Mashiro no Oto

Setsu Sawamura runs away from his small home village following the death of his grandfather, the legendary shamisen master Matsugorou Sawamura. On his deathbed, Matsugorou told Setsu to give up the shamisen if he was only going to imitate others instead of playing in his own way. Grieving, Setsu heads for Tokyo, hoping that the big city can inspire him to discover his own unique playing style. But Tokyo defies his expectations by drowning out all other sounds with the deafening noise of its city life.

Concerned about her son, Setsu's rich and successful mother, Umeko, waltzes back into his life and forces him to enroll in Umezono Academy. At the school, he meets Shuri Maeda, a girl who is fascinated by the Tsugaru shamisen and wishes to perform a song her grandmother once heard a long time ago. Shuri starts up a shamisen appreciation club and convinces Setsu to teach the members how to play the instrument. As he becomes more involved with the club, will Setsu be able to recover his love for the shamisen and discover the unique sound he lacks?

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Sawamura, Setsu Main

Shimazaki, Nobunaga Japanese

Tachiki, Yuna Supporting

Aida, Rikako Japanese

Sawamura, Umeko Supporting

Honda, Takako Japanese

Yamazato, Yui Supporting

Kondou, Reina Japanese

Yaguchi, Kaito Supporting

Okamoto, Nobuhiko Japanese

Sawamura, Wakana Supporting

Hosoya, Yoshimasa Japanese

Yamano, Sakura Supporting

Taniguchi, Yuna Japanese

Nagamori, Rai Supporting

Suzuki, Tatsuhisa Japanese

Kaji, Takaomi Supporting

Kaji, Yuuki Japanese

Maeda, Shuri Supporting

Miyamoto, Yume Japanese

Furukawa, Shin Producer

Aoi, Hiroyuki Producer

Matsumoto, Takuya Producer

Sakurai, Yousuke Producer

Reviews

Aug 6, 2024

DBX

Recommended

Originally, I was going to pass up on this anime because, it didn’t interest me from the get-go. I had never heard of the main interment for this show before and that’s what turned me off however, it was exactly that, that made me change my mind. The idea of learning about something, I had never heard of before, sounded interesting.

I liked how the story progressed. The elements of the show that it revolved around made the pacing feel great. It was as if, in every episode, that things just escalated and escalated. I enjoyed watching the progression of the characters as like me had ... no idea what the instrument was, learn and come to enjoy it. If I had any quarrels with the way that the story was told, it would be that it fell apart a bit towards the ending. It was like watching someone dance on a balancing beam that just didn’t stick the landing. Though that shouldn’t be the takeaway, nor the focus of how the story played out.

The art was great. I loved the detail in the environments quite a bit. The surroundings that the instruments were being played In, were just as interesting as what was being played itself. I have never heard of the studio that made this anime before, neither have I watched an anime by them before. They did a really good job. It was colourful and detailed. I loved the scenes where the instruments were being played. It contrasted nicely.

The music was the key focus of the anime and therefore was something that stood out to me the most. The style of music was implemented well. Having never heard the instrument before, it was pretty to the ears. I also really liked the opening though, the ending I wasn’t too partial to.

The characters were interesting. I invested a lot of my attention with the main character. While I didn’t really enjoy, he’s journey as it came across as fumbling, it was interesting to see how he developed he’s sound and why he developed he’s sound. The other characters were a nice addition, though it is too early to tell as there too little there. I am looking forward to seeing how they evolve and find their own sounds in the future.

While it didn’t stick the landing I was looking for, I enjoyed the ride along the way. This anime to me was all about those moments where the instruments shined and boy did, they shine. This was a relaxing anime to watch. While you could compare it to its counter parts to a certain degree, this anime stood out well for the season it came out in. I really look forward to anything else that comes out about this anime.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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May 25, 2023

heldencrow

Mixed Feelings

The music is superb. Purely as an introduction to the passion and tradition of shamisen and acoompanying song this anime could not have been better. I will always be grateful to have been given this chance to experience that for the first time. And not just one or two performances: the show features multiple Japanese artists playing together or alone, sometimes introducing us to new ideas, sometimes playing the same piece but made individual through their own styles.

However. The excellent music and good supporting artwork are let down by the story and characters. The main character is The Troubled but Brilliant Artist in Search ... of His Own Sound. A cliché in service of a cliché. He is silent, moody, self-obsessed and generally an asshole to everyone. But they always seem to forgive him because he is a genius. We may be sure he's a genius because everyone tells us over and over again.

Every so often the script, will chuck in a sequence where he's briefly helpful, but its always all about him in the end. It takes some hard work to produce such a consistently unlikeable hero so I guess that is something.

The other characters are mostly groupies in the Setsu roadshow. All the characters in ep1 acknowledge his greatness and disappear forever. The members of the shamisen club, two of who had never even expressed interest in playing shamisen before and come to think of it why did they even join? - mutter about his assholery but take it because of his greatness. All the girls love him. Cats refuse to take a dump if he is near.

His mother is a shonen supervillain which would be fine in a more extreme setting like a Birdie Wing golf course but here it is just weird.

Oh well. As a celebration of music, a towering crescendo. As a character piece, an irritating twang.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Nov 11, 2021

Zaysaki

Not Recommended

Funny

The music pulled me in and it is good. Everything else i had to endure. I was rolling my eyes so hard i had to start fast forwarding some of parts between the music. So much terrible writing, pointless drama and tear jerking. Mediocre characters at best, throwaways at worst. I know it's a problem in manga/anime as a whole, but damn some of these female characters were so stereotypically useless.
It started well enough, but went down hill quite early. Completely threw away an interesting story and went with just another high school setting with an arena arc to top it off.
I expected better, but ... it was so bad that it actually made me write this review. If you think this is like 'Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu', think again.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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