Anime / Lost Song

Magic Music to a whole new level

Rin, an energetic girl who loves to eat, lives in a verdant frontier village. Deep within the royal palace in the bustling capital city, the songstress Finis spends her days in solitude. Both share a special power no other person has. A miraculous power that can heal wounds, create water and stir the wind—the power of song. Guided by destiny, the two young women each face an arduous journey with the power of song. The shadow of war looms over the kingdom, tainting even the miraculous songs with the blood of innocents. Loved ones meet their deaths as silent screams echo through a stone prison. As two destinies intersect, will the final song be one of despair, hope or...?

An original Netflix series (which premiered worldwide on October 5, 2018) and the voice acting debut of singer Konomi Suzuki.

Not to be confused with the Sword Art Online game.

This show includes a major Mid-Season Twist. Beware spoilers.

Lost Song includes tropes of:

• 2D Visuals, 3D Effects: The royal orchestra musicians are rather obviously in 3D when compared to the rest of the characters.
• The Alcoholic: The commander from episode 3, and the fact that his men don't call him out indicates this is far from a rare occurrence.
• Ambiguously Brown: General Bazra Beamois has a skin-tone darker than the rest of the characters.
• Armies Are Evil: So far, regular foot soldiers have served as nothing but antagonists that blindly follow orders from Prince Lood and General Bazra.
• Artificial Human: Rin was born from the song of hope that Finis abandoned.
• Asskicking Leads to Leadership: After Henry leads his men into taking over an enemy fortress without using Finis' song, they proclaim him as their leader.
• Bad Boss: Prince Lood stabs to death a nobleman for disagreeing with him, is constantly pushing Finis into using her songs despite knowing they drain her lifespan and even comes at Corte with a knife for trying to defend Finis.
• Been There, Shaped History: Finis has been subtly manipulating the history of the world, creating her own legend and the Starsong Festival, all in hopes of stopping her never-ending life.
• Berserk Button: Don't call Pony old or she'll pound you into the ground.
• Beware the Nice Ones:
  • Corte may be most of the time kind and helpful but if it's to protect Finis, she's willing to go as far as to try and poison Lood to give Finis a chance to escape.
  • Finis too. After Henry is seemingly killed in front of her, she brings forth the Song of Darkness and Destruction, which apparently destroys the world.
• Big Bad Duumvirate: General Bazra and Prince Lood, who both want to use the power of songs to bring destruction to the battlefield. After Lood is killed in the first timeline (and comes back as a good prince in the second), Bazra take over as the lone Big Bad for the rest of the story.
• Big Damn Heroes: Just as Monika, Pony and Alyu are about to be killed by soldiers in episode 9 Leobolt's forces arrive just in time to take them to safety.
  • And in episode 10 when Bazra is about to maim Rin for defying him, Al arrives in his Jet Pack and snatches her just in time.
• Big Eater: Rin is constantly thinking or bringing up food, even when upset.
• Bittersweet Ending: The kingdom is saved, Leobolt becomes a general, Pony becomes Queen of the Golt Kingdom, Alyu and Monika return home with their mother and Al achieves his dream of being a scientist, but Rin has ceased to exist after fulfilling her purpose. Finis and Leobolt do not hook up as the show has long since established that the Leobolts of each different era are not her Leobolt. Even if this era is an exact reocurrance of the original, the unique circumstances of the first era are impossible to repeat and this Leobolt has already fallen in love with the lost princess (Pony). Finis' Henry Leobolt died a long, long time ago. But there is good news, since it seems the cycle of rebirth has been stopped, Finis has finally made her peace with the loss of her Henry, has a devoted Corte by her side as her Guardian Knight and Rin (The living incarnation of Finis' and Henry's mutual love) will probably reincarnate, this time as Finis' child.
• Blow You Away: The second Spirit Song Rin uses is capable of creating a series of tornadoes.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Dr. Weissen is a rather eccentric old man, who happens to have made lots of inventions.
• Cast from Hit Points: Using the Spirit Song slowly takes away the life force of its user until they die.
• Cerebus Syndrome: The show becomes much darker starting with episode 7.
• Chekhov's Gun: The second sword Henry obtains becomes handy when he uses it to impale Bazra right after failing to do so with the first.
• Cool Sword: Henry's ancestral sword. It's mentioned to never rust, nor does it need sharpening.
• Curtains Match the Windows: Pony has blue hair and eyes of the same color. Alyu has red hair and eyes.
• Dead Star Walking: Ai Kayano voices not one, but two different characters. And one of them dies at the end of the first episode.
• "Do It Yourself" Theme Tune: Rin's voice actress Konomi Suzuki sings the opening, while Finis' voice actress Yukari Tamura sings the ending theme song.
• Doomed Hometown: Rin and Al's village is burned to the ground at the end of episode 1.
• Dragon-in-Chief: Because the king seems to be old and ailing, he lets Prince Lood and General Bazra to do as they please.
• Dragon with an Agenda: It's clear General Bazra is going behind the Prince and King's backs.
• Eternal Recurrence: Finis has been witnessing the beginning and the end of the world countless times, and now she wants to end it.
• First-Name Basis: Finis is the only one who calls Henry Leobolt by his first name.
• Foreshadowing: There were a few things that show that Rin's Story and the original Finis' Story are different timelines before the Wham Episode. Certain items from Rin's side were not in the original that would have saved a lot of pain and suffering on Finis in her timeline and Finis was considered a Legendary Figure on Rin's timeline instead of the Public Figure of the original.
• Gadgeteer Genius: Al is this with a dose of Bungling Inventor.
