HIbike! Euphonium S3 Ep 12
This was easily the best episode of the season and maybe even the best episode so far for the series. A big showcase on how anime original content san really enhance the source material. But honestly at the start of it headlined most of the issues in regard to pacing. We jumped to the results where Mayu and Kumiko were tied. But how it goes from here really really impresses me.
For much throughout the season Kumiko's desire was to get the part in the Soli and earn it. But now she actually acknowledges Mayu's desires. Mayu simply has trauma that her success can ruin it for others. Obviously her friend would never show her frustrations to Mayu, but the reason for her friend quitting was obvious. Simply Mayu treasured her time with her friend then getting results. Mayu much like Reina is a prodigy, but the difference is results always meant the most to Reina and obviously that's not the case for Mayu. It was nice for Kumiko and Mayu to understand each other better.
This has a lot of parallels to S1 and the competition between Karoi-Senpai and Reina. Kumiko is smart wanting to keep the performances hidden. After all she is literally the President, she knows she will have bias to her if they know which was her performance. Of course the results were tied, but it leads to Reina to decide the winner? Obviously she should know what Kumiko sounds like, but this is a call back to S1 when Kumiko said we should make our pick based on performance. Unlike the case in S1, Reina had the better performance. But here Reina knows that she prefers Mayu's performance. Ultimately what does Reina do? She has two goals, and she can't have both of them if she is true to herself. If she wants to win nationals she would choose Mayu as to her, she had the better performance. But a goal of hers was to perform the Soli with Kumiko. In reference to S1 she doesn't want to tarnish when Kumiko believed she had the better performance. She makes the decision that both her and Kumiko selfishly do not want, as they want to perform together. But this shows growth out of Reina.
For Kumiko her conversation with Taki-Sensei highlighted that she wants to be true to herself. She wanted the best performance to get the spot for Soli. Being true to herself she shows full support for Mayu. Yes it hurts that she doesn't get the spot, but this is the path she is meant to take. She lets out all her tears alongside Reina. It further the point from last week. Reina is special and Kumiko is not. Her performance has hints of that. But their friendship will never waver.
Poor Kanade. She had two dreams that were crushed. The first was Kumiko getting the Soli. Her character shares a lot of similarities with Yuko. She has a big voice and she really admires her senpai. Although Kanade does so in a more elegant way where Yuko feels like an idol stan with how she talks about Kaori. But probably the most heart crushing thing is not being able to perform with Kumiko. She will never get another opportunity. You can really empathize when she tears up. She thought well at least I have Kumiko playing the Soli to look forward to. But she didn't get that. Poor girl.