Mashiro no Oto

It would be difficult to recommend this anime to someone unless they have an appreciation for music. The music alone carried the show, complemented by beautiful visuals during the performances. The rest feels comparatively underdeveloped. The pros: With each piece sounding like a masterpiece, it’s hard to dislike. The music can, at times, make you feel as if you’ve ascended into the heavens. It can be incredibly moving and intriguing seeing how the same piece can sound so different. Outside of the performances, the animation and art are consistent. They bring the shamisen pieces to life and create beautiful atmospheres. Setsu’s growth during the show is very realistic, and feels very genuine. Learning how to find yourself and struggling to find your own “sound” is not easy. It leads to realistic conflicts and setbacks. Cons: The first episode is strangely disconnected from the rest of the series (feels like it shouldn’t have happened, by the time you finish the season you look back and wonder, “what was the point of any of that?”), so it can be hard to get into. While each episode feels like it gets better as it progresses, many of the side characters feel forgettable and underdeveloped. The drama feels unnecessary at times, and most of the time you just find yourself wanting to skip past it to hear the performances (the highlight of the series). The first episode suggested a more mature setting, only for Setsu to end up in a high school in the next episode, which could have worked if the side characters received more development. Since it’s heavily centered on Setsu, we don’t learn much about his team. It felt like it should have been a solo story on finding oneself. While I do think it’s important for him to learn to play with others, he didn’t *really* get to know them so it felt kind of pointless. Overall, the music alone is worth watching this for, but its story and supporting characters never reach the same quality. If you have an appreciation for music (especially traditional pieces or instruments) you’ll find plenty to enjoy. Otherwise, the underdeveloped characters and story will leave a lot to be desired and make it difficult to remain invested.

Disclaimer: this is a copy/paste from my blog for my podcast Not going to lie I didn't know if I would like this anime. I hadn't watched any music-themed animes before this one and I didn't know if it would strike a chord with me. Spoiler - it definitely did. I loved it! The characters are fantastic and the music was stellar (which is good considering this is a show about music and character development.) I really enjoyed seeing everyone's journey and how they interacted with our main character. There are so many good people in this show and, once the main group is formed, there is good chemistry and interaction. The music is so good, I grew to love the sound of the shamisen and loved how they blended it into the first opening song as well. It was fun seeing its place in Japanese culture and how much of a community exists around this instrument. It also wasn't lacking in the humor department. There are many humorous moments and classic anime humor tropes. So if that tickles your funny bone you are in luck. You'll be chuckling at many a moment and laughing out loud at more than a few. Recommendation: Don't skip this one! I would highly recommend this show to people. Whether or not music anime is your thing I would say try it out. It might just take you by surprise! At this present time, there is not an announcement of a season 2 (although we can hope) so it's just a quick 12 episode watch. Who knows, maybe you'll be one of the people in the comments section buying used shamisens off eBay!

The anime Mashiro no Oto is truly one of the biggest surprises of the Spring 2021 season. It features a unique musical theme, a solid story, and an excellent presentation of the world of the shamisen. The art takes care of every technical aspect, providing beautiful scenery at crucial moments that blend perfectly with the music. In some ways, it reminds me a lot of Barakamon. It was also very original to introduce a second opening theme when the story entered its second arc. As for the characters, none of them feel wasted. Each character has their own moment to shine, taking turns in the spotlight throughout the story. This helps the anime avoid feeling too cliché. Overall, it is a series that deserves to be recommended and certainly deserves a well-earned second season.

Learning about Japan's artistic cultures is always a wonderful experience. How many times do we come across anime and manga that use themes that are unusual in the Western, but that produce an essential meaning in this very rich country? This season, eyes were definitely on the most popular animes and that overshadowed some titles that could deliver much more than just 12 Episodes This anime is like a gem whose value is underestimated till you check it on your own if it's real or fake. This was a pretty watch during the spring and obviously, you will definitely get spring vibes from this anime. - hoping for season 2. I will give this a rewatch in the future.:)

