kotos-and-smiles

[kotos-and-smiles]

https://x.com/tess_senpai/status/1757970450213122536?s=46&t=4cget4aSpeb5pmUaBZEOSw

Kono Oto Tomare! Valentines Day Extra [ENG]

#literally the sweetest babies #kot #kono oto tomare #chikawa

[kotos-and-smiles]

The Most Powerful Charm (Takezou + Hiro)

Spoilers through ch.127

And the most powerful charm was their love and support for one another all along. The way they're both so nervous but believe in each other so much is just the sweetest. Also, here we have the type of lovebird idiots who don't immediately take a marker to their homemade charms. Takezou's little smiles and Hiro's confidence even when she's nervous are everything

#kono oto tomare #kono oto tomare! #kot #kot! #kot spoilers #kurata takezou #kurusu hiro #takezou x hiro #me posting about Takezou and Hiro? who woulda guessed it

[kotos-and-smiles]

The Charms (Chika + Satowa)

Spoilers through ch.127

Houzuki "you can throw it away if you want" Satowa and Kudou "I'm sorry I made this for you" Chika. And they both immediately take a marker to it. The most in love idiots on the planet

All credit goes to the entire wonderful team that makes these translated pages possible! And Amu, obviously!

#kono oto tomare! #kono oto tomare #kot! #kot #chika x satowa #chikawa #chitowa #kudou chika #houzuki satowa #houtsuki satowa #kot spoilers

[kotos-and-smiles]

Hey! At this point, why do you think they still call each other Houtsouki and Kudou ? I know there's a lot of respect but they love each other and they said so, so whyyyyy aren't they all Chika and Satowa with one another ? 😄 I know it's a small thing but it has been driving me crazy. I do hope Takezou and Hiro will do the same eventually 🥹

Thanks for the ask!! I think the main reason is that Chika and Satowa are still just awkward little dorks. Like, I don’t think either of their awkward little hearts could take it, in large part cuz they are so in love. I don’t think it’s gonna be something they’re super eager to change, and definitely isn’t something they’re gonna mess with with nationals happening. Maybe right after though, we’ll have to see and hope we’re shown. Also from the beginning they’ve almost never called each other their names with honorifics (as far as I know) (pretty much except for that one significant scene in ch.31), which at first was probably a sign of not much respect between them but I feel acts as a sign of closeness now. So we have that? I know there are some fanfic that deal with it, if that’s up your alley, like I know this one for sure does but I’m sure there are some more.

Takezou and Hiro I can honestly imagine transitioning into first names faster once they get past the whole confessing their love thing.

Basically for Chika and Satowa though

awkward dorks

nationals is happening

don't think they currently need it to symbolize how close they are. They're close to each other and love and respect each other, and have made that obvious.

Again, all my opinion though and I don't have super strong feelings about them calling each other by given name so... yeah. And like spoilers for ch.127 but they wrote their given names on each other's hand made charms that they made for each other so that they match. That is all my heart personally needs

#kot #sorry for the ramble #though this should be expected of me #wonderful ask!

[kotos-and-smiles]

I am so happy I found you!!! I'm only at chapter 51 but I'm catching up fast and I so want to read your analysis!! 🥰

Aaw, that’s so sweet! Thank you!! ❤️ I’m so happy to hear that someone is looking forward to my analysis after reading 😭 I’m always up to talk about kot! Aaah you’re at ch.51!?! I can tell you you have so much to look forward to. My posts aren’t going anywhere, so enjoy the manga (basically impossible not to) and I hope you enjoy my posts once you catch up!

[kotos-and-smiles]

Ch.127 Rambling and Gushing

MAJOR SPOILERS FOR CH.127 OF KOT!

As always I will be referring to tessenpai's rough tl which you can find here

Hello hello! Yeah, I'm not even pretending that I'm not just gushing about this chapter

Know this is obvious, but I’m so suspicious that Chika wasn’t *just* half asleep at the beginning of the chapter. Like, I don’t know, he was coming out of some kind of dream. And he mentions later on that he dreamt their performance went great, but I don’t know, just seemed a weird reaction. Them squinting against the light is really cute though. But Chika looks on the verge of tears until he snaps out of it and fully wakes up. Like, maybe he had dreamt they performed and thought it was all over and that’s why he grabbed onto Takezou like that? I don’t know, and I’m probably making too big a deal out of it.

Can't believe this is actually the day they're gonna perform at Nationals. Like, we've come this far. Also should of course be mentioned how great Satowa and Hiro look and how obviously Chika and Takezou also thought this. is truly just so ecstatic to have every little experience with the club, and it’s so cute. But Momoya not wanting to lose the charm is so sweet. Like, a huge success with him. Satowa’s immediate, oh you don’t have to keep it though, like girl, please, even he values the handmade thing you gave him, people aren’t burdened by you and I still need people to remind her of that. Even Keishi gets a charm! And Chika’s little reaction after Satowa gives Keishi the charm is so cute. He’s so nervous about it.

