Ongaku

Ongaku is a passion project created almost single-handedly by Kenji Iwaisawa over the course of 7 years and is my pick for anime of the year.

"Beauty in simplicity" best describes the ethos of Ongaku. Every aspect from the minimalistic character designs to the blunt and incredibly straight forward script compliment each other and culminate to this strong sense of confidence in the film. That confidence in turn creates this aura of inspiration and optimism. Goes to show that you don't need a huge all-star team or deep writing to create something special. Sometimes all you need is a strong vision and tenacity.

Creating anything as a ... one-man army is impressive in and of itself, however, the talent at display here is truly remarkable. Rotoscoping is used prominently throughout the film for a unique effect. It's both very cartoony and life-like without ever dipping into the uncanny valley. This allows for lots of expressive character movements and complex background animation. The performances are definitely the highlight though. Pair that with the intense, emotionally-charged music and you've got yourself some of the most powerful performances of all time.

As a movie about music, there is a lot of attention put into the soundscape. All the voice actors do a great job at matching the script with their rather dry and mundane delivery. It's quite suitable for the film's sense of humor though, and the comedic timing is consistently on-point. It may not send you into bursts of laughter, but is subtle enough to always leave a smile on your face.

I cannot recommend Ongaku enough if you have an hour or so to spare. It's a great film to just put on and have a great time with, and if you're an animation nerd, this will be like a wet dream for you. There are also lots of nods to classic rock that, while a bit surface level, are still tasteful and fun to spot out. I suggest you gather up some friends and have fun together!

ON-GAKU: * spoilers *

When you thought great songs, absolute stunning animation, well-written dialogues, subtle character development couldn't be compressed in a one-hour movie...this movie is here to prove you wrong.

Taking over 7 years to make and more than 40,000 hand-drawn frames, Kenji Iwaisawa brings to us an absolute joy of a movie.

Theme:
We have 3 high school delinquents, Kenji, Ota and Asakura, living a carefree school life, playing games on a console, in their own hideout in school, picking up fights with people from other students, and having a single female friend who gave the trio the title of “three musketeers”, they just do whatever ... they feel like doing in the moment. And just like that one day, kenji on his way to a brawl acquires a guitar (in perhaps one of the most hilarious ways possible) and comes up with a brilliant idea, starting a band. The trio picks up instruments from the school, like it's just another day in their everyday nonchalant life, and takes them home, Beatles style. Having no knowledge about instruments they go with the classic set up of a drum and two bass guitars and create sound based on natural instincts and pure energy.

The movie follows their journey starting from them picking up drums all the way to their performance in the town's small annual rock festival. Having quite a few side characters beside the main three, all of them fit excellently in the story, each having their own character backgrounds, personalities and they entwine with synergy along with our main cast without any friction.

Our trio names their band “Kobujitsu” meaning ancient martial arts, which is quite spot on given that all three are muscle heads, and believe brute force is the solution. The music that they create with the two bass guitars and drums, without any practice reminds you of a primitive era, where there is just raw sound, not really any tune or refined sharpness to it. So this gives the whole identity and is symbolism to their personalities and lifestyle.
On the contrary, in their school is another music club, which has a band named “Kobijitsu” meaning ancient fine arts, which is symbolising the personality of the band members. They play music which has harmony tuning and a pitch which loosens the strings clutching your body and you feel at ease, sound which is appealing to the ears, sound which provides tranquility.

So throughout the series we get to see how both of these meet and actually intermix their music style and influence one another.


Animation:
Perhaps the most overwhelming aspect of the entire movie was its absolute hair-raising, spring-tingling and an overall phenomenal animation and art work. Initially what we are absolute school level character designs, with no focus, detail or even appeal to the character designs, eyes are just 2 lines with a dot, faces are drawn with no emphasis on design and mustaches are just a zig zag line, no lips or detail to mouth movement. The background artwork seemed like a painting done on a canvas, with light water colors. Simplistic designs, without any major detailing or 3D look to things adding to the aesthetics of the movie.

But the gimmick that makes those crappy designs, aesthetic one might argue, work is the steller animation, the way those characters move, the motion of the limbs and the body in general. The dynamics of the body movement throughout the series feel astonishingly real. The anime has moments where the animation completely changes, the art style goes into another dimension and one wonders if they are still watching the anime they started.

So how does this anime achieve those astronomical heights of graphic dynamics, well they did something similar to what Masaki did in ping pong. They traced frame by frame real live action scenes and performances. They copied the realistic body movements covering it with their character designs and single stroke faces. One can assume the reason they went with the simple character designs was so they can make the animation outstanding by making tracing and incorporating those traces in animation, easier.