The word to describe this anime is "raw". I mean, it has a very rough feeling to it, not as polished as Kono Oto Tomare, and much heavier. You'll see what I mean if you watch it. Don't let the high school setting fool you, this anime deals with some serious stuff. The story follows a boy struggling to deal with the death of his grandfather, who was a shamisen player. He grew up around it, has innate talent for it, but cant deal with the fact that his grandpa is gone. All the boy wants to do is find his own sound, but he has people pulling him every whichway. Most anime with sports, music, whatever, tend to exaggerate the intensity of the art in question until you can no longer really relate to it, and you just have to go "ok, maybe an actual player/ musician would feel like that". But here, Setsu's story feels so simple yet complicated, and you root for him because it's so bloody unfair!!!!! Speaking of fair, I appreciate realism in anime, and i enjoyed that they showed seasoned players get what they deserve. I mean innate talent is a great start, but without training you can't REALLY beat people who have trained for years. Don't wanna give spoiler, but his parents are shitty. Honestly, I highly recommend this anime. It really tugs at your heart, the way this poor boy is caught between it all and I feel like a lot of people can relate to the theme of parents using their kids for their own selfish reasons, though it might not always involve a shamisen.

Mashiro no Oto - also known by its English name "Those Snow White Notes", and will be henceforth referred to as MnO for convenience - is a story of overcoming loss, living up to a past legacy, improvising on the past no matter how painful it may be, forming connections with people, and how to compromise traditionalism with modernity. It's a multilayered yet simple story told very effectively, with a handful of hiccups along the way that don't take away from how incredible the show is. MnO's strength comes at its specific focus on its central main lead in Setsu, who beyond a shadow of doubt is one of the highlights of the series. Setsu loses his entire purpose in life when his grandfather passes away, leaving behind nothing but a shamisen that his grandfather warned him not to play for risk of living in his shadow. What follows is Setsu escaping his insulated life in the countryside for a more open life in the city, albeit one where he knows absolutely no one; the series takes advantage of this to dive into the kind of person Setsu is in quite a bit of detail. Setsu's stoic demeanor betrays an overly sensitive, emotional person who absolutely loves playing the shamisen yet in spite of that is weighed down by what it means to him on a personal level. The first episode taking place in a crowded, rowdy city as Setsu stumbles across help and does a makeshift concert as he's initially mocked - before being cheered by the crowd instead - is an intentional choice, showing someone constantly alienated due to the most important thing in his life being a traditional instrument that people have largely moved past, winning back the crowd with nothing but raw talent and emotion. There are layers and nuances to Setsu's character arc and I'm honestly not entirely sure I can cover all of them; he's empathetic to the struggles other have while also being self-centered, a character flaw he does his best to overcome when made leader of his school's shamisen club. He gradually opens up with his feelings to others and tries to connect with his clubmates, awkward as those attempts may be; this attempt at connection extends to the point where his playing style shifts from outward confrontation with his clubmates to attempting to compromise when playing together. This extends to his attempts to no longer live under his grandfather's shadow; he increasingly moves back and forth between moving beyond his death and trying to have a style of his own, being told at one point that no two people will ever have the same playstyle, and that shamisen - despite the instrument's traditionalism - is no different from any other style of music, with modernity and traditionalism at once coexisting and at others outwardly confronting each other. Setsu's main obstacle in the story, as a result, is him increasingly both modernizing his playstyle and finding ways to become more expressive, while being pressured (by rather toxic guardian figures) to instead follow his grandfather's path. It's a compelling as hell character arc and beyond a shadow of doubt the series utilizes it to the fullest extent, having Setsu be a dynamic character who constantly changes both as a reaction to outside forces and while being introspective over himself and his grandfather, and I can't wait to read the manga to see where it goes beyond this. The side characters are a largely likable bunch with a few outliers; Setsu's mom is a hatesink, being an abusive bitch who wants nothing more than to drag Setsu to living even deeper under his grandfather's shadow, and is the de facto closest thing the series has to an antagonist, culminating in a memorable and incredibly emotional last episode where...well, watch the show and see it for yourself. Taketo, the musician in the first episode who threatens to beat Setsu for spending time with his girlfriend, is a similar hatesink whose characterization strikes as rather shallow, being at one moment an irredeemable sack of human garbage and the next being a mild jerk who shares an apartment with him and even attends one of his performances later into the series. These are outliers to the rule, but it's worth mentioning them since their characterization left much to be desired and did get in the way of enjoying the show at times. Thankfully, the rest of the cast are a fairly straightforward and likable bunch; Shuri and Yui doing their best to play the shamisen, both growing more confident outwardly, was a joy to see, with Yui having several standout character-driven moments late into the series that had me emotionally invested. Rai is the least developed of the bunch but his more flamboyant personality dragged a chuckle out of my humorless heart, particularly when teasing either Setsu or Kaito. Speaking of which, Kaito acts as a damn good foil to Setsu, similarly being someone who lost what he was best at and similarly pressured by a rather abusive family into diving into law, rather than him being into football. So far, I'd say he's my favorite of the club after Setsu, especially considering his more impassioned and emotional outbursts when cheering the team as opposed to Setsu's quieter demeanor. The group had a nice chemistry going on, and their interactions were pretty fun. Other characters I can similarly praise for decent characterization - Mai and her more tomboyish personality betraying an inferiority complex towards Setsu being an easily memorable example. Artwork is detailed and rather pleasant to look at, with character designs being somewhat simplistic but having decent coloring, particularly during concert scenes and noteworthy flashbacks or Setsu's introspections. Animation is fluid from start to finish, with concert scenes looking absolutely stunning, facial expressions being dynamic and insanely fun to look at, and often neat visual cues and gags involving background occurrences that were pretty neat little touches to the overall feel of the series, at one point lighthearted and at other points somber. On backgrounds, they're absolutely stunning and add much to the series' visual style, with explosive presentation emphasizing the mood of given characters or even something as basic as characters walking through various locations, which are similarly lovingly detailed. The most memorable thing about the series - Setsu's character arc aside - is the absolutely astounding sound design, ranging from the voiceacting, sound effects, transitions and ESPECIALLY the concert music, which all sounds absolutely amazing. Everything from the detailed animation of finger strokes, introspective monologues and consistency between how characters perceive the music against how it actually sounds is handled insanely well, with several noteworthy concerts being prominent examples of this scattered throughout the series. The series, unfortunately, does come with another problem; it's incomplete as of the time of this writing, leaving us with an introduction to what I doubtlessly think is a well-written and expansive story down the line. Kodansha starting a proper translation of the manga is worthy of praise considering how underrated the series is, however, and here's to hoping for a season 2 down the line. Thank you very much for reading, any and all feedback would be appreciated.

