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Kono Oto Tomare follows a club of koto players focused on making their way to the nationals. It follows the tried-and-true sports anime formula fit with the standard friendship and teamwork bells and whistles topped off with melodrama.

The story begins with the koto club not yet formed, the president and lone member, Takezou Kurata, has a problem with a group of bully delinquents occupying the clubroom. Kurata later has an encounter with the scary delinquent Chika Kudou, who shows interest in joining the club to the surprise of Kurata. To prove this, Kudou kicks the other delinquents out. Kudou, jarringly, doesn’t have the look ... of a delinquent, he’s got the look of a blonde pretty boy, and this is sold by the shoujo style of the designs. With no knowledge of the series and some genre savviness, he could be mistaken for the playboy archetype. It may be objected that this appearance was taken up as Kudou was looking to clear up his image, to this, Kudou’s maintained delinquent manner of speech and rudeness stand in opposition. If the blonde hair is supposed to be dyed then why hasn’t he stopped dying it, it could’ve led to a visual detail that sells believability. Anyhow, Kudou’s strife with the delinquent trio comes to a head when the three scheme a plot to attack Kurata when he is turned, framing Kudou as the perpetrator as he arrives at the scene in the hopes that he’ll be expelled. This is a foolish plan that shouldn’t initially work but does and causes Kurata to vouch for Kudou’s innocence before an understanding principal and an unfair assistant zealously in favor of expulsion in what is a scene that is all too wrote.

Previously, Kudou was framed for destroying the koto’s of his grandfather, this doesn’t make sense for him to be considered a suspect as he was eagerly being taught the koto by his grandfather. Two officers brought to the crime scene get into an argument, one officer takes hold of Kudou’s arms behind him, and to Kudou’s excuses, says, “even if it wasn’t you, you caused this to happen, didn’t you”. The question of how the nameless, faceless officer knows enough about Kudou to know that he didn’t commit the crime may be charitably dismissed, but it’s unclear how it would still be his fault when he was supposedly trying to turn his life around.

One of the greatest draws of Kono Oto Tomare is that, in contrast to other popular modern musical anime, focuses on a refined classical art, as opposed to pop idols or pop rock or whatever other contemporary form of music. The anime brings attention to the disconnect young high school students feel concerning the historied art form. How many anime with even so much as tangentially mentioned koto clubs even exist out there? Strange then is to focus the conflict of the first episode so centrally around an archetype as anachronistic as the violent delinquent punk. This opener is exemplary of the remainder of the series, particularly its bluntness and contrivance.

Over the course of the series, the members of the club gather up and overcome their personal struggles with empathy and the power of their kizuna. As an example, in one touching resolution, Kurata sternly yet caringly reaches out to a scornful bully girl, knowing she is distressed. Later, a prodigy girl receives an episode of heavy melodrama detailing a backstory. The prodigy’s mother was cold and unaffectionate to her and only prioritized her practicing the koto. It’s basic, archetypal, and functional.

One thing the first episode doesn’t establish is the performance scenes. They’re kept short and have the Shigatsu no Uso effect, that is, the offensive tendency of a musical anime to distract from the performance and deviate from optimal visual storytelling by excessively expositing obvious information. Not only does this practice express in words what could be expressed by character emotion, acting, framing, silent images of anything, and perhaps most importantly, the uncompromised composition and how it is played, but it’s almost disrespectful to the artform the anime sought to give the spotlight.

As for the production, Kono Oto Tomare is, as to be expected for a 2019 seasonal by a no name studio, visually ugly. Art direction is cheap and unappealing, animation and detail are kept low, however the boarding/ directing is usually adequate, bringing forth dramatic moments by using negative space to draw focus, sometimes light amounts of impressionism, or the occasional modern looking postcard memory. The general look of the character designs is generic shoujo with low discernibility. To conclude, Kono Oto Tomare is a wholesome, juvenile story, lacking in subtlety or creativity but plentiful in “protect your nakama” moments and melodramatic gestures.