We start noticing this from the starting itself, but major giveaway comes when, the leader of Kobijitsu, Morita, neglects the fine arts side of music and goes into a fit of hard rock guitar stringing, all color from the screens vanishes and we only see set oh black, blue and red lines creating an 3d image of a person playing guitar, with hair flowing and his entire body moving as he unleashes all his energies and drops all etiquette and completely immersed himself in the moment and all the frustration inside gets converted to metallic guitar tones. This scene makes it absolutely clear about the origins of the work and how the animation came to be as it is.
We get the final shock and wave of music and animation in the final 10 minutes, at the rock festival. And I can guarantee you it will leave you overwhelmed.


Sound:
I've talked about it already, but building up more on the Kobijitsu and kobujitsu thing, I've honestly never thought about music with such depth and analysis as this movie made me do it.
Like how one expresses themselves through the medium of music, though the medium of sound production. Two different people, using the same instrument producing two very different sounds, presenting two very different emotions.

Key theme of the movie was that music is subjective. People fight over whose taste in music is superior or why do bands change their music style with time, but fail to see that what tunes might please you, other people may find inadequate and lacking.
The music played by Kobujitsu in the starting when they first picked up those musical instruments, remained constant till their final performance at the rock festival. This is one factor which makes this anime special. If suppose we say their first performance was awful and they realise that music takes time before you can create sounds which people like. We would have expected to see an entire training arc where they would work on improving their sound and style. But that never happened. What they played when they first picked up instruments, stayed consistent from practice to their final performance. Sending the message again that music is subjective.

The music they play showcases their nature, their personalities and emotions so that they don't feel as if the music lacks in anything and they just play the same notes in a constant rhythm, which reminds of the primitive era, and caos, a world where nothing makes sense. This was personified when Morita listened to their performance. And Morita instead of getting mortified by their performance, was rather flabbergasted, and asked them to perform at the rock festival, without giving them any advice in music theory or anything.

But we see how kobujitsu affects Morita, when he goes into that fit of heavy rock strimming out of nowhere, and we get to see more of Kobujitsus effect on Kobijitsu at the rock festival. So we can say that maybe Morita, being well aware of music and its peculiarities, saw the appeal in Kobujitsu’s sounds, and felt his own work was inefficient at expressing himself. And the people in Kobujitsu were able to express themselves perfectly, for they don't want to produce music loved by others, and just represent their emotions through sound. Also the fact that they aren't well versed in the world of music or music theory and pieces, they don't know the difference between what is refined music and what is raw sound. But when they hear Kobijitsu’s performance they do seem impressed.
On the other hand, Morita being very knowledgeable in the subject, listening to different peoples work, thought that maybe this was the music that people wanted to hear and that's what he reciprocated. But looking at how Kobujitsu didn't give a damn about people, Morita saw that as a message or as an inspiration and hence was blown away by them and followed their footsteps in a way.

Besides all this, we actually have some really beautiful music pieces in the movie. From simple guitar and drum OST to amazing acoustic songs to passionate guitar streaming and lastly an extravaganza of mix indie rock instrumental performance.


Characters:
We get to see a small but really fantastic set of characters in the movie. The leader of Kobujitsu, Kenji, never expresses himself in more than a few syllables. His monotonous expression less voice and perhaps the most unpredictable dialogue writing make this character instantly lovable. You can predict his dialogues to a certain point, but never what is going to come out of his mouth. Throughout the series, he just does what he wants, without being guided or influenced by anyone. Just a free living delinquent, staying true to his character. Same could be said for Ota and Asakura, who take on the main lead when their time comes, but the story mainly revolves around Kenji and his character development.

Second character whose major development we see is Morita, as I have discussed earlier, how he goes from being a shy, introvert, playing soothing musical notes, to a punk rockstar playing beats on pure energy and his entire being vibing along.
Another side character we get to see is Oba, leader of a delinquent gang from another school in the same area, who has been wanting to fight kenji. Kenji rejects his proposal for a one on one fight, so Oba decides to hurt him, when it'll hurt the most. And the next time we get to see Oba is on the day of the rock festival.

All the characters remained true to their feelings. There was character development but not the cost of the entire persona of the character changing. They stay as they are, but change their ways of doing things, without letting go of their attitudes and virtues.


