Audience reviews
20 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
jcbordon
EXTREMELY LIGHT SPOILERS ABOUT THE ROMANCE SPECIFICALLY
As someone who decided to watch this for the romance, this is frequently listed on "Peak romance" lists ive seen online, I decided to check it out. I cannot understate how disappointed I am. There was extremely limited romance in this show, and it amounted to little more than the 2 FMC blushing for 90% of the romantic interactions. Not a single character confessed their feelings, not a single date, or substantial romantic encounters at all. There was a single "sick episode" arc in and literally nothing else of consequence as far as romance goes. I wasn't expecting a lot, But i was at least expecting one of the 4 main love interests to confess at some point. when the final episode's credits rolled, my jaw was actually wide open after n…
Read at the sourcealienjacker
Im never listening to a tiktok recommendation again. This anime honked. The anime had a strong start. Introduction of the president, his encounter with Chika. That was sick. But after the first 2-3 episodes it all went downhill. The idea of koto was new to me and I was lowkey interested, however there's barely any emphasis on the performances. Theycut one performance halfway, abruptly. How could you do that when the main thing about this anime are the koto performances ! The show focuses more on plot and the cast bonding instead of the art of the koto. It feels like plot is primary and koto is secondary. The direction is, sadly, garbage. Background character lines are awful, like a poorly written play. Several scenes are poorly executed. The application of the comedic effect was so lacklus…
Read at the sourceKingoku
For the amount of glaze given to this show, I am disappointed with what I experienced. First off, Let's get off with the premise of the show. Obviously, it's a high school setting, I get that so I wouldn't have been so surprised to see drama. But oh boy the amount of useless drama in this show is restless. it can all be summed down to, wait nvm it can't cause it's just bull. For example, one of the character's was lied about and people believed the lie, you wanna know what they did? PROCEED TO DEDICATE THEIR SOCIAL LIFE TO MAKING LIES ABOUT OTHERS, LIKE BRO WHAT????? I swear this was the most random backstory with some bs justification. And it's not only that character, its prevalent with every character, the drama is just bull. It would be alright, nvm nothing can justify this crap. I was…
Read at the sourcezettai-jin-stray
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 sav…
Read at the sourcePlatsEdits14
I really enjoyed the first season of Kono Oto Tomare!
When I first watched the anime I was so confused about the beginning of the story but after finishing the whole first episode it started becoming more interesting to watch that I can't stop watching. Some people might probably not like music genre anime, but for me this was my first music genre anime and I really liked it alot, and the fact that it also has some romance part in it makes it even more better.
The backstories of every character is good and way more realistic than most animes nowadays.
Kudou's smile somehow reminds me of Natsu from FairyTail and his personality too. If u have watched and like My little Monster then this is a must watch anime for you, though if you dont like music based anime then u might have to consider…
Read at the sourcepassing_through
It's a simple story about working hard with everything you've got and the power of friendship to make everything okay. And also there's koto music.
I'm really interested in learning about traditional Japanese music instruments, and I feel like this is a great introduction to learning about the koto. I especially love how you can see the sheet music and how the notation is written. The performances are also stellar, I hope whoever got hired to play in the koto ensemble gets compensated well. It's so difficult to not only play a difficult koto piece, but to purposely make mistakes in it as well. I also enjoy the animation, though I may not know how to play it myself and it may not always be entirely accurate. At least it's competent and it doesn't use CG (ahem! Ao no Orchestra).
That being…
Read at the sourcemaplesyrup47
After rewatching this show two times, I want to dedicate my first MAL review for Kono Oto Tomare! which in my opinion, is the most underrated and underappreciated anime that I have ever seen.
I will mainly focus on the first season but I will also touch on the second season a little bit because if the first season was great, the second one was just outstanding. Since I just rewatched both seasons, the rating might be slightly biased and apply to both the first and second season. Also, this is a general review and thus, can be considered spoiler-free.
Plot: 8/10
Do not judge an anime based only on the first episode. You could watch the first episode and thought that the flashbacks and backstory are all over the place, but trust me, it is essential for the character development which is…
Read at the sourcei_have_scurvy
Not a Romance Anime btw
Thought that would be my main point to make from this
The anime has an interesting niche into Japanese culture showing of the Koto. The story is based around a Koto club in highschool with a set of new members. Most learning from little experience. The story well played out well, as they aim for nationals.
