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"Don't just follow the path of others, play your own Music!"

Well, the story is set at 1868 which is the beginning of the Meiji period & end of the Edo period. So you might expect the story to be about political troubles or Samurai conflicts, but that’s not the case. You get to experience that time from a different angle, an angle of music!

Story:
It begins with a boy who's playing the flute as a hobby, until tragedy befalls him and he's blinded, to compensate he dives deeper into the world of music.
He hears a Samurai monk performing and he decides to be just like ... him, but he's told no because of his lowly social status which was important to play music at the time. Nonetheless he falls in love music & in particular with the sounds of the Shamisen & decides to dive deeper.

The story goes on to tell us about that boy who is all grown up now, and the hardship he went through to learn the harder skills of the Shamisen and the hardships to perform.

Although a Shamisen player’s life may seem hard, he is told every musician goes through "Shu Ha Ri" which are the stages of learning the basics then getting familiar with the sounds & finally composing new sounds. That's the path he chose, the path of Music!

Music:
The background music was nothing special, but the Shamisen playing is amazing as you would expect, since it's the main storyline.
Various Shamisen tones are played throughout the movie, if you've never really listened to Shamisen playing, you will discover a great instrument and surely fall in love with it. But if you are familiar with it, then you'll discover sounds you probably never though the Shamisen are capable of, or at least enjoy them. Maybe this is just me, but I got even goose bumps listening this music!

Art:
The art was great & well done. It may seem realistic & it is very beautiful.
Nothing else to say other than it's truly wonderful!

Overall:
Anyone who's in love with music will definitely love this movie. It is truly an inspiring story. Passion for music is the plot.