Chihiro Taki

Chihiro Taki (滝 ちひろ) was the wife of Noboru Taki for approximately six to seven years until she passed away five years prior to the start of the Sound! Euphonium series.

Appearance
Chihiro is depicted in the anime as having chin-length dark-brown hair, dark-brown eyes, she was quite short in stature and she had a slight figure.

In the light novels, according to Noboru Taki, she is similar in appearance to Kumiko Oumae and Kaori Nakaseko.

Personality
Chihiro's personality is described as sweet and gentle, but she also possessed unwavering perseverance. She was energetic and loved fitness activities, and was conscientious about her health.

Background
Chihiro was an alumnus of Kitauji High School where she played the horn in the award-winning Kitauji High School Concert Band along with Masahiro Hashimoto (percussion) under the direction of Tooru Taki. However, in her three years at Kitauji, the concert band never won a gold medal at nationals. She and Hashimoto both went on to major in music at the same college, where they met Noboru Taki and Satomi Niiyama. Over the next few years, the four of them became inseparable friends. Not long after, she and Taki began dating, and they fell deeply in love with each other, described in the light novels as being "bonded by their passion for music."

Taki proposed to Chihiro in a unique way with a hair clip shaped like her favorite type of flower, and the two of them married right after graduation. Chihiro secured a job teaching a high school concert band, and always aimed to win a gold medal at nationals with her students because her own high school never succeeded in that goal. However, because she was more focused on keeping her students happy, the band never progressed very far in the local stages of the competition. Approximately five or six years into their marriage, Chihiro became terminally ill. Taki described her to be unbelievably strong during this time, even able to smile and comfort him in her final hour "despite the pain and impending death." She passed away at the age of 29, leaving her husband brokenhearted.

Legacy
After Chihiro's death, Taki became extremely depressed and even quit his job, and distanced himself for years from the music profession. Despite this, he eventually took it upon himself to dedicate his life to fulfilling his wife's unachieved dream of taking Kitauji (her alma mater) to win a gold award at the All-Japan band competition. Some of the smaller ways Taki keeps his wife in his daily life include choosing not to conduct with a baton (the style his wife preferred as a teacher), visiting shrines to pray for her, and keeping a photo of her taped in his conductor's folder, which he uses every day in rehearsal. He also wears his wedding ring each year on the anniversary of his wife's passing, and also purchases her favorite type of flower to leave at her grave.

Chihiro is buried at a cemetery near a dam, beside a waterfall-- the meaning of the kanji of her husband's last name (滝 Taki).

Noboru Taki
The two met in college and became closer until they became a couple where they loved each other deeply and they shared a very strong bond through their passion for music and mutual support. Their relationship progressed throughout college and they eventually married right after graduation. The couple lived happily for several years, but they never had children. However, after Chihiro, Taki fell into a long depression, indicating how deeply her death affected him. Years later, Taki continues to keep his wife in his heart.

Satomi Niiyama
Chihiro was Satomi's senpai in college where the two grew very close. Chihiro looked after Satomi and Satomi held a deep admiration for her, even stating that she wished she was as lucky as Noboru Taki to have her as a girlfriend.

Etymology

 * Chihiro's surname Taki means "waterfall" (滝).

Trivia

 * After Chihiro's death, Taki could not touch musical instruments for a year or two without experiencing vivid flashbacks where he is described during this time as not even able to look at sheet music without crying.