By Andrew Osmond.

Anonymous Noise is a love-triangle teen melodrama, and a music drama, and it’s very much in the tradition of girls’ (shojo) manga. That’s hardly surprising; the source strip, created by Ryoko Fukuyama, was serialised in the venerable girls’ manga magazine Hana to Yume, which was also home to the popular Fruits Basket. The magazine’s still-going-now strips include the “war of idols” music comedy Skip Beat! and the epic fantasy Yona of the Dawn, both adapted as anime.

The anime version of Anonymous Noise starts rather confusingly, with much of the background information only revealed in part two. Once upon a time, there were two sweet Japanese grade schoolers, a girl called Nino and a boy called Momo. They were devoted to each other, walking around everywhere together, singing together. They were next-door neighbours, even singing together at their bedroom windows every night. Some of the other kids teased Nino for her lusty voice, but Momo always defended her. And then… one day, Momo suddenly moved away with his parents, leaving poor Nino broken-hearted. Continue Reading