Sound! Euphonium – Season 3 Episode 3 Recap & Review

Blue Prelude

Episode 3 of Sound! Euphonium Season 3 starts with Sari visiting the same shrine from the previous episode’s cliffhanger. Then, we cut to Kousaka and Kumiko at the school’s locker area. Kumiko tells Kousaka that she received the SunFes outfit order forms from Taki. She says they’ll be reusing data from last year’s affair.

They discuss Kumiko’s career path while heading to the music club room. Kousaka insists Kumiko embark on a path similar to Mizore’s. Then, Suzume and Sari greet Kumiko. They arrived early again because Sari wanted to work on competition pieces. Also, Suzume starts teasing Sari, exclaiming how talented she is and how she could become the club’s president like Kumiko. 

During this discussion, Sari glances at Kousaka playing her instrument and looks away swiftly. Then, we see Kousaka, Kumiko, and their other bandmates preparing for SunFes outside. Kousaka’s guiding the recruits alongside Shuuichi. While that’s happening, Kumiko reads a notebook, featuring Shuuichi and Kousaka’s comments about SunFes. 

Kousaka’s afraid she won’t be able to help specific bandmates with their issues. Kumiko’s worried that people will drop out because of the pressure. As for Shuuichi, he feels they should let the folks who want to quit, depart from the band. Then, Kousaka stops the group. She signals out her bandmates Takekawa and Kaho for their poor performance and tells the former to leave. 

Sari escorts Takekawa away from the line and Kumiko notices Kousaka’s concerns. Later, we cut away to every girl bandmate changing into their SunFes outfits in another room. Mayu approaches Kumiko, telling her that her outfit’s too small. Kumiko suggests she ask the uniform personnel to change Mayu’s outfit for her. 

Mayu departs and Midori arrives seconds later. Midori starts affiliating many girls with animals. Then, two female bandmates approach Kumiko, asking if they can discuss something with her privately. The girls share their grievances about how things have been going with the band. Kumiko promises the girls that she will sort things out. 

Kumiko and Kousaka visit Taki and he hands them the clubroom’s key. Kumiko looks at Taki’s belongings and mentions how challenging growing up seems. Taki questions Kumiko’s remark and Kumiko says she can’t imagine how it’d feel like being a grown-up. As for Taki, he says he was looking forward to his adult lifestyle because he wanted to serve as a guide for people to follow. 

Deep down, Taki feels he’s still an overgrown child. Also, he feels one would feel this way, depending on the environment they’re a part of. Later, Kumiko and Kousaka visit the clubroom. Before Kumiko enters, Suzume and Sari arrive and greet Kumiko again. Sari asks Kumiko if she enjoys the club. Kumiko withholds her response. Suzume interrupts their conversation, telling Sari to wait inside with Kousaka.

Sari’s baffled that Suzume would leave her in a room with Kousaka. She apologizes for her remark and leaves to practice elsewhere. In a different room, Suzume asks Kumiko if she and Shuuichi are dating. Kumiko ensures Suzume that she and Shuuichi aren’t a couple. After that’s settled, Suzume tells Kumiko there’s a chance the first-years may boycott the club via a mass resignation.

She cites Kousaka’s strict leadership and says that some fear her while others admire Kousaka and don’t want to disappoint her. Kumiko ponders this discussion and reminisces about the events set in a prior season regarding Yuuko, Nozomi, and Mizore. Then, she arrives at the music clubroom and notices someone’s helping Takekawa get better for the SunFes festival.

Later, in the bass section’s classroom, Satsuki tells Kumiko something happened with the first-years. She says Suzume, Kaho, and Yayoi’s absence alludes to that. Ririka arrives and informs the section that Sari’s away today and that a clarinet player may quit the club. Ririka suggests Hazuki chat with the girls since she’s guiding them. Kumiko offers to assist Hazuki with the first-year dilemma.