The way Chika asks Satowa to sit with him is just, ughhslekdnc. I can’t. And Hiro once again 100% representing all of us, especially with that “Excuse me, Chika-kun!?” cuz like, that is also def how I feel about this in the best way possible. But also our girl Hiro being such a go-getter this chapter, and I love that for her. But also she doesn’t even KNOW what just went down with Chika and Satowa this chapter. Like, if she hand’t exchanged charms with Takezou, she might’ve just dropped dead from the cuteness and also jealousy. But also Natsu being so done with being on the romance bus

Satowa thinking about how it isn’t even that unusual for her and Chika to sit next to each other! And Chika is trying to play it so cool but he’s so nervous it’s the sweetest thing. And they’re both just such disasters. I fucking love so much how Chika tries to casually hold out the charm to Satowa, with his head turned away.

Like he’s just this sweet boy trying to do something for the girl he loves and it just makes me wanna scream. And I’m just never gonna get over this. Not only does he still def have the charm that she gave him (the first charm he’d ever gotten and then wrote her name on without hesitation and she considers it her charm too cuz he did that) and then he went and made a charm for her and only one for her. Like, HE MADE HER A CHARM. And then what is the first thing she does with her charm? SHE WRITES HIS NAME ON HER CHARM TOO. THEY MATCH AND THEY’RE BOTH SO DAMN HAPPY ABOUT IT! Like, they’re simply the most in love people ever. 

But like, the way he, much like her and much as he always has, tries to immediately recover when he thinks she doesn’t want it, and that’s when her ability to express how genuinely happy she is kicks in, and just the way she catches his hand holding the charm, and so she’s holding onto him as he’s holding the charm, and how easily she reaches out for him, and how easily they reach out for each other with how softly he caught her arm earlier. 

And then he reaches out cuz he wants to hug her so bad. And her brain moves onto slightly different topics while his just implodes because she just wrote his name on her charm that he made her and smiled like that about it, and HE BLUSHES SO HARD HE HIDES HIS FACE IN HIS BACKPACK. Like, I’ve been wanting so badly for Chika to blush more often with Satowa, and I know he’s confident and comfortable somewhat in the idea of loving someone and being loved, but like I wanna see my boy blush, and this was like the biggest blush ever. His blushly little ears and the way he hides his whole face, and how she notices and is just so happy and also basically hasn’t stopped blushing herself since she sat down. And like, these two people have already expressed that they love each other through words, and now they just keep doing it through actions and gestures as they always have, and I just can’t believe how precious they are. But I also love that while they have said that they love each other, Chika’s immediate reaction when he reaches out cuz he wants to hug her is just like “oh shit, that was dangerous” and like just cuz she said she loves him doesn’t give him consent to touch her whenever, but also like this is the girl that has literally said she loves him and now he just wants to give her a hug and it’s just so sweet. AFTER MAKING HER A HANDMADE CHARM LIKE SHE DID FOR HIM. Like, I’m never getting over this. I’ve wanted the charms to be brought back but questioned if they even would, and now we’ve got the fluffiest chapter ever of basically just exchanging charms and I’m just gonna scream about it forever. 

Also Satowa reacting out-loud to Chika’s cover of “gonna sleep” with “suddenly?” is so funny. 

Hiro continuing to be a go-getter and persevering through the awkwardness is honestly great to see for her. She deserves some stuff happening with her own romance. Also though her mentioning that imitating Chika and Satowa, ya know, the people who have already confessed their love for each other, might be a bit much was unexpected but welcome. And Takezou being the problem solver, offering to exchange charms, and how he tucks it next to his heart and his soft smile, and how they’ll both be able to draw strength from each other’s charms. Like, Hiro really is making her love into strength. Just love Takezou's little smile so much even though he smiles bigger in a minute. There's just something so private and joyous about it.

And then Sane and Mittsu being the epitome of single life when asking each other if they should exchange charms is so hilarious. This along with Sane trying the soothing pressure points on Mittsu’s hand just really made them a whole vibe this chapter. Like, we have these two, the painfully single, Kota and Yoshinaga who are just either vibing or oblivious, the set of absolutely ridiculous love birds, and Momoya and Takinami who are just so *done*

Honestly don’t even feel the need to mention Ichiei at the end, cuz like, yeah yeah, they’re being all intimidating and scary, but my babies just exchanged charms so I don’t care. Am I also selectively choosing to ignore the very existence of Chika’s dad right now, much less that he’s at nationals? Absolutely. I need the fluff in my life right now, so my god I will take it and be thankful for it. The amount of times my babies blush in this chapter, I just CANNOT. I love it so much.

