Those Snow White Notes || A Hit or A Flop?

Finally, our intramurals have come to an end, and with that, I can finally breathe for awhile (yeah—for awhile—because I know the projects and reporting will come again, huhu). Anyway, while I'm in my binge-night Friday, I tried finding something to watch, but unfortunately I didn't find anything that captured my interest that night. However, yesterday, during my break on washing laundries, I finally found an interesting one—and like the previous anime movie that I've watched, it's about loss. The summary really resonated with me because I'm also much closer to my gramps.

Losing someone that's important to you is really hard. It's like missing a part of you, and moving on from that loss is really a challenge. The first days were really torture because I'm still on the stage of indenial. In those days, I can't still believe that he's gone and he'll never come back again. Even though those days have passed, there are still times that I find myself staring at the empty space where he usually sat. It's heart wrenching, and I wanted to know if this anime can make me reminisce about how it felt to feel that feeling.

Will it hit the right notes that will make my heart quiver, or will the strings break under the pressure of the obscurity of its portrayal? So now come with me as we hum to the tune of Those Snow White Notes.

About the Anime

Those Snow White Notes (Mashiro No Oto) is a shounen anime that premiered in the spring of 2021. This anime series aired from April 3, 2021, to June 19, 2021 and was produced by DMM Music. It was animated by Shin-Ei Animation, and its main genre is drama. Obviously its main themes revolve around music and school (though I'm not sure if it'll be the same for season 2...hopefully it'll get one). All in all, it has 12 episodes that were based on the earlier part of its manga that was written and illustrated by Marimo Ragawa.

So it all started when Setsu lost his grandfather. All his life, he's been dependent on the sound that he hears from his grandfather's shamisen—as long as he hears it, there's no need for him to search for his own—but with his grandfather's death, his inspiration to create sound seemed to also pass away. Before dying, his grandfather told him to give up on playing shamisen if he'd only imitate his sound. With his grandfather's sound gone, his sound disappeared also. Still grieving, he decided to find a place that would inspire him to make the sound he loved, and a big city with many sounds like Tokyo immediately came to his mind.

However, Tokyo isn't the way he'd imagined. It's much more noisy and rowdy—to the point that everything is deafening and unpleasant. And that's not the only problem he had because since his decision to move to Tokyo was just made in the spur of his emotions, he totally has nowhere to stay. Lost in the deafening city, he unknowingly stumbled into trouble, but fortunately he met Yuna. She herself has issues to deal with, but what's interesting is that she'll usher him into the new part of his life. And like the pieces he had played before, it won't be easy, for it will be riddled with ups and lows. Will this part of his life help him to find the sound he'd been yearning for, or will he get stuck chasing his grandfather's sound forever?

Honestly, the way the anime ended was kinda dejecting for me. Since one of its themes is school, I kinda expected it to be a lighthearted one, but I guess I was wrong. I'm not saying I don't like it, but it isn't likeable either, so it's safe to say I have mixed feelings about it. The MC was really unlike the conventional ones that were mostly inexperienced and beginners in the field of arts they've chosen. It's like he's the complete opposite of them—he's talented and totally experienced, but he got no motivation. The lack of hunger and passion somehow made him a bland character for me, but the character improvement really fixed it in the later parts of the series.

The character development was definitely one of the things I liked in this anime. It was deliberate and slow, yet for me, it's perfectly paced. It doesn't feel rushed, and the fact that the MC is slowly gaining his motivation and his goal at the end of the series was something that's promising for me. The drama was really good, for it got me emotional. I really felt the intensity of the emotions of the characters, especially during the competition part. And unlike the previous anime movie I watched, this one definitely relayed well the feeling of grief and loss. The flashbacks were meaningful, and it really added to the melancholy I felt while watching it.

Although the art style isn't that unique, it's nice and eye-pleasing anyway. I really like the character designs and how unconventional the MC's character design was because it doesn't follow the overenthusiastic MC stereotype of the shounen animes. Since its art style is nice, it was inevitable that there's a character that I added to my husbando list—and tadah! It's Setsu's older brother—Wakana-chan~ His daddy vibes really attracted me, and I like how he easily understands his younger brothers' emotions and feelings. His protectiveness for his brother was also adorable, and that's definitely so ikemen for me!

Enough with my fangirling; it's animation was also nice. The way they animated the scenes where the characters were playing their shamisens was enthralling. Those scenes were particularly the ones that I really enjoyed watching. It matches well with the music and effects, and with them all, they portrayed gripping and enjoyable shamisen performances. Further, it's commendable how beautiful those shamisen performances sound. I've heard shamisen performances from other anime (Zenitsu's performance still haunts me ahahaha) before, but it's really my first time watching a music-themed anime, so I don't really have a point of reference on how these kinds of anime usually look and sound. Nevertheless, I enjoyed everything that it offered to me—from its plot, art style, music, effects, and many more—I truly enjoyed it all.

Overall, my personal rating for this movie is 8.5/10. I think for the first music-themed anime that I've watched, this set my standards high. I'm really grateful that I've watched this anime because it made me appreciate how vast the range of sound a shamisen can produce. There are some performances that got me emotional, and I don't know why but—it's like the sounds were singing and telling story to me. This anime really depicted well the beautiful traditional Japanese performing arts, and I definitely learned some stuff about shamisen and other things related to Japanese performing arts that I didn't know before. So if you're up for an enjoyable and affecting music-themed anime, then it's definitely a must to watch Those Snow White Notes.

Before I end this review, I gladly share with you its trailer, so—

Have you seen this anime before? Or is this your first time seeing it? Does its sound captivate you? Well, please do share your opinions about it in the comment. That's all for now, minna-san! I hoped you enjoyed reading my review.