Mayu interrupts Kumiko’s discussion and suggests they let the girls quit if they want to. She says those who stay will have an easier time focusing on their performances. Also, Mayu shares some crude remarks regarding everyone’s reaction to this news. This strikes Kumiko’s core and Kanade briefly confronts Mayu on her extreme words. 

Mayu apologizes for her words. Later, Suzume, Hazuki, and Kumiko visit the shrine we saw Sari at earlier. We learn this is a temple and it happens to be where Sari lives. The three stumble upon Yayoi and Kaho sweeping. The two ensure our group that this is Sari’s home. They’re just helping Sari clean the place up. 

The two lead Kumiko and the others to Sari. Sari tells Kumiko she had a minor cold but recovered from it. Kumiko asks Sari if they can discuss things privately, and Sari complies. While Hazuki and the others participate in girly activities outside, Kumiko asks Sari to be honest about her feelings. Sari says she’s been feeling down because of Kousaka. 

However, Sari says she doesn’t despise Kousaka. She feels Kousaka’s approach to winning gold at nationals is the correct move. Yet, she feels Kousaka should take it easy on the beginners in their club. Additionally, Sari tells Kumiko she tried convincing the beginners not to quit the band. Sari says she told them things would become fun if they worked hard and gained results.

However, Sari knows that practice gets more challenging over time and she doesn’t like seeing the beginner members cry. In a sense, she feels she did something bad by telling them positive things. Kumiko tells her that no one left their club. Also, Kumiko thanks Sari for her behind-the-scenes assistance. Sari’s unsure if that’s a good thing, and Kumiko agrees.

Kumiko tells Sari she thought of separating the beginners from the competitors. Additionally, she wanted to change how they approached training regimes. While she understands all that, Kumiko tells Sari she knows most beginners want to become better. This is because some feel they’ll dedicate most of their high school existence to the club. 

Additionally, Kumiko tells Sari she’s unsure how to feel about everything. She knows their band is comprised of advanced and beginner players, so it’s difficult for her to have a solid answer. Kumiko feels she must find a solution to bring everyone’s desires to the forefront. She tells Sari if there are any issues, questions, or concerns from her or other first-years to tell her immediately.

Kumiko reminds Sari they’re all aiming for the same goal, so she doesn’t mind. Suzume visits Sari and Sari tells Suzume she’s happy Kumiko’s their president. Suzume regroups with Kumiko and Hazuki later, but Kumiko doesn’t tell her what she and Sari discussed. Kumiko receives a flashback of Asuka and continues walking home with the girls. 

Kumiko and Kousaka greet Taki in the morning. Taki tells Kumiko Sari stopped by and grabbed the music clubroom’s key. The two visit the clubroom and Sari cheerfully greets Kumiko. Kumiko receives several texts from Suzume, learning that she orchestrated things because she wanted Kumiko and Sari to chat. After Kumiko jokes around with Kousaka, the episode closes with a shot of a court. 

The Episode Review

While the Sound! Euphonium films left much to be desired, Season 3 offers Sound! Euphonium fans the same wonderful experiences its prior seasons delivered. This episode was jam-packed with much emotion, depth, and visual artistry to help anyone soar through the blue skies. Additionally, this chapter showcases how far Kumiko’s come since her first-year endeavors in season one. 

She’s displayed excellent leadership and compassion when handling this season’s first-year conflicts. Although Kumiko knows she’s not a perfect leader, she does her best to instill guidance and hope in others to help them overcome mental or physical hurdles. Based on her conversation with Sari, we can see Sari aiming for Kumiko’s presidential status after Kumiko’s story closes. It’d be a fun and interesting development. Also, it would serve as a nice nod to the connection Kumiko forged with Asuka before Asuka’s departure.

Moreover, this episode continues building upon Mayu and Kumiko’s potential rivalry. While Mayu’s extreme remarks are distasteful, others will find her to be a great foil for Kumiko, ideal-wise. I’m excited to see what the future holds between these two euphonium players.

In addition to having beautiful imagery, gorgeous animation, and stellar interactions that folks can empathize with, this was a marvelous chapter of Sound! Euphonium’s third season!