Forest of Piano

Tbh I wasn't expecting crazy animation but man this was on PowerPoint levels. It's such a good story and amazing music, it just feels so wrong. It's like the whole budget went to animating his hair as if a fan were in front of him. I knew it wasn't going to be like YLIA, but I expected at least a little arm movement while he was playing. It's such a shame.

Other than that I highly recommend it. I sat through both seasons. Binged it even. It's a captivating story. Moved me to tears a couple of times. You know, sometimes there doesn't need to be mappa, ufotable, or even kyoto animation levels. But it does help.

Here's a quote: "Poland' originated from 'people of the plains."

Did you even know that Chopin was Polish? Many of you surely do. I didn't know squat about him. For me, classical music is like learning Spanish. It's something I would truly love to master, however, I rarely get around to doing anything. Shows like this get me motivated. Okay, focus:

"Chopin grew up on an endlessly vast plain with an endlessly vast sky, with endless stars at night." That's a sample of some of the dialogue viewers hear in between piano music of transcendent quality. More than half the show focuses on a single multi-round competition. They took pains with the soundtrack. The different competitors have distinctive styles of play. It's simply magnificent to look at and to listen to. Fo🎹 massages the ears, and at the same time, it warms the hearts.

Ajino Sousuke loves 🎹, but competitions are long behind him. He lost his Love (fiance) and use of limb (his hand) in an accident years ago. He is able to teach🎹, but life is pretty drab until he stumbles into the forest one day and hears magic coming from an old beat-up piano. Is that a //forest spirit// playing, or a /kid/?

Ichinose Kai is the kid. Kai grew up in the red light district & he is the son of a prostitute. He's also the sun. He's ever optimistic, he's selfless, and he elevates everyone around him. The show holds him up as the spirit-of-the-forest-type, but initially, Kai doesn't want anything to do with Ajino. He can play fine without lessons.

Then Ajino plays Chopin...

Based on a manga, Fo🎹 is a 2018 Gaina Studios release that is rated 7.31 on MAL. It is 2 seasons of 12 25-min episodes each. They also did an alternative movie version. This anime is moving art. Visually and aurally this show is gorgeous, even though the drawing is on the crude side. I believe the art is to reflect Kai and the sound is the other side of Kai. Out of the wasteland, brilliance emerges. No element is lacking. The competitors are fully fleshed out. Top competitors such as Szymanowski Lech, Maruyama Takako, Pang Wei and many more change due to their exposure to Kai. Kai changes everyone he meets. Spirit of the forest, indeed.

Amamiya Shuuhei is actually the one who leads his piano teacher, Ajino, to Kai in ep1. Ajino recognizes Kai's natural genius and decides to coach him. Kai grew up where people portray the most base of human natures. Escaping the worst of the city as often as possible, Kai also grew up in nature. He's experienced the sublime and the sub-prime, and he knows how to put it all into his music. Though the two students' socioeconomic backgrounds are nothing alike, they become quick friends, regardless of Kai quickly outplayung Amamiya. They remain friends, which speaks to Amamiya's good character. Most competitors are frenemies. Amamiya craves true friendship.

The nature of competition is in view. Two frenemies, who are now just friends, talk about the final round of the competition as one gives the other encouragement and inspiration. It's a beautiful scene. Father and son repeat history. Each has a rival whom they find awe-inspiring ~ One whom they just cannot beat. It's Jordan and Pippin, head versus heart, and Jimmy Johson trying to catch Jeff Gordon. Being around the other players spurs them on, helps them grow, and makes them the absolute best they can be.

Sometimes piano players have exponential growth while at competitions (this is an anime, afterall). Technical specialist, Wei, turned pain into rage & power. The anger comes through in his playing. Lech, more like an accountant, goes for statistical accuracy. They each put 💘 💞💖 into it after being exposed to Kai. One desperate competitor wants his own father's approval. Kai doesn't even have a father. We see many parents pushing the children, cajoling them, & denying them a normal life of any kind. Pei's might be the worst. Compare that to Aryama's father who just stresses out over scores and who's going to advance to the next round. In that way, the father figures are contrasted: Love and hate. Warmth and anxiety. Nurturing and using. Yet Kai, by showing love and optimism, was the one who was able to help many of the other players push through to a new level. One father, in a moment of clarity, says he forgot the true joy of making music. In his desire to win, which gave way to his drive to have his son win, he lost himself.

Ajino simply wants Kai to be free. He says he doesn't care about the ranking or the competition at all. If the people hear Kai's playing, the world will recognize him. Then, the place where Kai grew up will no longer have any hold on him. Then he can be free.

Is it about the kid, or is it about you? Is it for the kid, or is it for you? Don't make parenting, coaching, or teaching about your pride. Freedom is letting it go - Particularly our pride. If we're caught up in our own pride, we can't tell the world the truth about ourselves; but, accepting the truth is very freeing. It's impossible to be perfect. Why do we feel the urge to act like we are? Let it go. Relax. Mastering something, doing your best at what you love, and striving for excellence are all important. None of it matters much, though, if we don't focus on love first. It's deeply painful to think about the parents whose children were involved in the Olympic gymnastics child abuse scandal. They aren't to blame, but that doesn't quell the hurt. Can you imagine what they wish their focus had been now? We can hear a story like that, or watch a show like this, and never apply what we should be learning. Entertainment isn't just for sitting there mindlessly ~ not quality entertainment. Don't turn your brain and your emotions off. Tired as you may be, see if you can learn something ~ and then apply it.

