Sound! Euphonium

Sound! Euphonium (Japanese: 響け! ユーフォニアム, Hepburn: Hibike! Yūfoniamu) is a Japanese novel series written by Ayano Takeda. The story is set in Uji, Kyoto and focuses on the Kitauji High School Music Club, whose concert band is steadily improving thanks to the newly appointed adviser's strict instruction.
A manga adaptation illustrated by Hami was serialized on the Kono Manga ga Sugoi! Web website. Kyoto Animation was in charge of its anime adaptations: it produced two seasons of a television series adaptation in 2015 and 2016, depicting the first high school year of the main character, Kumiko Oumae. Two animated films titled Liz and the Blue Bird and Sound! Euphonium: The Movie – Our Promise: A Brand New Day, both taking place during Kumiko's second year of high school, premiered in 2018 and 2019 respectively. A third season focused on Kumiko in her third year of high school aired in 2024, preceded by the theatrical OVA Ensemble Contest in 2023.
The Kitauji High School Concert Band Club had at one time participated in national tournaments and was a championship-caliber school, but after the club's adviser changed, they had not been able to even participate in the qualifying tournament. However, thanks to the newly appointed adviser's strict instruction, the students are steadily improving and building up their strength. As they fight over who plays solos, some students give priority to studying and quit the club activities. Finally, the long wished-for day of the competition arrives.
Sound! Euphonium is a 319-page novel written by Ayano Takeda, and features cover art drawn by Nikki Asada. Takarajimasha published the novel on December 5, 2013. Two sequel novels were released on March 5 and April 4, 2015. In addition, a short story collection was released on May 25, 2015. In 2016, a spin-off novel about Rikka High School Marching Band was released in two volumes on August 4 and September 6. Another spin-off novel was released on October 6, 2016. A two-part sequel to the novels was released on August 26 and October 5, 2017; the story takes place in Kumiko's second year and Mizore's third year of high school. Another short story collection was released on April 5, 2018. Two follow-up novel volumes focused on Kumiko's third and final year on high school were released in April and May 2019. Another volume, portraying the graduation of the band seniors, was released on February 13, 2021. Another short story collection was released on June 27, 2024.
Yen Press released the first volume of the novel series in English in June 2017.
A manga adaptation of the first novel illustrated by Hami was serialized on the Kono Manga ga Sugoi! Web website between November 28, 2014 and October 30, 2015. Takarajimasha published three tankōbon volumes between April 3 and November 20, 2015. A manga adaptation of the second novel followed, and was serialized between January 15 and September 16, 2016; the first volume was released on September 8, 2016, and the second on October 11, 2016. A manga adaptation of the third novel followed, and was serialized between October 21, 2016 and July 21, 2017; the first volume was released on July 20, 2017, and the second volume on August 26, 2017.
A 13-episode anime television series adaptation of the first volume of the novel series, directed by Tatsuya Ishihara, written by Jukki Hanada, and produced by Kyoto Animation, aired in Japan between April 8 and July 1, 2015. Naoko Yamada served as series production director. The opening theme is "Dream Solister" by True, and the ending theme is "Tutti!" (トゥッティ!) by Tomoyo Kurosawa, Ayaka Asai, Moe Toyota, and Chika Anzai. The ending theme for episode 8 is a trumpet and euphonium duet version of "Ai o Mitsuketa Basho" (愛を見つけた場所, "The Place Where We Found Love") and the ending theme for episode 13 is a wind orchestra version of "Dream Solister". Crunchyroll streamed the series. The seventh DVD/BD volume, released on December 16, 2015, bundled an original video animation (OVA) episode titled "Ready, Set, Monaka" (かけだすモナカ, Kakedasu Monaka). Kyoto Animation produced an anime film retelling the events of the television series, Sound! Euphonium: The Movie – Welcome to the Kitauji High School Concert Band, which premiered on April 23, 2016.
