Episode 10, ‘Near Yet Far’, is the obligatory training camp episode. There were plenty of heartfelt moments between the members of the Koto Club, each person striving to improve for their upcoming performance. Kono Oto Tomare!: Sounds of Life is no stranger in the feels department and Episode 10 is sure to tug at the heartstrings… 

Plot

In order to boost their skills, the members of the koto club decide to host their very own training camp! It seems to help, with everyone showing a marked improvement in their koto playing… Unfortunately Kota is still struggling to create the perfect sound and starts to feel left behind…

Episode Highlights

Practice Makes Perfect?: The members of the Koto Club start seriously practicing for their performance… However, things just aren’t coming together like they should. Everyone is on their own different wavelength and we see just how bad it’s gotten between them. Kurata and Kudo are having a hard time keeping time and Kota has absolutely no sense of rhythm… 

Training Camp: Ever anime about high school clubs has one, and Kono Oto Tomare is no exception… it’s time for a training camp episode!! The members of the club schedule an impromptu training camp at Kurusu’s family inn in an attempt to work out some of their kinks before their performance.  

Kurata Grows a Pair: Continuing his growth from last week’s episode, Kurata confronts Takinami about his role as club advisor, even going so far as to tell him to quit. This prompts Takinami to make some changes. 

Themes and Trivia 

Koto: The koto is a Japanese stringed instrument and the national instrument of Japan. The Koto is made from kiri wood and has 13 strings each strung over 13 moveable bridges, to change the pitch the player must move the bridges before playing. To play the koto the player uses three finger picks worn over the thumb, index, and middle finger to pluck the strings. 

Rokudan no Shirabe: One of Yatsuhashi Kengyo’s famous sokyoku pieces. The song is made up of six columns (the name means ‘six-column tune’) each with 52 beats.

Comments

Training camp!! It’s a rite of passage for anime like Kono Oto Tomare and it goes pretty much how you’d expect it to… The members of the club realize they are no match for the other schools so they hunker down and start practicing, only to further realize they need more training. Kurusu offers up her family’s inn for their training camp and everyone starts to get better… that is except for Kota. 

Now, Kota hasn’t had nearly as much character development as the rest of the members of the club, so I appreciated having an episode focused solely on him. Everyone else is able to get their act together and improve their playing, but Kota is still struggling so he wanders off on his own since he feels like he is bringing everyone down. Before this he was just one of the comedic trio, so to have him fleshed out as an independent character with his own motivations and conflicts is a welcome change. I really hope that they give the other’s a chance to shine on their own too, but I don’t expect much. 

Also…

HOT SPRING EPISODE. They between the character drama they managed to cram in a bit of fanservice from Hozuki and Kurusu and I’m not gonna lie, it’s kind of out of place. I get it they wanted to add in a moment of levity before Kota runs off on his own, but there are other ways… 

Practice Makes Perfect

This was a pretty solid episode overall, nothing especially mindblowing or new was introduced. I did like seeing Takinami and Kota getting more individual character development, but ultimately this was your run-of-the-mill Training camp episode through and through. 

I’ll be back next week with another Kono Oto Tomare review, but in the meantime, be sure to check out MANGA.TOKYO’s other amazing Spring 2019 reviews!!

NEXT TIME: The Sound We Were Searching For

Kono Oto Tomare! Sounds of Life

Spring 2019 | Anime Info | Simulcast