The Story is a little slow at the start and some of the characters don't fit so well the slow and pace of the story. The story picks up well during the middle but slows down again a bit too much near the end. 7/10
The Art style is nice but sometimes it slacks off with emotional-less faces for copy pasted faces. 7/10
For an anime based around Sound I felt it lacked besides the performances but even they were a little plain. 7/10
The characters were a bit all…
Read at the sourceLub
Kono Oto Tomare!
SPOILER WARNING: Most of the characters personalities/stories are mentioned
First of all I’d like to say that this is by no means a bad anime and that is not what I intent to portray with my score. In fact I thoroughly enjoyed Kono Oto Tomare!. That said I would wholeheartedly disagree with anyone saying this is a masterpiece of originality. In fact I’d argue the literally only original thing here is that they are playing Koto’s instead of *Insert whatever other instrument/sport here*. From this point forward I’m going to be regarding sports anime and music anime the same, and while this might ruffle some feathers I believe it’ll help to show my points about the unoriginality. Considering that most music animes are set in high-school clubs with the same goals of making it…
Read at the sourcepacificreaper
I usually don't write reviews (this is my first one actually), but after seeing this anime I couldn't help the urge to do it because I felt that more people should consider giving it a try. I feel that when seeing "Kono Oto Tomare!" for the first time, some might be turned off by the fact that it's in the music genre. I myself am not a big fan of these kinds of anime, but "Kono Oto Tomare!" really surprised me by just how much I ended up liking it to the point where I started reading the manga just because I couldn't get enough of it. I’ll do my best to keep the spoilers to a minimum in this review.
Story:
The story revolves around a high school's koto club that's about to disband and is in dire need of new members. That's where a large portion of the cast decide to step in and join the c…
Read at the sourceqwestchinmark
My first review, which is due to the outstanding quality of this anime.
They are able to take a instrument that i know nothing about and thoroughly entrance me with the story. They are able to convey feelings to which you find yourself smiling along with or conversely crying. The awkward budding romances are perfect and leave you wanting more and more. They make the performances feel epic and will have you on the edge of your chair with the audience.
Another mark of a good anime is when you get to the end and you immediately go binge the Manga to continue the feeling. You will not be able stop watching this so just do it!
Read at the sourcerekirira8
A type of musical instrument only has beautiful girls playing for the king. It is a noble musical instrument. The sound is very smooth. But in the anime, the boys play, it makes a special point for the anime. In my country, when it comes to đàn tranh, people will think of being women playing. It is a kind of instrument that exalts the beauty of women.
Commenting on the content, the anime revolves around a group of friends playing the zither. The evolution of the anime will but other anime have trouble. With the power of friendship and youthful enthusiasm, they overcome those difficulties. Say goodbye to the temporary story, I give 8 points.
As for the art part of the anime, moving, the details are clear. But the scenes playing the zither are often cut off. That is acceptable. I give 7 po…
Read at the sourcefelixlovesanime
Kono Oto Tomare! introduced itself as a beautiful anime. The next task, for its upcoming second season, is to prove that it is more than just pretty to look at.
This anime feels a bit divisive in my heart. For audience being relatively new in anime scene, this series is definitely one to watch. It revolves around a very niche Japanese music and discusses Japanese-centric topics such as tradition, societal pressures, and redemption. The romantic element is also refreshing as it is less about "boy meets girl" and more about two different people finding common ground thanks to shared love for cultural artistry. However, such may not be the case for the more experienced audience and hardcore otaku out there. The storytelling feels exciting at first but as more episodes roll in, it slowly degr…
Read at the sourceaberuwu
Story and Characters:
Kono Oto Tomare is my favorite anime for Spring 2019.
The story revolves around Chika Kudou, a misunderstood high school student who struggles to find his identity, he has been disowned by his father leaving him with his grandfather a Koto luthier. Through a series of unfortunate events Chika's grandfather dies, feeling guilty, Chika vows to join the Koto club in order to make amends for his mistakes and create a legacy in honor of his grandfather with the help of his club members.
