Anime Review: Rock Is a Lady’s Modesty

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I was scrolling through Spring 2025 anime, looking for something light to fill weekend spaces between heavier stories. Then I saw the title Rock Is a Lady’s Modesty, and I thought, “That’s either absolutely ridiculous or fascinating, and I’m curious.” The moment Lilisa’s refined smile faded as she strummed her guitar in an abandoned school room, I knew it was going to be the latter.

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It has a subtle subversiveness to a show where an elegant young woman has to give up her beloved guitar in order to conform to a “Noble Maiden” ideal--and then rediscovers that passion in private, courtesy of her schoolmate, Otoha, a mini-skirted school girl by day, a drum-beating dynamo by night. It is such a mouthwatering paradox it smacks you in the chest. It was a thrill to see the flames of passion in Lilisa once again--through the heart, and then through the fingers.

It is very basic, but layered: Lilisa Suzunomiya, who has been abruptly flung into the high society of Oshin Girls Academy as her mother remarries into money, has to keep her uncivilized soul down to look polished. However, as she gets acquainted with Otoha Kurogane--a drummer who shreds behind closed doors and bleeds honesty--her guitar, her dialect, her uninhibited passion returns with a vengeance.

When they first come into conflict, in a smack-talk-filled jam session in a condemned music room, it is not only enjoyable, it is the match that lights the fuse on everything. They resort to starting a rock band behind the backs of their parents, and now rock music is no longer sound--it is rebellion, self-identification, liberation.

It is not a just slice-of-life music show. It is an anthem to anyone who has ever felt the need to suppress what they are in order to put on a mask or keep up a pretense--and finally somewhere managed to find a release. The writing does not merely check off the list of girl bands. It rattles it and tells it, What should it be, but winning hearts isn't the real battle, it is being yourself?

So what was so funny? Swearing was so excessive that it was sprayed all over their jam sessions- each swear word had to be well timed like a joke. It is vulgar, I grant--but it is strong. It brings a sort of authenticity you do not get in polite anime.

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Let’s talk music because this show doesn’t just show bands—it makes you hear and feel them. The soundtrack, with band performances animated using Band-Maid’s mocap, bangs full and bold. In the best moments, you can see the vibrato in their strings, the weight of each drum stroke. It's real rock on screen, not a pop throwaway.

Episode 9’s performance hit me like a freight train: Lilisa finally unleashes everything she’s been holding back, and the animation bursts in color, energy, sincerity. It wasn’t just visual greatness—it was emotional release. And for that moment, I was cheering with tears in my eyes.

I sat there quiet and restless after the finale. Not only due to the music high--but because this show reminded me that my own creative fire is borne out sometimes, in the name of appearances. It made me remember something about how authenticity is subversive when respectable society does not leave room to be authentic.

I even considered telling a friend in the middle of the episode: It is not only a music show. Its my life.” But I reserved. And now I am telling you--because I know you will understand it, without my having to say much about it.

Rock Is a Lady Modesty is a gem; wildly under-rated, brilliantly bold, emotionally charged. It makes you laugh, it makes you bleed and in the end it makes you ROCKS into feeling. When you have ever been ashamed to love, or afraid to speak--it is the song that you probably never knew you wanted.

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Thumbnail is designed by me on pixelLab and other images are screenshot from the movie