Rock wa Lady no Tashinamideshite

First of all, I've only seen three episodes, and I don't know anything about anime adaptations of manga, but this series seems to be delivering on a very ambitious set of goals. It's a Japanese morality play infused with huge amounts of young female hormones, often with S&M overtones, all wrapped up by a great score and eye-popping visuals. It's getting right at what I assume to be the fundamentals of manga; a high-octane blending of very adolescent and very adult themes.

I can't tell exactly who this show's intended audience is, but I'm a 63-year-old American gaijin dude who's played guitar and drums for 50 years, and I find myself laughing out loud at how much fun these girls are having rocking it out. The sexual themes presented do seem to a non-Japanese viewer to be a bit uncomfortable, but maybe that's just my uptight American perspective. At least the sex stuff seems to be offered with a bit of a wink, as if to say, "Hey, we get this is weird, but it's also kind of fun, right?" After all, the young female characters are all from very rich and repressive families, and they're bound to have lots of pent-up tensions, which would include their libidos, as well.

Finally, I loved the Red Hot Chili Peppers reference because, when I was in college at Michigan State in the 80s, I used to hang out with Brad Smith's band The Generics, and sometimes Brad's little brother Chad would sit in and play the drums after band practice. Man, if only I had taken some video of those jam sessions ...

Wow! Was I ever surprised. Started watching this series on spec and was blown away. Never even heard anything about it before! This must be the most publicity hidden anime star of the season. I don't understand why this was so under watched and under reviewed.

The basic story revolves around the standard anime trope of girls who attend a very posh finishing/high school for girls in Japan. The twist is that circumstances bring together a group of girls who want to play in a hard rock band. Their skills are, for the most part, top notch but their social status prevents them in partaking in such an unrefined undertaking. Everything that they do has to be done on the sly, preventing teachers and parents from ever knowing their passion for this particular type of music. Their characterizations are tremendously well done, especially when their personas change from demure school girl to hard rock band member. The writers had a field day with it. I absolutely loved the story and the characters.

A big plus is the musical content. This isn't about your standard boy/girl pop singing band. These are girls playing very hard rock with no singers, and doing it for their own pleasure. Improving the anime's content, Band-Maid does the opening song title and most of the music during the episodes. They must have been very much a part of the production. The animation provides full testament to this. It was excellent and stylish, meeting the requirements of the content. The animation does something that I haven't seen done since the musical episodes of the anime series Angel Beats. When the girls played their instruments, the anime showed exactly how the songs were played. Watching, you could actually learn how to play each instrument for each song note for note. That is particularly impressive when hard shredding is being done on the guitar. You could even see which fret was used for each string the pic was plucking and when string harmonics were used. The same goes for drums licks! They must have animated over film footage of Band-Maid playing.

I really enjoyed season one and very much hope for a season two. I can't believe there is so little publicity surrounding this anime. It's top notch and deserves much better.

**"'Rock is a lady's modesty.' I never thought an anime could express this idea so beautifully, so powerfully, and so unapologetically. This series didn't just tell a story about girls playing rock music-it told a story about passion, pain, identity, and self-expression in a way that hit me right in the heart.

At first glance, you might expect a light, fun music anime with quirky characters and catchy songs. And sure, it is fun-hilarious, even-but beneath that surface is something much deeper. These girls aren't just trying to form a band. They're trying to find themselves. Each one is carrying something: anxiety, loneliness, self-doubt, societal expectations. But when they pick up their instruments, they speak a language that words could never express. The music becomes their voice, their shield, and their soul.

I was genuinely amazed by how emotionally honest this anime was. It doesn't glamorize pain, but it also doesn't shy away from it. Instead, it embraces vulnerability as a form of strength. Watching these girls support each other, fail together, grow, and create something meaningful made me feel proud in a way I can't quite explain. It's the kind of show that reminds you how important it is to chase what makes your heart beat faster, even if the world doesn't understand it.

The animation is phenomenal. Every live performance is animated with so much love and detail that you can feel the tension in their fingers and the emotion in every chord. The character expressions are subtle and real-you see the hesitation before a note, the silent exchange between friends, the fire behind their eyes as they finally break through their fear. And the music-my god, the music! It's raw, catchy, and sincere. It's not just background; it is the story.

This anime made me laugh, cry, and think about how hard it is to be yourself in a world that constantly tells you to be something else. It showed that true modesty isn't hiding who you are-it's owning it quietly, fiercely, and without apology. That's what rock is to these girls. And that's why this anime is a masterpiece in its own right.

If you've ever felt like you didn't belong, if you've ever struggled to say how you feel, or if you've ever found solace in music-this anime is for you. It's not just about girls in a band. It's about the courage to make noise in a world that wants you to stay silent. And that, to me, is what makes it unforgettable."**

This anime managed to make me very smoldering, please make this anime season 2. I think this anime is the best rock anime I've ever watched, because most rock anime that I watch don't show real rock, most rock anime that I watch don't contain rock music but contain pop music, that's what makes me lazy to watch rock anime, but it's different from the rock is a lady modesty anime, in my opinion this anime really shows real rock music rock anime that is not boring, maybe there are still many rock anime that are better than this but for me this anime is the best, I really really need season 2. I love this anime.

Rating: 6.5/10 (for the vibes, not the payoff)

"Rocks Lady" starts off STRONG with that atmospheric tension - the sound design is minimal but unnerving, the cinematography is cold but strangely beautiful, and the pacing?

Slow burn to the max.

It keeps you guessing:

> "Is this a ghost story? Is she cursed? Are the rocks a metaphor?" "Is she real? Are they real?"

Everything feels off, but in a deliberate way.

It gives A24 energy - artsy, emotional, mysterious.

And for a while, that works really well.

But once the mystery gets explained?

Ehhh... it kind of loses that psychological edge.

The reveal is decent, but not as deep or disturbing as it promised.

Still, if you enjoy films that whisper rather than scream, and leave you feeling vaguely uncomfortable, "Rocks Lady" will probably linger in your brain for a while.

TL;DR:

> Slow-burn psychological horror with haunting aesthetics.

Great tone, okay plot, lingering questions.

Rocks might be heavy, but the meaning? Not as deep as it could've been.

6.5/10.