Conclusion:
So we have a stunning artistic masterpiece, revolving around subjectivity of music, with intricately well designed characters with perfect time frame and crispness. It's really hard for me to actually come up with something that would make the movie a bad or even anything less than an overwhelming experience for anyone whatsoever. Lots of pop culture references, such as The Beatles, John Lennon, many more.
"Music doesn't change but your perspective does" this is another thing that makes this movie so unique and special. The music doesn't change as to seek appreciation from the audience. Instead, the audience starts appreciating the music as it is. Ultimately helping us understand, just how different music is for everyone, and instead of comparison, it needs to be acknowledged.

The animation in the starting and trailer might not seem as appealing, but as the story progresses, things will change for the better and the buildup doesn't disappoint. If you are new to anime, it will be a 50/50 chance whether you will not like the movie or will be completely blown away by it, depending on your maturity and taste. It's a different experience, I honestly can't compare it to any other movie or show I have seen, this thing is unique in its own genre.

So go for it, great movie for a group watch, family friendly, and...yeah. It will be a big mistake to miss this one out.

My rating: 9.8

At the beginning of the film, the characters still do not have an interaction with the music. What we know about them is that delinquents are possible, and that is because of their clothing and characteristics. What surprises us most is our bald protagonist Kenji, played by Shintaro Sakamoto. The character is quite expressionless at various times. It seems that he does not necessarily have a personality or a will of his own. Even so, his choices and actions influence the other characters around him.

The anime begins with this simpler animation, which uses very static plans and frameworks, at times the characters don't even move. ... It gives me a very good idea of ​​the life of the characters, which is very still. The characters and the sets are also very “two-dimensional” in that sense. We can only see them from simpler perspectives, and not from complex insights. As far as we can see, they have no goal or pretensions until the main character invites them to create a band.

Music is treated as something to be discovered and deepened. The anime is very well etilized in musical moments. The evolution of the film starts from this point. It is an evolution that is styling the music more and more until reaching the end. As we already know the simplest and least expressive side of your universe, the stylization moments are very impactful. You can't even say that what they play is really a song, it's more of a noise that they make with the instruments. When the characters do this together for the first time, it changes from that two-dimensional, expressionless aspect to a deeper and more organic perspective.

The film treats music as a kind of discovery and fascinating goal. The sound in the film generates movement. The anime leaves the viewer immersed in that static reality and later gratifies him with that feeling of movement and freedom.

In this first moment, even at the beginning of the film, this technique appears as something fascinating, and that later becomes an imaginary element, especially when we encounter the character Morita. His relationship with music already transcends this vision of fascination with the new, he is already someone who relates to music, so he shows a more imaginary and meditative affection. The first song sung by the character group is calm, and this is reflected in the style of animation that is presented to us in this scene and also by the great voice actress Kami Hiraiwa. We, as spectators, are invited to discover this more imaginary side.

There is a moment in the film where Kenji gives up on the music after listening to it on his recorder. If we notice how the anime deals with the relationship between music and spaces, it makes sense to understand why he gave up. In that scene, they just listen to the song they just recorded, and it had no impact at all. It was staged without that expressiveness that we were used to seeing when they play, again passing that feeling of immobility that goes against the feeling that the characters should feel at that moment.

If there is no music or to appreciate one's own, there is no reason to have that more evident expressiveness. This final stretch leaves the film again with that more static aspect, at least when it comes to Kenji's musical group. There is a very interesting moment when the Morita musical group is handing out the flyers for the rock event, and they are not getting anyone's attention. The character becomes uncomfortable with this situation and begins to play more aggressively, and this is reflected in the animation. Because it is a very unusual scene for the lightness that the character had when singing the first time, it shows how he not only likes to sing, but also takes it very seriously.

At the rock festival, we are in the situation where Kenji is not yet there to play, and another more important one that happens with the character of Morita. Before that, it is interesting to note that the first to sing his music is not so impressive due to the lack of expressiveness that his song goes through the form of animation that we are used to. This in a way takes away the importance of the other participants, until the turn of Morita's Kobujutsu band comes. While they play, at the same time, Kenji's character ran around playing the flute and being chased by a gang for the event. The character to the sound of rock has been traveling the spaces of the streets and the scenery in a very visceral way. This is interrupted when Morita's instrument in the middle of the performance breaks and disrupts his song.

After this event, another band plays and then it is the turn of Kenji's Kobujutsu group to do their show. In an obvious way, the character arrives at the last minute to play with his friends, so we have the most expressive scene in the entire film. When the characters begin to play, Morita's band, by virtue of the music, joins them in the same song. It is interesting to note how at this point, everything becomes more organic, three-dimensional and expressive, and this effect reaches even the audience that is watching. And when it seems like it's over, Kenji continues to play his flute, and in a surreal moment of animation, there is a dip in that imagery side, and then the character floats across the sky, transcending not only this musical and imagery expressiveness, but also reality. It's kind of hard to have an idea if that was real or not, but the important thing is to convey that idea of the effect of the music.

