History Manga / ThoseSnowWhiteNotes

''Those Snow White Notes'' (''Mashiro No Oto'' in the original Japanese, written as ましろのおと) is a manga by Marimo Ragawa, which was serialized in ''Monthly Shonen Magazine'' from 2009 to 2022.

''Those Snow White Notes'' (''Mashiro No Oto'' in the original Japanese, written as ましろのおと) is a manga by Marimo Ragawa, which began serialization in ''Monthly Shonen Magazine'' in 2009.

!Tropes

''Those Snow White Notes'' (''Mashiro No Oto'' in the original Japanese, written as ましろのおと) is a 2010 drama manga by Marimo Ragawa.

* YouGottaHaveBlueHair:
** Rai has light-blue hair.
** Yui's hair is a shade of dull purple.
** Kaji's hair has a shade of crimson.

* AbusiveParents: Of a subtle sort. [[spoiler:Ryugen Kamiki]] is a DisappearedDad that straight up tells Setsu that he can't beat [[spoiler:Soichi]], and without a teacher - he can't possibly hope to improve. Umeko increasingly pressures Setsu to replicate Matsugoro's sound, only to be disappointed in him when he tried to do so; going as far as to ''drop his trophy in front of him and the crowd''. Both of these responses, along with Seiryu pointing out that he doesn't have a purpose, puts Setsu in a ''massive'' HeroicBSOD.

* DisappearedDad: Wakana and Setsu's father hasn't been around since their childhood, leaving them to Matsugoro. [[spoiler:It turns out that Setsu's father is the current Kamiki Ryugen, the famed teacher of the Kamiki school and the Tanuma siblings' adoptive father.]]

* TechnicianVsPerformer: Seiryu Kamiki is the Technician to Setsu's Performer. Kamiki is a perfectionist by design, playing to the best of his ability mostly of the time with nearly zero faults in his performances. Setsu is a mercurial character who lets his emotional state influence his playing, and while he doesn't play to his fullest most of the time, when he does; his performances stun audiences and draw out their full emotions.

* UnderdogsNeverLose: Subverted. [[spoiler:As much as the Umezono club impressed the audience with their performance, they only manage third place due to being a group of rookies (sans Setsu and Rai) compared to Mai and Kaji's teams. This was rectified with the judges' special prize however, so it's not all bad.]]

* UnderdogsNeverLose: Subverted. As much as the Umezono club impressed the audience with their performance, they only manage third place due to being a group of rookies (sans Kaito and Rai) compared to Mai and Kaji's teams. This was rectified with the judges' special prize however, so it's not all bad.

** Not only are most of the Sawamura family involved in music, but they're implied to all be born talented musicians. Matsugoro is considered to be one of the most talented shamisen performers to have ever lived despite not being well-known amongst the country, while his grandsons Setsu and Wakana (especially the former) aren't too far behind. Umeko, Matsugoro's daughter, and the Sawamura brothers' mother is a skilled traditional singer that demands only the best from her instrumentalists.

** Not only are most of the Sawamura family involved in music, but they're implied to all be born talented musicians. Matsugoro is considered to be one of the most talented shamisen performers to have ever lived despite not being well-known amongst the country, while his grandsons Setsu and Wakana (especially the former) aren't too far behind. Umeko, Matsugoro's daughter and the Sawamura brothers' mother, is a skilled traditional singer that demands only the best from her instrumentalists.

* MeaningfulName: Setsu's name is written with the kanji for "snow"(雪), and snow is a recurring motif in thee series.
* {{Moe}}: In-universe, almost all characters comment that kaji is extremely adorable and puppy-like.

* RagtagBunchOfMisfits: The Umezomo Academy shamisen appreciation club are comprised of a [[TheStoic stoic]], aimless shamisen prodigy, a [[ShrinkingViolet shy student]] who's lack of talent is made up by her enthusiasm, an anime and game {{otaku}} who thinks of everything as a competition, the shy student and otaku's childhood friend who only joined the club because of his crush, and a experienced hosozao shamisen player who's quite the flamboyant character. Their sponsor is a {{fangirl}} of Seiryu Kamiki who tends to get distracted at times, but is still a supportive character nonetheless.

* YoungerThanTheyLook: Setsu mentions to Sakura that Wakana and his friend are underneath the drinking age when she brings them alcohol, despite admittedly looking much older than that.

