The release of this Blu-ray comes at a very timely moment. Its December release marked the six-month anniversary of Sound! Euphonium's triumphant final act, and this upcoming April will mark an entire decade since the anime first aired on Japanese airwaves. To watch this Blu-ray of Sound! Euphonium is to see its cult hit legacy come full circle. This story ends where it began, ultimately serving as a glorious testament to Euphonium's longevity.

A series can only be as good as the initial impression, and Sound! Euphonium's first season leaves an impression. It's my favorite part of the series for this simple reason: it's a terrific first act that flawlessly sets up its sprawling story. The cinematic style Kyoto Animation breathed into this piece feels just as alive and vibrant as it ever was. Just looking at the attention to detail embedded throughout its opening moments makes you feel the gravity of the journey you're about to undertake.

Many anime would skim over trivial things in favor of cutting right to the chase, but here certain moments are elongated in a way that leaves a slow burn of an impact. It's not enough that Reina cries and shouts when the band loses the opening competition--the shots of her kicking her feet, followed by a close-up of a waterfall of tears that flow down like Niagara make you feel the depths of Reina's inner pain. On the opposite end of the spectrum is Kumiko's stroll to her first day of high school demonstrating her carefree attitude. The colors are so crisp here; cerulean skies are dalloped with wispy clouds as beams of sunlight cut through. The petals fall off the spring trees and swerve past Kumiko as she boldly enters her first day of high school with a smile. This photorealistic direction helps us better understand and relate to our characters, instead of passively acknowledging their feelings with an air of indifference.

Perhaps the most underrated aspect of Sound! Euphonium's first season is how perfect its blend of music and slice-of-life with real human drama. When Euphonium's opening batch of episodes made their debut, it was easy for cynics to dismiss the anime as another KyoAni making another K-ON, especially since both shows' first episodes have their brown-haired female leads getting shanghaied into a high school band. Director Tatsuya Ishihara and his crew prove that Kyoto Animation is indeed masters of the slice-of-life craft, conjuring all of the familiar tricks of the trade during the anime's first half.

Episodes breezily pass to focus on school life and band practice--in one of my favorite early moments, an episode's big climax rests on something as simple as Kumiko's friend Hazuki playing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star on tuba. Yet there's that sublime focus on the dramatic over the comedic that eloquently separates Sound! Euphonium from the pack. The show's themes of desire, understanding, and overcoming the odds provide a very emotional backbone that allows its story and characters to have their many poignant and relatable moments. By the season's midway point, Kumiko, Reina, Midori, Hazuki, Asuka, Natsuki, Taki, and the rest of the Kitauji High School Concert Band feel less like your average anime characters and more like people we could have gone to school with.

Every character is fantastic, but it's obvious that the relationship between Kumiko and Reina is the life and soul of Sound! Euphonium's first season. Their pairing is all a game of opposites attract; Kumiko is awkward and too accepting of whatever life gives to her, and Reina is hot-headed, determined, and rejects any outcome short of victory. The direction combined with Jukki Hanada's masterful writing is wonderful in establishing Kumiko and Reina's initially antagonistic relationship that dissolved over time. Observe the scene where Reina and Kumiko play music together on top of a hill at night. The serene environment of the hilltop juxtaposed with shots emphasizing Kumiko and Reina's sweaty bodies is very pictorial in how it emphasizes their bond. Combined with Naoko Yamada's famous leg shots, Akito Matsuda's stirring score, and Hanada's impassioned dialogue that cuts right to the bone, it's no small wonder why the shippers went nuts over Kumiko and Reina.

In a show about music, composer Akito Matsuda does everything he can to make his music tug at every heartstring possible. Matsuda becomes such a vital part of the show that I'm not even sure Euphonium would be the same without him. The Internet seems to agree since a YouTube search of his name brings up his work on Euphonium immediately. His classically-tinged symphonies and flair for the programmatic evoke feelings we wouldn't otherwise have had Matsuda's score lackadaisically lingered in the background. His compositions stir lust, loss, triumph, bliss, melancholy, intrigue, and sometimes all of these at once. The final music performance of the season does exactly this and shows Matsuda at the height of his powers. Triumphant horns, thunderous drums, and a breathtaking trumpet solo are all paired with stunning animation that after so many watches later still shivers my spine. Not even Gurren Lagann's explosive ending is as action-packed or dramatic.

This Blu-ray comes packed with a brand new English dub featuring the voice actors featured in the sequel film to Euphonium's second season, Our Promise: A Brand New Day. This dub stays faithful to the original Japanese sub while providing great performances. I enjoyed every single moment of the dub, and there were even a few funny moments I overlooked in the sub that made me giggle this time around (Midori has such dumb over-deterministic chuuni, I love her). Erica Mendez as Kumiko intrigues me. If they make a dub for season 2 anytime soon, I will look forward to a particular scene where Kumiko confronts Asuka behind the school. For those who haven't seen it yet, I dare not spoil it for you, but I will say that I am very much excited to hear Mendez try to top the emotional rawness felt in the timbre of Tomoyo Kurosawa's performance. One downside to the dub that Euphomaniacs might find disappointing is that the anime's wholesome horniness is a bit toned down--for instance, Asuka doesn't shout “Blow me, Tuba-kun!”, and Kumiko's comment of “Wow, that's hot” is replaced with “That's hardcore.” The Japanese subtitles keep these lines intact, so it didn't bother me much.

Despite Sound! Euphonium being all about winning gold, this release technically is...not. I'd like to think otherwise since I'm obliged to love everything Eupho-related. But biases and fan worship can't hide the fact that this Blu-ray is a bit lacking. There are no extra features outside of the extra OVAs, shorts, and commercials that were already featured in the volume 1 Blu-ray released in 2015, which had way more to offer despite only containing the first two episodes. In truth, this new Blu-ray feels more like a carbon copy of the Blu-ray released in 2020, albeit this time with an English dub. I'm largely unaffected by this since the Internet has already blessed us with a treasure trove of interviews, fan pieces, and production notes, but it would have still been nice to have gotten more out of this release's two discs.

I'm still pleased with what I got; holding a physical copy of one of my favorite anime in my hands for the first time was immaculate. I have seen the first two seasons of Euphonium plus Our Promise five times, the third season twice, and Liz & The Blue Bird a whopping eight times. It's a show involving teenage drama, yet I was in my mid-twenties when I first saw the show in 2019, four years after the bulk of it aired, and just a year away from a plague that shut down the entire world. As someone who was going through a very tough spot in life at the time, the theme of understanding and improvement has since become something that I try to live by. Now thatEuphonium's first arc has been Blu-rayed once more, there is so much to it that makes for a complete treasure for old and new fans alike.