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Shelf Life - Anonymous Noise




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rizuchan
Collector Extraordinaire



Joined: 11 Mar 2007
Posts: 974
Location: Kansas
PostPosted: Mon Jun 04, 2018 2:21 pm Reply with quote
Anonymous Noise was a huge disappointment for me. I adore the character designs and love music anime, and I'm pretty forgiving of most shoujo stereotypes. But the whole show just felt... forced. The characters have such over-the-top idiosyncrasies that they barely resemble people. Things happen to them that would never happen. And while I tend to overlook the romanticizing of possessiveness, the male characters were so bad about it that it made them unlikable. And I was sad that the preview guide reviewers, and even Gabriella too an extent here, were so quick to write off these particular issues as "typical shoujo," or a "mediocre genre staple" because it's not. It's just a bad, poorly written story (the manga isn't better), even by shoujo standards, and it's okay to call it that.

And to make things worse, the music, at least what I heard in the episodes I watched, was terrible. Like, Nino's singing is ear-grating. And I don't understand it, because Hayami Saori can sing. Other reviewers said they liked the song from the first episode, so maybe it's a taste thing, but I usually love her voice, so I don't know.
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Animegomaniac



Joined: 16 Feb 2012
Posts: 4070
PostPosted: Mon Jun 04, 2018 3:00 pm Reply with quote
Odd, I absolutely loved Momo or did I read too much "tortured artist whose muse that fuels his art is the fact he can never be near his love" vibe into his talent? And I also thought it was meant as a counterpoint to Yuzu's muse of being near to and coaxed by the love of his life without actually being his love?

They're both named after fruits and they're both kind of forbidden. That is, if you just read stuff into the show. But I guess it's all just a coincidence, there's no art at all and it's just a processed shoujo product of misplaced feelings and long distance possessiveness.

But then there's Nino's singing and its nature at only existing because she's loveless... unknowingly loved at a distance... and now look where we all are. A won't be with B and B can't be with C and C won't even look at A... or is it B?... all because it's what drives them to do music. And they do music because it makes them happy.

Theoretically. Maybe. But then:
Why won't Momo ruin his ability to create music to just get with Nino?
Why won't Yuzu try to get closer to Nino, drive her away and ruin his ability to write music?
Why won't Nino stop singing, drop music entirely and take them all out of the music world?

I like Anonymous Noise because it used music to turn a love triangle into a love circle built around music, one that can never end because of the music that brought them together in the first place. A vicious circle of a love triangle or some such. And then there's the fourth girl, the one who can end the circle for good, not that she'll come until play until the last chapter or so...
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zrnzle500



Joined: 04 Oct 2014
Posts: 3767
PostPosted: Mon Jun 04, 2018 3:40 pm Reply with quote
rizuchan wrote:
And to make things worse, the music, at least what I heard in the episodes I watched, was terrible. Like, Nino's singing is ear-grating. And I don't understand it, because Hayami Saori can sing. Other reviewers said they liked the song from the first episode, so maybe it's a taste thing, but I usually love her voice, so I don't know.


She does get better, although I think that Hayami’s voice isn’t really suited for the genre of music they were going for. I did like some of the EDs she did for the show, but they were more balladic and suited to her voice. Between this and Bang Dream, I think I am done with people singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star though.

While I don’t think she was the best fit for the singing part, I think Hayami did a very good job with the rest of character, to the point that I couldn’t really see anyone else doing the non-singing parts. By the end, her voice really seemed to embody the character to me.

How many episodes did you watch, if you don’t mind my asking?
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kyokun47



Joined: 17 Feb 2008
Posts: 231
PostPosted: Mon Jun 04, 2018 8:10 pm Reply with quote
I really hoped that since they got Juliet Simmons (JubyPhonic) for the lead role that they’d dub the songs, but from what people are saying, it looks like they haven’t...
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Usagi-kun



Joined: 03 Jul 2013
Posts: 877
Location: Nashville, TN
PostPosted: Mon Jun 04, 2018 11:30 pm Reply with quote
Animegomaniac wrote:

Theoretically. Maybe. But then:
Why won't Momo ruin his ability to create music to just get with Nino?
Why won't Yuzu try to get closer to Nino, drive her away and ruin his ability to write music?
Why won't Nino stop singing, drop music entirely and take them all out of the music world?

I like Anonymous Noise because it used music to turn a love triangle into a love circle built around music, one that can never end because of the music that brought them together in the first place. A vicious circle of a love triangle or some such. And then there's the fourth girl, the one who can end the circle for good, not that she'll come until play until the last chapter or so...


I think you are 100% right in this show's wheelhouse (bread and butter? Whatever.) but this type of fabricated drama is exactly what Gabriella is describing too. It speaks to the 14-year-old, lovesick, miserable teen I once was with all of those sticky feelings regurgitated ad nuseaum. These were not my most romantic years and why I was so frustrated with these characters (willingly?) ignorantly trapped in their bad music/bad love circlejerk. If another character does get introduced, I would hope things become less bleak. Sad

Edit: I only made it five episodes, manga forecast looks pretty bleak for me.


Last edited by Usagi-kun on Tue Jun 05, 2018 7:45 pm; edited 1 time in total
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omnistry



Joined: 03 Mar 2005
Posts: 1015
PostPosted: Tue Jun 05, 2018 7:38 pm Reply with quote
It sounds like Gabriella has never listened to a F*cked Up or Titus Andronicus album, as that's the kind of sound and vocal style Anonymous Noise was going for. (If she hasn't, I recommend both The Chemistry of Common Life and The Most Lamentable Tragedy, especially the latter. Nino's voice has a lot in common with the way Patrick Stickles sings.)
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grooven



Joined: 16 Aug 2006
Posts: 1424
Location: Canada
PostPosted: Tue Jun 05, 2018 8:50 pm Reply with quote
I really didn't mind this show that much. I only really disliked Momo really and was cheering for Yuzu. For the music side I only really couldn't stand the twinkle twinkle little star. That was too much for me.
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DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 15433
Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Wed Jun 06, 2018 4:24 am Reply with quote
I liked seeing this review, because it is something that I can feel confident in how terrible it was. Not to belittle those who loved it, that it even could speak to some people and be exactly what they are looking for, but it one incredibly evident problem. It absolutely has to be made clear that the way it handled love interests was the absolute worst. In no way is a Momo something that should seem romantic, he had a strange mix of negligent abuse of not caring about her feelings, to an obsessiveness that did not even treat her like a person, and was outstanding that it could try and justify his character. She was not a person to him, she was a muse that would inspire him, while he did not at all care the stuff he put her through.

Yuzu was totally better, but at the same time it is right that he would occasionally treat her like an object, doing the whole "my Alice" thing. Probably means nothing to be a guy and try and make the point of terrible anime love interests for the ladies, it gave me the feelings that I could hate the guys for acting like that.

I am not really a music person, but I did feel like the voice to genre was not a right fit, in sounding too flat or mostly shouting rather than what it should. Might be that it has been a while, but there could have been one exception.
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jrockfreak



Joined: 06 Sep 2013
Posts: 125
PostPosted: Thu Jun 07, 2018 3:20 pm Reply with quote
I really loved Fuuka, so I was pretty excited when Anonymous Noise came out but it feel flat for me fast. The whole thing with her voice got annoying to me fast and the story just wasnt there for me.
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