Classi9

Edit

What would you like to edit?

SynopsisBackgroundAlternative TitlesPictureChapters/VolumesPublishing DatesRelationsTypeExternal Links  

This was a rather interesting read, as this manga is rather light-hearted, with an easy going, and non-complex storyline, about female protagonist who wants to get into a male-only music school.
I did enjoy the fact that, it actually based the characters on real life people, and that the story actually incorporated some real life facts about the musicians. I actually started looking all the musicians up, after I finished reading this manga.
I also enjoyed the art style of this manga, as I feel like it portrayed the real-life musicians well, and it actually tried to keep close to how the real-life artists ... actually looked like.
Only down point for me would be the fact that, it was a bit short, and felt a bit rushed as well. It could have done with a few more chapters, to perhaps expand upon the real-life musicians a bit more.
Other than that, defiantly an interesting story, which I actually enjoyed reading. Worth a try.

Classi9 is a fun, light-hearted read. By no means would I call it a masterpiece, but the writing and characters were better than I expected. When I saw that the characters were re-imagined versions of famous composers, I was anticipating a barely cohesive plotline that leaned heavily on those as a gimmick. But, after reading this, I can say that I would have enjoyed the story even if the author had omitted that shtick and allowed the characters to simply be random people that she created.

Story: Historical, music-themed gender bender. I would say that it was a good example of those story types, so ... if that is the kind of manga that interests you, you'll probably like this one. Is the story believable? Yeah that's a definite no. Is it well-written enough that I could suspend disbelief and enjoy it anyways? Sure.

Art: Attractive and consistent. I would say slightly better than average. There is a fair amount of chibi art, if that is something that bothers you. Clearly drawn for the female audience - lots of bishounen. That being said, it is not a overly-flowery, starry-eyed shoujo style

Characters: Likeable characters. For the most part, not a whole lot of character growth. Some characters were well-rounded, others were not.

Enjoyment: As silly and gimmicky as it was, I enjoyed this manga a lot. My knowledge of classical music is pretty minimal, and I did enjoy the historical tidbits that the mangaka included in between some of the chapters. I get the feeling that if you are more knowledgable about classical music and composers, you will probably get frustrated and distracted by the historical inaccuracies that I am sure exist within this story.

To preface this review, I am a (hopefully somewhat) seasoned classical musician, so I have a fair amount of knowledge going into the manga. This is a reverse harem (guys fight over a "girl") AND gender bender manga (girl pretends to be a guy), so if you're not into that stuff, go read something else.

Story: 5. There were definite plot holes that the author put in the plot. Each of the composers is from a completely different era; at least the author could have ordered their age a bit better? For example, Haydn is portrayed as a little kid, but Mozart, who is drawn ... much older than Haydn, definitely looked up to Haydn as a budding composer and musician. Just saying. Mozart is god, but not god to the point where everything revolves around him. Other than that, it's a decent and lighthearted plot but really not anything special.

Art: 7. It was clean and well drawn for the most part. However, the mangaka obviously does not know how to draw certain musical instruments which put me off a bit (if you want to see a good example of musical instruments in anime, watch Hibike Euphonium. Gosh they did an amazing job animating that oboe).

Characters: 6. The author basically went on the classical composer stereotype and ended it there. Also, the MC is a guy IRL but is a girl in the manga for some odd reason which I feel doesn't do the real composer justice. However, I'm somewhat biased towards this whole situation, but the characters aren't too deep or unique so it gets a 6 either way.

Enjoyment: 8. Guys, there's finally a manga about classical music that's not Your Lie in April! I enjoyed reading this manga and relating it to my personal knowledge of classical music.

Overall: 6.5 Mediocre plot and characters, but it's not easy putting together the pieces especially with composers ranging from the late 1600's to the mid 1800's. I'm a classical music buff, so combining two things that I enjoy really just made this series so much more enjoyable. This series is definitely a good stepping stone for those who want to know more about classical music and for those who want something in the same music genre as Your Lie in April.