Welcome to Chihayafuru: Shamisen edition! Alright, that's not really fair. But, I do think the similarities this show shares with Chihayafuru (and many other shounen series) are what holds this show back from being great. The problem with this show is that, at its core, it's just another competitive shounen. Normally this wouldn't really bother me that much; the standard shounen formula can be executed really well and make for amazing stories (see 3-Gatsu no Lion and Haikyuu!). What does bother me is that this show hooks us under the premise that it is not a standard shounen, and that it is aware that it could be a much greater story, it just doesn't want to be. The show starts with our MC leaving his hometown in the countryside for Tokyo in order to find his own sound after his grandfather, his father figure and mentor, dies. There he finds himself in a new and overwhelming city, in an unlikely situation full of rich characters and a rich environment for him to explore his own self and grow. And then, in episode 2, it becomes a high-school club competitive shounen. Talk about wasted potential. Episode 1 is rich enough for an entire movie, but the show does nothing with that, it abandons the premise and then defaults to a generic plot in a generic setting. Throughout the show, we also get constant reminders that this is not where the focus should lie. The mentor figure of the MC never participated in any competitions, and the MC himself believes he only plays his music for himself and not to compete with others. In the very climax of the show, the MC complains that he is frustrated that his playing is being judged on a numerical scale when that's not what playing the shamisen is about. If the show knew what it wanted to be, or committed to the story it wants to tell I might have rated it higher. As it stands, it's a show that knows it could be better, that had the chance to have an original and unique character-driven story but instead chose to become a generic high-school shounen. All in all, I recommend you watch episode 1, it's a great short story. If you don't mind a much simpler and more familiar plot, then watch the rest of the series too, but don't expect it to match the tone and plot it set up in that first part.