#kono oto tomare #kono oto tomare! #kono oto tomare manga #kono oto tomare spoilers #chikawa #chika x satowa #kot! #kudou chika #houzuki satowa #kurata takezou #kurusu hiro

[kotos-and-smiles]

Earned Second Chances

Looking back through kot chapters the other day, realizing this idea that Chika has had with Uzuki about having to move on from the past, that the past won’t disappear so all we can do is act from where we are right now, all that is the same attitude we saw Satowa have in ch.104 towards herself, when she expressed her regret over the way she treated Chika in the past, and came to the realization that there was nothing she could do about that past treatment, all she can do is act in the here and now and never let go of his hand again (a promise she’s kept). Like these panels are near paralleling what people’s attitudes have been to Uzuki lately, and something that Uzuki himself seems to be trying to take in and believe himself worthy of. This also honestly could relate quite well to Tomoe, though on a very different scale as it has for Satowa and Uzuki. Also an interesting difference is that this is something Satowa took on entirely herself, this feeling of responsibility and realization that it was up to her to change her current actions and be better now and in the future despite the past, because there’s nothing she can do about the past. Whereas Uzuki has to be told that he doesn’t just have to wallow in self-hatred, not even he deserves that, and that he and Chika both need to move on because that’s all they can do now. That’s really all there is to do. Chika is the one with enough maturity and desire to not let this have power over him anymore to be able to say that to Uzuki. So interesting that in some ways, both Chika and Satowa have realized this about certain situations, while Uzuki is in a very different place to them. 

Of course, this isn’t the first time redemption has been explored in this manga. Not nearly. Hiro, Akira, and Chiharu (Satowa’s mom) have all had similar treatment. It isn’t really about righting past wrongs, cuz sometimes you can’t, it’s all about moving forward and treating each other better now with the acknowledgment that the past happened but doesn’t have to determine their future.

As Isaki mentioned in ch.124, it really does take great strength to be able to face what you’ve done to people in the past, and also great strength to give people second chances. But it is also extremely powerful to decide to act differently now than you did in the past. It is powerful that Chika and Satowa can both realize and be in a place to not let the past hold the reins on their present life and try to move on from it, with the people who have wronged them and with themselves. And both Chika and satowa have had to find ways of forgiving themselves and moving forward for their mistakes in the past for a better future, and knowing they deserve that which was a hard journey for both, as well as having to do that with other people.

I think this is what makes characters getting second chances so believable. They aren’t just given a free pass and forgiven. Their past actions are acknowledged by both parties, it just doesn’t stop either of them from moving forward and deciding a better future. Slates aren’t wiped clean, a conscious decision is made to move beyond the past. This also involves in depth understanding of the characters on both sides, has to be mutual, and forgiveness and second chances feel so earned. It’s not perfect, but it doesn’t have to be, both parties just have to put in the work and open to doing so. And again, it just feels so earned. It’s not that the characters who made mistakes aren’t at fault, it’s that the people they wronged are able and willing to move on from the past together with them.

Anyway, this was far longer of a ramble than I intended and I kinda lost focus, but there are a lot of mistakes made and redemption to be earned in this manga, and it works so incredibly well.

#kono oto tomare! #kono oto tomare #kot! #kono oto tomare spoilers #kono oto tomare manga #kono oto tomare analysis #houzuki satowa #kudou chika #uzuki sei

[kotos-and-smiles]

do u think Tokise has a chance at winning Nationals? I'm thinking they won't win but crack at least top 8.

Thanks for the ask! Hmm, I’m honestly not sure as I’m horrible at predicting where thing’ll go. I agree with you that they’ll place high but probably not win. Though no matter how unrealistic, I think there’s still a chance they could win it, but I’m not really expecting them to.

I’ve seen a lot of discussion and good points about it in the kot discord server that I’ve been very influenced by, so from that I think they’ll def make top three, or I certainly hope they will. But the most important thing to me is that wherever they place they’ll be satisfied with what they’ve done and see the value in their music and how it’s touched people. Their sound definitely has heart, but the musical expertise will also be important, so which of those win out with the judges and also how Ichiei (the music school that’s been winning for years) performs will determine how high they can place, especially with Meiryo’s already perfect performance. Sorry this got long.

#kono oto tomare! #kono oto tomare #kot!

[kotos-and-smiles]

Ch.124 Analysis and Rambling

MAJOR SPOILERS FOR CHAPTER 124 OF KOT!

As I often do, I’ll be referencing tessenpai’s rough tl which you can find here

Felt so good to have a new chapter after last month’s break! And we have the very interesting return of Uzuki with characters I was not expecting to see him interacting with.

