Sound! Euphonium

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. == Characters ==

Main characters ; : :Taki is the new music teacher in Kitauji High School and serves as the adviser to the concert band club. He is also in charge of Class 5 of the second-year students. He is polite and has a methodical personality. He emphasizes independence in his students, and to this end he pushes them to reach their goal of going to the national competition. ; : :Mayu is a euphonium player who transfers to Kitauji High School at the start of Kumiko's third year. Mayu previously attended Seira Girls High School in Fukuoka, a school that is well known for their strong band program. First-year students ; : :Hazuki is a friendly girl who talks innocently. She is Kumiko's classmate and is suntanned because she belonged to the tennis club when she was a junior high school student. She is a beginner at music. She admires the trumpet and joined the concert band club, but ended up playing the tuba, which she calls . She is a bright, perky mood-maker, and the type of person who prefers standing out over supporting others. ; : :Sapphire is a girl with soft hair and a delicate constitution. She is often timid due to her lack of self-confidence. She is embarrassed by her own name , so she tells people to call her "Midori". She is from a junior high school named which has a competitive concert band club. She plays the upright bass, which she endearingly calls "George", and electric bass. ; : :Natsuki is a second-year student who plays the euphonium. She is lazy and often found sleeping, but she works hard when something motivates her. She becomes the band vice president in her third year. ; : :A new first-year student who plays the euphonium. She gives off a good impression to everyone who sees her, but there is a hidden side to her always-polite personality. ; : :A new first-year student who plays the tuba and is quite tall. She takes everything very seriously and is a bit antisocial. ; : :A new first-year student who plays the tuba and is quite short. Like Hazuki, she is very friendly. ; : :A new first-year student who plays the double bass. He hates being called by his surname. Others ; : :Michie is Kumiko's homeroom teacher and is the vice-advisor of the concert band. She is known as an intimidating teacher. ; : :Mamiko is Kumiko's older sister. She is a college student and was a trombone player. ; : :Akiko is Kumiko and Mamiko's mother. Her given name is not mentioned in the original novels. ; : :Akemi is Asuka's mother. She tried to make Asuka quit the band. ; : :Azusa is Kumiko's friend from junior high school. She admitted to , known for its marching band. She plays the trombone. She is the protagonist of the Rikka-centric spinoff novels. ; : :Kohaku is Sapphire's little sister. She is a character created for the anime television series and appears in the eighth episode. Her name means "amber" in Japanese. ; : :A percussion specialist and longtime friend of Noboru Taki's. ; : :A woodwind specialist and longtime friend of Noboru Taki's. ; :Shindo is Asuka's father. Asuka's parents divorced when Asuka was two years old. He is a prominent euphonist and author of book for beginner euphonists. When Asuka was in first grade, he sent her the euphonium she now plays and a notebook full of euphonium pieces entitled . == Media ==

Novels 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. Manga 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. Anime Television series 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 by Tomoyo Kurosawa, Ayaka Asai, Moe Toyota, and Chika Anzai. The ending theme for episode 8 is a trumpet and euphonium duet version of 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 . 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 by True, and the ending theme is by Kurosawa, Asai, Toyota, and Anzai. The ending theme for episode 9 is a euphonium solo version of (uncredited) and the ending theme for episode 13 is an orchestra version of "Sound! Euphonium". A short anime, titled , 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 by the "Kitauji Quartet". A theatrical film version of the third season, titled Sound! Euphonium: The Final Movie, was announced on March 16, 2025. The first part premiered on April 24, 2026. Films and OVA 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 , focuses on Nozomi and Mizore and premiered on April 21, 2018. The second film, titled 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. English release 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. Music Wind ensemble music for both seasons were performed by the 2014 of the Senzoku Gakuen College of Music. Original music was composed and some featured pieces were arranged by . == Reception ==

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." ==See also==