* ItRunsInTheFamily: Not only are most of the Sawamura family involved in music, but they're implied to all be born talented musicians. Matsugoro is considered to be one of the most talented shamisen performers to have ever lived despite not being well-known amongst the country, while his grandsons Setsu and Wakana (especially the former) aren't too far behind. Umeko, Matsugoro's daughter and the Sawamura brothers' mother, is a skilled traditional singer that demands only the best from her instrumentalists.

* ArtShift: The series regularly shifts from the normal character designs to their SuperDeformed counterparts with BlankWhiteEyes included when it ramps up the comedy.
* CommonalityConnection: Maeda started the shamisen appreciation club in order to try to find a song her aging grandmother could never forget from the age where she was evacuated from the countryside. That song turns out to be an older version of the song Setsu's grandfather spent years developing.

* NotSoStoic: part of Setsu's CharacterDevelopment is him learning how to get emotionally involved in things that aren' necessarily connected to his grandfather's sound. Episode 7 has him finally admit that he really ''does'' want to win for himself in an outburst spurned by Kaito.

* RealMenWearPink: Rai is part of the Handicrafts Club, pretty fashionable, and is quite overly feminine in personality - using the personal pronoun ''atashi'' and [[AmbiguouslyGay noting that Seiryu Kamiki is quite the handsome man]].

** Mai Tanuma sees herself as this to Setsu, wanting to win over him after all these years because he refused to join a competition back in their youth. Setsu, being the aimless stoic that he is, barely even remembers the whole incident.

* {{Sentai}}: Yamazato dresses the club up ''Sentai''-esque uniforms to make them stand out in episode 7. The club doesn't look at the outfits too fondly.
* ShoutOut: Rai complains about his outfit to the Handicrafts Club in episode 7, stating that yellow isn't his color because he doesn't look like a curry lover. ''Series/HimitsuSentaiGoranger'''s Daita Oiwa is a noted curry lover who's also the yellow ranger of his team.
* TheStoic: Setsu doesn't show much emotion outside of a few key moments, most of which are fairly lighthearted.
* TechnicianVsPerformer: Seiryu Kamiki is the Technician to Setsu's Performer. Kamiki is a perfectionist by design, playing to the best of his ability 100% of the time with nearly zero faults in his performances. Setsu is a mercurial character who lets his emotional state influence his playing, and while he doesn't play to his fullest most of the time, when he does; his performances stun audiences and draw out their full emotions.

* TwoGirlsToATeam: Maeda and Yamazato are the only female performers of the shamisen appreciation club.

* CoolBigBro: Wakana is Setsu's caring big brother that has been there for him since they were children, and currently acts as more of a father figure than his mother ever did.

* TechnicanVsPerformer: Seiryu Kamiki is the Technician to Setsu's Performer. Kamiki is a perfectionist by design, playing to the best of his ability 100% of the time with nearly zero faults in his performances. Setsu is a mercurial character who lets his emotional state influence his playing, and while he doesn't play to his fullest most of the time, when he does; his performances stun audiences and draw out their full emotions.

The story follows Setsu Sawamura, a gifted Shamisen player, a trait inherited from his grandfather. On his deathbed, Setsu's grandfather asks that he stops playing until he can figure out how to play without just imitating him. Following his death, Setsu packs his things, drops out of high school, and aimlessly moves to Tokyo, where he is found by his estranged mother Umeko, a successful and rich singer, who forces him back into high school to shape him up.

* DecoyProtagonist: Yuna is the first girl Setsu meets in Tokyo. She offers him a home, she is also an artist who can't seem to get her acting career started, and the story seems to set her up to become his love interest and a major character, but she boards a train and leaves the story soon after.
* DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife: Setsu is quite aimless after his grandfather's death, with no interest in anything aside from playing shamisen. The first episode downright describes him as looking dead at all times except when playing.
* ItRunsInTheFamily: Not only are most of the Sawamura family involved in music but they're implied to all be born talented musicians.
* MeaningfulName: Setsu's name is written with the kanji for "snow"(雪), and snow is a recurring motif in thee series.
* TragicDropout: Setsu drops out of school after his grandfather's death and starts drifting in Tokyo with no idea of what to do with his life. He is quickly forced back into high school by his mother once she finds him, though, and hides that fact by lying that he was in a grave state in a hospital instead of having dropped out.

!Tropes