Forest of Piano

I absolutely loved this series. I must admit that the second series drags a bit with the lead up to the finale, but my oh my does it still deliver. I was hooked from episode one and I could not wait to watch all the episodes. Absolutely fantastic series, with the drama of friendship and love, and the descriptions of the piano which made you feel as if you were in the place Kai and the others were taking you to. Cannot emphasis enough how great this series is.

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.

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.

Me and my wife couldnt stop watching it until the final episode. It is a beautiful and simple story enriched by the excellent soundtrack you would expect when exploring such a theme - the main character has a sad familiar background but mastered compositions from Chopin in his magic piano.

But the animation here is so poor, there is so many frozen images that I feel embarassed to recommend it to someone else who enjoys animation-style series. It looks like a perfect script lost for the low budged project. I hope some other team work in this script in the future with the proper technical resources it needs, specially because one of hardest things to do in animation is to synchronize and put weight in movements of someone playing an instrument.