It may sound a little presumptuous, but if I’ve been guilty of taking Boku no Hero Academia for granted, I think the world at large is guilty of doing the same with Kono Oto Tomare.  It’s really a shame how little attention this series gets, because believe me it’s not easy to do what it does as well as it does.  Genuine and extensive character development is the most sure-fire path to a compelling narrative, but also one of the most difficult.  That’s why so few series even try to pull it off, and among those that do try only the best are actually able to.

What this series portrays – and all the more so as we wade deeper into the story – is nothing less than the growth of the main cast into fully-functioning human beings.  I get that viewers are sometimes frustrated that there isn’t more koto “action”, but I think context matters.  Kono Oto Tomare isn’t really about the koto, as beautiful as the music is – it’s about the people who play it.  The most important function of the performance element, in fact, is that it reflects the way music and performance is impacted by the emotions of the performer (and increasingly as we progress, composer).

On that note, it’s worth noting again just what a great character Suzuka-sensei really is.  Teacher-mentors are a dime-a-dozen in club/sports series, but he really stands out for just how organic his development has been.  There was a threshold that needed to be crossed for Suzu-chan, a wall of resistance constructed of painful personal experience.  But once that Rubicon was crossed, he doesn’t hold anything in reserve.  He’s not a sentimental man but Takinami-sensei knows more than these kids do about life and music – much more.  He pushes them in a quietly respectful way – he lays it out for them and trusts in their ability to get the point and do what must be done.

Admittedly, there are moments when that prospect seems very much in doubt.  With the core of the koto club mired in the angst of adolescent romance, progress more or less grinds to a halt.  Takezou is still hanging up on his poor self-image and assuming no one could actually like him that way.  Hiro is entirely self-aware but doing her best to suppress feelings that can’t be suppressed.  Chika keeps trying to apologize to Satowa for something that wasn’t his fault, and Satowa can’t figure out how to deal with her own feelings about “the incident”.  Even for adults romantic entanglements in the workplace are a bear trap – for teenagers they’re a minefield laced with bear traps.

Fortunately it’s Satowa who takes the first step by apologizing to Chika – not for what happened, but for her hung-up reaction to it.  That took a lot of maturity, but unfortunately it doesn’t resolve her discomfort and she keeps denying Chika chances to clear the air.  Meanwhile, the arrival of Mashiro-senpai (Asai Ayaka), the former club president, for the culture festival has unhinged Hiro-san in a big way.  It’s obvious that Takezou admires and adores Mashiro-san, which naturally causes Hiro to feel jealous, which unfortunately causes her to smack down Takezou verbally in a rather cruel way.

These two couples are fascinating to watch as they flounder, because individually and collectively they’re so different.  One gets the sense that for all their pubescent awkwardness about their (seemingly endless) unintended physical intimacy, Satowa and Chika are actually closer to coming to grips with their situation.  Takezou and Hiro may be older but they also have more emotional baggage, and in that sense that added year of maturity may be more of a hinderance than a help.  Suzu-chan does what he can, but he’s smart enough to know that the kids are going to have to figure this out for themselves.  He does however offer Hiro one crucial and very sage piece of advice – her feelings for Takezou are not something to be ashamed of or run away from, and neither are they a death knell for the koto club.

The performance (actually the first season OP, at least to start) is dealt with rather quickly, but in the big picture this isn’t one of the club’s more important ventures on stage.  The national qualifiers are the big fish – and Takinami educates the first-years about the crucial fact that for Hiro and Takezou, even if they have two years of qualifiers ahead of them this is their last chance to actually play at nationals.  The timing is excellent, because this news is like a slap in the face to the first-years – “now or never” is an easy concept to wrap your head around and a useful focus point.  Now there’s just the matter of choosing a piece for the qualifiers – and again, Takinami-sensei calmly asserts control over the situation and applies his expertise to the problem.  It took him a while to get there, but he’s become truly indispensable to the Tokise Ktoto Club.