Kono Oto Tomare! Part 2

The Tokise High School Koto Club has courageously pushed through their fractured and unsynchronized performance at the Kanto Region Traditional Japanese Music Festival. Club members Chika Kudou, Satowa Houzuki, Takezou Kurata, Hiro Kurusu, Kouta Mizuhara, Saneyasu Adachi, and Michitaka Sakai are devastated to learn the negative results of their performance, leaving them crushed. Nonetheless, the group recognizes their potential and enthusiastically agree to collectively sharpen their skills, improve their flaws, and develop higher caliber playing to succeed in the upcoming national qualifiers in winter.

With the help of their now willing club advisor Suzuka Takinami, the group's goal gradually becomes achievable as they begin to grasp the foundations of good music and refine their koto-playing abilities, with the suggestion of performing more often to gain what they lack most—experience.

However, as their journey to nationals is underway, the koto club members face challenges that obstruct their focus and progress. Not only does the threat of other powerhouse schools and musicians remain, but the high school issues of budding romance and soon-to-be-graduating seniors also begin to push the limits of the determined group of teenagers and the future of the koto club.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Kudou, Chika Main

Uchida, Yuuma Japanese

Houzuki, Satowa Main

Tanezaki, Atsumi Japanese

Kurusu, Hiro Main

Matsumoto, Sara Japanese

Kurata, Takezou Main

Enoki, Junya Japanese

Takinami, Suzuka Main

Namikawa, Daisuke Japanese

Mizuhara, Kouta Main

Iguchi, Yuuichi Japanese

Adachi, Saneyasu Main

Ishiya, Haruki Japanese

Sakai, Michitaka Main

Furukawa, Makoto Japanese

Takaoka, Tetsuki Supporting

Hosoya, Yoshimasa Japanese

Doujima, Akira Supporting

Touyama, Nao Japanese

Cook, Justin Producer

Herek, Samantha Assistant Producer

Mizuno, Ryouma Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

Takakuwa, Hajime Sound Director

Reviews

Nov 25, 2023

CyanCheetah

Recommended

Kono Oto Tomare was a magical anime. There are only half a dozen music-focused animes that I can think of:

Bocchi the Rock
Your Lie in April
Hibike! Euphonium
K-On
Belle
Bang! Dream.

These are the ones I can think of. But Kono Oto Tomare is the ONLY anime that not only focused 100% of its energy on the actual music but also was very good at it. Bocchi the Rock was hilarious but not as music-focused. YLIA was depressing but again not as music-focused as Kono Oto. I know YLIA had some AMAZING Piano music selection, but not as focused on the music as Koto. K-On! was a cute Moe anime ... that had amazing moments but then again that was a Slice of Life with not as much focus on music. Belle was a dramatic movie but did not as much focus on music as it did not just save the world. Finally, Hibike Euphonium did have a music focus but in my opinion (cancel me) it was not that enjoyable and frankly was quite boring.

This one though, this one had a ton of emotional baggage. The sheer backstories of these people are amazing. From the delinquents to the main lady, they were all amazing!

The teacher had an amazing backstory, hell the rivals EACH had their own amazing backstories. It was all scripted PERFECTLY with little-to-no time wasted, it was truly magnificent.

The animation is beautiful. Many times I see animes not actually sync the music played to the animated note played. This one however did. The character designs are nice, and everything from the backgrounds to the Koto's string shining when played were beautifully and meticulously animated.

The Music: Need I say anything else. Nope. The final performance was some of the best music in anime. Not the best sounding per say, but the most emotional baggage in ANY music piece. Akin to the final YLIA piano performance when Arima played his heart out.

The Plot: Amazing. The Koto club at their high school wanted to go to nationals so they all practiced their hearts out. In that time they were improving a ton! I liked this season since it had this focus unlike the first one where the plot moved at a snails pace.

The Bad; WHERE IS MY SEASON 3. Also while this is amazing, I feel like there couldve been a little more plot in the season.

