ピアノの森 (TV)

PIANO NO MORI (TV)

ANIME

STATUS
COMPLETE
EPISODES
12
RELEASE
July 1, 2018
LENGTH
25 min

DESCRIPTION

A tranquil tale about two boys from very different upbringings. On one hand you have Kai, born as the son of a prostitute, who's been playing the abandoned piano in the forest near his home ever since he was young. And on the other you have Shuuhei, practically breast-fed by the piano as the son of a family of prestigious pianists. Yet it is their common bond with the piano that eventually intertwines their paths in life.

(Source: KEFI)

CAST

Kai Ichinose
Souma Saitou
Shuuhei Amamiya
Natsuki Hanae
Sousuke Ajino
Junichi Suwabe
Reiko Ichinose
Maaya Sakamoto
Takako Maruyama
Aoi Yuuki
Wei Pang
Yuuichi Nakamura
Daigaku Kanehira
Motoko Kumai
Namie Amamiya
Marie Miyake
Lech Szymanowski
KENN

EPISODES

Dubbed

| | |

Not available on crunchyroll

RELATED TO PIANO NO MORI (TV)

MANGA DramaPiano no Mori

MOVIE AdventurePiano no Mori

ANIME DramaPiano no Mori 2 (TV)

REVIEWS

DesolatePsyche
100/100
beautiful adventure in midst of sounds of piano
Piano No Mori 10/9/9/10/10

Note: I'll use my MAL reviewing format until I tweak it for AL. link Here is how my "review" system works. W.I.P

✦Story✦
What can I say. It's another beautiful Anime about classical music and piano to be precise. Plenty of music was presented in the middle of very powerful emotional deliverance alongside the music.

Obviously music itself isn't the only important factor of storytelling in this Anime. But also the character growth, drama, suffering and so on is simply amazing. Story offers who a rather pleasant adventure of seeing pianists growing up wrapped around sound of the piano.

Plenty of characters get introduced throughout the Anime. And mos get their stories told alongside the music they are playing. Thus here comes the extremely pleasing convenience of memories, music, person, emotions and so on,

10/10

✦Character✦
We get plenty of characters and backstories to them, but I'll only mention the main cast. As they get the most attention and their journey is rather enjoyable to witness. Not much to add, we get various characters with their own unique traits and they grow up rather well. Going to some silly drama, important drama and so on.

All things considering I enjoyed for the most part the characters themselves, while the only minus would be that some of the drama was rather silly. But eh, that's how drama usually goes.

9/10

✦Art & Sound✦
Well first things first. Obviously sound is epic. I mean it's classical music, can't be bad.

As for art/animation. The only complaint I have is rather hideous CG. In that regard Anime called "nodame cantabile" much better job.

9/10

✦Enjoyment & Overall✦
Not much to add, I love piano in general, this Anime delivered it alongside with great storytelling of friendship, rivalry and the whole shebang drama that came with it.

I enjoyed it a lot to add it to list of my favorites. As mentioned, the only shortcoming is the CG and some characteristic drama. But those minuses ain't stopping me giving it full mark Anime.

I enjoyed music, I got emotional, I liked characters, their relationships and their growth,

10/10

✦✦Final score✦✦: 10/10
+TOPFAV

Continue on AniList
Jamiebreeze
55/100
The Jesus of piano, and how envy will make you lose sight of your goals and yourself.
-This review will contain spoilers.

It is always nice when a show is able to write characters that feel human, and Piano no Mori does a fantastic job in that area. What seemed like just a normal music anime ended up having not just beautiful classical music but also a great example of what happens when you let your jealousy of other people get in the way of your goals. The story begins with our protagonist, Kai, who is a poor kid that loves playing the magical piano in the forest, and about how after meeting a new kid in town, Shuuhei, he begins to learn more about music, until he eventually realizes that performing in front of an audience, and having said audience applaud and appreciate the music, makes him feel incredibly happy. Throughout its twelve episodes, the show is able to portray realistically how a character is impacted by feeling inferior to someone else, and how the feeling of being less than x person, makes them be chained in a neverending loop of suffering and self-doubt.

