Nitaboh is not an anime that will appeal to a general audience. Its fanbase is, indeed, about as narrow as that of the Shamisen music the film revolves around.
Casting itself as a biopic, Nitaboh could have chosen to focus entirely on the life of Nitaroh and his attempts to play the Shamisen, and indeed it tells that story as well as a movie could, but the film does not confine itself to the theme of blind musicians.
Set in a time of great social change for Japan, in a rural area where that change is slow to take root, Nitaboh examines the inequality of societal castes and depicts the gradual changing of the guard. Police of the Meiji State are clad in French-inspired uniforms and sport western moustache that stand out sharply with the rest of the populace. The disorder brought about by the discontent of the Samurai class touches Nitaroh personally, and gradually we see more western as the years of the film go by. Nitaboh shows a society undergoing change, and the rise of unorthodox Shamisen music is an aspect of Japan's gradual break from its past.
Nitaboh is also a love story to the Touhouku region, which receives little attention compared to the rest of Japan. I greatly appreciated the opportunity to have a look at a unique place and time in Japan, to say nothing of the story of Nitaroh himself.
The music, as might be expected, is wonderful. It was the compelling music produced with just three chords that merited Nitaroh's story being told in the first place, and the viewer should greatly enjoy the various performances that are given spotlight throughout the film. In particular, I loved the Goze near the beginning of the movie's singing with Shamisen accompaniment, and the music of the credits- it is seldom I sit patiently throughout an entire credit scene, but I did not want to go anywhere due to the music's surpassing beauty.
The pitfall of Nitaboh that keeps it from true greatness, beyond its subject matter, is that the characters have a penchant for narration that seemingly has no purpose other than the viewer's benefit. Dialogue frequently feels unnatural, and the characters are not hugely developed as individuals, but they are largely commendable, idealized figures.
I came to the film with a historical interest, and a desire to see more of the life of the blind- a point that was not terribly developed, but Nitaboh did not suffer for it. I would strongly recommend it to fans of Meiji Japan and those who love period music.