Disclaimer: This is my opinion alone do not take it personally pls I want to start with something good and positive so that even after reading my review, you'd still give it a shot :) The idea of a traditional instrument promoting in anime is wonderful. I appreciated the music of shamisen even in real life as it sounded realistic. But there are reasons as to why I'm not settled with a good score. First off, the story is poor due to numerous reasons. It started with the protagonist's first encounter on his journey where there was a controversial issue that was not properly resolved by the characters, or at least it was not properly seen but only suggested at the end of the conflict as if nothing happened between the characters. It's still poor storytelling. It was honestly unconnected to the rest of the plot nor it was even self-developmental to the protagonist. Next, the drama in the second half of the anime was repetitive and unnecessary which felt dragging but it's tolerable. Lastly, the ending was infuriating. There was no build-up for the consecutive rollercoaster of emotions. I like the art style and the animation is really good especially the opening and the shamisen performances. Very smooth. I like the shamisen pieces but I did not fully appreciate the technical elements of its sounds because the anime focused on the drama and the "character development". I noticed that the shamisen performances would get cut off by the piano background music to accompany the flashbacks and the personal thoughts so often that it got so irritable and disappointing. The characters were fine. The diversity was interesting at first but there were no interpersonal developments between the characters. Like it felt shallow. The understanding between characters was confusing. I enjoyed the first half without thinking of that first encounter too much. It was a slice of life, interesting, light-hearted, simple, and felt potential to the character development but I did not enjoy the second half because it was somehow opposite to what i felt in the first half and I definitely loathed the last episode :) Overall, the good points were overpowered by the bad points but I still found it bearable to watch and I did truly appreciate the music elements.

I should make this short, and I'll throw in some spoilers at the end (I'll warn you for those). This is a strange anime to me. The story is about a boy named Sawamura Setsu who loses his grandpa who is a world-class Shamisen player. Sawamura himself is also an amazing Shamisen player but his grandpa claims that he does not have his own "sound". Thus he goes away from home to find his own sound. Simple and good plot I'd say, there's plenty of potential for character development and stuff, just overall pretty good I'd say. And the first episode reflects exactly what I would want from an anime like that. It reminds you of Nana, if you're not familiar with that, go watch it. It starts off as this adult drama basically with Sawamura thrown into the adult world with only his Shamisen, we see abusive boyfriends, failed actresses needing to make tough choices and he's in the middle of it all. Then suddenly, this completely changes. When you think of obscure Japanese instrument anime you could probably predict that some kind of school club is involved and that everyone is going for these prefectural/national competitions to win before the senpais leave or something, and there's this one amazing player or this player with a tragic backstory that the plot centres around. If you like that kind of anime, good for you, if you don't, you might think: Oh! This anime is different! Now here's that twist again: It's not! In fact, the enitre anime completely changes in tone by the third episode. Suddenly we're at a high school club with a bunch of incompetent Shamisen players who all have their own reasons to play shamisen and need to learn to appreciate it etc. etc. etc. Even the opening song changes at this point. Instead of this intense shamisen rock song they change it to your average anime OP. AKA this anime has a problem in tone! Just like its main character who doesn't seem to be able to find his own tone. SPOILERS That kind of brings me to what happens in the final episode where Sawamura after having learned a lot from his friends but still having some anxiety in him about living up to his grandpa's great name plays his solo performance at the shamisen competition and switches styles halfway through the performance because he suddenly realises that he has his own sound. As you might know if you watched the show, he doesn't get a lot of points for that because he doesn't have a uniting "thread" throughout his performance. The jury does not judge kindly upon that and one of the characters explains that to Sawamura. I'm sure the irony of this does not go unnoticed by the sharp reader of this review, since it seems to reflect upon the entire anime. So what this anime taught me, I cannot grade this one very highly... There's just no uniting thread throughout this anime. The music is good though if you're interested in that kind of thing.

