Takezō is the last remaining member of the Koto club, a club dedicated to the traditional Japanese string instrument. If he doesn’t find new members, the Koto Club will be terminated. One day, Takezō is alone in the club room when a student barges in and demands to join. The student is delinquent Chika Kudō, a boy who even scares delinquent upperclassmen at other schools. – ANN
Streaming: Funimation and Hulu
Episodes: 12
Source: Manga
Episode Summary: As the last remaining member of the koto club, Takezo is in a tough position. If he doesn’t find some new recruits, the long-running club will be disbanded. However, the koto club room has been infested with ruffians and bullies and Takezo’s insistence that they leave has turned him into their target. When Chika Kudo, a delinquent whose history precedes him, tries to join the club, Takezo won’t accept it. This leaves Chika to use his threatening aura in order to get his point across.
Takezo soon learns that Chika’s reputation is unwarranted and the result of a grave misunderstanding by both the police and other adults. When history repeats itself and Chika is blamed for an attack on Takezo and the koto club room, Takezo insists on speaking the truth. This provides Chika a pathway to koto club membership, though his shaky relationship with Takezo may need as much nurturing as any musical ability.
Impressions: This series was on my list of anticipated titles for this season. As I mentioned in that piece, I’m attracted to anime series that focus on Japanese culture in various ways. While as a Westerner it’s easy enough nowadays to learn about Japanese history, art, music, and other things from a minimal amount of internet research, I find that there’s something more satisfying about seeing those things portrayed directly through the point-of-view of storytellers who live within that cultural framework. I also enjoy music generally, and there are plenty of great music-based anime out there that have set a good precedent for this series to follow.
Unfortunately this first episode doesn’t contain any actual koto music, which was a bit of a disappointment for me. Instead, though, its focus on two main characters – Takezo and Chika – speaks to something broader than music or culture or even anime. The story it tells expresses the importance of knowing and understanding one’s bias, taking rumors and speculation with a grain of salt, and interpreting the actions of others in ways that don’t immediately condemn them (as long as there is room for interpretation).
A friend of mine recently referred me to an animated short called “Snack Attack,” in which an elderly woman misinterprets the motives and actions of a teenage boy. The cartoon is cute and funny, but points out a mistake that I think all human beings are wired to make – grasping onto assumptions made using very limited information. Assumptions are things that in many ways can be helpful, because our existences don’t allow us the time or the ability to collect and analyze every piece of information about every situation we encounter. If doing so was a requirement, we’d be in a constant state of information overload. Yet, this sets us up for failures in the form of misunderstandings, some of which can be extremely harmful and consequential to ourselves and others.
Kono Oto Tomare! takes this thought and runs with it. While Chika’s story is handled in a palpably ham-fisted way, I appreciate the focus that it places on both the assumptions that people, including adults who should know better, tend to make, as well as the reasons that they might make them. Takezo’s interactions with his bullies set him up to be distrustful of other boys who carry themselves in a similar way. The police are trained to make observations (and perhaps also draw conclusions), and do so when they identify Chika at a scene of terrible destruction. Most citizens are prone to assume that a police account is trustworthy and based only on hard evidence. There’s a veritable sea of assumptions swirling throughout this narrative, many of which result in harm. I think this episode serves as a good reminder to all of us that there are often two sides to a story.
Beyond that, this is a very standard setup for an activity-focused anime story. With the koto club on a down-turn, there’s likely to be a lot of focus around bringing it back to its glory days. Both characters introduced thus far have skin in that game; Chika’s family history and Takezo’s pledge to his former club members virtually guarantee their full investment. The need for additional club members is another narrative motivator, and I assume we’ll be learning about the rest of the characters featured in the OP animation pretty soon.
I don’t know what demographic this story was originally targeting, but its visual style, including its use of watercolor effects during important scenes, gives it a very shoujo manga aesthetic. I appreciate the use of this effect, as it lends a transient feeling to the series – this is a short snapshot of these characters’ lives, during which they were brought together through their interest in something unique. The character animation quality does struggle a bit with inconsistent detail, to the point where I’m a little concerned about when it eventually features characters playing the koto – I fear it might look clunky or goofy (there’s a tiny bit in the promo linked below, but it’s difficult to tell from just a second or two of video). It’s not a huge issue for me, but it can be a little distracting or frustrating.
While I have a few reservations about the series now that I’ve had a taste, I have to say that my curiosity is definitely still thoroughly energized. I’m cautiously excited to hear some koto playing, and that may be the make-or-break aspect here; if the music hits a sour note, even some above-average character drama may not be enough to maintain my personal interest. That’s truly the challenge of storytelling that focuses on very specific activities or cultural minutiae – if that focal aspect isn’t realized in a competent way it can bring the rest of the story down with it.
Pros: The first episode tells a strong story about the danger of making assumptions about others. The watercolor aesthetic is nice and establishes a pleasant visual atmosphere.
Cons: The animation quality is inconsistent. There’s no koto playing in the first episode.
Grade: B-