Dropping on 28th of September on Netflix here is our preview to one of Netflix’s latest anime series acquisitions, “Forest of Piano”. The new series is written by Aki Itami & Mika Abe and animated by Gaina Co.
“Forest of Piano” is the simplified translation but this series is based on the Manga novels of the same name “Piano no Mori: The Perfect World of Kai”, debuting back in 1998 the Manga written by Makoto Isshiki ran for 26 Volumes with its last volume releasing back in 2015. Back in 1985, Makaoto Isshiki was inspired by the winner of a Chopin International Piano Competition, 13 years later she would release the first Volume of “Forest of Piano” with Chopin’s music the core of the story.
The Plot
The series follows two young boys, the prodigy Kai Inchinose and piano student Shuhei Amamiya. Kai lives in the red light district but escapes from his home at night to play piano in the middle of the forest at night. The other boy Shuhei is grade school son of a professional pianist and as fate would have it Shuhei transfers to Kai’s school. After being picked on by bullies Shuhei is dared to go into the forest play music on the abandoned piano, where he meets Kai and they soon become friends.
Kai is the only one able to play on the abandoned Piano, impressed by his ability Shuhei asks him to take Piano lessons. Kai is resistant to taking lessons to refine his technique even after earning the respect of Shuhei’s teacher former Master Pianist Sosuke Ajino. It isn’t until Kai hears Sosuke play a piece of music from Chopin that he can’t play himself he finally gives in…
Kai (Left) Shuhei (Right)
The Cast
There is currently no English Dub of the Anime listed on Netflix so, for now, it’ll only be in Japanese with English Subtitles but we’ll still reveal the names of the cast below!
Voicing Kai Ichinose is the J-Pop Star Saitou Souma, he provided his voice to many roles over his time as a voice actor, such as Tatsumi in “Akame Ga Kill!”, Naoya Makigami in “Persona 5: The Animation” and Mikasa Makoto in “Fuuka”.
Lending his voice to the role of Shuhei Amamiya, Natsuki Hanae has played the roles of Haruichi Kominato the all-around baseball player in “Diamond Ace”, he plays the lead role of famous Digimon character Taichi Yagami in “Digimon Adventures” and is also the voice of Takumi Aldini the fiery Italian chef in “Food Wars”.
The voice of Master Pianist Sosuke is the veteran voice actor Junichi Suwabe, he has played an incredible amount of roles over his career with notable roles such as Archer in the “Fate/Stay Night”, he was the lead role in the ecchi horror series “High School of the Dead” voicing Takashi Komuro and also voiced the ace basketball player in the ever popular “Kuroko no Basket” as Daiki Aomine but his most famous role would be the voice of Dandy the “Space Dandy” series.
Episode Guide and Theme
This season will have 12 episodes in its first run, airing in Japan back in April this season came to a finish in July.
| Episode Number and Title | Original Air Date |
|---|---|
| 1. The Chosen Hands | April 9th, 2018 |
| 2. In Order To Play Chopin | April 16th, 2018 |
| 3. Mozart’s Testament | April 23rd, 2018 |
| 4. The Best Performance | April 30th, 2018 |
| 5. God of Competitions | May 7th, 2018 |
| 6. The Forest Piano | May 14th, 2018 |
| 7. Reunion | May 21st, 2018 |
| 8. Letter of Challenge | May 28th, 2018 |
| 9. Commencement at Warsaw | June 4th, 2018 |
| 10. Chopin Competition | June 11th, 2018 |
| 11. Pōrando no Shinsei | June 25th, 2018 |
| 12. fff (Forutisshisshimo) | July 2nd, 2018 |
The video below is the opening used when the series aired in Japan. Beautifully composed, the sound director of the show Yukio Nagasaki should feel proud of his work on “Forest of Piano”.
The Trailer
Netflix is yet to release a trailer for their new Original Anime, but the one below was how it was advertised for Japanese audiences, while not having subtitles the beautiful music played in the trailer hardly needs subtitles to understand its beauty.
Will we see season 2?
That is a massive yes but we won’t see season two until this time again next year. The first season aired in Japan and ran for 12 episodes from April 9th, 2018 to July 2nd, 2018, the remaining 12 episodes set to air in Japan in Spring of 2019, once season two is finished on Japanese networks it is very likely Netflix will be available to stream season two within the few months of the Anime finishing. Don’t expect to see any more than two seasons though, as the Manga it was based on has ended so we can expect “Forest of Piano” fallboard to close for the final time.
That’s all we know so far about season one but if you’re looking for more Netflix Original anime in the meantime, check out our listings.
