nathandouglasdavis

Music is something enjoyed by all peoples in some manner. It's one of those few things in life which can claim practically universal enjoyment. And this manga squanders that universality by misrepresenting the way in which music is enjoyed. It focuses on the evocation of imagery in the minds of the audience through the infusion of emotions into the piece. And, yes, good music is a highly emotional experience, but it's silly to pretend as though a musician can evoke highly specific images in the audience like how this manga portrays it. Like, the way Dada saw and recognized the Otogami siblings after hearing Lucky playing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" is straight-up stupid. And that precision of evocation is the entire premise of this story. With each performance, Lucky is aiming to help one single person in the audience experience something which that person wants. Granting wishes, as it were. It's a really dumb premise that simplifies the nuances of music into easy-to-visualize shounenesque match-ups. I'm also disappointed in the lack of focus on the technical aspects of piano playing or on music theory or on the ways in which the players are physically doing things differently in order to try to achieve what they want.

The characters and character arcs are boring. The story is mediocre, with bad pacing and overly dramatic family drama. The artwork is also quite horrible, especially with the characters. Thin necks. Huge, wild hairstyles and squashed faces. The heads are too small for the bodies. Bad proportions. The exaggerated faces look absolutely stupid, and the chibi forms and panned-out shots also look quite ugly.

[Reviewed at chapter 11]