Final Score: 8/10

Thanks!
-CyanCheetah

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Jun 16, 2023

Benx2019

Mixed Feelings

Issues from season 1 are pretty much the same. More pointless depth is given to side characters, but on the other hand main characters feel a little less superficial in their depth given we have actually been properly introduced to them now. The op and ed are slightly better than season 1. Otherwise in all other regards season 2 retains the same issues and promise as season 1. Season 2 holds up well to the expectations season 1 set, not that they were particularly high. The soundtrack is a big reason this anime is as enjoyabe as it is, but I don't really thing it's ... a "good" anime. It is enjoyable despite being flawed. 6.35/10

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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May 13, 2020

nanatshi

Not Recommended

Preliminary (4/13 eps)

first of all i want to say i hate the romance bullshit and i don't care about the whole romance relationships thing
most of the reviews did'nt really do the justice for me so i am writing this review to give you my honest opinion about this show

notice :- this review is wroten by a crying baby who is gonna write an review just to complain about anime for 4 hours

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story ( 1/10 ) :-

how many flashbacks and bullshit drama do you want ?!
... every single episode ?!
if your answer is yes you are gonna love this show and if you hate this type of shows your gonna hate it
the problem with flashbacks that they overused in this series i mean
which makes my reaction every single time i see flash back
" come on another flash back "
so don't expect me to Interact with flashbacks because the flashbacks is just cheap way from the writers because they are too lazy to write and develop characters throw the story instead of taking there time to do it , just put another flashback

the problem with this story that they really don't have any breaks
in every single episode there is drama just why ?!
what about building the characters ( not using the flashbacks ) or giving us time to relax from the drama
there no real time for me to even Interact with them or to know anything about them with out putting another drama sense
what about there life ?! do they even have one ?!

the k.o for me was romance i mean why the hell you even put it ?
in the first season there nothing that tell this gonna be a romance show because season one focuses on the drama more
and all sudden the show become a romance in the episode 4

what about the koto , oh i forget this is a romance drama show
who even care about the koto thing just replace it with basketball ?!
they should really focus more about the koto ( because that what i am coming for in the first place )

to sum it for you :-

- bad romance
- so much flash backs
- so much drama
- where the koto is gone ( i need more koto instead of the drama )
- can we just have some slice of life moments
- is this show about music or drama or what ?!

______________________________________________________________

art ( 3/10 ) :-

i really hate the art specially the jeans i really hate how it looks
beside that the art is normal and the animation is just talking nothing really special
sometimes there is some good illustrations in the show but they just appear
for few seconds
______________________________________________________________

sound ( 2/10 ) :-

can we focus more on the music please ?!
i did'nt like the op or ed i found them normal
also i really did'nt hear any good osts

______________________________________________________________

characters ( 1/10 ) :-

developing the characters throw the flashbacks and friendshit also
even in the worst anime i have seen there some good characters or there is lovable side of them but in this anime i hate all the characters "all of them"
let me explain why

glasses-kun ( kurata ) :- he is always blaming himself when anything wrong
" i am failure " or " all of it is my mistake " just stop for the love of god.

bad girl ( kurusu ) :- she is most over dramatic one in all of them " am i even allowed to love " and my answer to this question " just kill me please who thought about this one " .

bad guy ( kudou ) :- the prince , the kind one , the dump one and the strong one , i hate all of this Traits

cold lady ( Houzuki ) :- i was so lonely , i don't trust anyone and i don't depend on anyone so ok i give up at this point

_____________________________________________________________


enjoyment ( 1/10 ) :-

i thought season one have enough drama but in the season two even more drama and i could not handle watch this garbage anymore

_____________________________________________________________


overall ( 3/10 ) :-

i think i might be too hard in this show because i don't like the " so much drama " type of things or " so romantic " type of thing , there is some people out there who love this show and call it underrated but it's just another romcom garbage for me and i hope you understand my point of view and why i hate this how so much

also sorry for my bad eng

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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