This may seem like a kid doing the jazz hands, but this is actually Jesus playing the piano.

Kai is like the sun. He radiates positivity, despite having been brought up in a bad place, and he is very eager to improve himself, while also acknowledging that his only real enemy is himself. Shuuhei, on the other hand, is the complete opposite. In the beginning, he was this new kid who became friends with Kai and then bonded over the piano, even offering to help him read music sheets, and then from that point onwards, he became depressed over feeling like he was never good enough to beat Kai, and even thinking of him as a threat. Shuuhei, unlike Kai, was born with a gold spoon. His father is a very famous Pianist, and they seem to be well off. Even though Shuuhei has all of this, he still can't help but envy Kai. He is very jealous of his achievements, and this jealousy makes him stray further and further away from his goal, which was to become a professional pianist, like his dad. It is stated in the show, that pure hard work maybe will never be enough to go against a prodigy. This is true, but even so, if you really want something, you will try your hardest to get it no matter how many people tell you that it is impossible. Shuuhei's whole world revolves around what Kai is doing, and this only makes him sink even more into his already bad self-esteem.

By this point, I'm sure Shuuhei needs therapy cuz no way this is healthy for one's sanity.

He was doing really well after the time skip, but then after hearing Kai was going to participate in a competition, decided to enroll in it just to fight him in it and maybe win. He believes that if he beats Kai, maybe he will be able to move on, and so will his dad, who wasn't able to best his own rival in the past. Even if Shuuhei ended up beating Kai, it wouldn't help. Shuuhei cannot be freed from envy just by winning once. Even if he won, who is to say he wouldn't keep challenging Kai forever just to be able to mildly heal his wounds? what Shuuhei needs, and this is even said by another character in the show, is to stop caring about how others are doing, and to focus on himself. The thing with Shuuhei is, he holds others to a higher standard than he does himself. He has a big ego, and while he is talented, this is still not an excuse to feel like you are above everyone else. He is a big walking contradiction. He knows Kai is not at fault for his inferiority complex, but at the same time, this doesn't stop him from getting upset at Kai getting better recommendations, or just overall performing better than him. He lost sight of what he wanted to become, just because his old friend is doing better than him. He is probably the most human character in the show, even if his attitude does make him annoying most of the time. At one point, he thinks about how he envies how Kai is able to live without shackles. Shuuhei too can be free, once he realizes that there will always be someone better than you whether you like it or not. Trying your hardest at something doesn't necessarily mean you will succeed or are owed victory, just like failing once, or twice, or many times, doesn't mean you have to stop trying.

Another great character in this show is Kai's piano teacher, Ajino. He used to be a famous Pianist, but after an accident where his fiancee passed away, he ended up discarding his piano and his pianist career. It was only because Kai was able to play that same piano he let go of, that he came back to music. He is a very kind man and after finding that Kai had immense potential, decided to completely support him and take him to the world stage. Probably one of the most memorable moments in the show, was when Ajino tells Kai, that after his car accident, he wished many times to die. But after meeting him, he feels like he regained his reason to live, which is teaching him music and helping him succeed. Ajino is the closest to a father figure Kai has had, and because of him, he is now able to freely follow after his own dreams.

Many times, anime makes me wish for things I want, which in this case is a kind dad.

The biggest flaw of the show, for me, is the production value. The artwork is not really beautiful, but it is not ugly either. There is the dreaded CGI that every music anime seems to use, and it does clash heavily against the 2D. Most of the CGI is used when the characters are playing the piano, and this is very hard to not notice since there is someone playing piano in almost every single episode. The model used for Kai is the one that looks the worst, and this is probably because his hairstyle is wild. There were also many instances where the show just lacked logic. Two characters had met for less than an hour, and then were having complex conversations and asking each other if the other party trusted them. There was also a grandma who decided instead of looking for a security guard or another adult, she should ask a kid to help her find her missing child. If you can overlook this, average animation and some wonky faces, you'll probably have a good time watching this. None of the characters were particularly unlikable, and even if they appeared to be so in the beginning, they had some screentime after so that we could get to know them better. The ending of this season was a cliffhanger, which is sad because I am not interested enough to watch the second season. This was probably the setup for whatever is to come. Kai is the god of pianos, and even if I won't see it, I hope he is able to win at least one contest since his skills certainly are up there and he has the personality of a star.

