(CR) Mashiro no Oto

[Nachtwandler]

Main characters look not as interesting as in Kono oto Tomare for now. I am more interested in ones who won't have much screentime it seems. But performances are made way better. Also, both OP and ED are banger.

[Dop]

Wow. I mean, I have no familiarity with this musical genre, but that performance at the beginning with Setsu accompanying his mother's singing was just spellbinding.
The duet with his brother at the end was also really good, but I have to admit I went back and watched that song sequence again. I suspect the blue haired lad in the crowd will probably turn up at school.

If they keep up the focus on the music to this level this could be something special.

[Kanon]

Originally Posted by Dop

I suspect the blue haired lad in the crowd will probably turn up at school.

Me too. And simply because he's got blue hair

[Wandering Soul]

The mother son duo was simply fantastic. The brothers duet was good too, but the first part is hard to top.

Originally Posted by Kanon

Me too. And simply because he's got blue hair

He's probably going to have some role to play considering how the scene focuses on him a bit.

[Master_Yoma]

Well Umeko have a very powerful singing voice even though she like a wrecking ball just coming out of nowhere and turning his live upside down

A great Shamisen duo performance

[Blaat]

At this point the series can do whatever it wants, whether it's bringing back the ex-boyfriend or turning the main character into a harem protagonist because I'll keep coming back for the superb shamisen scenes.

[Guardian Enzo]

Wow, that final sequence in the Shrine... Goosebumpy.

[Cosmic Eagle]

Ah, that was some lovely music

[SeijiSensei]

I'm just going to write off the scene where Umeko first appears because the rest of this show so far has been so well executed. My complaint about Kono no Oto was the lack of koto music; doesn't look like I'll have the same issue with Mashiro no Oto.

Japanese music has always sounded strange and rather off-putting to my Western ears, but this show is fast educating me in its beauty. Umeko's performance was stunning, and, as Enzo writes in his blog, the closing duet may be the best single scene in any show so far this season.

The animations of the players is also top-notch. The finger movements match precisely with the music, and many are shot up close. I think the last time I was this impressed with performance animations was in Sakamichi no Apollon. The speed of the hand movements really stand out.

[Anh_Minh]

Looks like my ears are too western for Umeko. I didn't really like that song.

I did love the brothers' piece, though.

[Nachtwandler]

Originally Posted by Anh_Minh

Looks like my ears are too western for Umeko. I didn't really like that song.

I did love the brothers' piece, though.

Same here. I prefer when such singing stile is heavily watered with more mainstream singing, like Yuko from Wagakki Band does.

[HandofFate]

I enjoyed the singing.
Wonder if depressed grandsons w/ talented grandfathers in a traditional instrument or game is a thing with people in this region

[Jaden]

For folk music, these shamisen songs are rocking.

I didn't know that but I guess it makes sense. The range of sounds it can make is pretty narrow, almost like drums. So the way to make it interesting is to keep going faster.

[SeijiSensei]

Originally Posted by Jaden

For folk music, these shamisen songs are rocking.

Remember that the duet the brothers play is their own original composition, so I'm not sure it qualifies as "folk music." In Kono no Oto we learn that modern composers still write music for the koto, so I wouldn't be surprised to learn there are modern pieces for the shamisen as well.

[Nachtwandler]

Originally Posted by SeijiSensei

Remember that the duet the brothers play is their own original composition, so I'm not sure it qualifies as "folk music." In Kono no Oto we learn that modern composers still write music for the koto, so I wouldn't be surprised to learn there are modern pieces for the shamisen as well.

Like isn't it normal for any folk instrument that is still played today but decent number of musicians?

[SeijiSensei]

I always had trouble with musicians like Joan Baez being classified as "folk" singers when a good portion of their repetoire was written in the prior quarter-century.

Acoustic guitars are thought characteristic of folk music, but there is a classical guitar history as well.

I'd guess the repetoire they play in shamisen competitions is a mix of classical and modern pieces. That was true in Kono no Oto.

[Kanon]

I wish they'd found a less contrived way for Setsu to find out Maeda's grandma heard his grandpa playing his piece back in the day. Like... simply having him listen to it. He's hard to approach but he's not such a dick he wouldn't give her five minutes of his time.

Setsu's meeting with who I assume will be his rival couldn't have gone worse.

[Nachtwandler]

It is superior to Kono oto Tomare in terms of performances and general plot but characters are still inferior for me. Both main heroine and main rival look pretty generic as of now. Though, the second heroine is pretty fun at least.

Also, maybe therre is something with my taste but I did not feel why rival's performance was splendid and MC's one was dull. They both sounded decent but pretty generic for me.

[Kanon]

Originally Posted by Nachtwandler

Also, maybe therre is something with my taste but I did not feel why rival's performance was splendid and MC's one was dull. They both sounded decent but pretty generic for me.

I can tell that Setsu's performance was much weaker compared to all his previous ones, but I can't tell the difference between the rival's performance and his either. I certainly wasn't blown away by the rival like the cast was. His performance sounded generic like you said.

[Master_Yoma]

Setsu is really not that good at communicating cant really seem to explain about that song to Shuri