Firstly, damn, Tetsuki really does try to ditch Isaki immediately after he’s able. Unfortunately for him, Isaki is the type to be forcefully ‘courteous’. Isaki was so amazing in this chapter, specifically with regards to Uzuki. Firstly her anger is very justified and relatable (I still wouldn’t completely mind punching him in the face, but I get we’re past that now). I enjoy the humor of the situation as well, and Isaki could indeed take down Uzuki if she wanted to. She’s both rightfully mad and also polite, as expected both Isaki and Tetsuki respecting Chika’s decision to invite him. I cannot handle at all the little panels of 103 flashbacks though of Chika in pain. And then Isaki just invites Uzuki out to lunch with a threatening smile on her face, and like how great is that? Also adore how afraid Tetsuki is of the women in Chika’s life. He knows what’s up.

I love that Momoya is able to honestly express that he’s tired when Takezou asks, instead of brushing it off with an ‘I’m fine.’ I don’t know, this chapter just really conveyed how much more comfortable Momoya seems with the club and allowing himself to just be himself. I also forgot about Yoshinaga’s “Chikaism” though and it is beautiful as always. Takinami’s appearances lately being purely to convey how annoyed he is are still wonderful. What Keishi said about how some competitors don’t listen to their competition’s performances because they don’t want it to affect their own was interesting because it made me just think about how Tokise is definitely the type of school that benefits a lot from hearing many different people’s sound. And there’s enough value in hearing those performances to them that it’s basically the only thing that’ll keep them from practicing, I think. That and they’re such dedicated koto nerds that want to hear everything they can.

Loved seeing Momoya talk about Chibana and be a bit savage towards them. And also accepting the club’s affectionate shenanigans even if he’s not used to them yet.

Ooof, Tomoe. How does she even perform if she’s like this every time? That’s some dedication to performing, I guess. Seeing Hiro and Satowa be so encouraging though is great to see.

I am never getting over that Satowa carries around the same strawberry candies as Chika once gave her because they help calm her down. Like, she carries a whole tin of them and is sharing them when she sees someone else obviously in distress because she wants to help even if Tomoe hasn’t been the nicest to Tokise. All of it’s so sweet, and yeah, I’m gonna be thinking about those strawberry candies for a long while now. And Hiro calling Satowa out on it, my god, I just love all of that.

We see a bit of a look into Tomoe’s mindset around Tokise, but I really like what her friend said about finding out what Tokise is really like when they hear them perform. Because that’s what it’ll really come down to, the music, the performance, and how it’ll carry the heart and voice of the people playing. But for now, Chibana will just have to focus on their own performance, and considering we know nothing about their sounds, and I don’t think we’ve heard much of their strengths and weaknesses either, though I could be forgetting, I’m really interested to see how their performance goes.

Honestly poor Tetsuki, now having to deal with both Isaki and Uzuki also getting roped into everything. Isaki went into full on Aunt Mode with Uzuki, like I may not like this kid but he’s gonna eat on my watch, and I really love that type of interaction. Isaki in general and how she understands Chika’s situation with some of the people around him but is also gonna protect Chika first and foremost is beautiful to see. She’s able to see through just her anger or resentment and relate how Chika has acted to how Uzuki’s acting, and again, she doesn’t want to let that happen on her watch. That little detail of Chika not eating when he first moved into with her even kind of surprising Tetsuki was really good and also so sad. In general, just hearing about how Uzuki feels about food does remind you of just how bad of a place Uzuki is in mentally. How she pushes the food issue with Uzuki by not making it an obligation for him to eat it all, but asking him simply to order something even if he only has a bite was a really great way of doing it and shows Isaki’s compassion, again even if she doesn’t like this boy, hasn’t forgiven him, much like Chika, she’s also not gonna let him just destroy himself either. 

“It takes a hell of a lot of strength to face what you’ve done and live with it. If you don’t have that kind of resolution, you don’t deserve to hear Chika and the rest’s performance.” These lines are really impactful. She’s telling Uzuki he has to face what he’s done, but it also takes a lot of strength to do that, so he better step up or he won’t be deserving of the chance Chika is giving him. While Chika still has some remaining self-worth issues when it comes to protecting himself, Isaki and those around him value him so much that they’re going to both respect his wishes and be angry and expect something of the people who have wronged him. They’re not gonna hesitate to make it clear how much protecting him is their first priority. Isaki just bridges the understanding and the knowledge Uzuki did something very wrong so well. She expects for him to step up and face it, and she knows that’s hard, but damn if he doesn’t deserve the hard process. But as Chika said in ch.111, hopefully Uzuki will come to learn with the performance what people can be to each other, what caring about someone really means, and while that may be hard in the face of his previous actions, facing it will allow him to better himself and move on, if he so chooses, if he’s strong enough to.

This also reminded me of what honestly might be one of my favorite quotes from this manga, though I have many, that Isaki said in ch.115. I don’t think I ever wrote anything about it, but this quote hit me so hard the first time I read it and still gets me with how true I feel it is

“But people change. Even when they don’t want to. They can’t stay as they were. And yet, when they do want to change, they’re unable to do so. We’re awkward creatures like that.”

