LOST SONG

ONA

STATUS
COMPLETE
EPISODES
12
RELEASE
June 16, 2018
LENGTH
24 min

DESCRIPTION

Rin, an energetic girl who loves to eat, lives in a verdant frontier village. Deep within the royal palace in the bustling capital city, the songstress Finis spends her days in solitude. Both share a special power no other person has. A miraculous power that can heal wounds, create water and stir the wind -- the power of song. Guided by destiny, the two young women each face an arduous journey with the power of song. The shadow of war looms over the kingdom, tainting even the miraculous songs with the blood of innocents. Loved ones meet their deaths as silent screams echo through a stone prison. As two destinies intersect, will the final song be one of despair, hope or...?

(Source: Anime News Network)

CAST

Rin
Konomi Suzuki
Finis
Yukari Tamura
Pony Goodlight
Chiaki Takahashi
Henry Leobort
Seiichirou Yamashita
Al
Misaki Kuno
Mel
Ai Kayano
Alyu Looks
Asami Seto
Doctor Weisen
Mitsuru Ogata
Corte
Ai Kayano
Talgia Hokley
Hiroshi Ito
Monika Looks
Yuu Serizawa
Lood Bernstein IV
Yuuto Suzuki
Bazra Beamols
Tsuyoshi Koyama

EPISODES

Dubbed

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Not available on crunchyroll

REVIEWS

CynicalOptimist
95/100
"An underrated show yet a must watch for the typical fairy tale fans." [Free from Spoilers Review]
FREE SPOILERS REVIEW. YOU MAY READ THIS REVIEW AND WON'T GET SPOILED.

"When your song is given due it's healing people yet a disaster due to its power."

Ah, Lost Song. No wonder why people don't want to watch this. It must be because the title isn't self-explanatory. Hence not many people can discover one of the most underrated shows of these modern days. People often get tricked by the title and the synopsis and they might think something like "Ah, it's not that good. It must be another average show." Well, let me tell you. IT'S NOT. So, to whom it seems not to watch this show, I'll just assure you to watch it. As it's a wholly original work, I must say it's a very good one. If you've ever heard or watched Disney movies, Ghibli Studio, or any kind of childhood movie, you'll realize this show is very worth it to watch. So I can say it has the premises of the story which none of the other shows has. You'll never see something like this in any other show.

"It's a story about friendship, trustworthy, and love in common."

It tells about Rin, a young, passionate and energetic girl whose life is only dedicated to singing and eating. She lives with her grandpa and her older brother and sister. She has the ability to sing a song which can manipulate the four elements of the world. Her dream was to sing in front of the people in the kingdom. However, his grandfather was very stern with her behaviour to sing a lot of times. However, she wants her desire to become true as she wants to meet Finish, a famous songstress whose voice is wonderful and well-known in her country for healing people.

"Fantasy combines with music are the best trait does this anime series has."

The premises of Lost Song are pretty good. Fantasy is one of the main premises of this show as the background is from the Kingdom and it has a fairy-tale alike timeline either. The music genre is the background to cover the fantasy as the songs here are the main threats and treats. However, the drama affects the story to be something which produces a big influence to the the other premises of this anime series.

"The characters are quite generic, but it's somewhat suffice."

For the characters, I've got to say it's pretty decent yet pretty obscure. Rin as the main protagonist is a quite generic character for this show. A cheerful and passionate girl who is looking to reach her dream and she has a magical power with her song to energize. Also there is Finis, she is a kind person who also likes singing a lot but also known with her clumsy attitude and her moody temperament. For the other main characters, there is Henry Leobolt, a prince who also working in the military kingdom as the captain due to his famous sword and his skill when it comes to swording and shielding. Otherwise, I've got nothing to say about the other characters (watch it if you want to know them) as they are pretty decent and suffice with the story as well.

"I love the songs, all of them."

About the visual and audio aspect, it's very good. Yet still, I got bothered a bit by the CGI effect in certain scenes, which make it a bit deceptive and for some people, it might ruin their eagerness to watch this series. The songs are the best elements of this series. The songs are very good (thanks to Konomi Suzuki who also known for her background as the singer in the most of OP and ED of anime series) and it has own distinct level compared to any other anime series which portrays music as its main theme. As for the voice actors, I have no problem, it's pretty good and as usual, we all know that we've known some of the Voice Actors here.

"A short reminder. This series is not an iyashikei."

