Makoto Akui’s Blue Orchestra began on 25 April 2017 and is still running. Hajime Aono learned the violin from early childhood and won enough to be known for it, then put the instrument away because of what happened at home, and spent middle school quietly.
The story starts when he joins the orchestra club at his new high school. What the series is about is not a talented player reaching a stage; it is the set of problems that appear when many people have to produce one sound. How to divide the parts when ability is unevenly spread, what to do about the members who cannot keep up, whether the strong players should come down or the weaker ones should be brought up: these recur throughout.
The performance scenes work hard at rendering sound as image, with close attention to bow angles and finger positions. Still running, with an animated adaptation.
