This one bets everything on Asuka Tanaka, and the bet pays off. Stripping season two down to movie length means the Mizore and Nozomi oboe thread gets left on the floor, which will sting if that was your arc, but what's left is the cleanest version of the story Kumiko was always heading toward: prying open the most guarded person in the band and refusing to accept the smile she uses as a door. Kyoto Animation still animates the small stuff nobody else bothers with, valve fingers, the breath before an entry, the way Kumiko's face does three things at once while she says nothing. Kumiko and her sister Mamiko get their reckoning too, and it lands harder compressed. Watch it as the version you show someone who won't sit through thirteen episodes, then make them watch the thirteen episodes anyway.

This compilation film retells the second season of the TV series. Having cleared the qualifying round, the Kitauji High School Concert Band turns its attention to the Kansai regional competition. Over summer break the members attend a training camp led by advisor Noboru Taki and a few professional musician friends of his. Kumiko Oumae and her bandmates are set on winning gold. Their resolve is shaken when a former member asks to come back, reviving painful memories for the second-year players. Along the way, Kumiko uncovers an unexpected part of her teacher's past and why he wants the band to succeed. Making it to nationals will take hard work and test how committed each student truly is.