Watching new series at an episode a week pace is alright, but I love getting my hands on a series released a while ago which I have never seen before and sitting down for a day or two and just watching it all. A good anime marathon is one of my favourite ways to use two days and I couldn’t have picked a better series than this I think.
It is a weird concept, a show about aspiring musicians and I wonder how this made it as a manga considering how half of the charm of the series came from the music. For one, I love classical music and another for five years of my life I was a violinist and pianist practicing to get better and performing so I couldn’t help but lose myself into the story and the music. And boy did I lose myself in the music. It has been a long while since I have listened to a large amount of classical music. I felt like I was a music student all over again before I left humanities to pursue qualifications in the sciences.
The other half of the charm of the show has to be the characters, especially Chiaki and Nodame. Chiaki is just so straight faced and dedicated, and it was a pleasure to see him mature as a conductor, becoming kinder and more nurturing to his orchestra. I remember one Conductor we had who was like Chiaki was to begin with, one of the cellists cried. Chiaki near the end reminded me of some of the fonder conductors I worked with - demanding and inspiring.
Nodame is just an extremely bright and hilarious character, needing so much care from Chiaki. Her love for Chiaki just made it all the more funny. Her approach to her instrument kind of reminded me of myself, being so dedicated at times and lazy on it depending on you whim, but then again like me, she didn’t have the Piano as her final goal. I remember at times almost bleeding and crippling myself practicing the piano and violin (arguably I enjoyed the violin more) and at times, I tried to avoid my teachers and finding excuses not to practice. I really couldn’t play unless I myself was motivated. The last few episode with her trying so hard to win the competition and deciding to go to Paris to study had me uplifted the whole time. I loved it.
And this thrill of goodness doesn’t have to end even though it is over, as there is another season coming before the year is out. I so cannot wait, as this has become one of my absolute favourites.
If you liked Nodame, then you ought to give the live action a shot as well, and good thing that the 2 specials were aired earlier in the year so you can marathon those 13 eps. They’re an hour each, except the specials are both two hours, but I’m sure you’ll get that same nostalgia as the anime…
If you enjoyed the Nodame Anime then I have some suggestions:
1. If you haven’t seen the Nodame Anime’s 15-minute “Special Lesson 1” then check it out.
2. Watch the live action and specials. Its just as over the top as the Anime, tho it doesn’t have the nice art style and feels more cheesy.
3. Give the Anime Kin’iro no Corda ~primo passo~ a try. Its not got the same lovable characters or art style as Nodame and is more into the Shojo angst than slapstick comedy, but it has a similar theme of learning to love music through competing in competitions. It is mostly solo violin and piano instead of orchestra, but you still get to hear people playing instruments and there are duets and such too.
Best anime ever. I agreed, don’t bother me about it.
Hmm, maybe I should give this a shot since I’m a musician myself XD
Heck, even as a non-musician (there were times in the series when I was listening to the orchestra play and thinking “hey, this is pretty good”, only to have Chiaki slam them for being shitty OTL) I loved this show to bits. I’d probably still love it to bits too if you swapped out Kawasumi Ayako and Seki Tomokazu (though perhaps at a slightly diminished level ;P) thanks to the slapstick and Nodame’s rabu rabu antics XD
Yea, I’ve been marathoning a lot myself now that’s it’s the summer…..
Nodame is great. I’m definitely excited about the sequel coming in the fall.