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Sound! Euphonium Voice Actors Tour Anime's Real-Life Locations
posted on by Kim Morrissy
Sound! Euphonium voice actors Tomoyo Kurosawa (Kumiko), Ayaka Asai (Hazuki), Moe Toyota (Sapphire), and Chika Anzai (Reina) have been taking a tour lately around Uji in the Kyoto Prefecture, which is the real-life location of the Sound! Euphonium series. The actors have been visiting locations shown in the anime and admiring the impact the anime series has had on the local community.
Kyoto Animation posted videos of the actors' activities on its YouTube channel. The first video was posted on January 18, while the fourth and final video in the series was posted on Thursday.
Ever since the first season of the television anime aired in 2015, Uji has become a popular destination among anime pilgrims. As a result, it is not difficult to find signs of Sound! Euphonium within the city. For example, the Keihan railway has been running a Sound! Euphonium train along the Ishiyama Sakamoto line since last year. The Nakaji bakery, which is the location where the characters eat hot dog pastry, has a corner displaying fan art from the series.
In the video series above, the owner of the bakery greets the Sound! Euphonium voice actors and informs them that many fans of the anime have been visiting the bakery and eating there, including fans from overseas.
For their part, the voice actors appear to have a lot of fun on their anime pilgrimage, reliving their memories of the series. They even replicate the iconic scene from season 1 episode 12 where Kumiko runs across the Uji bridge and yells out at the river. Although instead of shouting "I want to improve!" they yell their own improvised lines, like "The wi-fi connection is bad!"
The video series was made to promote the upcoming anime film Hibike! Euphonium: Chikai no Finale (Sound! Euphonium The Movie: Oath's Finale), which will open in Japan on April 19. In the film's story, Kumiko is now a second year and the senior player of the euphonium section.
Source: Kyoto Animation's official YouTube channel
