Rock is a Lady's Modesty

Episode 5

I'm going to begin by bragging about how smart I am. Last week, you may remember I commented on how refreshing it was for Rock is a Lady's Modesty to focus on instrumental rock music, as opposed to its more vocal-oriented peers in the genre. This week, that distinction turns into the conflict driving Red Familia's concert performance. It's a plucky amateur instrumental ensemble versus one smarmy semi-professional singer. I totally called it. I'm a genius.

More seriously, this development proves how tight the writing is. Vocals vs. instruments is, on the surface, a silly argument. Why not both? There, I solved the debate. However, the more poignant matter at the heart of this episode is stagnation, which affects both Ishitani and Red Familia equally. They just process it differently. Ishitani gets a big head about his crumb of talent, and it's witheringly funny to see him preen in front an auditorium comprised of empty folding chairs and a couple of kids playing cards. We all know people like this. They're losers. While Red Familia and its conductor Uekasa are humbler and likeable, they, too, are stuck in a rut. They've grown accustomed to going through the motions. They slow down rather than push themselves. They're complacent.

That attitude is anathema to Lilisa and Otoha, so they take matters into their own hands, and I love how it plays out. I think we all knew that they'd end up overpowering the performance, but I expected the adaptation to make it more comedic. Instead, the girls' intervention becomes an act of heroism. This isn't about one genre of music winning over another. It's about embracing your passions and being authentic to yourself, however messy that gets. Lilisa and Otoha throw down a gauntlet, and despite their initial trepidation, the members of Red Familia rise to the challenge. They leave their comfort zone, make mistakes, whip up a good sweat, and draw in an excited crowd. Obviously, there's a technical aspect to playing any instrument, but my own experiences have taught me that I can't perform any piece decently if I don't put some of myself into it. Music demands authenticity.

Authenticity is another running theme in Rock Lady. Lilisa straddles an existence between wearing a porcelain mask and, to paraphrase one of her statements this week, rocking out with her cock out (and that's another point on the scoreboard for my fellow queer subtext enjoyers). Obviously, she's happiest when she's rocking out with Otoha. We can all see that. What's surprising is that we learn Alice is quite astute at detecting phonies. She clocks Ishitani's hollowness immediately, and therefore, we can understand why she came to hate Lilisa and her stepmom so much. Alice puts on a haughty face, but what she really can't stand is hypocrisy. That's why Lilisa wins her over with an earnest and passionate performance. Her authentic personality comes through the music—and it comes through Lilisa's colorful language when she delivers a brutal dressing down to Ishitani's face. Note that Lilisa's critiques of his music mirror Alice's, give or take a few dozen instances of profanity. They truly are sisters.

The philosophy and methodology of jazz are also paramount to this performance. Classical music is traditionally hierarchical with the conductor at the head of the beast. While there are larger ensembles that eschew this structure (Orpheus is a good example), they're the exception rather than the rule. When Uekasa comments on the girls dragging everyone else into their rhythm, that's a jazz-like practice. In a smaller collective, no one person holds the baton, but the drums and bass drive the proverbial cart. And rock, lest we forget, has roots in jazz. The improvisational jam sessions that brought Lilisa and Otoha together would not exist without their jazz forebears. If we were to take this metaphor one step further, a more equal and democratic relationship between musicians maps onto Rock Lady's class commentary. When they play together, Lilisa isn't a tryhard stepchild, and Otoha isn't a dynastic heiress. They're two women on equal footing, giving and taking in hot, sweaty tandem.

Jazz is also worth mentioning given Red Familia's choice of music. A quick YouTube search will show that “Takarajima” is a favorite of concert bands, symphonic ensembles, solo artists, and more. I actually just learned myself that it was originally written by jazz fusion/city pop legends T-Square (formerly The Square), which is probably why ensembles often opt for an electric bass. I'm a big fan of Lilisa's guitar shredding, though, and I hope the soundtrack includes a clean recording of their arrangement. Sound! Euphonium fans may also recognize "Takarajima" from the second season. And on the subject of Sound! Euphonium, it should be no surprise that Rock Lady's depiction of a concert can't live up to Kyoto Animation's sophisticated and lifelike recreations. We don't have that kind of production here, and that's not what this show is about. Where it does succeed, however, is in communicating the interiorities of the ensemble members as they metamorphose into new and exciting versions of themselves. The energy on screen is infectious.

Lilisa and Otoha, meanwhile, exhibit subtler changes. Instead of cursing each other out, this time they direct their acid tongues towards their elders. And before I forget to mention it for the third week in a row, the localization is doing excellent work making their post-jam-sesh vulgarities extra enjoyable to read. This anime would be so much more dismal without the colorful choice of expletives. That being said, it's nice to see the girls share another quiet moment, too. The show frames Otoha in an explicitly romantic fashion as they cool down on the sunset-kissed grass of the hill, the wind from a passing train elegantly whipping her hair. I'm not sure if Lilisa knows how in love she is yet, but Otoha definitely does. As the old adage goes: the couple that flips the bird together, stays together.

Rating:

Rock is a Lady's Modesty is currently streaming on HIDIVE on Thursdays.

Steve is on Bluesky for all of your posting needs. He is modest as a mouse. You can also catch him chatting about trash and treasure alike on This Week in Anime.