Despite Chika having a primary role in this anime, every other character has an equally important subplot which adds to the overall complexity and completeness of the story. Every character in this anime is interesting and likable.
Art:
On the animation and artistic side, this anime has a…
Read at the sourcematheus_pikalolo
When you say about an music anime, exclusively about classical music, in your mind comes your lie in april or Hibike Euphonium.
But to compare that two animes with kono oto tomare is completely disgusting.
This is an example of anime who do a lot of things but does not did any correctly. We can't blame the studio but the production of the anime is horrible. Some decisions made the history boring, like the firsts episodes of the anime and some parts in the middle and in the end of the anime.
The studio did only 6 animes, then we can't expect see a good animation, and is exactly that happens.
The evolution of the character is a nice thing about this anime. The flash backs is not like naruto's flash back, but i don't liked the decision to put that in the start of the history, because we watc…
Read at the sourceMury0kush0
Kono Oto Tomare is not just a music anime, it intricately presents a lot of issues faced by people in general and therefore a lot may relate to the characters experience.
It has a lot of “potential” which it couldn’t fully use however that shouldn’t demotivate you from watching it. It’s become one of my favourites for sure.
The animation felt a bit awkward during the start but they really improved a lot as the series progressed. Loved the art from the start <3 But yeah compared to other brilliant anime it may seem a bit lacking so may not be everyone’s cup of tea.
I’m really glad I didn’t drop it, infact it compelled me to read the manga too.
I’ll digress a bit but Ohmygod you need to read the manga. It is Amazing. A masterpiece. The art is absolutely breathtaking and except for the fa…
Read at the sourceVinWicksNet
this is the second time I have watched anime music, this anime is very good by presenting a dramatic storyline and each character has a story behind each of them, I really enjoyed the story from the first episode to the end.every episode has interesting conflicts and is not bored to watch for me.the visuals displayed are very suitable with the conditions that are told and make the audience seem to be fixated on the conflict presented. I'm really waiting for the continuation and this is my recommendation for those of you who want to find anime with dramatic stories and music.
Read at the sourceKrunchyman
Glancing at the promotional poster for “Kono Oto Tomare!” had me confused, that’s because I thought the students were holding bazooka’s. Which could have made sense given the American name, “Stop the sound.” Despite my lack of knowledge of the koto, however, I soon realized that splattered body parts would be a rare occurrence. Quite a shame, I know.
Musical-centered anime follow a similar framework to sports anime. The participants usually start with mediocre talent and low expectations, but through the power of bullshit (i.e. friendship), they overcome all/most obstacles in pursuit of their goal. Like when the vice principal challenged the crew to learn the koto in a month and play a song in front of the student body. The subsequent veneration from the student body was a cliched respons…
Read at the sourceKANLen09
Quite literally the dark horse and the best hidden (diamond) gem of the Spring season that not a lot of people are giving it the recognition it severely deserves. In my view it's no AOTS nor a masterpiece, but it's a really satisfying watch. And this journey to stardom isn't quite over yet, as the 2nd cour airing in Fall 2019 will continue this journey of the Tokise High School Koto Club. And the TGI-Saturdays of highly-intensified music marathon is over for this period.
Like can you believe that the 2nd cour was planned right when the show just started it's pilot episodes? That's some fierce determination right there.
But first, a quick background about the Koto, which is the centerpiece of the series. Made in 13 or 17-string variants, the koto is a rendition of the Chinese Guzheng, and…
Read at the sourceStark700
The foundation of school clubs have been an ongoing trend in many anime involving school life. But reality is, you probably haven’t heard of koto club being part of a central plot, have you? At first, I came into this show with some cautious optimism. The concept of Kono Oto Tomare itself reminds me of anime like Chihayfuru. That anime became a rare breed that capitalized on a unique competition. Kono Oto Tomare walks a similar path for its first few episodes.
Right from the start, we are introduced Takezou Kurata, the president of the koto music club. The timid young man has no strikingly impressive traits. As the sole member of the Koto club, his love for koto music is evident although it’s hard to make his club into a sensation. The fact is, his club is on the verge of shutting down un…
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