Name: The problem with 'Music' Anime.
Item: Kono Oto Tomare!: Sounds of Life
Rating: 62
Author: R2R

The problem with 'Music' Anime.

/anime/103302/kono-oto-tomare-sounds-of-life

I like music. There are so many instruments & musical pieces that I don't even know the name of, so I find it a bit exciting when I see an Anime with some instrument in its key visual or in its plot summary to find out that next unheard Japanese instrument. But there's one thing I really don't like when it comes to the music genre in Anime. #Reading Music This Anime has Koto, a string instrument which sounds a bit similar to piano. There are many awkward moments when I watch music Anime and that's mainly because the characters talk (saying it out loud or monologuing themselves) about someone's music in some metaphorical language. Like; > The strings! They resonate so beautifully, I can see the snow What is this! The sounds. I can see the sounds! > OMG! The piano sounds are giving me an ejection.

These are just my made up examples, not really from some music Anime (I hope) but these don't sound like some artistic metaphors or beautiful language, it's just cringe. If the music is really that impressive or if some character really has such talent then, Let their music speak for itself.
Now I know that it isn't quite possible and that partly comes from the reason these Anime are adaptations of Manga, where the only elements they have are art, story and their talent. Since manga is restricted to not having any music, the mangaka try their hardest to convey the essence of the music or instrument, via mesmerizing art or some storytelling techniques but even then, technically speaking, they can't create music. But in Anime, you have voice acting to let the musicians express their thoughts, animation to make the movement of the instruments feel more life-like and most of all, you can add music. Anime is far from any restrictions to hold back but they're still adapting the Manga, and that's where the problem seems to arise. They're still adapting those metaphors and other restrictions that are imbedded in the manga when I think it's not necessary to do so. Worse, they're adapting these dialogues right in the middle of someone's performance. It's like you're listening to music but your noisy friend is constantly shouting right beside you. It's annoying.
Kono Oto Tomare! is the same, it does all these things I don't like. But there are also moments I really like that don't stick to complaints I had above.

(Mild Spoilers)
There's an episode where our gang are finally giving their first performance in front of all the students. And towards the end of that episode, there's this moment where the Anime plays the Dragon Meteor Shower, the piece the characters wanted to play, in the background while showing the memories these characters made on the screen, WITHOUT any dialogue. This one moment really feels powerful & quite literally can give goosebumps. While I was amazed by the audio-visual storytelling here, I also wondered why they haven't used the same method during the remaining moments.
(Mild Spoilers End)

I kinda understand that also use metaphors to make viewers get certain meaning that might not reach them but I much prefer if they did that at the end instead of forcefully including them during musical scenes.
#

Strings of the same instrument
The characters are not that impressive really. Chika is your tsundere husbando who's suffering with not having any talent (& a harsh past), Hozuki is your tsundere waifu who's suffering with too much talent (& a harsh past), Kurata is a weak club president who shows growth but can be found annoying, Kurusu is a lot more annoying (with a harsh past) but grows out of it and the rest of the cast are literally there to fill the space (they say that themselves) but gets some moments because...well, they're MC friends after all.
#Art
The art style is beautiful. They add this smooth texture to the character faces during music performances which elevates the scene a bit and which is where the Anime really gets good. Apart from that, there are few moments where they add some pencil lines on character faces to create some intensity supposedly generated due to the 'intense' music. I like the idea but that didn't worked well. It's more awkward than intense because it definitely wasn't conveyed, the intensity it's trying to create. The flashback scenes worked pretty well, though still generic.

#Conclusion Overall, it's alright. Not the best in music or drama, but definitely have some moments. Hopefully it gets better in S2.