First of all, First Post Greetings! I thought I had an account here years ago, but I haven't done anything with it in awhile, and thus have forgotten the info. I have lurked periodically, but in any case, hello!
As a fan of both Japanese anime and the Euphonium, I figured some forum-goers who also enjoy anime might find something unique in this little gem:
It's called Hibike! Euphonium (Sound! Euphonium). It's about a Japanese HS band, their recovery from a staff change and their road to National competition. The story stars Kumiko, a Euphonium player who played in MS, but has decided that band is no longer for her. But on her first day of HS receives a series of reminders that cause her to reflect on the good experiences she had and possibly reconsider.
The writers certainly capture the element of how many of us ended up having to play the darn thing:
The attention to detail and animation quality are top notch. The studio consulted with the Yamaha corporation and local schools to be as true to detail as possible. Here's an image of a Yamaha Trombone--
--which is literally an exact animated replica of a Yamaha Xeno YSL-8802
The attention to detail on the Euphoniums is great too. They even got the threading on the valve caps...
Pedagogical stuff is accurate as well. The band director in the story addresses concepts like abdominal breathing, harmonic tuning/listening and 8 to 5 step sizes (there's an episode on parade marching).
It's a story about band with storytelling in the same vein as Drumline, Mr. Holland's Opus or Whiplash....but told in the format of Japanese anime and with a rare attention to detail you won't find in the former.
Some might be turned off to the tropes that are typical in a lot of anime. Although its target audience is not girls, it can be very cutesy and has some cultural idiosyncracies that might seem strange (it's also in Japanese with subtitles). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uTNCjgdvIs
Still, it's a great show that will certainly make you feel very nostalgic and even tug at the heartstrings a little as it's very slice-of-life and emotional:
It just starting airing in Japan last month so there are still more episodes to come. You can watch it legally for free with subtitles on Crunchyroll.com:
http://www.crunchyroll.com/sound-eup...-school-678371
You can also find episodes if you dig around on Youtube.