Humans really are awkward like that. Much like in ch.115 with Isaki calling Chika’s dad, she has handled both him and Uzuki so, so beautifully. She is fully respecting Chika’s wishes while also letting these people in his life who have wronged him know where he’s at and that really they should be concerned with what they’ll do with the chance of listening to Chika, because Chika is living his own life. It’s up to Uzuki and Chika’s dad alike if they want to be any part of that or listen to what his music has to say, but they’re also sure as hell not gonna ruin that for Chika ever again. I don’t really know how much this specific quote even relates to ch.124, I just wanted to talk about it because I think it’s such a well-stated point. Sometimes we change when we don’t want that, and other times we can’t seem to change no matter how much we might want to, but it’s just a truth all of us sometimes have to face. The attitude both Chika and Isaki are taking on the subject, and that it seems Uzuki is trying to pick up as well, is that all that anyone can do now is move forward though the past will never change and never disappear, but there is still growth and peace to be found if people are open to working on it. Here’s hoping that Uzuki both does want to change and will be able to do so.

Anyway, going back to ch.124, it was hilariously predictable how everyone ended up staying to hear the rest of the performances despite their exhaustion. Takinami expecting it was amazing, and while he’s exasperated with it I love how happy Akira is about it. Also Yoshinaga just staring intently, sparkles included, at Momoya until he wordlessly gives in to staying was so damn cute.

Also, there were just so many cute little panels from this chapter

Anyway, I loved this chapter so much, pretty much as always, but I never get any less appreciative of how great every chapter that comes out is. I am very much in need of a reread of this entire manga, so hopefully what I was saying still made sense. As always, feel free to share your thoughts on the chapter as well!

#kono oto tomare! #kono oto tomare #kono oto tomare manga #kono oto tomare spoilers #kono oto tomare analysis #kot!

[kotos-and-smiles]

Chikawa Week 2023 Prompt List

Ta-daaaa! Chikawa Week is back this year as well!

It will be held from October 1 - October 7! I know, I know. There are still a few months left. But we wanted to give you guys some time to work on your prompts since you are busy people. We wanted to give you enough time so you don't feel rushed!

With no further ado, these are the prompts for Chikawa Week 2023!

If you have any questions about the prompts or the Participation Guidelines, make sure to consult the Chikawa Week's carrd.

We are very excited to see your work, guys!

#chikawa week #chikawa week 2023 #chikawa #chika x satowa #kono oto tomare #kono oto tomare! #kot! #aaah did not realize this was happening yay!

[kotos-and-smiles]

Chika and Family Resemblance

I find the topic of if Chika resembles one of his parents and which one he does really interesting when compared to other family resemblances in the manga and how Chika has pointed them out. So I’m gonna massively overthink things for a sec. 

Like when Chika first met Chiharu he says “you really are alike, Houzuki.” 

Now, he’s only just met this woman, so I assume this is a comment based on looks and her general countenance being similar to Satowa’s. So he’s commenting both on looks and their actual connection to each other as people. And Chiharu and Satowa do look pretty alike as far as their faces and can act in similar ways even if they are quite different in others, so Chika picks up on that. It’s nice to see the connection between mother and daughter in this case. Two people that, while estranged, still resemble each other. (Edit: In the anime Chika does quite literally say “You really do resemble Hozuki.” And I just think it’d be really interesting to have a similar thing happen with Satowa and one of Chika’s parents, either in the positive, or in the negative saying that he doesn’t resemble them at all.)

Whereas when he learns that Momoya is Uzuki’s brother, he says “you don’t resemble him at all.” 

Again, I’m aware I’m probably reading too much into all this, but I take ‘resemble’ to mean not just appearance but that their personalities don’t resemble each other. Chika doesn’t see the same things that caused problems with him and Uzuki in Momoya. This statement is a comfort in the way that Chika states fully that just because Uzuki and Momoya are brothers does not mean he feels Momoya is the same as Uzuki. This was just the connection Momoya was worried about Chika seeing between them, and after only a moment Chika dispels them by saying this.

Anyway, so whether Chika looks like his mother or his father more, it’s interesting to think of the resemblance and what that means. Will they look alike but be completely different people (likely)? Or will there be deeper similarities and mannerisms that are similar? Even though Chika was 2 when his mom left, I still think it’d be cool if maybe there’s some mannerism of hers that he’s picked up and still does without realizing it’s like her, but that’s also banking on the assumption that she isn’t a complete bitch and has some redeeming qualities so some connection wouldn’t be bad. Also could tie in to Chika’s relationship with his dad in an interesting way if he always reminded him of Chika’s mom. And like, I wanna see what the rest of the club thinks of his parents and whether he resembles them or not. Like, what will Satowa think if she sees his mother or father? Will she recognize some part of Chika in them or will she find them very, very different? I want to know what she’d think.

Anyway, this is just a random thought I’ve been wanting to get out for a while.