Okay, you can read it again if you don't understand. Even though those singers can heal the people, it's not a healing anime series or iyashikei. You'll sometimes get confused by the plot and makes you wonder what will happen next. It's not that predictable and you might end up the series in a bit confusion due to its timeline (I won't spoil that one). But, it has very good premises and sometimes, you can get "healed" by the songs which provide by this series. It also has a philosophical (not that much, it's somewhat obscure) stuff of life as well. So, why don't you watch Lost Song? It has a fairy-tale based story, mixed with a very good music aspect as it's a musical anime series as well. It's also an original anime series made by netflix so you can watch it there as well. However, there is an exception for those who don't like music and fantasy, I'm not very sure that you'll like it. Overall, I enjoyed it so much and I'll just give a very good score for an anime. Whether you like it or not, I really don't care, because I love it.
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Nikaru
70/100
An entertaining story but with several "holes" leaving you with a sense of confusion (SPOILERS)
_Review of "Lost Song" (SPOILERS)_

STORY DEVELOPMENT (6/10)

The story begins with the introduction of the main characters Rin and Finis. Rin is an energetic girl who lives together with her grandfather, older sister and younger brother. From a very young age Rin loves to sing and obtains the ability of songs, which allows her to manipulate the power of the elements. On the other side appears Finis, a woman who also obtained the ability to sing. Being a special person, Prince Rudo keeps her in his castle and controls her as much as possible, using her for his own whims. Some time later, a war breaks out, and Prince Rudo forces Finis to participate in it in order to use the song ability as a form of weapon. During the war, the village where Rin lived is destroyed, with only her and her younger brother surviving. Rin's main goal was to go to the capital and become part of the royal orchestra, but while traveling, she heard that there was a person with the same ability as her who was being forced to sing to win the war (Finis), and changed her goal to saving Finis from such a situation.

Although the story up to this point is fine, it feels a bit generic.

But, when does the problem come?

In chapter 7, there was a plot twist, which I personally didn't expect: Finis sings the Song of Mortality, throwing the whole world into chaos. But using said song comes at a price: the user becomes immortal and lives in an endless cycle as she tries to reunite with the man she loved, whose name is Henry.

The problem starts when different timelines begin to exist. I have no problem with timelines as long as the story fits in with the rest of them and makes sense, but unfortunately, it wasn't handled correctly and that created a huge hole in the story regarding Rin's existence.

Contextualizing a bit, in the third timeline (the second timeline is when Finis was in an endless cycle as she altered the order of the world) Finis managed to return to her era but joins forces with General Bazra in exchange for letting her sing the Song of Mortality at the Starsong Festival and being able to destroy the world. Therefore, all this changes the first timeline, and with that, Henry doesn't meet Finis, Henry's allies don't die, etc.

Regarding Rin, the problem is that she is the Healing Song that Finis discarded:

Rin, being the Healing Song, should only have existed in the third timeline, because that's when Finis refuses to use said song. This is confusing, because the first timeline Rin exists, where I could assume she is a normal girl who just likes to sing, but obviously the opposite was shown during chapters 1-7, plus Finis used the Healing Song several times.

In what way would that hole affect? Since Rin shouldn't have existed in the first timeline, Henry should have died during his confrontation with Bazra, Pony Goodlight probably would have been captured by the soldiers, etc.

Putting that aside, the story moves forward "correctly", managing to entertain you and enjoy it. If the story had been fully coherent, I probably would have given it a 7 or a 7.5.

This is a personal note, but the story could have gone a little deeper by adding about 4 chapters more.

CHARACTERS (7/10)

Honestly, there's not much to say about the characters. Overall, the main characters and relevant supporting characters are charismatic and have acceptable development, especially Finis.

ART AND ANIMATION (7/10)

The character designs are simple and the backgrounds are fairly well detailed, making them contrast a bit. The animation is ok, it's not bad, but it doesn't stand out either. It also has CG moments, but they are really few and very short. For an anime that came out of nowhere (I mean, no manga or light novel), it's pretty decent.

MUSIC (SOUNDTRACK AND SONGS) 9/10

Of course, this depends on one's taste, but anyone who listened to its soundtrack or songs, even if they don't like it, definitely can't say it's horrible. I personally loved all the songs, specifically, the Song of Healing along with the Song of the Wind, both with a medieval touch and quite beautiful and partly delicate lyrics; and the Song of Mortality, a powerful song, sad and melancholic lyrics. Both the soundtracks and the songs are composed by a well-done instrumental orchestra, which combines very well with the era in which the characters find themselves. About the opening...I spent the night thinking because it left me with a dèjá vu feeling, and it turns out it was because it gave me huge vibes of Lisa's songs (in case you don't know her, she is a famous singer who created songs like Gurenge from Kimetsu no Yaiba, among others)
I leave here the 3 songs in case you have been craving to listen to them! Song of Mortality:
Song of Healing:
Song of the Wind:

CONCLUSION

Maybe its story is not memorable, but its songs are, which honestly, is what I liked the most about the anime.
Would I recommend this anime? Yes, the anime is enjoyable and short, perfect in case you want to do binge-watching.
Would I watch it again? Maybe, if so, it would be after a long time.
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InkSpider
20/100
Less a symphony than a long, wet fart.
The Premise: In a world where songs have magic power and everyone has intelligence rivaling a particularly clever farm animal, a girl who loves singing goes on a journey to a generic fantasy capital while some Very Bad Men try to stab her in her thin, grade-school neck. Meanwhile a princess engaged to a warmongering slimeball falls in love with an Aryan Prince Charming archetype for reasons that the writers never bothered to establish.

