13/01/2021: music anime (& manga)

I have a bad hot take – Your Lie in April (Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso) is overrated [BEWARE SPOILERS]. Like I said, it’s a bad hot take. Your Lie in April is an excellent show – and a show very often recommended to people. The animation is excellent, the music great and the story good. However, it pretty much the only music anime that is ever recommended, to the point of overshadowing every other amazing music anime. I am probably an outlier, but I also didn’t really find Your Lie in April that sad (the foreshadowing made it too obvious) – if you need a sad anime Clannad, Angel Beats or Ano Hana do it better. Now that that’s out of the way (please put away your pitchforks), below are some music anime that I thought deserve more attention.

Music themed anime are shows which revolve in some aspect around the main characters playing some form of musical instruments, or a specific genre. Music anime have explored genres from classical, jazz, blues, rock and roll, etc. This list tries to encompass a variety of genres.

1. Nodame Cantabile

Nodame Cantabile might have come out a while ago, but it remains a very iconic music anime. For one, despite being a music anime, the main character himself doesn’t actually play a musical instrument (or at least primarily so). That is not to say that the main character is not skilled – if anything, he is a musical prodigy, skilled in both piano and violin.

Nodame Cantabile follows Chiaki Shinichi, a skilled musician whose real goal is be a great conductor for one of the Europe’s historic orchestras. Chiaki, however, finds himself stuck in Japan for the silly reason that he is afraid of flying on aeroplanes to leave the island. Chiaki also arguably fits the role of the overpowered main character seen in other anime, if you happen to like such types of character (not to detract from the genuine challenges he faces.

Nodame Cantabile, while a music anime, is also at its heart a romcom. Here’s where the other protagonist, Noda Megumi (‘Nodame’) comes in. Nodame is an eccentric, talented, though unmotivated pianist, who serves as a great contrast to Chiaki’s seriousness. Nodame really is the star of the show, being the funny, oddball character, who similarly has her own set of struggles and challenges.

Nodame Cantabile is a great music romcom, with a diverse set of well-developed characters, accompanied with great music. It is the perfect music anime to watch to unwind, relax and just have a good time.

2. Kids on the Slope

Kids on a Slope has a very cool setting vibe. It focuses on jazz and is set in Japan in the 1960s. It follows the main character who is good in classical music but gets inspired by his classmate to play jazz music. The anime as a whole felt very different from the typical anime, giving the impression of a very niche, artsy animated film, but portrayed as 12 episode anime series.

The characters feel deep and three-dimensional – and its very different from the typical anime character. The relationships between the characters develop in interesting ways. The plot is serious all the way through. But the setting, characters and great jazz music make the ride worthwhile.

3. Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad

Beck is an music anime focusing on rock music. Its old, and its animation has long started showing its age. As such, the manga is the way to go.

Beck follows the story of the main character (Koyuki) who saves a dog (named Beck) from being harassed by some kids. Koyuki then meets the Beck’s owner, Ray, who is the guitarist in a rock band. And that’s where Koyuki rock band journey gets started. Koyuki starts of by picking up the guitar and eventually reaches stardom in Japan, the US and UK.

The art-style is also very distinctive, with a style that you no longer see much of nowadays.

Enjoy! Hideyoshi Kinoshita <3