Hibike! Euphonium 2 Specials

The Hibike Euphonium 2 Specials are essentially a bite-sized version of the antics the various members of the Wind Ensemble get up to in their time not engaging in activity related to the Wind Ensemble, and, it works perfectly well in this regard, there’s not much that they can really convey in the 3 minute episodes they have, but they aren’t insufficient, and they certainly adopt a more comedic tone for these particular episodes, which is to be expected, they didn’t exactly go all in with this change in tone in the same way something like the Suzumiya Haruhi-chan series did, but, they went in, ... even if not all the way, and, I really don’t have many complaints, the whole thing works fine, some of the episodes are certainly weaker than others, and I wouldn’t exactly call it mandatory viewing for any avid watchers of the franchise, but the total runtime is about that of a regular anime episode, and if you like the prospect of the characters of Hibike Euphonium dossing about and taking it easy for a bit, then you’ll like what this series of OVAs provides.

I rarely enjoy "special" shorts, but these were pretty charming - the first four, anyway. (The last two weren't bad, but were a definite drop-off in quality; otherwise, I'd have scored an 8.) It's six shorts of the characters being silly and playing off each other, just as they did in the comedic scenes from the show. Plus, for those of us in it for the queer content, these go a long way toward repairing the overwhelming no-homo of the second half of season 2. We get Natsuki trying to kiss Riko, Midori obsessing over Reina's chest (because they look like fermata!), and Reina straight-up ... leaving her class's school festival preparations because she wants to see Kumiko in a maid outfit. The one thing I didn't like was the relative dearth of Asuka, Nozomi, and Mizore. Not groundbreaking, but definitely among the better anime shorts I've seen.

If you want more of your favorite anime, you'll watch more, right? It's not like I'm telling to drop this anime. It's just that I doubt anyone would really enjoy this...

Story:
Comedy is plain. But it doesn't make you want to drop this special, at least I don't have that feeling...

Art:
Who doesn't love adorable chibi sized characters? You can tell that the art loss some of its efficiency.

Sound:
Will never get bored of its beautiful soundtrack~
...
Character:
Same as always. Good, likable, no hate-able characters.

Enjoyment:
Plain indeed. But I still watch it anyways despite it being boring. I wouldn't really say 'that' boring. It's the type of boring-ness you don't mind... It's hard to put into words.....