A second season of the television series began airing on October 6, 2016. The opening theme is "Soundscape" (サウンドスケープ, Saundosukēpu) by True, and the ending theme is "Vivace!" (ヴィヴァーチェ!, Vu~ivu~āche!) by Kurosawa, Asai, Toyota, and Anzai. The ending theme for episode 9 is a euphonium solo version of "Sound! Euphonium" (響け! ユーフォニアム, Hibike! Yūfoniamu) (uncredited) and the ending theme for episode 13 is an orchestra version of "Sound! Euphonium". A short anime, titled "Hanabi-taikai Kiss e Yōkoso" (花火大会キッスへようこそ！, "Welcome to the Fireworks Festival Kiss"), was bundled with the second season's first home video release volume, which was released on December 21, 2016. A second anime film retelling the events of the second season, Sound! Euphonium: The Movie – May the Melody Reach You!, was released on September 30, 2017.
A new anime project was announced in 2019, focusing on Kumiko as a student in her third year. It was later revealed to be a third season that premiered on April 7, 2024 on NHK Educational TV. The opening theme for the third season is "ReCoda" by True, while the ending theme is "Neiro no Kanata" (音色の彼方, "Beyond the Timbre") by the "Kitauji Quartet". A theatrical film version of the third season, titled Sound! Euphonium: The Final Movie, was announced on March 16, 2025. It is scheduled to premiere in 2026.
Two new animated films telling the events of Kumiko's second year at Kitauji High were scheduled for release in 2018. The first film, directed by Naoko Yamada and written by Reiko Yoshida, titled Liz and the Blue Bird (リズと青い鳥, Liz to Aoi Tori), focuses on Nozomi and Mizore and premiered on April 21, 2018. The second film, titled Sound! Euphonium: The Movie – Our Promise: A Brand New Day (劇場版 響け！ユーフォニアム～誓いのフィナーレ～, Gekijōban Hibike! Yūfoniamu: Chikai no Fināre, lit. 'Oath's Finale' or 'Oath of the Finale') and originally scheduled for release in 2018, is directed by Tatsuya Ishihara and focuses on Kumiko as a student in her second year and premiered on April 19, 2019.
Along with re-confirmation of the third season, the theatrical OVA Sound! Euphonium: Ensemble Contest was announced in 2022, and was released on August 4, 2023. Tatsuya Ishihara returned to direct the OVA, with Taichi Ogawa serving as assistant director, Jukki Hanada writing the screenplay, Shoko Ikeda being posthumously credited for the character designs, and Akito Matsuda composing the music. The theme song is "Ensemble" by True.
The anime was formerly licensed by Ponycan USA in North America, and licensed by Anime Limited in the United Kingdom. Theatrical distributor Eleven Arts released Liz and the Blue Bird in theaters on November 9, 2018 in the United States. Shout! Factory released it on home video on March 5, 2019. Our Promise was released in select US theaters on July 11, 2019, and the English dub debuted on July 15, 2019. The English dub has a different voice cast, commissioned by VSI Los Angeles, compared to Liz and the Blue Bird, though Sarah Anne Williams, Ryan Bartley and Megan Harvey reprised their roles as Natsuki, Satomi and Yuko, respectively. The film was released on a DVD/Blu-Ray set on June 2, 2020 from Shout Factory.
An English dub of the first season was released on Blu-ray by Crunchyroll on December 17, 2024 and retains much of the cast of Our Promise: A Brand New Day.
Wind ensemble music for both seasons were performed by the 2014 Freshman Wind Ensemble (フレッシュマン ウィンド アンサンブル) of the Senzoku Gakuen College of Music. Original music was composed and some featured pieces were arranged by Akito Matsuda (松田彬人, Matsuda Akito).
In April 2018, it was reported that the novels had more than 1.4 million copies in print in Japan.
The anime adaptation has often been criticized by Western viewers for perceived queerbaiting with regards to the relationship between lead characters Kumiko Oumae and Reina Kousaka, often involving significant homoerotic rewriting of the originally heterosexual scenes of the original novel series. Crunchyroll's Twitter account acknowledged the pairing by tweeting a screenshot from the show, which was still airing and being officially simulcast by the service at the time, in the wake of the legalization of same-sex marriage in the United States. The adaptation's director and showrunner, Naoko Yamada, has either denied any intention of depicting romance in some instances or expressed a desire to allow the audience themselves to determine the nature of the characters' relationships in others.
In 2015, Nio Nakatani praised the anime for its perceived yuri aspects, which she said had inspired her while she was drawing Bloom Into You. According to her, the first season of the anime "created the yuri that she wanted to write before she did" and she was so excited about the show that she started drawing yuri under its influence before she even realized that it "had a lot of yuri elements."