Tag: Music

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Spring 2022 First Impressions – Ya Boy Kongming!

Streaming: HIDIVE

Episodes: 12

Source: Manga

Episode Summary: General Kongming, a brilliant military strategist during the time of the War of the Three Kingdoms, wished on his deathbed to be reborn into a peaceful world. He awakens on the street in what he believes to be “hell,” but what is really Shibuya at Halloween. The tides of the crowd bring him to a dance club where he’s suddenly drawn in by the sublime voice of Eiko, one of the club employees and part-time singer. While the rest of the crowd couldn’t care less about what’s happening on stage, Kongming is moved.

Eiko wants more than anything to become a successful singer, but keeps getting rejected by agents. Kongming, lost in this strange futuristic world. knows one thing for certain – Eiko has talent. With his skills as a strategist (and his status as Eiko’s number one fan), Kongming vows to help her gain an audience and achieve stardom.

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Autumn 2021 First Impressions – Takt op. Destiny

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: TBA

Source: Part of a multimedia project which includes a game.

Episode Summary: One fateful day a black meteorite fell to Earth and unleashed the D2, creatures who hate the sounds that humans make, especially the beautiful harmonies to be found in music. Now, playing any sort of music runs the risk of attracting swarms of D2, so there are many people who no longer even remember what music sounds like. But just as humanity began to lose all hope the Conductors and Musicarts appeared, using the power of music to defeat the D2.

Takt and Cosette are a partnered Conductor and Musicart, although their ability to work well together is somewhat lacking. Their de facto handler, Anna, does her best to wrangle their disparate personalities in service of a shared goal – to reach New York so that Cosette can be “repaired” by the Symphonica there. Their journey eastward is bound to be dotted with challenges, not the least of which is their ability to effectively combine their powers and achieve their goals as one.

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Autumn 2021 First Impressions – Muteking the Dancing Hero

Streaming: Funimation

Episodes: 12

Source: Offshoot/remake of Tondemo Senshi Muteking

Episode Summary: Muteki arrives in Neo San Francisco to live with his grandmother and doesn’t have a lot of money in his wallet. But what he does have is a good sense of rhythm, something which both allows him to save an old lady crossing the street (using dance!) and also draws the eye of a man named DJ who is, unsurprisingly, a DJ. DJ develops a bit of a fascination for Muteki, who isn’t very happy for the attention from such a strange source. DJ’s obsession with analog sound technology is also a bit against the grain – Neo San-Fran is also the home of a famous tech company with its innovator CEO (literally named “Ceo”).

Muteki is excited to attend a local music event after finding out about it from a flirtatious waitress, but as the main act takes the stage it’s immediately clear that something strange is going on once a giant monster attacks. DJ comes to Muteki’s rescue and provides him the power of Muteking, a transforming hero on roller skates. Once the situation is resolved, Muteki finally reaches his grandmother’s house, only to discover that DJ has already “infiltrated” her home.

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Spring 2021 First Impressions – Those Snow White Notes

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: 12

Source: Manga

Story Summary: When Setsu’s grandfather and shamisen teacher passes away, Setsu loses his will to play the instrument. His feeling of emptiness prompts him to leave home for Tokyo, where he has no plan and no place to stay, but where hopes to rediscover what his own true sound is and to play the shamisen again. He ends up living as a guest in the studio apartment of a hostess named Yuna, whose quest for show business fame has encountered yet another dead-end after a failed audition. She feels like nothing more than a wallet in support of her boyfriend Takuto’s musical aspirations, and her boyfriend is ungrateful about it. When Yuna and Takuto break up, this causes disarray that threatens one of Takuto’s live shows. It’s Setsu, who’s only just begun to try playing shamisen again, to smooth over the performance. As Yuna leaves town in pursuit of her own goals, Setsu is suddenly approached by a rather terrifying woman.

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Anime Reviews Reviews

Anime Review – Given

Ritsuka played guitar but has lost interest in the instrument. One day, he meets Mafuyu, who is holding a broken guitar. Ritsuka unwillingly starts teaching Mafuyu the guitar, but when he hears Mafuyu’s voice, things suddenly begin to change for Ritsuka. – ANN

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: 11

Source: Manga

Review: Note: this review may contain mild spoilers for the anime series.

When I was in high school I played flute in the concert band. I enjoyed it so much that I even took outside lessons and participated in the annual solo competitions put on by the area schools. I didn’t have a great time in school overall, but being able to express myself through music is one of the better memories I have of that time in my life. I came to the realization at some point that when your emotions operate outside what other people are willing to tolerate on a regular basis, it’s life’s other more artistic avenues that serve as an alternative outlet for those complicated, powerful feelings.

Given is the story of a budding relationship between two high school students, a tale it heartily accomplishes through sensitive, slow-burn character development. But it’s also a peek into the life of someone dealing with trauma and the shame that seemed to crop up in its aftermath. Unsurprisingly, it’s music that seems to tie everything together.

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First Impressions Reviews

Spring 2019 First Impressions – Kono Oto Tomare! Sounds of Life

Takezō is the last remaining member of the Koto club, a club dedicated to the traditional Japanese string instrument. If he doesn’t find new members, the Koto Club will be terminated. One day, Takezō is alone in the club room when a student barges in and demands to join. The student is delinquent Chika Kudō, a boy who even scares delinquent upperclassmen at other schools. – ANN

Streaming: Funimation and Hulu

Episodes: 12

Source: Manga

Episode Summary: As the last remaining member of the koto club, Takezo is in a tough position. If he doesn’t find some new recruits, the long-running club will be disbanded. However, the koto club room has been infested with ruffians and bullies and Takezo’s insistence that they leave has turned him into their target. When Chika Kudo, a delinquent whose history precedes him, tries to join the club, Takezo won’t accept it. This leaves Chika to use his threatening aura in order to get his point across.

Takezo soon learns that Chika’s reputation is unwarranted and the result of a grave misunderstanding by both the police and other adults. When history repeats itself and Chika is blamed for an attack on Takezo and the koto club room, Takezo insists on speaking the truth. This provides Chika a pathway to koto club membership, though his shaky relationship with Takezo may need as much nurturing as any musical ability.

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First Impressions Reviews

Netflix First Impressions – Forest of Piano

Kai was born as the son of a prostitute and he’s been playing the abandoned piano in the forest near his home ever since he was young. Shūhei, on the other hand, was practically breast-fed by the piano as the son of a family of prestigious pianists. Yet it is their common bond with the piano that eventually intertwines their paths in life. – ANN

Streaming: Netflix

Episodes: 12

Source: Manga

Episode Summary: Shuhei transfers into his new elementary school class. Almost immediately the class bullies begin to pick on him because he plays the piano – something seen as effeminate. Kai, one of Shuhei’s classmates, is also a frequent target of the bullies, due to his family situation; his mother works in the sex industry and Kai’s father is not in the picture. He does have an interest in the piano, and offers to show Shuhei his piano; a piano sitting in the forest that’s rumored to be both broken and haunted.

Only Kai seems to have the ability to produce sound from the mysterious piano, which puzzles Shuhei, who’s been taking piano lessons since he was a small child. The bullies don’t believe Shuhei’s far-fetched story about Kai’s talent and continue to pick on him. Ajino-Sensei, the school music teacher, catches wind of the tale and wonders if it might have some truth to it. He used to be a famous pianist until he injured himself in a car accident, and got rid of his special piano when he realized he’d no longer be able to play it. But perhaps now the piano has chosen a new master.

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