NOTE : This is not going to follow my usual style of reviewing a show because I just want to get some major things out of my head with this show. Also note that this will be spoilerfree. My history with Hibike. Keeping it short and sweet here. Discovered this absolute gem back in August and it instantly shot up to my 2nd potentially 1st favorite show of all time. I procrastinated a whole lot rewatched s1s2 and Liz once before finally getting to the latest entry. Part of the reason was because Im usually just reluctant to finish my favorite shows because the idea of All good things must come to an end fucking sucks.The other more important reason was that I heard that this movie did not live up to its predecessors. Unfortunately the rumors were true. Review Problems Pacing and Content Im going to address the elephant in the room right from the getgo as it is the most glaring problem. I dont know how or where to begin but the movie is a cramped mess. I dont want to get into the tiniest of details so Ill give you a general idea of why this was the case. In case yall didnt know the original Hibike Euphonium Novel is split into 3 years spanning over the course of MC Kumikos high school years. The first 2 seasons of the anime adapted Kumikos 1st year of high school. This movie adapts the 2nd year. IF its still unclear Year 1 had an 8hr runtime while Year 2 was hastily packed into a 1hr40m movie. Naturally this would lead to TONS of content being skipped/skimmed over. I dont want to get to into spoiler territory so just know that the pacing and content of the movie sucks from start to around 3/4 of its runtime. This is my biggest gripe with the movie. Budget I have one more issue with it that being the budget and how it was spent. I love the performance but there were a few things that made it miss the mark for me. Ive never cried at any music performance in my life until I listened to the third movement of Liz and the Blue Birds titular piece. I mention this because its plain as day to see that this is where most of the budget went. Its not a bad thing but... the performance is merely a backseat. I shit you not we can have a 360p crappily animated performance slap it on s1 2 or Lizs climax performances and they would still be good. Its because... Hibike Euphonium is about the journey not the end. So blowing all their budget to do such a grand performance didnt sit well with me because Id much rather trade the entire performance for a good middle section. Positives Potential Even with the scuffed pacing its clear as day that Hibike will always have some of the best characters this medium has to offer. Though most of the drama that would otherwise be emphasized on if this movie was instead turned into a series were short they were super interesting. Perhaps its due to them being rushed that piqued my interest but I could actually see it dethroning S2s drama if stretched out. Authenticity This is one of the rarest things in Anime nowadays. Hibike is one of the few possessors of said Authenticity. I will probably never have the right words to describe what I mean by this. Characters Another Hibike special. Every single key Y1 student brings so much new conflicts to the table while our Main Y2 cast continues to discover about themselves and their futures. Lastly the remaining Y3s try their hardest to make their final year a memorable one. Conclusion All in all this movie is but an installation in one of the best Animes of all time and if you liked it previous seasons this one will be no different. Finally for all those who just scroll down to look at the score note that my scoring for movies except Liz dont matter for shit because I havent seen enough of them. Read the actual content to get a better understanding of how I truly feel. Thanks for reading
72 /100
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