There really aren’t enough real movies about the strange joy of forming a band. That strange buzz when you think you have enough musical skills that you can get two or three or twelve other people to join you for a musical experience that will make you superstars or at least be able to tell people, “I can’t do that because I have band practice.” On-Gaku: Our Sound is a very unconventional tale of how three guys formed their band and found their own sound.
Kenji (voiced by Shintaro Sakamoto) is a bald student who instills fear where ever he goes. This is no unjustified since he’s a bit of a goon who enjoys getting into fights. Rival students swear he knows the mystical Spaghetti Fist. He hangs out with Asakura (Tateto Serizawa) and Ota (Tomoya Maeno) as they semi-skip school. They mostly play old videogames and decide what rival school kids they’ll terrorize in the coming days. They’re nicknamed The Three Musketeers, but they are rather brutish. One day Kenji gets his hands on a musical instrument which leads to them going into a band room and swiping a few more instruments to form a bit of a band. None of them have any talent, but that doesn’t stop them from making a beat. Even though they aren’t not great musical minds, the trio attempt to be a bit more of a band than goons out to cause trouble. Kenji even sits down for a music lesson to figure out something more. The trio want to take part in an outdoor concert. But are they really up for it?
What sets On-Gaku: Our Sound is that it’s not about the fame and fortune. It’s all about the music. The trio are not being pursued by a record label. They don’t get to go nuts when they hear their song on the radio. There’s no tirade about the evil of the music industry. It just about can these guys figure out how to play something that people will watch. The big finale isn’t an amazing record contract or number one hit or how they overcame self-destructive ways to reunite moments found in other rock band movies. The film’s climax involves the trio taking the stage for an outdoor concert where they jam out like German Krautrock legends Neu! Instead of money or groupies, the trio receives a musical enlightenment with the help of a couple other musicians that join in on their beat. This ability to stick to the beat makes On-Gaku: Our Sound such a wonder to behold.
The story is based on Hiroyuki Ohashi’s “Ongaku and Manga” manga book that he published himself in the true punk fashion. To make it even more punk is that director Kenji Iwaisawa did a majority of the animation by himself. He spent 7 years creating the 40,000 pictures necessary. While this might be seen as a limitation, it keeps the story grounded as if it were a punk rock mini-comic that you’d find in the ’80s next to a copy of Raw Comix. Nothing is over elaborate although it doesn’t look too threadbare minimalistic. This movie is truly like a great rock record that wasn’t over produced and pulls you inside their musical world with the rawness and beat.
The video is 1.78:1 anamorphic. The sharpness of the hand drawings comes out in the 1080p transfer. You get a sense how Kenji Iwaisawa poured himself into the project. The audio is DTS-HD MA 5.1 in Japanese. Things sound great when they have the big final jam on stage. The subtitles are in English and Spanish.
DVD with the film and most of the bonus features.
The Making of On-Gaku: Our Sound (59:20) goes deep into what went into making the film. We get to see the live action that was videotaped so that director Kenji Iwaisawa could hand draw the action. It’s in Japanese with English subtitles.
Our Movie: Behind The Scenes (15:10) includes a sneak screening at a small theater named Cinema Skhole.
Live Musical Performance (10:12) has people perform the end song at a animation festival.
On-Gaku (Demo) (5:36) are short clips from the film.
Rock Festival Pencil Test (2:46) is an early animation of the big finale concert.
Short Films by Kenji Iwaisawa:
Mountain (9:05) has two college kids talking about their future.
Mourning Ice Pop (3:52) has an angry ice pop left on a plate and attacked by ants.
Nicky (1:59) seems to be a music video involving a coffee cup.
Taro Wanted to be Water (5:14) is about odd middle school boys getting interested in girls.
Storyboards Gallery (1:41) has the initial sketches for the film.
Trailers (2:36) lines up the action on how they became a band. There’s the long trailer and a teaser.
Shout! Factory and GKIDS presents On-Gaku: Our Sound. Directed by: Kenji Iwaisawa. Screenplay by: Kenji Iwaisawa. Starring the voices of: Shintaro Sakamoto, Ren Komai, Tomoya Maeno, Tateto Serizawa, Kami Hiraiwa, Naoto Takenaka. Rated: Unrated. Running Time: 71 minutes. Released: March 9, 2021.
