Kono Oto Tomare! Episode 2 Review: Having What It Takes

This week’s episode of Kono Oto Tomare!: Sounds of Life, ‘Having What it Takes’, brings on a little high school drama. But the episode doesn’t stray too far from its slice-of-life roots, bringing on quite a few feel-good moments.

Plot

In order to keep the Koto Club running, Kurata puts on a performance at the first year’s club exhibition. Despite not making the best first impression, he attracts the attention of prodigy Koto player Satowa Hozuki. Eager to have such an accomplished player in the club, Kurata immediately accepts her application, but her personality does a complete 180 once she’s a full-fledged member. Her stuck up attitude rubs both Kurata and Kudo the wrong way, but there is no denying that her skills are second to none! After hearing her play, Kudo realizes how much more work he has to do to reach her level.

Episode Highlights

School Club Exhibition: Kurata participates in the school club exhibition hoping to entice a few first years to join the club. Despite not being as flashy as the other clubs, Kurata does his best during his performance, although the watching crowd isn’t all that impressed with his skill.

A New Member Arrives: This week introduces another new member, prodigy Koto player Satowa Hozuki. Unlike Kudo and Kurata, Hozuki is already an accomplished player, her family runs one of the most famous Koto schools. Since she was young, she was trained in the art of playing the koto, competing in a number of competitions. Unfortunately, her fame has made her pretty stuck up.

Themes and Trivia

Koto: The koto is a Japanese stringed instrument and the national instrument of Japan. It is made from kiri wood and has 13 strings each strung over 13 moveable bridges, and 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: Is the name of the piece Kurata plays during the school club exhibition. Rokudan no Shirabe is one of the more famous pieces by Japanese composer, Yatsuhashi Kengyo.

Comments

It’s still pretty early in the series, but it’s clear that we’re going to spend a lot more time focusing on the characters, with the actual music side of things taking a bit of a backseat, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Each of the characters has their own motivations for joining the club: Kurata wants to fulfill his senpai’s dreams of going to nationals, Kudo wants to honor his grandfather’s memory, and Hozuki is in it for the notoriety (or so she says). They each have the potential for some great character development, and now that we have the big three all together, I can’t wait to see how the play off one another in the rest of the series.

Maybe it’s just me, but, Kono Oto Tomare! reminds me of Tsurune. Maybe it’s the slice-of-life feel of the series, maybe it’s the focus on a topic that is so deeply rooted in Japanese culture… but, they both have the same feel and I like it. There is just something really mellow about it…

A New Member Appears

Episode 2 of Kono Oto Tomare! wasn’t especially filled with drama or action, but it’s slow pacing gives viewers a chance to really get to know the characters before the series delves too deeply into the story. But, the real highlight of the episode is the beautiful koto playing that is sure to delight!

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 Koto Club Reborn