From an early age, Aono Hajime admired his world-famous violinist father, who inspired him to take such a career path himself. However, after his parents divorce, he decides that he will never play the violin again and chooses an ordinary high school without an afterthought.

During physical education class, Aono is hit in the face with a ball and ends up in the school infirmary. There he meets Akine Ritsuko, who starts playing the violin, believing she is alone. After a past incident, rumors surfaced claiming Akine was a bully, which isolated her from her peers – a fact Aono was unaware of.

Akine dreams of enrolling in a school with an orchestra club. However, her amateurish playing and lack of musical knowledge don’t give her a sizable prospect. Seeing this as the perfect opportunity, their teacher suggests that Aono teach Akine how to play the violin. An idea that the boy strongly opposes. As the pair spends more time together, they quickly learn to understand and help each other. Aono himself quickly rediscovers his lifelong passion.

Ao no Orchestra (2023) – Audiovisual Design

Video

I’ve seen several anime series that have been the creation of Nippon Animation, most of them looked really good. It was no different in this case, with one small asterisk. The vast majority of shots except those involving musical instruments looked great. Beautiful colors, very nice shading, lots of detail in both character design and backgrounds. Great color play, quite lively animation, conveying the emotions of the characters well.

All the charm, unfortunately, broke during various performances or practical classes at the music club. Any scenes where the characters used musical instruments. Why? The answer is simple – these scenes were accomplished with the help of 3D graphics. The contrast with the rest of the episode was huge, and it really degraded the whole visual experience. Fortunately, not enough to discourage me from watching the whole thing.

Audio

As always – the voice actors gave their best. Kakuma Ai in the role of the main character (Akine Ritsuko) was simply a masterpiece. Although, of course, she was not the only one to showcase the class with her skills. In fact, the entire cast worked hard to pour out salvos of emotion at the climax in the final episode.

It was also interesting that each character was assigned a musician from the Senzoku Gakuen Daigaku Philharmonic Orchestra.

I am not a connoisseur of classical music. Not in its pure form. However, even without being particularly immersed in the subject, the performances of the characters, combined with their flashbacks and thoughts about the piece in question, evoked considerable emotions in me.

Ao no Orchestra (2023) – Plot and Characters

Introduction

The first few minutes didn’t exactly encourage me to watch. As soon as Ritsuko appeared on the screen and the main character began to open up a little more, I knew I would stay with this series until the end. After finishing the anime a few days ago, I decided to write a full review. It deserves attention – even if someone isn’t too interested in classical music (like me).

A quick look at the plot

From an early age, Aono Hajime admired his father, a world-renowned violinist who inspired him to take such a career path himself. After his parents divorce, he decides that he will never touch the instrument again. With no idea for life, he submits a form to choose an undirected high school.

During physical education class, Aono gets hit in the face with a ball and ends up in the school infirmary. There he meets Akine Ritsuko, who starts playing the violin, believing she is alone there. After an incident in the past, rumors emerged claiming Akine was a bully. This isolated her from her peers – a fact of which Hajime was unaware.

Akine dreams of being accepted to a school with an orchestra club. However, her amateurish playing and lack of musical knowledge do not give her a sizable prospect. Seeing this as an excellent opportunity, their teacher suggests that Aono should teach Akine to play the violin, which the boy strongly opposes. He also suggests that the two of them take exams, for Umimaku High School. However, after spending more time together, they quickly learn to understand each other, so they complement each other. Hajime himself quickly rediscovers his lifelong passion.

At their new school, he and Ritsuko decide to check out the legendary orchestra club, where they accept a trial period.

What the series is about

Ao no Orchestra is a story primarily about the characters and their struggles. Both with their private lives and the effort of learning to play an instrument in an ensemble. The music and orchestra club activities do not dominate – they are the binder of the entire story. This is exactly what I expected. Devoting all the attention to the nuances of playing instruments, classical music and the ins and outs of training would rather have bored me rather quickly. The creators managed to maintain the right balance and, above all, to create interesting characters. Heroes whose fate I was not indifferent to – thanks to which I eagerly reached for each subsequent episode.

One of the other things that impressed me was the interpretation of the songs. Everyone’s basic idea and vision was more or less similar. However, the development of these visions depended very much on the personal experiences and character of the characters. Everyone heard in the pieces they played something they could identify with. These visions were depicted during the club’s performances, which made me even more imersed with what I was watching and hearing. All of this, coupled with the inner thoughts expressed by the voice actors in many places really infused the experience.

Characters

Initially, I was worried that Hajime would be a typical gloomy character. Fortunately, after the first episode, I could happily conclude that my first impression was sorely mistaken. Such a course of events can be directly attributed to the girl he met. Akine Ritsuko is an energetic and very positive person. Despite the many problems she has had to go through, she has maintained her cheerfulness. She is also very serious about playing the violin – especially after she heard Hajime play. Ritsuko also acts as the glue between many of the characters, mainly because of her nature. She is by far my favorite heroine of Ao no Orchestra.

In addition to Hajime and Ritsuko, we get to know a whole host of other characters such as Kozakura Haru (Ritsuko’s friend). The first season subtly showed that the two heroines felt something more toward Hajime, but this storyline was not developed yet. This will certainly be material for melodramatic plots later in the story. The rest of the characters are mainly members of the orchestrated club. We learn surprisingly much about them. The whole story is not overwhelming, as everything is stretched out over time in each episode.

A major surprise for me was the character of Saeki Nao. The boy looked like a typical, fierce and self-centered outstandingly talented individual. Once again, I was positively surprised. On top of that there was one serious plot twist involving him, which of course I won’t write more about here.

Ao no Orchestra (2023) – Evaluation and Summary

The creators’ focus on interactions between characters, spending time together and real-life situations made Ao no Orchestra a pleasure to watch. It was thanks to this fact that the series evoked strong emotions in many places. The final performance of the Umimamku High School orchestra club was the culmination of all the events and personal experiences of each character. It could easily have been the finale of the story. Although in this case many themes, including romantic ones (which were stated very subtly) would have been left unfinished. Fortunately, the second season has already been announced. It will premiere next year.

I can recommend Ao no Orchestra to any fan of character-centered slice-of-life series. Yes, as I mentioned above – I myself am not a fan of classical music, but in no way did the use of the orchestra club and classical music as a leitmotif prevent me from having a very positive reception of the whole thing. Even when you take into account those imersion-breaking 3D shots during the performances.

Finalny werdykt

Final evaluation

Which translation do I recommend to watch Ao no Orchestra (2023)

• Tezu – A good translation, though not without a few problems. The primary one was punctuation. Some sentences lacked a period at the end, double spaces appeared. Some may also be bothered by the use of British English. For me personally, both of these things weren’t a problem given that the text itself was faithful to the original. The only thing I could complain about was the use of fuck in every place where the word 糞 (kuso) was said.

Gallery