Anime Reviews (2010-2019): Kono Oto Tomare! - Sounds of Life - Season Two (2019)

“Kono Oto Tomare! – Sounds of Life” (seasons one and two) is highly recommended and I really hope a third season is considered. Definitely one of the my favorite anime series that I have watched in 2020!

TITLE: Kono Oto Tomare! – Sounds of Life – Season Two

ANIME RELEASE DATE IN JAPAN: 2019

DURATION: Episodes 13-25

BLU-RAY INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition, 4×3, Japanese Dolby TrueHD 2.0, English Dolby TrueHD 5.1, Subtitles: English

COMPANY: Funimation

RATED: TV 14

Release Date: October 30, 2020

Originally created by Amyu

Directed by Mizuno Ryoma

Series Composition by Hisao Ayumu

Character Design: Yamanaka Junko

Art Director: Mayuzumi Masaki

Music by Haneoka Kei

Anime Production: Platinum Vision

Featuring the following voice talent

Enoki Junya/Alejandro Saab as Takezo Kurata

Tanezaki Atsumi/Amber Lee Connors as Satowa Hōzuki

Uchida Yumi/Daman Mills as Chika Kudō

Matsumoto Sara/Alexis Tipton as Hiro Kurutsu

Furukawa Makoto/Anthony Bowling as Michitaka Sakai

Ishiya Haruki/Austin Tindle as Saneyasu Adachi

Namikawa Daisuke/Brandon Potter as Suzuka Takinami

Aoi Shota/Christopher Wehkamp as Mio Kanzaki

Hoshi Soichiro/Howard Wang as Sentaro Miya

Iguchi Yuichi/Josh Grelle as Kota Mizuhara

Mizuki Nana/Lydia Mackay as Isaki Kudo

Terashima Junta/Matt Shipman as Ousuke Kiryu

Sakura Ayane/Meg McClain as Kazusa Ōtori

Hosoya Yoshimasa/Robert McCollum as Tetsuki Takaoka

Yamaya Yoshitaka/Stephen Fu as Haru Kasugai

From having only one member to now having seven, the koto club has grown a lot. But while the team has evolved, their loss at the music festival means they have a long road ahead—especially, if they want to make their dreams of making it to nationals a reality. These underdogs are ready to find their sound as they navigate school, koto practice, and their relationships with one another.

For those looking for a modern music-driven anime series, definitely give “Kono Oto Tomare! Sounds of Life” a try!

An anime adaptation of the manga series “Kono Oto Tomare! Sounds of Life” which was serialized in Shueisha’s “Jump Square” in 2012, the series is ongoing in Japan and a total of 20 volumes has been printed.

In Japan, a total of 26 episodes have aired and for this second season, this features the final 12 episodes of the series.

The first season revolved around Tokise High School’s Koto Club.Kurata Takezo, a second year student, is the only student left in the new school year and now he must recruit members or else the club must closed down.

For Kurata, his goal is to protect the club and when the first person that joins the club is Kudo Chika, a person who has a bad reputation of being arrested for the alleged destruction of his grandfather’s koto business.

And Hozuki Satowa, a koto prodigy who is joining the club, but with her stuck up demeanor, will she be a team player?

And with more members needed for the club to function, will Kurata’s meek nature and weak style of leadership prevent him from leading the koto club?

With the second season, we now have the group who have officially gotten closer as a team and also getting a touch of true competition and meeting other rival koto clubs and seeing how tough the competitions is.

This would now make Tokise High School more determined to win the next competition and hoping to make it to Nationals, but the series also showcases other schools and show why they are so determined to make it to Nationals.

And while the story continues on in the manga, for the anime series, the second season features Tokise High School and other high schools preparing for the next major competition and who will have the second chance and get an opportunity to compete at Nationals.

Words can not describe how much I love this anime series. With two seasons produced, after watching “Kono Oto Tomare! Sounds of Life – Season Two”, it left me wanting more.

Typically, we are often given a underclassed high school sports team who dream of being good enough to compete for a championship, but what if you were able to use that theme for Tokise High School’s Koto Club?

The series focuses on the Koto Club led by Kurata Takezo and the first season primarily focuses on the club members and establishing their storylines.

Kurata Takezo is the new leader after the majority of the club has graduated. He’s not a leader, but got the position because he was the only one left from the club and promised to keep it going. He is often bullied and picked on but he’s determined to find new club members to keep the Koto Club alive.

Kudo Chika is a juvenile delinquent who lived with his grandfather, who owned a Koto business but also was responsible for starting the Koto Club long ago. His grandfather always wanted his grandson to smile, not to get into trouble and embrace koto. But when Kudo is framed for the destruction of the koto business and days later, his grandfather had passed, Kudo wants to desperately make his deceased grandfather happy by getting into koto and joining the club.

But with his brash demeanor and the fact that the school fears him because he has a bad reputation, will he be allowed to join the koto club?

For Hozuki Satowa, she is the daughter of a grandmaster who owned the prestigious koto school, the Hozuki Group. Hozuki is a prodigy and had a stuck up attitude, but wanting the koto club to succeed, she is also a person with secrets. Why is someone that is a prodigy with the koto joining the koto club with people who may not have the same skill?

For the second season, it’s the clubs who had strong reputations but lost the competition, now having one last chance. These schools, some who were known in the past as prestigious koto clubs are competing for the top spot, while Tokise High School’s Koto Club believe in themselves of making it into Nationals, while no one else does.

The second season also has the Koto Club of Tokise High united as one, wanting to create the best piece possible, but to function as a team as they must do so to win Nationals.

Also, we have a high school advisor Takinami Suzuki who acted as he could care less for the club now wanting to see them excel. We also learn more about Takinami’s background, as he is more than what he seems.

The second season also adds Dojima Akira, heiress of the Tsubaki School and given a chance by Takinami Suzuki to assist the Koto Club and at first, she doesn’t have faith but when she sees them perform, she knows they have chance to win Nationals.

If anything, you can’t help but root for this club. They are no doubt the underdogs, but you can’t help but be drawn in to the emotional storyline and its amazing music..

If anything, the characters and the story are what I found delightful and addictive, that I had to watch it all in one sitting. It’s an impressive and entertaining anime series, especially how it incorporates music heavily into the anime series.

Overall, there have been a few anime TV series which were released on Blu-ray that I found to be fantastic in terms of its storyline. “Kono Oto Tomare! – Sounds of Life” is no doubt one of the my favorite anime to be released in 2020.

The thrill of competition, the emotional pain that some of these members harbor inside and how they must find ways to handle things, may it be on their own, or through their new friends they met through the club. The character dynamics of this anime series was great!

The storyline is also unique in showing the spirit of koto, introducing audiences to koto but most importantly, the thrill of club members trying to keep their koto club alive and then preparing for a major competition.

Anime Reviews (2010-2019): Kono Oto Tomare! – Sounds of Life – Season Two (2019)

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