== *Sound! Euphonium* and sports shows

In reaction to [[my spring midway views on
*Euphonium* Spring2015Midway]], [[Author wrote
http://ani-nouto.animeblogger.net/2015/06/08/cks-on-euphonium/]]:

> When I mentioned that *Euphonium* was essentially a
> sports show with girls, a few folks were [[sceptical
> http://wonderduck.mu.nu/your_weekly_asuka_ep08#c3]], but that
> classification seems even more apt now.

My view is that while *Euphonium* certainly has elements that
also appear in sports shows, it is not one itself. A sports show
like [[*Ping Pong* BestNIn2014]], [[*Haikyuu!!* Spring2014Midway]],
[[*Yowamushi Pedal* YowamushiPedalFails]], or even [[*Girls und Panzer*
GirlsUndPanzerSportsAnime]] strongly features the actual sport. Good
characters and their stories are important, but in a normal sports show
the overall story is in large part driven by the conflict inherent in
the sports competition and actual 'games' feature prominently.

*Sound! Euphonium*'s story is not structured like this. The actual band
competition barely appears and there are none of the normal tropes of
sports shows, like actual rival bands and rival performers in them;
in fact we don't even see a competition performance from another band
(we see one preparing to go on in the last episode, but that's quite
different). This would be like a baseball sports show that entirely
featured training, practice, and team selection and then didn't
actually bother showing any baseball games. You could certainly do such
a show but to me it wouldn't really feel like a sports show either.

(And in another example, although *Cross Game* was [[more about the
people than sports BestNIn2010]], it featured plenty of baseball games
and the climax saw a game actually being played out. See also [[Evirus
on *Cross Game* http://karmaburn.com/?cat=204]], which features plenty
of images of people actually playing baseball.)

So to me *Sound! Euphonium* is not a sports show but a show that
is using competition as a setting to drive a character study and a
meditation on the real costs of taking competition seriously. An
actual sports show version of *Sound! Euphonium* would be structured
quite differently (and likely would be less interesting).

=== Sidebar: Sports shows and nastiness

Author also wrote:

> But I have a feeling, *Euphonium* would not be very welcome in any
> case. It’s almost a Yamakan or Shinbo show, stylistically and
> story-wise. Too nasty. I know a lot of people fall for it (see [me]
> above). They feel that it’s more real that way. [...]

One thing that distinguishes a classical sports show is that, to put it
one way, the protagonists almost always win in the end (although they
may have stumbles and setbacks on the way). In this sports shows are
shows about just rewards; if you're a good, talented person and you work
hard, you will get rewarded for it. Good people do not get cut from the
team and they and the team do not in the end go down in defeat.

(This is complicated by noble, deserving opponents and rivals, but I
wave my hands and restrict my focus to people around the protagonists.)

Real life does not work that way, of course. Real life is not that nice.
But our stories do not have to be un-nice in that way and not all of
them are. Really, it would be kind of a downer if a sports story did
not feature people winning in the end.

In this sense, *Euphonium* is indeed 'nasty'. Deserving, hard working
people do not necessarily get rewarded. Effort is no guarantee of
success. Life can be unfair to you and snatch your dreams away (or
force you to make harsh choices between a selfish dream and a selfless
one). This is perfectly okay with me because I think of *Euphonium* as
a character piece, not a sports show, and I am willing to see people
fail in sympathetic ways in character pieces. But other people may not
necessarily like that; they may want more strongly upbeat stories.

(That a number of people in *Ping Pong* do not get rewarded this way
is one of the things that makes it an unusual and interesting sports
show to me. *Ping Pong* is harsh in that; desire, work, and even some
talent is not necessarily good enough to guarantee success. Note that
*Ping Pong* explicitly admits that this is unfair.)