After the Kitauji High School Music Club placed first in the Kyoto Concert Band Competition, they finally took their first step towards nationals. While they prepare for the competition, trouble brews with a former band member wanting to rejoin.
From the looks of it, it seems that Kumiko and her friends are happy that they won first place. Now that the band has passed the preliminaries, it’s time to prepare for the next round. Yes, they are chosen to represent Kyoto at the Kansai Competition. Not only that, Team Monaka which consists all the band members that didn’t made the cut performed a celebratory piece. It’s nice for them to see them perform given that the band did really good.
To prepare for the next competition, Taki had a band camp that consists three days of practice. He also enlisted help from a friend named Hashimoto Masahiro. It’s quite obvious that he went to college with Taki given that he offered to tell more about him to the students. As expected, Taki isn’t having that.
From the looks of it, it seems that trouble is brewing. In a flashback, it seems that Yoroizuka Mizore, who plays the oboe was disappointed. Her school, Minami Middle School only got second place at the Kyoto Competition. She promised to Masami Nozomi, who plays the flute that in high school, they will get first place. Apparently, that didn’t happen as some members didn’t take it seriously, thus causing Nozumi to quit. Given that she watched the competition, she finally realizes that the Brass Club is now taking band competitions seriously again. Now, she wants to rejoin, which is probably why she asked Natsuki for help.
It seems that Asuka doesn’t want to approve it. She believes that Nozumi will just drag the band down. Considering that Yuko and Mizore came from the same school, it might cause a conflict, especially with the upperclassman. While it’s understandable why Azuka doesn’t want to approve it, it must be frustrating to not be able to play with the band.
As Reina puts it, Nozumi ran away instead of resolving the issues that caused her to quit in the first place. It’s strange how Mizore who made the promise didn’t quit while Nozumi who loves playing the flute did. Either way, we’ll find out why she actually quit pretty soon. She would need to come up with a convincing argument why she wants to rejoin.
Aside from that, there were some nice moments, especially with Reina and Kumiko. Yes, it seems that they are still close. Aside from Kumiko laying her head on Reina’s shoulders on the train, she was with her most of the time. She also invited her to see fireworks. Although Reina teases her as Kumiko eats her ice cone and had part of it drop, they reaffirm the goal of aiming for nationals. Afterwards, they hold hands while watching the fireworks.
While the first episode, although longer this time around was enjoyable, it makes me wonder how things will go from here. Surely, Asuka will eventually have to cave at some point. Maybe Nozumi will finally resolve the issues that caused her to quit.
Either way, the developments with Reina and Kumiko in this episode was nice. While I like to see them together in the end, it’s not the end of the world if it doesn’t happen. I am more interested to see if their band will actually make it. If Kumiko and Reina becomes official in the end, I will be happy. Either way, I can’t wait to see what happens next.
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