To conclude my criticism. All the ideas and the staging of director Kenji Iwaisawa managed, through the contrast of simplicity and expressiveness, to pass this idea on to a discovery by movement and fascination that music can provide.

Ongaku is a pleasant surprise.
The story is very simplistic, a trio of dispassionate delinquents randomly form a band. They have no musical background and no ear for tone but they can bang away at their instruments in a, excuse the pun, one note tune. With this new found passion, the trio practice for their debut after entering into a local rock concert.

The film has a strong comedic sense, reminiscent of Wes Anderson flicks with its focus on deadpan characters and punctuations of silence that last a little too long for comfort. The characters aren’t deep but they don’t need to be in this less ... than theatrical length film. Just as they are for their music, the characters are the medium through which the comedy is allowed to shine.

The art is minimalistic most of the time, accentuated with bursts of creative and smooth animation to accompany the music performances that often take a surreal turn. The animation during these scenes is impressive, especially so when you learn that Ongaku is actual an independent film! Albeit one that took over 7 years to make. The music itself was very fitting scene to scene and added a lot to the enjoyment of the film, both comedically and otherwise. The genre was proclaimed to be rock but it was honestly a little more eclectic than that, with even folk music thrown in.

Ongaku is a borderline experimental piece. It's a breath of fresh air in the anime scene and is well worth a watch!

Sometimes you don't need a big budget to create a hilarious and heart-warming film. All you need is vision and a good understanding of the cinematic tools at hand (and a lot of time and dedication). This is a 71-minute film that took seven years to complete with a crowdfunded microbudget of nearly 40,000 dollars. Kenji Iwaisawa drew over 40,000 frames on his own. The minimalist art style, oddball characters, and deadpan humour grew so quickly on me that by the end I was craving for more and more. It did make me yearnful for the idyllic days of the past, even though it wasn't ... exactly that long ago that I was in high school, aimless but full of youthful joy without a care in the world. A world of possibilities is brought to life by the power of music. Also, the music genuinely rules, and the set pieces blow my mind. On-Gaku: Our Sound isn't exactly a big investment of time, so if you're willing to check it out, I'd say go for it. It's a living, breathing example that anyone—truly anyone—can create art.

Dissonant Notes: A Lackluster Melody - A 2/10 Review of "Ongaku: Our Sound

"Ongaku: Our Sound" aims to explore the world of music through the eyes of a high school band, but unfortunately, it falls far short of hitting the right notes. From its unengaging characters to its disjointed storytelling and troubling handling of sensitive subjects, the film fails to capture the essence and power of its subject matter. Furthermore, its problematic depiction of sexual harassment, where the harasser is rewarded instead of being appropriately held accountable, further undermines the film's integrity.

One of the most significant flaws in "Ongaku: Our Sound" lies in its unengaging characters. ... Despite the potential for emotional depth and growth, the protagonists remain disappointingly one-dimensional. Their motivations and struggles lack nuance, leaving the audience detached from their journey. The lack of compelling character arcs and authentic connections between them hampers the film's ability to generate empathy or investment from the viewers.

Moreover, the film suffers from a disjointed narrative structure. Scenes transition abruptly, often without a clear purpose or seamless connection, leaving the audience perplexed and disconnected from the overall plot. The pacing is inconsistent, veering between moments of tedious stagnation and rushed developments that lack the necessary buildup. Consequently, the film fails to establish a cohesive and engaging storytelling rhythm.

In addition to its flawed execution, the film's troubling depiction of sexual harassment raises serious concerns. Instead of responsibly addressing this sensitive subject matter, "Ongaku: Our Sound" takes an alarming turn by rewarding the harasser rather than confronting and appropriately addressing the behavior. This narrative choice not only trivializes the seriousness of such incidents but also sends a harmful and confusing message to viewers. By failing to explore the consequences of such actions and perpetuating a problematic dynamic, the film exhibits a concerning flaw in its storytelling and ethical sensibilities.

In conclusion, "Ongaku: Our Sound" is a dissonant and unsatisfying experience. With its unengaging characters, disjointed storytelling, and troubling handling of sensitive subjects, it fails to strike a chord with its audience. The film's flawed execution and questionable choices leave viewers yearning for a more harmonious and thought-provoking exploration of music and its impact.