Title: Anonymous Noise Vol. 14
Author: Ryoko Fukuyama
Publisher: Viz Media
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 192
Genre: Shojo, Romance
Publication Date: May 7, 2019
The Story
Volume 14 of Anonymous Noise gave us the ending to the Tokyo Sailing concert and then a bit of character development as we transition into the next major arc. As we know from the last volume, Nino began to lose her voice until it was completely gone. With one more song left to go, Nino was left on stage with no voice left at all. It was at that moment that Momo walked on stage and whispered something into Nino’s ear and suddenly, she began to sing the best she has ever sung before. The words Momo spoke was him breaking up with Nino right there on stage. Afterward, Nino contemplated hanging up the guitar for good… especially since it needed to be repaired. After some encouragement from Ayumi, Nino decided to get the guitar repaired.
The news broke to the band that they have been selected to perform the opening theme of a television anime that is set to air in October. With it being the beginning of summer, they needed to get the song done as soon as possible but after reading the manga, they realized that they were going to have to change their style and Yuzu just couldn’t find the right notes to put onto paper. When they went to visit the anime studio, they ran into Mitsu from Girlless who recently changed their style. He invites Yuzu and Nino to a concert so they can better understand how and why they changed. After seeing that, Yuzu has a heart to heart with Nino and finds out that she and Momo broke up. Suddenly, Yuzu is beginning to get an idea of what to do for a new song.
Lastly, we get some development with Momo and his mother. Momo finally made enough money to pay off his mother’s debt in full. He took a trip to Wakayama to meet with her but things didn’t go the way he had hoped or imagined. This lead to Momo going back to her house with Kuze where Kuze demands an apology from Momo’s mother but Momo doesn’t care to hear it because no matter what she says, he has decided that he won’t forgive her.
Back at school, Momo is on the phone about the incident when Nino finally decides to call out to him but since he’s pre-occupied, Momo doesn’t hear her and continues walking away as our volume comes to a close.
Tons of character development here in this volume as things are winding down from the Tokyo Sailing arc. Since the majority of it was character development, let’s just jump right into that.
Characters
First off, let’s start with Nino. She went from losing her voice to semi-accepting her loss of Momo to figuring out how she can change in a way where she can have both her voice and Momo in her life at the same time without sacrificing one or the other. She never really finds the answer but when Yuzu finds out about her situation, the fire inside of him is reignited and he sees an opportunity to help Nino out. Obviously, knowing that she’s single again means that Yuzu now has a chance but since Nino is still clearly in love with Momo, is it really a futile battle that Yuzu is fighting at the moment?
Speaking of Yuzu, there is talk that if Yuzu can’t sing then In No Hurry to Shout would be done for. This lead to a bit of a misunderstanding between him and Haruyoshi. Haruyoshi thought that this was Yuzu’s way to push him out of the band. This made Yuzu realize the consequences of his actions and apologized to Haruyoshi, telling him that he’s the glue that holds the band together and that it would fall apart without him. This patches things up between the two of them but it creates an odd scenario… with Yuzu’s mom of all people. Haruyoshi was trying to talk to Yuzu out in front of his house when Yuzu’s mom catches them and invites the two of them inside.
Yuzu’s mom is way more cheerful than normal and even tells Yuzu and Haruyoshi to go take a bath together. While in there, Haruyoshi asks Yuzu if he thinks his mom knows that he’s a part of In No Hurry to Shout. The last scene from this little arc shows Yuzu’s mom standing outside the bathroom door. Of course, we knew that she knows he’s in the band but Yuzu’s mom has done everything to try and get Yuzu to step away from music. She thought he had done so but that’s no longer the case. It’s highly likely (practically guaranteed) that she heard that conversation between the two of them and knows that Yuzu never gave it up.
Next up, we have An and Ayumi! A rumor about the two of them being together begins to spread thanks to a photo taken of the two of them during that incident before Tokyo Sailing with one of An’s old “friends.” This causes an awkward situation between the two of them, especially since Ayumi still can’t move past that the love of his life is dating his brother. This caused Ayumi to purposely avoid An but she eventually catches on and confronts him about it. The confrontation was cute as all hell and it made Ayumi realized that he may have just found his way to move on as he wonders if it’s okay to fall in love with An. Great relationship building here! Ayumi deserves this after everything he’s been through so I hope it works out in the end!
Lastly, Momo and his mother finally settle things… sort of. Momo pays off his mother’s debt but feels highly unsatisfied since his mother didn’t even really care that everything was settled. We find out that his mother was working part-time at a convenience store and she hadn’t spent a single yen that Momo had sent her. She claims she did so because it would instill hatred within Momo and she feels that hatred is the only way the two of them can communicate these days. It’s the only thread holding their relationship as mother and son together. Yeesh… talk about messed up…
Momo once stated that he would fully pursue Nino once the debt was settled. Now that it is, Momo finds himself in a much different situation. He already had Nino to himself but he realized that them being together hurt Nino’s ability to sing with all her passion. Momo was the one who pulled the trigger and ended their relationship but he still wanted Nino to chase after him with everything that she had. Now that the debt is settled, will he make any efforts to get back into Nino’s life? The end of the volume seemed like a huge miscommunication issue with Momo just concentrating on his phone call. I’m willing to bet that he didn’t even realize that Nino was right there behind him the entire time. Yet, from Nino’s perspective, it didn’t seem that way at all. Could that be the catalyst to see Nino and Yuzu finally take a stab at a relationship? At this point, doubtful, but one can dream, right?
Final Thoughts
For a filler volume, we sure got a ton of great content! Some character stories ended, some new ones began, and the long-running stories continued on with another chapter. Even though some stories ended (such as Momo and his mom’s debt, and Ayumi’s inability to move on) they were ended in a such a way where it wasn’t completely and totally conclusive, leaving the door open for some more development down the line should Fukuyama-san see the need to explore their characters any further on these plot points.
We did get some main story advancement with In No Hurry to Shout getting that television anime OST deal. Plus, there were teases of the band setting up their stage/slots for the next Rock Horizon concert. The turmoil within the band seems to be quelling at a pretty quick pace so I’m sure we will see the band at the next Rock Horizon. The question is whether or not it will be a repeat of what we saw at the last show or if it will go down completely different this time around.
I’m still rooting for Ayumi and An and even though I didn’t touch upon it in the characters section, Miou and Haruyoshi had a nice moment where Miou FINALLY called Haruyoshi by his first name! It took a lot of baby steps to get there but it was a really cute moment when it happened… especially since Miou was beet red after saying it.
With all of the development out of the way, it looks like we will see them begin work on the television anime opening to wrap up that small arc. I see this as a rebirth of In No Hurry to Shout as I have a strong feeling that they are going to debut a brand-new sound and it’s going to be the focus of Rock Horizon. There have been many bands over the years that changed their sound and most of the time, it’s met with heavy criticism. I’m beginning to wonder if the same thing is going to happen here. The next couple of volumes will definitely be interesting, that’s for sure!
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This item was provided for review by Viz Media