The Positive Side: ...The music's nice. "The Song of Mortality, " in particular is a bop.

The Negative Side: Lost Song is so inept in so many aspects that it's hard to know where to start picking it apart.

If you have played any JRPG made after 1988, you have seen characters deeper than the cast of Lost Song. Everyone has one to two traits apiece—the science-obsessed nerd, the courageous knight, the scheming noble, the demure, hyper-feminine jerk-off fodder. The protagonist, Rin, is probably the least terrible character. She loves singing a lot, but she doesn't like people getting hurt because of her singing. This happens almost constantly, because the writers will bend narrative logic and suspension of disbelief into pretzels if it means they can shoehorn in some more melodramatic tear-wringing. If this bitch hummed "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star," five local villages would be sacked and somebody's dog would spontaneously combust. This conflict between Rin's desire to sing and her desire to not watch everyone around her get murdered with swords very nearly constitutes psychological depth. It's not much, but it's an almost okay imitation of an actual character. The only time the writers attempt to create a character arc, we get, "My boyfriend's reincarnation friend-zoned me, so now I'm going to destroy the entire fucking planet," so maybe it's for the best that most of the cast remains static.

A cast already limp in concept is hurt further by bad character designs and worse dialogue. Pony Goodlight (yes, really) is probably the biggest eyesore of the cast. Witness her turquoise hair, orange collar, purple sleeves and pink skirt over some kind of Frakenstein-combination of athletic shorts and a French maid fetish outfit. Pony flaunts breasts bared by the massive hole carved into her top and animated by someone who has never seen an actual breast. She looks like she failed in her career as a circus clown and became a stripper out of necessity. This is how much of the cast are designed. Spin the color wheel like you're playing roulette and cut a titty-window for any woman out of puberty.

The dialogue comes in several flavors. The first is repeating things that have already been said, sometimes in the previous episode, sometimes in the last two minutes, sometimes both. Hope you're looking forwards to hearing about how important is it that Rin sings and how happy that makes everyone around her, because nobody is going to shut up about that, ever. The show also likes having characters say things that are contradicted by things they just said, say things that are obvious, say things that are obviously wrong and deliver lines too corny to exist outside of a children's show. This clearly isn't a children's show, what with all the titties and blood and stabbing, so I can only assume the writers were never informed what they were actually working on.

Lost Song’s plot is not as obviously and immediately terrible as its other aspects. There are two storylines that are set up at the beginning of the show. The first is Rin's journey. The second follows the plight of Finnis, her love interest Henry, and her douchebag fiancee's ongoing efforts to turn her into a walking nuclear weapons allegory. Neither of these are particularly gripping, as both suffer from the underdeveloped cast, and Rin’s journey suffers further from being as episodic and meandering as a first time Dungeons and Dragons campaign, however, this effort to juggle two plots at once is probably the closest thing Lost Song displays to artistic ambition, and for this I will give some reserved applause.

Then Episode 8 hits, and introduces time travel to Lost Song, and the plot coherence is not so much broken as it is carpet-bombed into smoldering ashes. Time-travel is a difficult plot element for even great writers to manage, and great writers did not make Lost Song. Skirting around spoilers is difficult here, but I will do my very best to thread that needle. A character is trapped in a time loop (please, don’t ask me how or why) in which they repeatedly suffer and grow distant from the people they care about. Madoka Magica used this same idea, however, Madoka Magica took care to demonstrate how the trapped character strove to break the cycle, was unable to and perpetually failed. Lost Song seems to have forgotten that part. If you were to ask me why this character, who is gifted both with incredibly powerful magical abilities and detailed knowledge of how her mistakes led to the tragedy of the first timeline, was not able to secure a happy conclusion in the second timeline, I would meet you with a blank stare. The cycle is not broken by the character herself, but by an absolutely astonishing Deus Ex Machina in which magic is used in a way we have never seen it used before and that was never even hinted as being possible, resulting in the creation of a new human being from a song itself, this new person being the one to break the cycle. The story ends with a last grab for pathos, effectively killing off one character and pretending to kill off another (who is saved via the power of cliches), which might have worked better if any of the characters were worth giving a shit about to begin with.

Final Verdict: Lost Song is a trainwreck, a sprawling, smoking heap of artistic decisions that are either lazy or boldly disastrous. There’s nothing offensive about it (aside from, perhaps, the idea that it was worthy of being professionally produced and released to a public audience), and if you’re looking for a show to point at and laugh, it’s an excellent pick. Just don’t come here expecting genuine artistic merit. In that regard, Lost Song is one sour note after another.
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