#kono oto tomare #kono oto tomare! #kudou chika #houtsuki satowa #houzuki satowa #kot! #kot

[kotos-and-smiles]

Ch.122 Rambling

As I often am, I’ll be referring to tessenpai‘s rough tl which you can find here

MAJOR SPOILERS FOR CH.122 OF KOT!

Finally got around to reading the newest chapter of kot last week (brainrot for another thing has been taking over my life) and it’s just so amazing. Had some thoughts I felt like sharing and also remembered some of the Discord discussions about this chapter too. So, some things that stuck out to me: Granny (Shizune) is still so iconic, just being like oh yeah, thought I heard some people making a ruckus, makes sense it’s the Tokise kids, but also those are her grandchildren. Chika just loves being a grandkid and I can’t handle it. Like, he was so damn happy to be called Shizune’s grandkid, and he literally can’t really have that with actual familial relations anymore at this point. Chika deserves every good parent/grandparent figure he can find. Love Satowa joining the hive mind of the Sane, Kota, and Mittsu, though she still probably has a braincell to herself. That moment where Sentarou’s grandma mentions being in the hospital and just how obvious Chika’s reaction is when you know his thoughts just immediately went to his grandpa, it’s just so painful, and Satowa noticing is so significant. 

There are so many instances, especially earlier on in the manga, where we have Chika noticing little emotional reactions from Satowa when something affects her, and so I love seeing that Satowa is also tuned into Chika and notices his reactions too. It’s all coming full circle. And I’m hoping this is also setting up Satowa actually asking Chika about his past. She’s wondered about it before, but a lot of what she knows is from other people, friends who have known Chika for longer, telling her things or things she learned with the whole Uzuki situation. I’d love to see a conversation where Chika opens up to Satowa about it, also because I think it’d be nice if she knew the whole story and for Chika to be able to share that with someone, much as she shared her story with him. It helps to understand one another better, as well as being able to ease the burden of the past a little.

Sentarou’s grandmother almost immediately melting at Chika’s offering to help because she sees the pure intentions despite the bad manners. He’s so eager to do what he can for her, especially once he notices how it might be harder for her to maneuver around a crowd to find a seat. Love that Satowa steps in after he leaves and thanks Sentarou’s grandma for understanding Chika’s feelings. Like, I just so love that, it’s like she’s trying to smooth it over a little and show manners while at the same time genuinely thanking her for not just judging him and actually understanding his feelings. I just, ugh, them. It’s an understanding from Satowa of just how much interactions like this mean to Chika. And Kota looks so serious when he says “true!” to Sane’s statement about how Chika’s such a granny’s/grandpa’s boy.

Tomoe needs to snap the hell out of it, cuz she witnessed Chika being the cutest doing such a pure, innocent thing, helping someone and waving to a young kid as he was doing it, like girl needs to get over it, and I’m excited to see her come around sometime. Just let Chika live and be the sweet grandchild he is in anyway he can be! She seems to be getting it a little, but hasn’t completely broken free of her prejudice. Her memories of seeing Chika interact nicely with people did give me an excuse to look up this moment again though, so that’s nice

Akari deserves all the love and support he’s getting from his friends, both in and outside the club. His friends that came to see him are so sweet! They’re there not knowing anything about koto, having traveled all that way, purely to see their friend play, and that’s so sweet. And love the teamwork of the club and how much they’re supporting each other and especially Akari. Takinami has been such a mood lately, and I love it so much! Like, him trying to buy alcohol a couple chapters ago, and now him overhearing Keishi talking to Akari’s friends and just thinking disdainfully “extroverts” or as is pointed out more accurately “monsters of communication” which I think feels very accurate. Like, I don’t want random people to communicate with me. (Usually well intentioned) monsters indeed.

I love, as always, seeing commentary on the music through Tokise. It still gives little tidbits of the characters while focusing on the music. Even Momoya seemed like he liked the performance so far.

Think it’s cool that Sentarou, even playing alongside 2 17-stringers, has the power and presence to not get drowned out. Like, that was a cool moment. I really don’t want to discuss the last pages. They were simply so painful after such a nice performance and the chapter that got us to care about Akari. This just isn’t fair and my heart aches. Hope for the best resolution next chapter, but it could go either way. He’s a very new player and we’ll have to see if he can recover from this mistake. But just, oof, it hurt to see that. Akari is just so genuine and trying his best, and I hate to see him mess up like this especially when I know he’s gonna feel like he let down his Senpai. It’s just something you never wanna see happen. Especially with his friends watching too. Amazing storytelling though. I’m way more attached to Eidai than I thought I’d be honestly.

So yeah, that’s just a little collection of thoughts that got way longer than I expected. 

