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.