English Dub Review: Kono Oto Tomare!: Sounds of Life “The Sound We Were Searching For”

The koto club members attend a music festival and are blown away by what they hear.

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Last week’s training camp is just finishing up, and club advisor Mr. Takinami has one last piece of advice for Chika and Takezo that ends up helping them come together. The group performs before calling the camp quits, and everyone is pleasantly surprised by how much progress they’ve made.

But the High School Students’ Kanto Region Traditional Japanese Music Festival is just around the corner, and the koto clubs from Meiryo and Himesaka are participating in the festival, too. Our protagonists may have made progress, but so has everyone else.

Our Take:

Well, the season is coming to a close. Though our favorite koto club players may be wrapping up their time soon, the quality of the show is staying relatively steady. The eleventh episode of Kono Oto Tomare! has some heartwarming moments and quality plot development, but doesn’t pack quite the punch it could due to the repetitive nature of the final scene.

Satowa stars in one of the more heartwarming scenes this episode. It’s just before the training camp is wrapping up. Everyone is off practicing, but Satowa and Mr. Takinami have a moment alone. He asks her if she’s settled for the fact that she’ll always be playing down her full potential with these dorks. But rather than admit this to him, we see how Satowa views it in a much different light. Sure, her fellow club members’ skills may not be equal to hers, but when it comes to passion, determination, and hard work? She can look to her teammates for inspiration of these sorts anytime and not be disappointed. Her character growth is really rewarding to see. I love how Satowa started off as a not quite likable character but has turned into one of my favorite parts of the series.

Two of the other best arcs go to Chika and Takezo, of course. Their little teambuilding moment is very sweet and cute, and it’s funny how Mr. Takinami’s playful comment was the advice that unlocked their full potentials to play together. Takezo and Chika are about as different as different can be, but one of the things Kono Oto Tomare! does best is show how music can be the thing that unites people from all walks of life.

The latter half of the episode deals with the High School Students’ Kanto Region Traditional Japanese Music Festival, and I found it a little lacking in places. I enjoyed all the fun banter when the club arrived, especially Chika VS Satowa’s admirer. But the flashbacks to Ousuke’s childhood felt out of place considering we barely know him at all. I suppose he’s going to figure more prominently in the final run of episodes, perhaps? Also, the big cliffhanger about how everyone was so awed by Meiryo’s performance felt like a complete copy of a couple of weeks ago, when the club was so taken aback by the young girl group’s performance they watched. We get it, everyone else is great and they feel a lot more unsure of their own sounds.

This week’s English dub had some great lines from Mr. Takinami: “Why do you guys even bother asking me for help when you know I don’t really care.” He’s so savage! His line to Satowa made me chuckle: “You’ve basically committed yourself to these morons at this point.” For all his bark, I think he’s beginning to see the better qualities of the club. They’re definitely winning him over. Finally, I absolutely loved Asano’s line in Ousuke’s flashback. When a couple of middle school boy’s accuse them of being a couple, calling them gross, Asano responds with a frank: “Well, you’re stupid.”

The Sound We Were Searching For has a few issues for sure, but overall I’d say it’s on the good side of average. I felt like the final scene was a bit of a repeat in how it made the koto club feel lesser, but there were enough solidly sweet moments to make up for these gripes. The koto club only gets better the more they practice, and the same might be said for the staff of the show, too. I’m looking forward to seeing how these kids continue to advance next week. (And whatever happened to Kurusu becoming the club’s Vice President?)