Warning: The following contains spoilers for Whisper Me A Love Song episode #8!!

Those who aren’t that familiar with romance anime or are only aware of its associated stereotypes might be surprised to know that the genre actually explores nuanced friendships just as well or sometimes even better than action shonen, and a new series called Whisper Me A Love Song is shedding light on this overlooked strength through music. Viewers who pay close attention will also notice how much it completely overshadows a romantic story line when the two overlap.

One of the more tragic love triangles in Whisper Me A Love Song involves Aki, who’s a casualty of the series’ main couple, Yori and Himari, and Aki’s character is directly confronted with her unfortunate situation when Aki’s former friend Shiho reveals she knows that Aki has feelings for Yori based on how she performed during a live show in episode #9.

Later during the same episode, Aki’s bandmates reflect on their past relationship with Shiho and incorporate music into their analysis in a similar way to understand how she felt about them at the time. One of the more profound examples is when Yori remarks on Shiho’s musical expressions when she was on stage with the band to prove that there was likely something else at play when Shiho quit the band other than their dynamic as friends.

It’s proper, then, that the episode would later support Yori’s theory by revealing that another music-based friendship Shiho had with someone more musically inclined than her likely served as the basis for why she would later hurt her now-former bandmates.

Whisper Me A Love Song Has Used Music As An Analogy to Explore Romance

Produced by Cloud Hearts & Yokohama Animation Laboratory

Although this isn’t the first time that the series has explored friendships through music, the subject has usually been drowned out by how Whisper Me A Love Song has used the power of song to express the romantic feelings that characters have for each other. In fact, Himari first fell in love with Yori after watching her perform during a live show, and although her form of love was initially more platonic at the time, it would initially grow into something much more romantic.

Meanwhile, the series also used music as an analogy to showcase how Yori’s love for Himari changed her for the better by having her own personal relationship and outlook on music evolve based on what would make Himari happy. Before, Yori was against playing with other people, but due to Himari wanting to see her sing live, Yori was not only willing to try for her but would soon come to enjoy playing in a group, improving and expanding the way in which she could express herself through song.

This isn’t even mentioning how Yori had once hoped to make Himari fall in love with her romantically through music, though it would ironically be everything but music that would achieve this. Although different, it’s noteworthy how much more nuanced and even less tangible the series has presented music to convey friendships in relation to romantic partnerships when Whisper Me A Love Song is, first and foremost, a romance.

Whisper Me A Love Song Uses An Artistic Transition to Shift The Focus

The series put an equal emphasis on platonic love

Despite all these examples, a more subtle way in which episode #8 puts more of an emphasis on friendship over romance comes from how Aki reacts to Shiho’s accusation afterward, both alone and with her friends. When she’s by herself, Aki first worries about how Shiho found out, since she would like to keep her feelings for Yori a secret and wonders if everyone else will be able to learn the truth. However, this mindset only lasts for a couple of seconds before Aki begins to lament about what went wrong between her and Shiho.

The way in which the episode transitions from centering on Shiho knowing that Aki likes Yori and Aki worrying about it, to completely focusing on Aki getting upset over Shiho leaving her is a subtle way of the episode priorizing the subject of friendship over romantic feelings.

The fact that the scene where Aki is alone ends after this shift adds finality to this dichotomy between romance and friendship, especially since the rest of the episode revolves around Aki’s bandmates discussing Shiho’s relationship with their band before delving into Shiho’s backstory with another friend.

Another Romance Series Also Focused On Friendship

Modern romance anime are breaking away from classic trends to focus on more complex relationships

Although friendships are an obvious trend in romance anime, despite being relatively unknown, another series called Hokkaido Girls Are Super Adorable! recently highlighted how the genre explores this type of relationship more thoroughly than some might think. Similar to how artistically Whisper Me A Love Story put a spotlight on this dynamic through its subtle transition in episode #8, Hokkaido Girls Are Adorable! used one of the most romantic and love-centric story lines in romance anime to prioritize friendships as opposed to lovers.

Its incredible Valentine’s Day episode may have started off conventionally enough, but it quickly showed how one of the series’ love interests obsessed over making chocolates for her friends and then later got emotionally hurt when she wasn’t able to give them the ones she wanted before she presented some to her close friend instead of her love interest during a dramatic scene. So, although Whisper Me A Love Song is understandably renowned for its romance, it also flawlessly and artistically explores friendship just as effectively as what it’s known for, just like the other best examples of this misunderstood genre.