This review is so late compared to when I watched Mongolian Chop Squad, but it is a show that moved me in such a profound way that I just had to review it. Maybe it's because I relate in a way; having larger than life dreams and pursuing them no matter what--even when there's struggle and at times it doesn't seem all that worth it because the effort you put in isn't having any tangible outcome in the moment--is something that really spoke to me and my younger self. I felt like I was Yukio at multiple points in my life and having this anime to relate to really kinda made me feel seen in ways that I can't explain and for that reason alone, this show will stick with me and be one of my favorites for a very long time.
Now, personal feelings aside lmao: Mongolian Chop Squad did what it set out to achieve. It shows the passion, the dedication, the hard work, and the struggle of pursuing music and making it big in as realistic as a way as I could say that it is since I have no personal experience in being a super popular musician in the slightest lmao. Sometimes it's stagnant, and it feels like it's not going anywhere, and sometimes it's turbulent and chaotic and all over the place. But it's something to pursue as long as you put your all into it and love what you are doing and I think the show really puts that into perspective.
The show also does a good job at really reminding us that, in the end, all of the hard work put into the band was a way for all the members to have a dedicated place to belong. It is a coming of age story, after all--which could be a trope that people don't really go for or like since it is very much a "cliche" trope--but this anime breathes life into the trope and really humanizes every single character which I am really glad it does. It wasn't too on the nose with the coming of age tropes that you would expect partially due to the grounding and humanizing of the characters rather than reducing them down to fit tropes. These characters are just people who go through the motions of life and want to have a place where they belong, finding it in each other and through music, and I just think that aspect of this show is very well done.
One last thing I wanna mention is the explicit ties to underground rock. I loved that aspect, but that I know is super biased because of the fact that rock music is literally the main genre of music I listen to. If people don't really like rock music, then the times that there is self-insert music that the band performs might throw people off--but even then I say that hopefully you can put that aside and really get a feel for this story because it's a really good one. I would hope that the message of the show wouldn't be overshadowed by the rock lean, but I know that it's not everyone's cup of tea--which is why I tacked this on at the end (since it's not that big of a deal in the end to me, but it's something to acknowledge).
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