I have to say that Ive also quickly fell in love with the setting of wind ensembles. While there seems to be a limit of how much can you do with a comingofage story the good ones are quite rare so its always great to see one executed so well. I dread the return of more lighthearted cutesy KyoAni but even if they never produce anything in similar vein again Im really happy that this series happened.