Nodame Cantabile Impressions
Well, this has been impressive. The best series I’ve watched since some of the stuff ending last season. It occurred to me to ponder a bit on who this series is about. We’ve got “Nodame” in the title, but it seems like the action focuses on Chiaki. Is it one, the other, or both? (I’m pretty sure it’s not someone else.)
Now that I’ve just looked up “Cantabile” it makes a bit more sense. Songlike Nodame. Something like that. I’d have to say that the show is about both. (Duh.) Nodame is a catalyst for Chiaki and together they work towards a new sort of equilibrium- Nodame’s piano & Chiaki’s conducting.
I also realized that this one of those shows where time passes deceptively fast. Before I knew it, the first mention of time was a year and half after meeting Nodame. For me it was a few hours. Very short ones at that. Quite impressive. The music is really good.
Chiaki goes and forms his new orchestra too, and he exposes some of the flaws in himself along the way. He’s very clam like. It seems he doesn’t open up. When Orchestra S broke up I got the distinct impression that he thought everyone still hated him.
I wonder if that’s a reflection the stereotype that musicians and artists in generally tend to be a bit eclectic. (That’s opposed to the obviousness of Stresseman’s craziness.) In fact, I think this stereotype is played with quite a bit. Nodame’s obviously from another planet, but again more subtly Chiaki seems to be self-destructing himself at times as well.
Insert filler here about the story, it was too good to bother writing anything down. They manage to reconcile and go off to Europe together, medetashi medetashi. Pretty good stuff. It’s petty to talk about the little bits of the story. I can’t think of what to say, and I think it’s better not to make stuff up in this case.
What I can say is that it was good. All the elements, whatever they are, were there. If we switch to style for a minute, a lot of the show was also about taking the auditory music and making it visual. I’m positive there was a lot of imagery to that.
Personally, I don’t see music that way. When I listen to a piece I don’t picture a scene for it, I simply feel the music. To, I’m sure, borrow someone else’s words, I let it wash over me. That doesn’t keep me from enjoying visually. I’ve still got images of that Rhapsody in Blue floating around.
In fact, I ought to commend whoever was in charge of it for coming up with the visual metaphors. While I wouldn’t have thought of them I’d like to say that I understood them. Good times.
Really good times. I really enjoyed this show, and it’s really relieved the monotony of things lately. It’s restored my faith in anime. There is still good stuff to watch. It isn’t all turning boring.
