Anonymous Noise: Volume 11 manga review

Anonymous Noise Graphic Novel Volume 11 cover image

As a child, Nino Arisugawa finds comfort in singing with Momo Sakaki, a boy who is her next door neighbor.  Then, Momo suddenly moves away.  Next, Nino finds comfort in a young songwriter, Kanade “Yuzu” Yuzuriha, who calls Nino, “Alice.”  He tells her that she should sing instead of scream, but he also moves away.  Now, Nino is in high school and is confronted by reunions.  She also becomes the lead singer of the band, “In No Hurry to Shout” a.k.a. “In No Hurry.”

Anonymous Noise, Vol. 11 (Chapters 59 to 64) opens in the wake of the kiss Momo gave Nino backstage.  Momo's band, Silent Black Kitty, and Yuzu's band, In No Hurry, are sharing the last date on their respective tours.  Nino is putting all the power of her voice into the final songs, driven on by her feelings for both Momo and Yuzu.  So how will Momo present his love to Nino... six years after he moved away from her?  In fact, what happened to Momo during those years he was away?  And how will Nino deal with her feelings for Yuzu?

THE LOWDOWN:  The Anonymous Noise manga is a high school shojo romance.  The main characters are singers, songwriters, and musicians.

Anonymous Noise Graphic Novel Volume 11 is the first of the series' final eight volumes.  You can tell that the narrative is in its second half, as Vol. 11 is all about the Nini-Momo-Yuzu love triangle at the heart of the narrative, as if the story is working towards some conclusion.  Creator Ryoko Fukuyama practically ties the three characters to one another in a romantic death match there is sure to run the length of this series.

Casey Loe's translation and English adaptation capture both the nuances and the over-the-top melodrama of teen love in Anonymous Noise, and he does some of his best work here.  Joanna Estep's lettering flows across the page getting the melody of romantic complications and the beat of two high school rock bands.  Readers will want to stay with this beat.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of Shojo Beat high school romantic dramas will want to try Anonymous Noise.

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8.5 out of 10