#kono oto tomare #kono oto tomare! #kono oto tomare manga #kono oto tomare spoilers #kudou chika #kot #kot! #houzuki satowa

[kotos-and-smiles]

Hi, can you tell me how is the kono oto tomare manga scheduled? It is on weekly or monthly basis?

Hello! Kono oto tomare is on a monthly schedule. It comes out around the beginning of every month. The translations on mangadex usually take at least a week, though, so if you’re waiting on those you can expect them more in the middle of the month. Hope this answered your question!

[kotos-and-smiles]

Chapter 118 Rambling

MAJOR SPOILERS FOR CH.118 OF KOT!

I’ll be referring to the translation by @tessenpai​ If you haven’t read it yet you can find it here

Shook Tokise (even Satowa was shook!), beautiful koto playing, and a determined Ousuke, Oh my!

I really liked getting a bit of commentary from Satowa. I’ve been kinda missing my girl.

I love little things like Ousuke realizing that perfection still can’t be too beautiful. Like even as they strive for perfection, he realizes that humans are interested in flaws, and find boredom when something is too perfect. Little things like this are just really nice touches to me, and it’s interesting to see how this idea factors into Ousuke’s life and his idea of ‘perfection’

Oh damn, Meiryo has that sex appeal quality that our Tokise doesn’t have?! Or more accurately, our Tokise didn’t have and now very hopefully do? I honestly think that after Chika’s conversation with Satowa’s mom in ch.91, when he figured out the importance of the space between words and what that meant, I think he’ll have the sex appeal thing down. And also the confession and Chika and Satowa both expressing their love for one another will also probably help. I’m also not too worried about Momoya in that department. Takezou and Hiro should be interesting when it comes to if they can express that or not. The rest of the club is completely up in the air, who knows what they’ll do with that. I’m excited to see how the whole sex appeal concept will factor into Tokise’s performance.

I find Ousuke’s description of Tokise’s sound to, once again, be very interesting. It’s always interesting to hear things from Ousuke’s perspective because he’s often right. He’s very perceptive. “Pure, straightforward, with no lies or deception, as if exposing your very heart.” Is what he describes Tokise’s sound as, and then mentions it’s the complete opposite of his. Now, obviously, we are seeing his views through the lens of his own experiences, he is comparing himself to them, seeing how different they are and basically admitting the aspect of deception in his sound. But it also got me thinking about how everyone at Tokise truly faces the koto earnestly, leaving behind any dishonestly in their words and playing truthfully in their music. Not many people in Tokise open up easily in words, or at all at first, but even in the beginnings, everyone let their true sounds out in koto. It’s kinda not even a choice for them, they just can’t not do it that way. Chika even kinda brought this up when Momoya was still struggling with his fill-in in  ch.111. Chika wanted him to say what he had to say about Uzuki because holding things back like that affects music. Chika knows this because he’s experienced it firsthand. The sounds of the koto really are a direct line to the players’ hearts and souls when it comes to Tokise. Again, they really can’t help themselves, which is a huge advantage honestly, because it’s one of, if not just their biggest asset.

Ousuke feels he needs to orchestrate the sounds of the heart, but for Tokise it comes out naturally. It seems a lot of Ousuke’s ideas around training for Nationals could’ve been about bringing out this heart even if it doesn’t come as naturally for Meiryo, and certainly not for Ousuke. He admits himself, his sound is dishonest, it very controlled but disguised in such a way that no one should notice its falsehoods. I wonder if perhaps, in this performance, Ousuke was able to use a little bit of his true heart’s sound and let that shine through because he was playing for Asano and her smile. Akira did mention that Meiryo achieved some amount of sex appeal in their sound, and this is usually synonomous with feelings of romantic love in this manga. So maybe part of that was Ousuke? Especially because she said this right after we focus on him playing.

So, this has just been a really quickly written thing, I don’t really have the time to dedicate to going super in depth right now, but all the stuff with Ousuke and Asano is so, so good, and I’m very invested in these characters rather than just feeling like these are the side character chapters. A testament to the amazing writing and the compassion we can feel for so many of the different characters. There’s certainly a hell of a lot to unpack with these two, and damn I just love the couples of this manga and how there’s never any entitlement to someone feeling a certain way about someone. Like, of course I want Asano to recognize Ousuke, and that he’s right there and always will be, but at the same time I love that Ousuke isn’t expecting that from her. It’s sad for Ousuke, but I love that he just wants to be able to love her and see her smile and expects nothing in return, because that feels like he truly loves and cares about her and her wellbeing, but just because he feels that way about her does not mean she is obligated to feel the same way back and he is totally aware of that. It does hurt to watch Ousuke do all these things just to see her smile when she doesn’t even notice him as more than her childhood friend, but I do like Ousuke’s resolve and I’m excited to see where that’s going for his whole character arc. But a lot of it has probably happened already within the song, as the chapter ends with him arriving at the answer to his sound, and that is Asano’s smile. He’s choosing to dedicate himself to her still, and that’s what his sound kinda is.

