Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’re barreling into a brand new production, as we continue to enjoy the fruits of this delightfully rock band-rich era of animation. This time we’re checking out the currently ongoing Rock is a Lady’s Modesty, a show whose title alone promises a culture clash between reserved, high-class elegance and raucous, audaciously expressive rock performance, as our heroine works to juggle her familial expectations and personal passions. So basically like The Ramones finding each other in a Class S drama or something? I don’t know, but I’m eager to find out.
As for our production team, director Shinya Watada has been a reliable hand at Sunrise for many years now, handling episodic directorial duties on major productions like the Gundam Build Fighters and Love Live! franchises. Both of those franchises are known specifically for the dynamism of their direction, and how well they make camera positioning an active part of the drama and comedy (that Kotori corner face is really just the tip of the iceberg), so I’m expecting good things from him and equally seasoned series composer Shogo Yasukawa. Interestingly, art director Hirofumi Sakagami is actually better known for background art than anything involving animation, which I suppose makes sense given the performance sequences will be motion-captured 3DCG based on actual performances by the OP group BAND-MAID. Watada’s own words demonstrate a clear appreciation for the themes of both rock band anime generally and this production’s particular contrast of values, so I’m feeling pretty darn confident about our prospects here. Let’s get to the show!
Episode 1
We open with a swift array of pillow shots setting the scene, introducing us to what appears to be your classic ladies’ academy through quick flashes of their school crest, stained-glass windows, etcetera. This sort of formalized European-style private education was a perfect vehicle for mid-century mangaka to explore issues of class, sexuality, and adolescent identity-forming more generally, drawing on older models of boarding school literature to frankly examine relevant social issues in a somewhat fantastical, intriguingly “foreign” environment. And over time, this genre has become so loaded with stories of forbidden love (including many stories that abstracted romance into the fraught, allegedly platonic, and intrinsically temporary “Class S” bonds between elders and seniors) that the genre’s fundamental visual signifiers are now often used as shorthand for lesbian romance, as in shows like Yuri is My Job! and Yurikuma Arashi. So when you see a fancy European-architecture girls’ school in anime, it’s carrying a whole lot of pointed cultural baggage
Another key visual motif here is flight – the first image we see is the eye of a bird in a cage, and later cuts of that same bird are contrasted against butterflies and stone angels. An easy enough metaphor for the caged bird that is our heroine
And then one more visual metaphor – seeing two girls passing this fountain in the water’s reflection, emphasizing the duality of their nature through their mirrored, potentially more “true” selves
The scenes start being spliced with disruptive counterpoints, brief cuts of a girl pounding away on a drumkit
She’s pretty good! And mocapping a real drummer was an effective gambit, as her movement around the kit is a pretty convincing representation of the drums she’s actually hitting
Girls chatting at lunch draw the contrast of what music such proper young ladies should be into. One of them actually picks Clair de Lune, which may or may not be an intended joke about how superficial these affectations truly are
Our lead is introduced with a perfect facade, playing exactly the part required of her. Incredible contrast of main character versus side character design philosophy in her absurd twintails versus these relatively normal girls
Her companions’ praise slips in a touch of exposition, as she says “it’s only been since spring that you’ve joined us, but you’ve already dazzled everyone.” Not entirely graceful, but sometimes information needs to be established
“I dunno jack about classical music!” Her internal voice is delightful. Great work by Akira Sekine in differentiating her two tones
We learn her mom remarried into the Suzunomiya family. Thus even her name is adopted, a prestigious title she can only roughly apply to herself. This duality is again emphasized visually, through the reflection of her face in her glass of water
“I can’t let it get out that I’m just one of the common folk.” Expected but still gratifying to see music taste explicitly tethered to class anxiety this quickly. Rock can easily be exploited as a context-free vehicle for rebellion against anything (like conservatives who love Rage Against the Machine), but its true ethos is one of class-conscious liberation, punk rockers making anthems of solidarity and rebellion with whatever tools they can muster. Power chords are a kind of democracy; you don’t need a conservatory education to create art, you just need six strings and something to say
We are at Oushin Girls’ Academy. The school covers primary, middle, and high school education, meaning most of its students have basically existed in a cocoon of high-society propriety for their entire social lives
Our lead is swift to emphasize that all these students are the offspring of the ultra-rich, society’s movers and shakers
Her father Tadashi Suzunomiya is a real estate mogul
Compositions set through the bars of their windows emphasize the walls of their cage
Her classmates freely admit to trouble in their classes, while she has to swallow the fact that she’s actually cramming like mad to keep up herself
God, her hair is so much. It’s even more preposterous in these long shots, and will surely be a fun visual asset when she’s headbanging on stage
The headmaster is not impressed with our heroine. She defines ladylike behavior not as academic success, but as servile, traditionally “ladylike” behavior that brings prestige to their family name. Women should be delicate, agency-free ornaments
Alright, her name is Lilisa, finally someone said it
Lilisa aspires to be the “Noble Maiden,” a valedictorian position that ensures plentiful connections for its bearers’ family. Always gotta have a competition of some kind, some sort of specific hook lending urgency and direction to Lilisa’s ladylike performance
