English Dub Review: Kono Oto Tomare!: Sounds of Life “An Invisible Boundary”

The koto club bands together before being torn apart by a new member.

Overview (Spoilers Below):

With their debut performance completed, the members of the koto club revel in their successful recital and rebuffing of the vice principal’s plans. But of course, just when things seem to be going perfectly, a new wrinkle comes in to make things interesting. Hiro Kurusu is a new member of the club, but she’s not interested in making music – just drama.

Our Take

After last week’s episode that felt a lot like a conclusion to the series as a whole, I wasn’t sure what to expect from the sixth episode. Would the vice principal persist in his plans to destroy the club, or would his weird fascination finally be thwarted? Well, neither one, really. The koto club members do a fantastic job at making his public reaction a good one, crediting him for helping them pull together and giving him the benefit of a good wholesome inspirational story. In reality, he isn’t satisfied, and I don’t think we’ve seen the last of him.

The new ‘villain’ introduced in this episode, Kurusu, might be intended to replace the vice principal as the main threat to our main characters happiness. At this point, it certainly seems that way. Kurusu is a bored 2nd-year student who appears to thrive on creating chaos and stirring up strife among friends when it isn’t naturally-occurring. I’m still not sure what to think of her myself. Her whole ‘pretending to be nice’ thing feels a lot like Satowa’s schtick. That said, it’ll be fun to see just how disruptive a force Kurusu can be now that she’s actually in the club. Already, she’s starting to turn the tides against Satowa with her little whispers around to the members.

One of my favorite moments in this week’s episode was when Takezo took responsibility as the club president (maybe for one of the first times!) and got a standing ovation. Putting the past behind him in the form of the old sign and putting the new one up with the goal they’ve all agreed upon is a very effective way of making me sad to leave.

This week’s dub was a fine affair, with great performances by the club president and the three bumbling boy members. I’m not quite sold on Kurusu’s voice actor yet, as she seems a little too melodramatic at times. “Gimme a break, just stop.”  The club meeting their advisor for the first time was pretty darn funny. It’s a good angle that upsets expectations to have a club advisor be against them for once instead of just goofily by their sides.

An Invisible Boundary is a fine sixth episode of Kono Oto Tomare! that starts a new arc off at a good pace on solid footing. Kurusu has a lot of potential and I’m ready to watch more of her mischevious ways. If they aren’t careful, the koto club won’t be making music much longer – only drama.