Anonymous Noise: Episode 1 (Review)

By: EyeSpyeAlexAnother world premiere, courtesy of Anime Boston! This time it is for Anonymous Noise, a new anime series from Sentai Filmworks.Anonymous Noise follows Nino, a girl who has experienced more heartbreak in her life than most high schoolers do. Nino has had both of her childhood friends and crushes move away from her at an early age. Both promised to find her again if she kept singing. In order to have them find her, she has sung everyday of her life.The first episode follows Nino through her first day of high school. As Nino tries to find her way in life, she also tries to find her voice. She soon learns that finding your voice doesn’t always go as planned, and that some friends don’t want to be found.For the first episode there wasn't a lot of character development. I wanted a little more purpose behind why some of the supporting characters acted the way they did. Although, I do understand the need to keep an air of mystery about specific characters. Regardless, Nino's character appears to have purpose for her actions and behavior. As the anime progresses, it will be interesting to see how she grows and develops.Anonymous noise is animated in the typical style of Sentai Filmworks anime. Many of the background characters and inanimate objects are animated in a similar style as Azumanga Daioh. In contrast, Alice and the other main characters are animated in a typical shojo fashion. She and her supporting characters are tall, lean, with big eyes and small lips. The contrast helps differentiate between important and unimportant characters. However, this polarizing style does detract from the overall blend of characters.The animation of the characters is well done. When the school band plays instruments, it’s animated very well all the way down to the individual finger movements. By having alternating flashes of “light” animated in, the viewer also feels like they’re at a rock concert. The only animation lacking is the faces characters make when they sing. Characters go from being very articulate, to having just extremely wide mouth flaps.What it lacks in animated singing, Anonymous Noise makes up for in its soundtrack. Packing all the feeling of good J-rock and J-pop, this is an anime that had me wanting to dance around. I hope to hear more great music in the show and on the soundtrack.Anonymous Noise seems like a typical romance shojo, but it brings a lot of great things to the table. It has a lot of heart, decent animation, and a great soundtrack. I’m excited to see what the rest of the series has in store for Nino.Looking to watch it yourself? Information regarding a release date can be found on the Viz Media website.[yasr_multiset setid=11]