I realized that really his arc is centered around Asano, pretty entirely, which I think is really nice to see sometimes with male characters because we see female character’s entire storylines revolve around men, and Ousuke’s is really about Asano and his feelings for her, how they go unacknowledged but he does what he does anyway, etc. Of course, his character still has a lot of depth on its own, but yeah. It’s kinda sad to see, too, that he so fully has dedicated himself to this performance and this music, but only for someone else. He has a lot of potential, but also a lot of fear and desire to stay by Asano’s side, but I hope he’ll find his own passion or relationship to koto for himself. It’ll be interesting to see if he kind of lets go of Asano a little and finds his own purpose, through music or other avenues and gets over some of his insecurities about being alone, whether Asano might notice him, or something else entirely, but this character arc is really well built and so the culmination should be fascinating to see, though this might be the biggest focus we’ll probably get on it. It is worth mentioning though that the performance from his perspective was very much about Asano, so either he’s able to let go now, or the most significant part of the story has kind of happened within the music already.

Also, with the fact that Ousuke is at Meiryo and so is Uzuki, I can’t help but wonder if somehow their storylines will intersect. I think it’d be really interesting if they did. Ousuke can see right through people, so that could be fun to see. Their dynamic, and very personal similarities and differences, how they both tend to put on masks and use those masks because they need people in their lives more than they feel they need to be truthful to themselves, could be so, so interesting to see. Though, Ousuke feels far more self-aware than Uzuki does about his habits. And also Ousuke is far less toxic to the person he’s decided to glomp onto as his world than Uzuki was with Chika. Again though, I think Ousuke is far more aware of how he handles things and how it affects him whereas Uzuki is just holding on to whatever he can scrounge from life that he even slightly cares about. With where both of them are in their character arcs, it’d be cool to see how maybe they could even help each other. Maybe they could both find things to care about for themselves. But again, who knows if they’ll even meet.

Anyway, these were just some very rough thoughts I had while reading through the chapter for the first time. Not nearly as detailed and deep as I usually like to post (how many times can I just say ‘interesting’?), but hey, I had some thoughts and here they are (braincells very tired). Life be taking up a lot of my kot ready/thinky time right now, but thanks for reading!

Also, just look at the Tokise the couples, love to see it!

#kono oto tomare! #kono oto tomare #kono oto tomare spoilers #kono oto tomare manga #kot!

[kotos-and-smiles]

Promise

This promise hasn’t been addressed in a while, at least not to my recollection, and it’ll be interesting to see how it factors into everything with Nationals coming up, especially now that they’ve already confessed

#chikawa #chitowa #chika x satowa #kudou chika #houzuki satowa #houtsuki satowa #kono oto tomare #kono oto tomare! #kot! #kono oto tomare manga

[kotos-and-smiles]

What's your opinion about the situation between chika and his father in the last chapter?

Thanks so much for the ask! There's so much to unpack with Chika's father in ch.115, and I have many thoughts and feelings on it. Using the parallel of Tetsuki's dad as a lead in was great, and I'm just so glad Chika has the Takaoka family in his life. And Isaki was absolutely amazing in this chapter, her role showing further how unnecessary Chika's father is in his life. Chika's father is literally still just working and doesn't even ask about his own son's wellbeing (not surprising for him, but still), so it would seem he hasn't changed much. But also with the inclusion of this conversation and Isaki's offer it isn't out of the picture that he could hear the performance in some way.

Chika's dad seems to assume that Chika may still want him in his life, which Isaki dispels quickly. I really think what Isaki says is true about the situation, that Chika would be happy if his father came or didn't. Chika's in his era of not needing to prove anything to anyone and playing music and being happy for himself. He knows he has people around him who truly know him and want the best for him, and he doesn't care about anyone else's opinion's of him, though he does still try to be unobtrusive. The only people he cares about to attend nationals are the people that really know and care about him and have helped him and given him a chance. His father is definitely not on that list of people. Whether his father comes to the performance or not, Chika will be playing for himself and his club members and nothing will change that. Isaki extended the invitation for her brother, not for Chika, and she made that very clear. Chika has found people who really care about him, something he's passionate about, and is living happily. Nothing can take that away from him. His father doesn't have any power over him anymore. It will be very interesting to see what happens with Chika's parents and whether either of them come to the performance.

Anyway, hope my messy ramble answered your question!

#kono oto tomare! #kono oto tomare #kudou chika #chika kudou

[kotos-and-smiles]

Prompt List

Hello everyone!

We have our prompt list.

We wanted to get it posted early enough so that anyone who was interested in contributing would have time to plan since we understand a lot of you are busy. Descriptions of each prompt along with participation info is in our carrd.

If you have any questions, feel free to message! Thank you! <3

#chikawa #chitowa #kono oto tomare #kono oto tomare! #chikawa week