Originally, I was going to pass up on this anime because, it didn’t interest me from the get-go. I had never heard of the main interment for this show before and that’s what turned me off however, it was exactly that, that made me change my mind. The idea of learning about something, I had never heard of before, sounded interesting. I liked how the story progressed. The elements of the show that it revolved around made the pacing feel great. It was as if, in every episode, that things just escalated and escalated. I enjoyed watching the progression of the characters as like me had no idea what the instrument was, learn and come to enjoy it. If I had any quarrels with the way that the story was told, it would be that it fell apart a bit towards the ending. It was like watching someone dance on a balancing beam that just didn’t stick the landing. Though that shouldn’t be the takeaway, nor the focus of how the story played out. The art was great. I loved the detail in the environments quite a bit. The surroundings that the instruments were being played In, were just as interesting as what was being played itself. I have never heard of the studio that made this anime before, neither have I watched an anime by them before. They did a really good job. It was colourful and detailed. I loved the scenes where the instruments were being played. It contrasted nicely. The music was the key focus of the anime and therefore was something that stood out to me the most. The style of music was implemented well. Having never heard the instrument before, it was pretty to the ears. I also really liked the opening though, the ending I wasn’t too partial to. The characters were interesting. I invested a lot of my attention with the main character. While I didn’t really enjoy, he’s journey as it came across as fumbling, it was interesting to see how he developed he’s sound and why he developed he’s sound. The other characters were a nice addition, though it is too early to tell as there too little there. I am looking forward to seeing how they evolve and find their own sounds in the future. While it didn’t stick the landing I was looking for, I enjoyed the ride along the way. This anime to me was all about those moments where the instruments shined and boy did, they shine. This was a relaxing anime to watch. While you could compare it to its counter parts to a certain degree, this anime stood out well for the season it came out in. I really look forward to anything else that comes out about this anime.

Mashiro no Oto is a journey; a journey on which you follow Setsu Sawamura as he tries to find his sound. Since this anime is based around the shimasen, a Japanese instrument, it is needless to say that the sounds in this anime are beautiful. Though there is not much to say about the voice acting, the shamisen play is amazing and I went to sleep several times with its sound still stuck in my head. If we stop considering the art that was the music, the actual art style in this anime was not overly impressive. It supports the story just fine but this is not an anime that should be watched for the animations. Setsu's journey is not an easy one and he will have to clash with multiple people including himself if he wants to achieve his goals. The characters and people he interacts with feel like the second strong point of this anime. Lots of characters have strong personalities and opinions and act to further their own respective goals. This often leads to conflicts of interest which will make Setsu's journey more difficult but also makes the anime interesting. So far the story is alright but it feels hard to judge since the anime is not conclusive and will probably require more seasons to do its story justice. Overall it is a pretty reasonable anime and can be enjoyable to watch.

I tried to like it from beginning to end but was unsuccessful. The story was extremely rushed with little to no character development aside from the MC. Every other episode is overflowing with forced and unrealistic drama, making it difficult to relate or even feel bad for the characters. I really wish this show was done better. I wish I actually wanted a second season after where it left off. Watch it if you'd like, but do not get your hopes up. If you'd like a similar anime, but done way better, watch kono oto tomare. Every issue that could be brought up with Mashiro no oto is almost nonexistent there. I couldn't recommend watching that instead more.

If you are here for the music, this is not your place because not everyone can enjoy this instrument. I can enjoy all anime genres because it has SoL. Every characters has fair development, but sadly this show can't hit it's peak of potential because only have 1 cour, It's good really good from the start then roughly rushed till the end. This shows reminds me of Kono Oto Tomare, nice build up of chara development, balance of the conflict and the joy and unique of every chara. I thought this show can be better but it ruined by 1 cour limit budget (maybe?). I would like to see another season of this show if possible.

I don't usually write reviews for animes, but Mashiro no Oto (Those Snow White Notes) is the best anime I've seen, the performance of Shimazaki (the Japanese VA of Setsu) was amazing, the other characters actually felt like their own person and not just a character to push up Setsu, especially Kaito, he reminded me a lot of Ryuji Sakamoto from Persona 5, which was my favorite character from P5, and even if Kaito has a different situation then Ryuji, he still has a compelling story. I didn't know or give a shit about the Tsuguru Shamisen before this anime, and holl shit I love the Shamisen know because of the beautiful sound, and on the subject of sound, the plot of Setsu looking for his sound just for his ideals to be shattered by Umeko because of her selfish desire to have Matsugorou sound alive again, while Setsu just wants to find his own sound, and the final scene of episode 12 when he goes to grab his Shamisen was the perfect end to the season, he has a true drive, not some bullshit one like "To be the strongest being possible", his drive is to find his own sound, this anime gets a solid 9.5/10.