Rose petals flutter past the screen as Lilisa bumps into her fated drummer. I imagine schools like these must employ a staff of flower basket-bearing assistants to shower any fateful meeting in petals
Lilisa is utterly dazzled by her beauty
After their meeting, the rest of the crowd fangirls about this long-awaited union of Suzunomiya and Otoha Kurogane. Another key aspect of this environment: everything is a public performance
A classic contrast of dreams – Suzunomiya wishes to be more like the natural lady Kurogane, while Kurogane clearly longs for the freedom to disregard these expectations
Lilisa sees Otoha left a guitar pick behind
We see a guitarist busking at a street corner, once again conflating rock music with low class/financial standing. He’s actually playing “Linda Linda,” the song by The Blue Hearts that would play a key role in the classic girl band film Linda Linda Linda – a song whose very lyrics talk about being beautiful “like a sewer rat,” a beauty that doesn’t come through in pictures. An exceedingly charged choice, echoing the show’s themes while also tipping its hat to its predecessors
At home, her mother chastises her for yawning in public. So she can’t even be herself at her own house
Yeah, her interactions with her mother are even more formal than with her schoolmates. Down the hall, a girl who is presumably her stepsister watches in annoyance
The next day, she finds Otoha crawling around looking for her guitar pick
Lilisa almost speaks up, but decides Otoha couldn’t possibly be looking for something so unladylike, and thus “saves herself the embarrassment” of mentioning it. Their facades make honest communication impossible
The production’s focus on strong boarding over fluid animation comes through clearly in the next sequence, as we see Lilisa pop out from a variety of hiding spots as she pursues Otoha. Snappy cuts can create a fine illusion of movement
Otoha heads to an old schoolhouse that has fallen out of use, with a four-colored window pane in its roof. Both these choices seem to point towards a lost simplicity, a franker alternative to the ornate stained glass of the academy
The bird leaves its cage as Lilisa reaches the music room
And one more reflection in the glass. They’ve established a pretty sturdy set of visual motifs pertaining to identity and freedom, so I’ll be interested in seeing how they complicate this imagery going forward. Once a show has established its visual vocabulary, it can then use that vocabulary to challenge or contrast with the narrative action, like visuals playing counterpoint to a melody
The rose in this room shakes but maintains its form; Otoha is stronger in her element
Incredible expression from Lilisa as Otoha thanks her for the guitar pick. Girl has got it bad
Thought Otoha knows her drumming isn’t traditionally ladylike, her upbringing means she feels no shame about it; she has never had to truly transform herself or fear being rejected from her social order, and thus brightly asks Lilisa to share a jam session with her
Otoha describes Lilisa’s calluses as “wonderful.” As the Blue Hearts say, beautiful like a sewer rat
Lilisa sees her old self reflected in this guitar, and the moment of separation that broke her family. She takes a defensive stance, reverting to her ladylike mannerisms as a crutch
“You could have just said you were no good at it.” Tempting her to sin is one thing, but besmirching her memories of playing guitar with her father? It’s fucking on, rich girl
Otoha’s got fun vocal mannerisms, expressing straightforward gestures of friendship in the most roundabout, fancified way possible
I like this mixed media approach they’re using for the performances, with closeups applying traditionally drawn facial expressions to their CG bodies. Helps bridge the gap between the aesthetics
And Lilisa is genuinely quite good! I appreciate that they picked a song that can actually show off a guitarist’s abilities, and a fine song in its own right at that
Lilisa imagining a sadomasochistic showdown of wills as Otoha’s just having the time of her life. Our girl is definitely working through some stuff
Nonetheless a great expression of Lilisa’s feelings, her rage and frustration at being forced to give up everything she loved for this life, only to run into a girl who so casually embraces both truths. Playing music can be an act of catharsis, articulating and thus exorcizing the feelings that stick like a lump in your throat
A water droplet falls from the rose, capturing the two of them together, their true selves visible through this falling portal. The imagery of reflections and truth here tied to the ephemeral nature of the water droplet, as a vision that can only last briefly – basically a version of what I was describing earlier, with that reflection imagery already expanding in new directions to evoke subtler intents
CG models doing what they do best, allowing the kind of spinning camerawork that’s impossible in traditional animation
Full commitment to the music transforms Otoha as well, prompting a cocky outburst regarding Lilisa’s guitar skills. Nice employment of rough-edged linework for her expressions here, creating a sensation of wild fury that contrasts naturally against the tense, hard-angled lines of Lilisa’s expression
And we end on the rose’s vase knocked over, the water splashed across the counter. Their inner selves have breached the surface
And Done
Well Lilisa, it looks like your high school career might not be quite so stifling as all that, given you’ve found a perfect rage outlet in the infuriating, inspiring Otoha. Our leads already seem like a dynamic pair that have much to learn from each other, though obviously Lilisa is more fully realized at this point, with an understandable inferiority complex and a locked chest of precious memories. Production-wise, this episode served as an affirmation of its director and art director’s priorities, favoring detail-rich compositions, dynamic transitions between layouts, and an absolute feast of visual motifs defining the uneasy relationship between Lilisa and her environment. Sturdy direction, an eminently likable lead, and a story that promises to dive into the intersection of class, art, and personal identity – an excellent start for our latest girls’ band drama!
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