LogFAQs > #969452111

(We finally return to my biggest mistake in the ranking. I originally put this in the low 6/10s. I realized that was wrong as soon as I started thinking about it for the write-up. Still, even I was surprised by how much it rose after I rewatched it. This write-up is mostly just a cleaned up version of the one I wrote for it before, only without all the bits where I lamented how low I accidentally ranked it.)

27. Lost Song
https://myanimelist.net/anime/34338/Lost_Song
Spring 2018 (12 episodes)
My Score: 9/10, MAL Score: 6.92/10
Best Character: Finis

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozyMtXPZDzc
(Couldnt find the OP, linked the trailer)

Premise: Rin was always told to hide her ability to sing magical songs, but she's discovered after saving an injured knight. Then her village is attacked, forcing her to go on the run.

The Good: Lost Song is a fantasy musical anime. It has some shortcomings as I'll cover in the next section, but I still feel like this anime is special. It's set in a fantasy world that reminded me of a fairy tale. The heroes are idealistic good guys, the bad guys are bad because they're the bad guys, that sort of thing. It's not deep, but it's instantly relatable. Even within that simplistic morality, the royal songstress Finis goes through one hell of a complex character arc full of forbidden love and sorrow and hope. It really goes places.

Rin, a village girl who also has the abilities of a songstress, is the other half of the story. She's forced to go on the run early on because people want her power. Her journey reminded me of an old SNES RPG. Her and her inventor brother Al gather a cast of zany characters who are basically party members. One of them is named Pony Goodlight and she's awesome. Lost Song has some great musical sections. Since that's how magic works in this setting, they often have a plot purpose beyond just being a song, too. Still, my favorite thing about this is the way the story comes together. I can't go into it without huge spoilers, but basically there's a moment in Lost Song that blew my mind and recontextualized everything that came before it. This anime did a lot of things that really appealed to me. The plot goes one direction in particular that would probably turn a lot of people off, but I absolutely loved it even if it didn't make a whole lot of logical sense.

The Bad: I compared Lost Song to a fairy tale above, and there are times where that's to its detriment. I can see people being put off by the tone, for example. The evil prince is really over-the-top evil. Still, I enjoyed it enough to forgive its occasional simplicity or unexplained magical mumbo-jumbo. It was the kind of anime where I was more than happy to go along for the ride.

Overall: Lost Song really appealed to me. Everything from the setting's tone to how certain aspects of it were revealed to how the two separate stories between Rin and Finis came together, it was all great. I don't want to hype this up too much, the production values were average and I can see some of the things I loved being sources of annoyance to other people. Lost Song just surprised me with how much I enjoyed it.