10 Great Anime About Music You Haven't Watched Yet

Music is a very inspirational thing. It supports us on our journey through life, adding a certain tone to the events that we find ourselves entangled in. It affects our mood, our performance, our self-assessment. No wonder that there are a lot of anime stories that are focused on characters who find themselves through music.

Sound can be a very intriguing metaphor for whatever happens in the souls of those who explore music. And we got a list of the anime shows and movies that are focused on that.

Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad (Beck)

Beck that is mentioned in the title of this show is actually a dog. And also the name of the rock band that 14-year-old Yukio joins. It has nothing to do with the musician Beck or guitarist Jeff Beck, but it features a song from a real band called The Pillows. It's an interesting journey of a band rising to popularity, starting from small gigs in stuffed clubs and growing further. This journey feels realistic, the people are believable. And the music is amazing.

Bocchi The Rock!

This is a story of a teenage girl, Bocchi, realizing her dream of forming a rock band. The problem is that Bocchi is extremely socially anxious, and that creates some hurdles on her path to success. But as the plot progresses, so does Bocchi: her passion for music helps her build connections with people and rock the place.

Carole & Tuesday

This one hits a little bit too close to our modern world. The characters in this one are fighting against AI that flooded the music industry. Carole plays piano, Tuesday prefers guitar, and they decide to perform together, trying to open their souls to the world through their music and help people once again find joy in the connection that human creativity allows them to feel.

Kids on the Slope (Sakamichi no Apollon)

Want some jazz? This show embodies it, and it's not only in the music — it's in the cast, too. The main characters are a duo of a classically trained pianist and a delinquent drummer. This mix is inherently jazzy — one where you combine the deep knowledge of the art of music with pure emotion breaking all the rules that were erected. And this is what helps them both find more joy in life — through this music that destroys the standards.

Your Lie In April (Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso)

This one is for those who are ready to cry. It's a romance show in which one of the parties is terminally ill. The duo of virtuoso pianist and emotional violinist is filled with heartfelt moments and beautifully executed classical music. Sometimes the melodramatic elements feel a bit over the top, but that's what makes it special. The characters openly say that they survive by playing music, even if their bodies refuse to do so, and they're ready to spend all the time in the world that is available to them with their instruments.

Given

Another romance show, this one features two boys who go to the same school and one of them teaches the other how to play guitar. They end up in the band together, start getting ready for the competition between bands, and explore their feelings for each other in the process. The romantic part is very realistic and down to earth, with convincing characterization and careful portrayal of how the music and the instruments they chose fit into their lives. Music here is not just a facade — it's an actual driving force of this story. And the way that it's used throughout the show is very realistic, too.

Nodame Cantabile

Those of you who like classical music may be interested in this show about students of music academy, those who decided to perform professionally. It's a romantic story that is centered around two people who have absolutely different approaches to life. One is calculated and stoic, the other is chaotic and emotional. Yet they love each other, and they explore their relationship throughout the ups and downs of their musical careers, seeing each other grow and change through success and failure, through challenges and acceptance.

Nana

Want some drama with the punk wrapping? Nana has not only the style that fits this genre but the music, too. A show about two girls who share a name but their personalities cannot be more different. Nana who embraces punk rock is independent, sometimes cold, tries to rely only on herself, and keeps others away. Nana who embraces naivety is, well, her complete opposite. They live together and go through their personal dramas, get entangled in a codependent friendship, and do that while that punk Nana builds her career in show business.

K-On!

A staple in the genre "cute girls doing cute things", K-On! became iconic and cemented Kyoto Animation Studio on the pedestal of animation companies with a distinct style. It's a show about a bunch of girls starting a band. The thing is, they spend the majority of time not practicing but just chilling together, drinking tea and eating and going on some trips. But they got together because of music, and sometimes they take instruments into their hands and get some sounds out of them, so it's still an anime about music, despite being more focused on the slice-of-life aspect.

So Ra No Wo To (Sound of the Sky)

This show is set in a strange world, one that, however, has a bugle, trumpet, and all sorts of brass instruments. The combination of cute characters, brass music, and army setting is unique, to say the least. Despite the style, It's not just a K-On! in the army, as you may think by the first look; this one at least has an element of world-building that helps add depth to the characters and helps those that feel too stereotypical become much more fleshed-out. Especially in this world torn by conflicts.