Kono Oto Tomare! Episode 8 Review: A Sign

Episode 8, ‘A Sign’, brings some new rivals into the mix, with the introduction of two koto clubs, with a much more prestigious pedigree than that of our dear Tokise High koto club. But that doesn’t mean we should count them out just yet! Kono Oto Tomare!: Sounds of Life is turning up the heat, so don’t miss out on this week’s episode review!

Plot

Hozuki tells the members of the koto club that in order to play ‘Rokudan’ well they must first face the piece head on. Kudo takes this request quite literally… But, the rest of the koto club is having a hard time putting her words into practice. Meanwhile, two girls from the prestigious Himesuka Academy arrive at the clubroom and they have their sights set on Hozuki!

Episode Highlights

Meeting Kudo’s Aunt, Isaki: You’d think Kudo’s late grandfather was the only family he had. However, he actually has an aunt. Kudo is using her apartment as storage for his grandpa’s koto, so the members of the club stop by for a visit. She isn’t as hands on with Kudo as her father was, but she does care about him and is genuinely happy to see him surrounded by friends.

Hozuki Plays ‘Rokudan’: In order to get a feel of their new piece, the rest of the koto club ask Hozuki to play ‘Rokudan’ for them. As usual, she blows them away with her playing, but the scene is noteworthy for the water visual representation that accompanies the music.

Kudo Plays His Granddad’s Song: Kudo has a distinctly gentle playing style that really comes out when he plays the koto. While the members of the club are at his aunt’s apartment, he decides to play the song his grandfather wrote. Instead of letting us hear the piece in its entirety, we get a nice flashback. In it, Kudo’s grandfather remarks that music is an extension of the player’s soul and that is what gives music its own unique sound.

New Rivals Appear: We’ve gone quite some time without a genuine rival, and this week we finally get a sneak peek at the formidable Himesuka Girls Academy. Two of its members crash the Tokise club meeting in order to see Hozuki play.

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

In sports anime, there is always a point in the story where the rival appears to knock the main team down a peg. Well, Kono Oto Tomare isn’t a sports anime, but just the same, a set of rivals have appeared to challenge the Tokise High koto club. Two members of the Himesuka Girls Academy make a sudden appearance and I can’t help but have flashbacks to Ouran High School Host Club and the Lobelia Girls’ Academy with the way Kazusa and Fumi were raving over Hozuki.

I’ve seen enough anime to know how this is gonna go, but I’m curious to see how the members of the Tokise koto club deal with a bit of healthy competition. I can’t say whether I like or dislike the new characters since they’re mostly played for comic relief. However, I do appreciate more female characters since the ratio of the main cast is about 5:2… but, considering koto (at least in the anime) seems to be a more female dominated pastime.

There was another obligatory Hozuki character building moment, where she asserts that she actually enjoys playing with the rest of her club members. However, I was more excited that we got to spend a bit more time with Kurata. He’s one of the OG koto club members and I don’t think we’ve spent as much time with him as we have with Kudo and Hozuki (which is a tragedy if you ask me). I really hope we get to learn more about him in the coming episodes…

Facing Koto Head On

In Episode 8, ‘A Sign’, we’re finally seeing the beginnings of a rivalry between Tokise and Himesuka, and I can’t wait to see how the new challenges push the group to improve. For those of you that have been waiting for more from Kurata, it seems like there might be more character development coming soon, so keep an eye out for that! All in all, a pretty great episode.

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: A Piercing Sound