• Groin Attack: This is how Pony incapacitates an upcoming soldier, who is then knocked out by Alyu using a wrestling move.
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Leobolt is blonde and a nice, chivalrous man.
• Hate Sink: The original Prince Lood goes out of his way to being the most unpleasant jackass possible towards everyone else for no apparent reason other than because he can.
• Jerkass:
  • Prince Lood is a total prick to say the least, be it to his subjects or his so-called future wife. He goes as far as to force Finis to use a very destructive song to annihilate an enemy encampment without caring it drains her lifespan, and makes her cough blood.
  • The two mercenary soldiers Bero and Snow that accompany Henry are also a pair of asshats towards him just because he's a rookie. They eventually grow to respect him after he leads them into a seemingly impossible victory.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Being the living incarnation of the Song of Healing, Rin ultimately vanishes from existence once the song's purpose is fulfilled. She may not be totally gone though, as the epilogue reveals that Finis is now pregnant; her firstborn child may very well end up being a reincarnated Rin.
• "I Want" Song: Rin sings about her desire to perform at the Capital in the first episode.
• Kill It with Ice: Finis is forced to use a song that freezes to death the enemy soldiers, making it easy for their army to take over their position.
• Knight in Shining Armor: Henry Leobolt is a knight who truly lives up to this image.
• Magic Music: The Spirit's Songs are powerful and enchanted songs that can do all sorts of miracles. And Prince Lood wants to use it for his war machine.
• Magitek: Song magic can be replicated scientifically and used to power technology.
• Making a Splash: Finis knows a song that creates and controls water.
• Meido: Corte, Finis' maid and confidant.
• Mood Whiplash: The first episode starts off as a lighthearted musical fantasy. Then Rin’s village gets attacked, resulting in the deaths of her sister and grandfather. The series gets much more serious from there.
• Mystical Pregnancy: Implied in the ending by Finis' pregnancy. There's no indication a man was involved, and the timing coincides with Rin's magical death.
• Mystical White Hair: Finis has long, silver hair and she's the wielder of a very powerful magic song.
• No Sense of Direction: Finis is so bad at this she could get lost on a straight path.
• Obviously Evil: Prince Lood and General Bazra look far less pleasant when compared to the rest of the cast.
• Of Corsets Sexy: Pony wears one so small, it's a miracle her boobs haven't popped out.
• The One Guy: Al is the only boy in the main group, and the only one who isn't a musician.
• Person of Mass Destruction: Finis is forced to use songs that can decimate an army. She hates doing it but she has no choice. It goes From Bad to Worse when her Traumatic Superpower Awakening happens and she not only destroys the world but is also immortal.
• Pocket Protector: Al survives being impaled by a crystal shot by Bazra thanks to a wooden toy he made.
• Prince Charmless: Prince Lood has the charm of a snake, and it's quite obvious he only intends to use Finis to win a war with the neighboring countries.
• Protagonist Journey to Villain: Episode 8 reveals that the first half of the series was this for Finis, who after living through many cycles of the world has decided to simply destroy everything.
• Really Royalty Reveal: Pony turns out to be the missing princess of the Golt Kingdom, Alea Golt and she becomes Queen ahead of her brother at the finale.
• Retired Badass: Talgia Hokley was once the mightiest general in the kingdom, until his age made him retire.
• The Reveal: Rin's story and the original Finis' story are different timelines and Rin herself is Finis' Lost Song.
• Sacrificial Lamb: Mel and Talgia are killed at the end of the first episode.
• Sadistic Choice: Prince Lood tells Finis that she can either sing and destroy his enemies, or he'll have Henry executed. No brainer what she chose.
• Sibling Yin-Yang: Alyu is extroverted, talkative and very good with percussion, while Monika is shy, not very talkative and prefers to sing.
• Sleepy Head: Monika somehow falls asleep when she's scared. This has the potential of making her The Load when the group has to escape.
• Smart People Wear Glasses: Al wears some specially made ones, and fit his aspiring inventor image.
• Sufficiently Analyzed Magic: Despite Al's initial complaints about them being "scientifically impossible," the Songs work on principles that can be scientifically studied and understood.
• The Starscream: Bazra unsurprisingly isn't loyal to Lood or the King, and he wants to use Finis' powers to Take Over the World.
• Stripperific: Alyu only wears a bra, sleeveless vest, and pants.
• Too Dumb to Live: Finis is painfully oblivious to danger in the beginning of the series, doesn't get that her fiance is Obviously Evil, and manages to be fooled into thinking an assassin who's a large bearded man who's not even really disguised is one of her maids.
• Traumatic Superpower Awakening: Finis after technically losing her power by unknowingly killing her own Love Interest, she crossed the Despair Event Horizon and sings the song of extinction.
• Truly Single Parent: Due to an unusual effect of magic, Finis is this to Rin.
• Uriah Gambit: Prince Lood quite obviously sends Henry to the front lines in hopes of getting him killed.
• Weird Moon: It's really close to the world. And Finis wants to bring it much closer.
• Wham Episode: Episode 7. Not only Corte is killed by Prince Lood, but Henry is also burned to death in front of Finis, who uses a song that brings to earth a meteor shower that destroys the world.
• Wham Shot: Episode 8 starts with a slow pan across a modern city.
• "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: The final episode ends with a brief narration from Al saying what happened to the characters after the end.
• Who Wants to Live Forever?: Finis certainly doesn't. After being forced to witness the beginning and the end of the world countless times, without aging or truly dying, has left her with a huge desire to just stop the cycle.
• Youthful Freckles: Alyu has this, which shows her occasional immaturity.