Mashiro no Oto

[MFauli]

mashiro.jpg

hamisen is a traditional Japanese musical instrument that looks similar to a guitar. Teenager Sawamura Setsu's grandfather who raised him and his older brother Wakana, recently passed away. His grandfather was one of the greatest Shamisen players and the two siblings grew up listening to him play and learning to play the instrument.

Since their grandfather's death, Setsu dropped out of high school, moved to Tokyo and has been drifting, not knowing what to do besides play his Shamisen. That's when his successful and rich mother, Umeko, storms into his life and tries to shape Setsu up. She enrolls him back into high school, but little does Setsu know that he is about to rediscover his passion for Shamisen.

Episode 2:

I still dont know where the greater plot is going, but man, the shamisen-music is sooo relaxing. I need to make sure to watch this anime right before going to sleep. <3

[David75]

And this is Tsugaru Shamisen, the rock of shamisen. Well, rocking movements help babies sleep but this is not the point

[neflight86]

1-3

This was much better than I expected, but I am a sucker for this type of storytelling anyway, where a prodigal (not) finds themselves in a big city with only their skillz with which to pay the billz, so to speak. Reminds me of March Comes in like a Lion (but don't get your hopes up). The music is enjoyable, though I couldn't hope to actually parse its quality, and will have to rely on the commentary, which is plentiful, to do that. The more healthy relationship with his brother/dad(lol) was great fun, and even the strange way his mother is wormed into his life worked for me. Strong story beats that didn't overstay their welcome and got me invested.

I enjoy that his performance in the first episode inspired the girl and her loser boyfriend to try and do better, and his nebulous quest of finding the correct 'sound' can exist alongside other more tangible objectives like helping the new girl by trying to play the improve song for her grandma.

The pro performer gets angry at MC for not playing his instrument well enough. Classic anime. :3

[David75]

Art/animation was pretty awful for ep3. Also I'd like to hear more of the shamisen without people audibly reacting all the time. But I understand that placing the right words/ideas on a good piece really helps the audience enjoy the show... because right now the audience probably has what it takes to be able to react in the right way.

[MFauli]

episode 4:

Lol, I wanted to write something else, but ... that ending, lol. His mom is like she's from a different anime So mysterious and powerful. Gives me "the men in black" from Detective Conan-vibes, lol.

Anyway, it was a nice episode. The flashback brought a tear to my eyes, "my dad is dead, so it's okay if I die, too", uguu ....

I wondered though: What is the manga like? Considering how much this anime spends on musical performances, the manga is either way more fast-paced or ... full of "something".

[David75]

Koto, Shamisen, Kokyu... for some reason I like Japanese cord instruments.
Anime is a nice way just to get to know them... but then you feel annoyed by the tunes being interrupted all the time.

[neflight86]

I guess this counts as the intro arc. He finds a way to simplify an impossibly dexterous song to try to capture the 'feel' for the grandma. A good idea and is plenty 'good enough' to be plausible and conveys his earnest intent without cheapening his grandfather's legacy.

I also enjoy that the pro player recognizes his potential without writing him off after one botched performance.

Agreed that his mother is a bit larger than life, compared to everyone else in the series so far.

[MFauli]

episode 8:

man, theyre really stretching out these episode s;> Had hoped we'd get to see their part, too, but no, waiting one more week. Oh well.

[MFauli]

episode 9:

You know, I kinda didn't buy those tears at the end. They are TOTAL amateurs and then cry because they didn't win a tournament, and only by a little, too? Come on, you have only reason to be happy! Ah well. Still a nice show. However, what made me rolleyes was that OF COURSE they were the only ones who didn't play the same notes in unisono. Of course, that sounds more "interesting", because you can play a more varied music composition. But either that broke the rules, should have led to severe point reduction, or all the other teams were idiots for playing a boring synchronous performance. Kinda weird, eh.

Anyway, looking forward to the singles tournament. That "friend" has been hyped up since the beginning, now I wonder if he can actually play something nice.

[neflight86]

They sold it well enough for me. To make up for their lack of overall skill (all but two were amateur), they took a series of gambles: first the loud strumming and supported by the uber skill to heighten the impact. Second, the folksy theatre style that felt like improv (because it kinda was). Those gambles paid off, but did not overcome the raw skill gap. It distracted enough for their best players to shine and impressed the audience with the novelty alone... they may have been somewhat tired of rote shamisen performances after hearing twenty in a row just prior.

I enjoyed how the nothing-burger school simply did everything well and got first place for being perfectly rounded.

I feel like this was the real performance of the season, and Sawamura will falter during the single competition; showing emotional and technical room to grow, of course.