Please dont make choices you know youre going to regret Please dont give up not until youve done everything you can My love letter to Kumiko Sound Euphonium and by extension Kyoto Animation. Please watch both seasons of this show then Liz and the Blue Bird which is also a masterpiece https://anilist.co/anime/100178/LizandtheBlueBird/ then the sequel movie https://anilist.co/anime/101992/SoundEuphoniumTheMovieOurPromiseABrandNewDay/ and then the most recent special https://anilist.co/anime/150429/TokubetsuhenHibikeEuphoniumEnsembleContest/ for the fullest realization of this emotional journey and to finish just in time for the third season to start in Spring of next year. That is the only one I could see having a realistic chance of surpassing Aria the Origination as my favorite anime of all time. Ive been having somewhat of a very odd day today with all kinds of mixed events happening arguments and falling outs with friends a surprisingly hectic day at work a misunderstanding between me and a family member disappointment in the local grocery store not having the item I have been eyeing for a while in stock at the moment or said local grocery stores deposit vending maching not accepting my empty bottles as bottle deposit. Why does this all matter you ask? It doesnt. Not really at least. I honestly just need SOMETHING for my intro to get into the transition to talk about what I wanna talk about here: In spite of all this or maybe even because of it my evening has been filled with creativeness and a whole lot of emotion. And a lot of that stems from me thinking about this shows protagonist Kumiko Oumae because of a silly little challengehttps://anilist.co/activity/656162293 Im doing on this site at the moment simply for the heck of it. So in lieu of an actual review in the true sense of the word and much different in style from the reviews I have previously done on my MAL account do check those out Im actually quite proud of a few of them I want to bring to all of you the wordsalad below the biggest reason for my love of this show highlighting just exactly why I love Kumiko as much as I do. Whenever I think about Sound Euphonium the first thing I think about even before the absolutely GORGEOUS visuals seriously I think this alongside the Monogatari Series is THE best animated series out there just LOOK AT THAT https://i.ur.com/e98RkIU.mp4 and the perfect use of its sfx and music in its honestly mindblowing performances dont watch this video if you havent seen all there is from the show cuz this is from the sequel movie and is best experienced after Liz and the Blue Bird https://www..com/watch?v=Fb9fpvpmcc is just how human the characters are and first and foremost how human Kumiko is. https://www.sakugabooru.com/data/c4b95d9507b6ab42b37bee2f84bfd51f.mp4 Kumiko Oumae is my favorite character. But what exactly does that mean? And why is that? She is not only my favorite female character in anime nor just my favorite female character in general no she is overall my single favorite character in ALL of fiction. Period. With a very high margin between her and number 2. And it all boils down to a single word. Funnily enough this hasnt always been the case. Not even after first finishing Sound Euphonium. Mind you I already liked her a lot when I first watched the show Id say top 50 definitely but not more than that at first. After I watched SE for the first time I kinda fell into a little hole of emptyness. I watched it at a time where I binged a show like this in 2 days then immediately moved on to the next doing the same over and over. Hell this was a time where I watched 120 episodes of Gintama in 4 days. Not with this though. After this I didnt watch ANY new show for about 3 weeks I think.... because I couldnt get this one out of my head especially the second season. So over the course of time I found myself drawn to rewatching clips and bits of this again and again and again. The more and more I watched and rewatched these things the more I started to connect to Kumiko on a MUCH deeper level than I had initially realized. And then I once again stumbled upon a little scene in season 2 episode 10 not even the but a much more understated one that in my humble opinion gets overlooked WAY too much: The scene of Kumiko riding the train. Thats when I realized: Kumiko is me. So for a little context putting it into spoiler tags so go ahead at your own risk but if youre here you probably already know anyway and its also not as if theyre giving away too much so you can safely look at them: This to me made her feel so much more .... human ... than any other character Ive seen before and after for that matter.. She is a character whose shoes I could actually put myself into I could identify with her her struggles her emotions the development she went through. Her development inspired ME to become a better person or just improve myself SOMEHOW even if in the tiniest little bits and pieces. And when I say I can identify with her I dont mean in the usual she is so me fr fr kinda way a lot of people do and a lot of characters aim for no I mean I KNOW the kinds of struggles she went through I KNOW the kinds of feelings she experiences because I also went through them in my life. I have a brother 6 years older than me and saying Ive always had a rocky relationship with him would be a HUGE understatement even today Im not exactly clear on my feelings about or for him I can certainly tell its NOT respect. Maybe its a kind of familial love I dont know I havent really had a heart to heart talk with him at any point in my life when we werent both drunk or at least a little bit tipsy.... and even then most of the conversations we have drunk center around anime and manga... Coming from a background of having now ACTIVELY played in a marching band for 17 years and learned for almost 20 overall I had my own arc of: starting to learn the instrument coming to like my instrument trying to improve hitting a wall with it and the satisfaction of overcoming said wall. Even last month I stumbled upon a wall because of a new piece we started playing that just has a lot of hurdles for us in the rhythm section I play snare drum btw. And Ive also had these moments so much going on in my life at the same time that I couldnt keep up anymore that overwhelmed me that made me crumble down and break down in tears. I remember a specific time where I was incredibly stressed at my old job this is now already almost 3 years ago and after a hard day on my drive home I suddenly just got hit like a truck by a wave of anxiety and depression quite frankly completely out of nowhere and EXTREMELY inconvenient on the german Autobahn at tempo 160 km/h and start crying my heart out. These are the moments I find myself drawn back to Kumiko and Sound Euphonium as a whole and find comfort in them. I know that no matter how deep or dark the abyss I fall into is gonna be this is where I need to go to find my way out of it and find the courage to start moving forward again. Ive said at the beginning that my feelings for Kumiko can all be summarized in one single word. That word... ultimately... is: RELATABILITY There has not been created a single character that is as relatable to me as Kumiko and therefore she will always be the best I have seen. And I hope that never changes. Kumiko is literally me if I were a cute anime girl but alas Im not even a girl much less a cute anime girl so all I really CAN do about it is work through my days in my surprisingly fun office job and write up these tiny little way too personal essays here on my evenings.... and weekends.... and nights..... and even sometimes in my breaks or on slow days at work.... If you want to watch a story that has about 10 characters that could evoke exactly these kinds of feelings in you then you have come to the right place. We need more studios like Kyoto Animation that continuously put out stories as real and human as this prioritizing quality over the quantity of the series they produce. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk. I mean there IS a reason I chose her as my profile pic P.S.: This show has the Best. Title Drop. Ever. EVER I tell you Edit after multiple days: Tomoyo Kurosawa as voice actress for Kumiko much like in her other roles does an IMPECCABLE JOB of bringing this character to life and perfectly showcases her personality which is why she will always be my personal favorite voice actress. It also helps that she voices another one out of my top 4 animanga characters ever with Phos from Land of the Lustrous. xD Val if you actually do end up reading this review: maybe I really am just a little btch xD