First Impression: Rock is a Lady’s Modesty

A refined classical melody floats through the air as the ojou-sama of Oushin Girls’ Academy move sedately about their campus in pairs, their long Victorian dress uniforms practically sweeping up the rose petals that carpet the ground. Holding court in the dining hall is Lilisa Suzunomiya, who expresses her preference for Ravel’s ‘Pavane for a Dead Princess’, to a chorus of admiring coos. Cue inner monologue: turns out, Lilisa is a bit of a pretender, coming from common stock and only being a stepchild of the rich and famous, unlike the rest of the students. Lilisa is determined to keep up appearances and outclass all these classy girls to take the coveted title of Noble Maiden for herself, for reasons. And so far, so good! Thanks to her late-night cramming sessions and talent for mimicry, she’s passing as an elite by the skin of her teeth. Only the Headmistress seems not to be fully convinced. But when she finds a guitar pick in the hallway, her carefully constructed facade threatens to come crashing down. What is a seriously rock style guitar pick doing in the hallowed halls of dignified girlhood? And could it really belong to the most refined and revered girl in the school? There is only one way for Lilisa to find out: tail the school princess to the isolated outbuilding from whence come such disturbing thumping sounds and face head on whatever may await her on the other side of that door…  

Well now, that was unexpected…! This was a pretty fun mashup of genres, with the parodic, mildly romantic vibes of shoujo ai, juxtaposed with the rough and tumble—and at times outright crudity—of a grungy rock shonen battle, all wrapped up with the ribbon of a fish out of water comedy. And it works surprisingly well! Lilisa is a charming lead, thanks largely to the charisma of her VA, Akira Sekine, who lets loose with convincing vigor. Also, there’s her hair. I don’t know how she manages to keep her chin up as she sports what must be the heaviest head of most impossible hair to ever grace anime—more impossible even than a magical girl in full transformation mode—but there we go. Her do basically takes up half the hallway. Meanwhile, the princess’s personality gap is really quite shocking! Let’s just say the final five minutes of the episode go full metal—both in terms of the language in use and a particularly racy simile that reminds us that the true motto of Rock ’n’ Roll culture is decidedly not about a lady’s modesty. This is one for the parents, not the children. As for the rock-off itself, it’s really quite well animated. There is some CG modeling, but it’s decently composited and intercut frequently with traditional animation so that, overall, the sequence is really quite engaging. There are some very cool shots of Lilisa’s fretboard work and manic picking that would be at home in Bocchi the Rock’s legendary performance animations, with some great moments with the drums as well. I’ll be honest, I wasn’t expecting this level of animation, so I was pleasantly surprised. The music is infectious too, and surely will only get better as keys and vocals are gradually added. All in all, I’m intrigued! I’ll stick around as long as the humor keeps landing and the quality of animation (and frequency of rock scenes) remain high!

Rock is a Lady’s Modesty is streaming on HiDIVE.

claire
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5 thoughts on “First Impression: Rock is a Lady’s Modesty”

  2. I don’t have hi dive so I’ll likely never get around to this, but they got Band Maid for the op and it’s an absolute banger as expected 🤘what a perfect match of artist and series

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