Ajino had a moribund existence. Helping Kai brought him back alive. Forgetting our misery and taking time out to help someone more unfortunate is healing. Fo🎹 is loaded with positive messages that we frequently need to be reminded of. One of the final messages is gratitude. Studies show that people who are thankful lead happier lives.

Fo🎹 is healing. It's uplifting, and it is well worth the time. It's a beautiful story.

Just listen to it.

QUOTES🗣

D@mn it. What is this Euphoria I'm feeling?

I was always, at every moment, surrounded by warm people. That's why I want to play piano.

This was the day I always dreamed for.

This was beyond my wildest dreams.

〰🖍 IMHO

🎬8.4 📝 7.7 🎭8 🌞7 🎨8.5 🎵 10 🔚9

Age 12+ for isolated moments featuring content not appropriate for most tweens. The bullies try to scare the new student into going into the forest to play the cursed piano late at night. "If you don't want to do that then you have to show us your w¡lly." The kid looks stunned. Mild bad language. Prostitutes. Pole dancing (portrayed on stills). Rating: PG-13 - Teens 13 or older

👁📺again? ✅ yes

You may also like: Belle-8.5, Castle in the Sky 8.4, Chihayafuru-8.5, Girls Und Panzer-8, Here Comes Miss Modern-8, Howl's Moving Castle, Land Of The Lustrous 8, Princess Principal 8.6, YOUR LIE IN APRIL-9.

I loved Season 1 and binge-watched Season 2 of this charming series. It shows Kai growing from poor waif into an accomplished pianist with great generosity of spirit. His teacher Ajino and rival Shuhei grow with him as childhood resistance and rivalry mature into supportive friendship. Meanwhile, much great piano artistry is featured as nearly the entire second season takes place at the Chopin competition in Poland. Other characters at the competition are well-developed and authentic with interesting side-stories. I wept with its poignancy several times. Don't miss it!

Forest of Piano or Piano no Mori is based on a 2007 animation film also called Piano no Mori. I haven't watched the film but, based on the images I saw, I can tell the first season of the anime covers the story in the movie and the second season expands it. In the first part we watch Kai Ichinose difficult childhood, his connection with the piano in the forest and the beginning of his relashionship with Shuhei Amamiya. It's a simple yet captivating coming-of-age story, with a nice character development and a good narrative. Kai is very likeable and I couldn't help but be curious to know what was going to happen in his life, so I went straight to season 2. There are some differences regarding the two parts. The second has much more music and more characters. If you like piano and erudite music, then you are gonna enjoy this part a lot. It's delightful to watch and, essentialy, to hear the pianists through the 12 episodes of the season, the same amount of season 1. I can't say much about the second phase, cause it would be a spoiler so I'll just say it focuses on a very famous pianist from the romantic era and it's lovely to see the amount of love people from the country where he was born still gives him, through events. Like I said before, there are more characters in this season, what adds a lot to the narrative, that becomes more complex, with more conflicts. There is just one negative thing I gotta highlight in this review: the animation. The drawing is beautiful, but it lacks in motion. In the first season the animators used techniques to give motion to the characters while playing the piano, so it's delightful to watch and hear the piano. But, regarding season 2, there is almost no movement at all, therefore, it relies totally in the beautiful soundtrack. Like I said in the trivia, professional pianists were hired to play for the studio. I don't know so much about music yet I could totally notice the difference in the way each character plays the piano. It's a masterful job. That's why it's crucial to like erudite music to watch this anime, because it's what stands out in it. I loved the music, the landscapes and the energy about the city so much that it became a dream of mine to go there someday and pay homage to the brilliant composer the anime honors.

I'm a huge classical music fan. I play the piano a lot and I love doing so which is why I thought this series will be perfect for me, but I was sadly mistaken.

First of all, I would give the first season 8/10 The good: Fast paced storytelling, heartwarming storys and a likeable protagonist and antagonist (if you can even call him that). Beautiful music and it makes one want to play the piano.

The bad: You can't really enjoy a piece of music since it will be cut of at any second. On the other hand, sometimes they go on for a minute even though you've heard it a lot already just to "show the reactions". This is a big point, in a Manga you can write how it makes people feel but in animation, you should be able to feel that as well. which of course is very difficult, and they didn't really succeed.

The cringe-worthy: The animation. It's a 2D animation with 3D when they play the piano. The movement of the hands is very pleasant and rarely seen in animation, but when the whole body is shown, it looks creepy and unpleasant. But after a season, I got used to it.

Season 2: This season discarded almost everything good about the first and tried to better the cringe-worthiness by removing the 3D. But, they made it worse. Now there are juist still shots shown of them playing the piano. Sometimes they are clearly playing with both hands and the still shows them with one hand in the air.

The fast paced story comes to a halt because the entire season is just one big competition and the animation gets so lazy they use still shots about 50% of the time. Did the budget run out? What happend?

The good: The protagonist is still likeable and the music still good (except that it's now exclusively Chopin, which get's a bit boring after a few hours)

4/10

Overall 6/10 First season is recommendable, the second season not so much.