Continue on AniList
RacerXx
95/100
A quick and basic review of Piano No Mori (Forest of Piano)
-This will contain Spoilers
(This is a quick review that covers the main topics of the show)

As a former Pianist, I can enjoy this anime in the regard that they keep the music playing very realistic. What I mean is I love how they show the hard work it took for Kai Ichinose and Shuuhei Amamiya to obtain such a level of professionalism in piano playing. I also love the realistic piano hand movements associated with playing the piano, It must have been hard to complete such a task for so many pieces they play.
Storyline: 10/10 Music: 10/10 Art/Animation: 4/10 Characters 9/10

Storyline
The story starts off by introducing us to Kai and Shuuhei as children and their experience with piano playing. Kai is the son of a prostitute mother named Reiko Ichinose who does not come from much while Shuuhei comes from a family of wealth and status. A supporting character Sousuke Ajino becomes Kai's mentor and helps Kai achieve greater things throughout the story. Shuuhei's mentor was his parents who taught him strictly. His dad who was also a famous piano player taught his son in hopes of carrying on the legacy. They both gain greater heights throughout the story.

The storyline is so amusing because it covers the life of 2 kids who love to play the piano but come from two different sides of the class status. One being upper class and one being lower class. Later in the show they both run into problems and become separated due to rivalry and competition between each other. Kai is someone who couldn't read music but could play as a natural through emotions while Shuuhei has been taught strictly how to read music fluently.

The pacing was very well done considering that there are only 12 episodes in the first season. They efficiently paced the lives of the two main characters, their troubles/tribulations, and their character growth. Not many anime have the skill to be able to pace shows like this.

Music
The cool thing about this anime is that it is not just modern and quicker music being played, it's mainly the classical music created by the first well-known Pianists such as Mozart, Chopin, Beethoven, and Bach. Mostly all of the pieces played in the anime are extremely difficult to play which makes the music that much more enjoyable. If anyone enjoys classical music, this anime is definitely worth a watch.

Some of the music played in this anime that was played during the competition portions:
-Beethoven: For Elise, WoO.59
-Chopin: Waltz No.6 in D-flat major, Op.64 No.1 (Petit Chien)
-Chopin: Piano Sonata No.3 in B minor, Op.58 ~ IV. Finale. Presto non tanto
-Bach: Italian Concerto in F major, BWV971 ~ III. Presto
-Mozart: Piano Sonata No.8 in A minor, K310 (300d) ~ I. Allegro maestoso
-Mozart: Piano Sonata No.8 in A minor, K310 (300d) ~ III. Presto [Cadenza (Arranged by Keisuke Shinohara]

Art/Animation

To be frank, I did not enjoy the animation/art style that was shown. The horrible CGI used in some anime was also used in this anime which was the dealbreaker for me. Most of the CGI happened when the characters started playing a piece which made it easy to notice. It would have been a lot better if the anime did not contain CGI. If you can get past that aspect of the anime, it is most definitely worth the watch but that is my one definite critique of the anime.

Characters
As I have mentioned before, The characters had amazing development through the story. Kai went from a kid who didn't know how to read music, to someone who could quite possibly play the best pieces of all time. Shuuhei went from being the kid who was dependent on others and was sort of a whiney one, to being independent and brave. Sousuke went from being sort of a shut-in to being open to others and in acceptance of his past.

Overall this anime is one of the best anime I have ever watched and I would totally recommend it to anyone who is interested in music and piano playing!

Reference: link
Continue on AniList