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Sound! Euphonium Novels Get Sequel About Kumiko's 2nd Year (Updated)
posted on by Rafael Antonio Pineda
The staff of Kyoto Animation's Sound! Euphonium franchise announced at the "Hibike! Euphonium 2 Special Talk Event 1- 2-nensei Gōdō! Uji de Omatsuri Festival!" event in Uji, Kyoto on Sunday that Ayano Takeda will write a two-part sequel novel to her Sound! Euphonium novels. Similar to the recently-announced two new films for the franchise, the new story will take place during Kumiko's second year, and Mizore's third year in high school. The story will have new first year characters. The announcement didn't explicitly state that the novels would cover the same story as the two new films.
Amazon is listing that the first new novel volume, titled Hibike! Euphonium Kitauji Kōkō Suisōgaku-Bu, Haran no Dai-Ni-Gakushō Zenpen (Sound! Euphonium Kitauji High School, Tumultuous Second Movement First Part) will ship in Japan on August 28. The second volume, Hibike! Euphonium Kitauji Kōkō Suisōgaku-Bu, Haran no Dai-Ni-Gakushō Kōhen (Second Part), is listed as shipping on October 5.
The Amazon listings also state that the novel series has more than 1,020,000 copies in print.
Yen Press announced in November that it will release the first novel in English, and it describes the story:
After a terrible experience in her past at the National Music Band Competition, Kumiko abandoned music once and for all. She starts her first year at Kitauji High School, she finds herself being roped back in. But their school's band is hopeless. There was a time where they had placed well in nationals, but now they can't even make it past their regional qualifiers. In the midst of all of this, Kumiko meets the last person she'd ever want to see again, Reina. Will Kitauji High manage to pull itself together with the day of the concert drawing ever closer?!
Takeda released the original novel in 2013. Takeda followed up the original novel with the Hibike! Euphonium 2 Kitauji Kōkō Suisōgaku-Bu no Ichiban Nagai Natsu (The Kitauji High School Concert Band's Longest Summer) novel in March 2015, then the Hibike! Euphonium 2 Kitauji Kōkō Suisōgaku-Bu, Saidai no Kiki (The Kitauji High School Concert Band's Worst Disaster) novel in April 2015, and then the Hibike! Euphonium 2 Kitauji Kōkō Suisōgaku-Bu no Himitsu no Hanashi (The Kitauji High School Concert Band's Secret Story) and Hibike! Euphonium Kitauji Kōkō no Suisōgakubu Nikki (The Kitauji High School Concert Band's Diary) short story collections in June 2015 and last October, respectively. Takeda released the two-part novel spinoff Rikka Kōkō Marching Band e Yōkoso! (Welcome to the Rikka High School Marching Band) last August and September, focusing on the character Azusa Sasaki and Rikka High School (based on the real-life nationally renowned Tachibana High School Marching Band).
The first 13-episode television anime series premiered in April 2015. The anime inspired the Gekijō-ban Hibike! Euphonium: Kitauji Kōkō Suisōgaku-Bu e Yōkoso "flashback" film in April 2016. The 13-episode Sound! Euphonium 2 sequel series premiered in October. The second season's "flashback" film, titled Gekijō-ban Hibike! Euphonium: Todoketai Melody, will open on September 30.
The franchise will get two new anime films in 2018. Naoko Yamada (K-ON!, A Silent Voice) is directing the film about Nozomi and Mizore. Tatsuya Ishihara (both seasons of Sound! Euphonium) is directing the movie about Kumiko as a second-year student.
Crunchyroll streamed both seasons of the anime, as well as the OVA that was bundled with the seventh Blu-ray Disc volume of the first anime series. Ponycan USA released the first season on home video.
Update: Added Amazon listings with two-part novels' dates, titles, and print total information. [Via Ota-Suke]
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