So, it's 5:20 in the morning. And I'm awake. And I'm going to be kicking myself for this later. Anywho, before I go off to bed I thought I'd share this anime with you all.

Piano is a coming-of-age story about a girl named Miu Nomura. When she was very young, she discovered that she loved to play the piano, and started taking lessons.

Several years have passed, and she's continued to play. Now in middle school, she's also become a very shy girl who does not have much confidence in herself. Her piano teacher, Mr. Shirakawa, has noticed the detrimental effect this has had on her playing, and has become somewhat frustrated with her slow, sometimes seemingly non-existent, progress. Around the same time, Miu develops a crush on an upperclassman named Takahashi. This further complicates things, as Miu cannot work up the courage to talk to him, let alone express herself to him.

Continuing to muddle through her daily life, one day Miu ends up improvising during one of her piano lessons. Mr. Shirakawa notices a spark in her playing. From then on, he pushes Miu, trying to encourage her to notice that spark and nurture it herself, though this often only creates more internal tension for the soft-spoken girl. Gradually, however, she starts to realize that she is able to communicate through her playing what she is too shy to express in words.

There are three main relationships in this series. The first is between Miu and her close, longtime friend, Yuuki. They're two very different people, but go through some of the same things, making it interesting to see how they each deal with their issues and support each other when things are hard.

The second relationship is between Miu and her piano teacher, Mr. Shirakawa. Mr. Shirakawa is the "tough love" kind of teacher who doesn't really show much affection or give much praise. He pushes his students hard, but only because he believes the results will be well worth the effort, and will help his students to grow and improve in the long run. He is also somewhat like Miu in that he is not very good at expressing himself in words, which contributes to his abrasive demeanor. I love this relationship because not only does Miu learn and grow through it, but so does Mr. Shirakawa, demonstrating that the relationship between a teacher and their students is not just one way.

The third relationship (a group of relationships, really) is between Miu and her family: her mom, dad, and elder sister. I think these relationships are done very well, and seem very natural. I also find it amusing that the father, who is hard-working yet easygoing, carefree, and lenient with his kids, is voiced by Sean Schemmel, who voiced teenage/adult Goku (who is also hardworking, yet very carefree and incredibly lenient with Gohan, and who often gets scolded for this, though it's for different reasons than in Piano, of course) in the DB/Z/GT series.

Speaking of voice acting, I thought it was very good for the most part, with a few hiccups here and there. I can't comment on the Japanese dub, since I've only seen it in English.

At 10 episodes, Piano is not a long show by any means, but a lot happens. There's not a lot of (melo)drama, and there are no huge problems that arise, so some might think it's boring or slow. But I find that Piano rather resembles daily life in that regard, and because of the pacing it's rather peaceful and refreshing to watch. The music undoubtedly aids this. Being a show that deals a lot with piano playing, it has some excellent music throughout. In particular, the opening song fits the show very well, depicting Miu and her friends and family in various settings to the tune of a peaceful and slightly uplifting instrumental piano piece.

Considering that there are many, many things out there (this is not limited to anime, but includes movies, TV shows, books, and sometimes just life in general) that are built around tension, strong conflict and resolution, and internal and external moral and political and social struggles, Piano offers a relatively simple (yet by no means stupid or mindless), peaceful, refreshing reprieve from all the various bumps and jolts and jars that we encounter on the road of life.

agfk