This series frustrated the hell out of me. At first it played as recovering musician, then as slice of life, then as drama, then as competition, and finally coming of age story. The most frustrating point of all though is the ending. I genuinely don't know what to think about it. The primary character, on the final episode has the equivalent occur to him: arrow to the knee, stabbed in the back, lying on his deathbed with his eyes closed, then opens them. I cannot put into words how blue-balled this anime left me. I'm either incredibly inept for not getting this ending or this anime is a spectacular, staged train wreck. Mashiro no Oto had the momentum of a blue whale swimming at top speed, it was beautiful, it was going places, but the whale put on the breaks and stopped just before the cliffside, then faked its death to get an insurance payout.

Mashiro No Oto started sloppy at the first episode but redemption comes after 2nd episode, this anime really impressed me, and the art itself kind of reminded me of "BECK" Character development in this anime is depicted really good, you can feel Setsu's struggle on finding his grandpa "sound" and of course, his Nakama gets a decent character development too, this really impressed me because not much anime did that in their character development in my personal opinion, the music also really good and impressive also feels gutwrenching and kind of stuck in your soul for a while, the studio really did a great job on adapting this manga into anime, the ending itself made me craving for another season, and let's hope the studio will give a green light for a 2nd season in the future.

This anime was a rollercoaster. The beginning is quite rough and to me seemed rlly rushed however, the overall plot is interesting and amusing. This anime is about Setsu basically trying to find his own sound after his grandfathers death. There are many difficulties that Setsu faces in this anime and it shows how he overcomes them to truly understand himself more. You don't need any prior knowledge about music to watch this anime as they don't go technical when talking about the shamisen. It's mainly about the sound they produce which can appeal to any audience. This anime has a really soft aesthetic and feel in the first half of the anime when they are merely exploring the shamisen however when the anime gets more serious and has more conflicts involved the art helps leave a more powerful impact on the viewer. The addition with the music also helps complete the viewing experience which makes it so fulfilling to watch. The characters each held their own personalities and values however characters such as Yui wasn't written in a memorable way even though she is part of their team. I think that they should've added more backstory to her character and to Rai even though they are only supporting. Overall, this anime was really enjoyable despite some rough patches here and there but there's no such thing as a perfect anime. I think that anyone can enjoy it as it has a heartfelt feel towards it even though it does play with your emotions a bit at the end.

Although not free of common character and situation tropes, Mashiro no Oto really surprised me. Having watched only a couple music animes, I was hesitant on trying yet another one with an instrument I hadn't even known existed until then. Just like Kono Oto Tomare, Mashiro no Oto is built on drama, story and its characters. The MC's development and exploration is spot on, it's consistent (imo), interesting and has successfully caused me to become both invested and attached to Setsu as a character, and the anime as a whole. I know I've already addressed that this anime is full of stereotypes and predictability, but it doesn't take away from it. I love the buildup leading to the competition, the music is, and should be, really good, I like the plot and the drama involved. It's realistic in the drama, to the point where I'm genuinely mad at how some of the characters are acting. It's frustrating, and that's what makes it even better. Mashiro no Oto really has you empathising big for the MC, but also understanding of those who criticise him. Ignoring characters that play big roles, like Setsu's brother, parents, and his competition, everyone else is kinda mediocre. They couldn't be more cliche if they tried and not in the good way. Setsu has a copy and pasted personality but I still love him as an MC. The same can't be said for most of the side/main cast. But the other characters are well-developed, add to the plot, and are even original in personality I'd say. They really pull the score up higher. The character design and animation is interesting. It's different to the new gen animation style, with crisp lines and bright colours. At times, Mashiro no Oto actually looks kinda muted in colour but it arguably makes it better. The style suits the anime and I don't think I can imagine another season not being animated in this fashion. Also, I'm still not 100% clear on how people can tell what someone's sound is, but the visuals of each performers sound is gorgeous. I may not understand it but if what I'm seeing is what they're essentially hearing, damn. Thought I'd just slip this in, but the MC's of both Mashiro no Oto and Kono oto Tomare have very similar situations family and inspiration wise. I'd only just realised, but it's probably why I'm totally taken by this anime. Kono oto Tomare is one of my comfort animes but I can appreciate that it's somewhat teenagey. Mashiro no Oto feels more catered towards young adults, or older teens. I could go on and on about why I like it, and why it works, but all you need to know is that Mashiro no Oto is very underrated this Spring. Unlike the other animes that have aired this season, this anime was quiet in comparison. Quiet but extremely satisfying and warm. I loved it and my overall enjoyment of it is an easy 9, maybe even 10.

Here's a slice-of-life type music anime that culminates in the main character somehow finding himself through competition after having experienced the trauma of losing his grandpa. Besides the fact that the instrument of choice is the shamisen, the anime is relatively formulaic if you've ever watched another music anime before. As far as how well it executes on this formula, I'm split. On one hand, the sound design and actual shamisen performances are actually beautiful. Knowing nothing about the shamisen, the show does a good job of making the watcher feel invested in the instrument. It also does a good job illustrating how different musicians sound different from one another through both sound and animation. By the time I got to the final performances of our main character (which is always the pay-off), the sound and character development really made watching the show worth it. However. There is so much damn unnecessary drama in this show. The supporting cast is forgettable for actually having any good traits and it feels like they're literally always crying and yelling. I can't stand it lol. At least the soundtrack was good. The two openings are also absolutely insane. 6/10.

I decided to watch this show based off intrigue alone, and there's a part of me that's glad I did it, and anther part of me that feels like I shouldn't have. The basic premise of the story certainly intrigued from the first 5 minutes, having a shamisen player running away from home after his grandfather's passing, trying to start anew with his talents on the instrument. However, where this series fall short most to me, is in it first and last episode. [General Spoiler Warning] The first episode feels like an entirely different show than the one that the following 11 episodes seem to show. The main character, Setsu, is shown wandering around, and being overwhelmed by, the bright city lights of Tokyo, and after accidentally falling onto some boss, is taken to an apartment by a young aspiring actress/pinup model, Yuna. What follows is Setsu getting caught up in Yuna's personal life which ends up with him giving an impromptu performance on his shamisen at a club/concert venue that a rock band was scheduled to play. To me, this first episode is a 9 out of 10, with the main downside being ultra-quick pacing that might be a bit hard to follow. However, this first episode feels like a bait and switch compared to the rest of the series. What I originally thought was going to be a story about a shamisen player trying to make a living in Tokyo ended up being a slice-of-life dramedy about said shamisen player joining a high school shamisen club, and having said club practice together for a 6 episode long competition that felt like it dragged on for way too long. Not to mention, the slightly mysterious Yuna is replaced by a slightly annoying high schooler named Shuri, who's main goal is to try to bring back sound to her grandmother's memories. To have a character who plays a major role in the first episode and originally seems to be the main supporting character, only to never be seen again aside from a 1 second cameo in the last episode feels like a complete waste to me. Then comes the last episode. If this show gets a season 2, the last episode is a perfect segue into the next part of the story. However, where the show currently stands, with only 12 episodes, this ending is frankly rather unsatisfying. Our main protagonist has come a long way from the first episode, so to have everything basically destroyed by 3 of the most important people in his life, and to not resolve that internal conflict, honestly feels like the ending was mishandled. But as I said, if this show gets a season 2, this sudden drive that Setsu gets from being put down by these 3 adults is going to make his playing even better, I believe. So to recap, if this gets a season 2, I love this final episode. If this does not get a season 2, I hate this final episode. Also, I really, really dislike Setsu's mother, Umeko. If you had shown me her in the first 2 episodes, I would have thought that she was going to be a massive help for Setsu, booking him all sorts of gigs around Tokyo to get his name out there. However, what she ends up being is an obsessive mother who wants nothing but to gain the fame and fortune of the shamisen world by taking advantage of Setsu, and forcing unreachable goals on him. [End of General Spoilers] All in all, I found Mashiro no Oto to be a slightly underwhelming show that what I had originally anticipated. However, the music is this show is absolutely incredible, with the titular instrument of the show being a treat to listen to whenever they were being played. I think this show has a good chance of getting a better rating from me if it gets a season 2, but until then, it's just a mediocre storyline with meh characters that just so happens to have some killer music. 6/10