Summary: It's been one month since the S Orchestra's performance, and it's now so rainy and humid that the group can't practice very well.
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This is a rather pleasant episode which basically explains Stresemann's motivation. He also seems a bit more generous than usual this time around, as evidenced by the present he gave to Nodame. Animation-wise, I feel that this episode is actually a lot more fluid in comparison to last week's episode. I know that people have been comparing the art style to Honey and Clover but it really doesn't come across that way to me until this episode. This particular shot reminds me of a similar shot where Morita chomps a bread out of Hagu's hand. At any rate, I'm just glad that it looks like the anime will be covering the Nagano part of the story. I was afraid that part will get a skip as well but thankfully that's not the case here.
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A big news start spreading when they heard about a famous conducting professor will be coming to their university. He’s the German maestro Franz von Stresemann, who has conducted in many places all around the world. He will be helping as many students as possible within the year in Japan, and he [...]
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Name: Nodame Cantabile Genre: Comedy, Music Year: 2007 Rating: Recommended Shinichi Chiaki is a very talented pianist as well as being skilled with the violin however Chiaki's dream is to become a conductor. He is not only a top student at his university but is also popular amongst his peers but he isn't perfect. Due to bad experiences he is afraid of traveling by plane and boat so therefore he is unable to leave Japan in his pursuit to become a great conductor. One day his luck turns for the worse he is dumped by his girlfriend, loses the chance to go overseas and is removed from the piano competition because he walked out on his piano instructor. So Chiaki decides to do what many guys do when depressed, drink till you pass out. Having passed out in front of his apartment his neighbor decides to bring him inside her room. This is where Chiaki meets Nodame. Nodame is talented at the piano in a different way, she learns music by hearing it and plays with enjoyment rather than focusing on technique, also she is filthy and lives in a room full of trash. Chiaki's luck doesn't seem very stable, he is soon given the news that a new famous conductor is to come and teach at his university however this perverted maestro decides to form an orchestra one who Chiaki is expected to do all the work. On the bright side our protagonist is finally given the opportunity to act out his dream as an conductor.
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During rehearsal, Mine keeps an eye on Chiaki, but is soon lectured at for not playing properly. The teachers are discussing about disbanding the S-Orchestra since Stresemann has left the group, but then decide to let A-Orchestra win before doing so. At the same time, A-Orchestra is holding rehearsal but Stresemann leaves early so he can [...]
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As anime fans, we all have our pet peeves with the medium; things that doesn’t sit with us well and things that just piss us off. We can be bugged by things like an “unusual” character design (Some people just don’t like designs for Kanon or Noein for example, though I have no problem with [...]
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Are you kidding me? That afro with mustache is a girl? I thought it was a joke because a girl looking like that is really weird. The afro alone is bad enough and combined with mustache, this is sick! The writer must be drunk to come out with this kind of characters. [...]
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I remember back in early high school, when I was asked what I wanted to be in the future. I smartly said I wanted to be an engineer or a dentist, because I like working with computers, and because dentists make a shitload of money. A couple of years later, and I finally know what I should have said: "Owner of a harem." Nodame Cantabile 6.
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It’s quite enjoyable every time I watch the show and at the same time I can hear good classical music as bonus. I was surprised when I heard Mine Ryuutarou playing his violin because it sounded like an electronic guitar, or whatever they called it. He plugs the violin with a mini [...]
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Apparently Nodame has a mean right jab as she cold-cocks Streseman. Because she convinces everyone to let Chiaki conduct, we get to see that, as a conductor, he is adept at the technical side of conducting. Despite the complaining, even Masumi notices that the orchestra is still not up to the task. Being technically [...]
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Unfortunately those who are waiting for the anime to feature full-on animated orchestra will be disappointed with this episode. Just like the rehearsal scenes, the animators choose to use static stills for the orchestra scenes. I think this completely waters down what could have been an impressive segment.
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"Weak. This Stesemann is totally weak." That was the first thing that I thought when I saw him and heard his bad bad accent. Yet, to my delight, that impression did not last long at all. Despite the fact that his bad accent will never reach the level of Takenaka Naoto's -his is just godly-, this [...]
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Looks like Chiaki still doesn’t know very well how to relate to the members of the orchestra he is now the official conductor of. While he did show his “nice” side in the early part of the episode, apparently the stress of having to conduct the orchestra himself got to him, as at the end [...]
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Yeah, I know it’s a bit late but still want to post it since I love the show very much. I personally love to hear music played by piano and once I heard about the show I was so excited. The story is about this guy named Shinichi Chiaki who is pursuing [...]
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Every time Nodame says “Milky!” in this episode I laughed. I don’t know why. I know she’s really saying “milch” but… oh god, I just giggled again from TYPING it. Anyway, bitchy pervy German conducting teacher comes to college and refuses to teach Chiaki because he wouldn’t let him molest Nodame. Meanwhile, Mine [...]
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Oh dear, watched this weeks ago… um, hurrah for stereotypes! Although quite why Masumi-chan has a moustache I don’t know. Isn’t that a very 70s kind of gay thing to do? Funnily enough I’m not particularly au fait with that sort of thing, but given how backwards Japan is about gender/sexuality issues [...]
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I seem to not have a good enough opening to pull viewers into my post, so right now whoever comes in, sits down, and listens to what I have say are to be given a free cookie; you can eat it while drinking some Milch: Nodame Cantabile 5.
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Buy it here Title:
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Nodame "persuading" Chiaki not to change majors in her own special way. Impressions Hooray, the show is funny again! I felt that episodes 2 and 3 were a bit lackluster in humor (though necessary, since they introduced major characters), but the introduction of Stresemann the randy conductor really livened things up. Stresemann is not an unknown character type either in anime or, interestingly enough, in the history of classical music--which is full of pianists who wrote and played duets to hit on their duet partners and other groupie-like behavior. As episode 5 is meant to illustrate though, Stresemann is ultimately meant to be likable and have a natural feel for encouraging even mediocre musicians to do their best--a tactic I'm not sure always works for everyone but is certainly better than Chiaki's hectoring. Hey baby, why don't you and me go for a little one-on-one rehearsal time? The characters are settling into comfortable roles now, especially Nodame, who I just can't get enough of. She's the female version of Honey and Clover's Shinobu Morita in many ways (glutton, undisciplined natural talent, impulsiveness, etc) and there was many a time when I had wished H&C had more Morita scenes--well, while this show isn't nearly as dramatic as that wonderful show, it makes up for it with delicious slapstick humor--Nodame enjoying food, Nodame punching Stresemann, Nodame inviting Chiaki to bed... Voulez-vous couchez avec moi, ce soir I guess the only thing is that I do want to know more about these characters eventually. They fit broad comic archetypes and they play them well, but with many more episodes to go some character development would be needed to keep the momentum going. And I'd like more actual animation of musicianship--there's way too many stills and pans during playing scenes...this is a show about music, JC Staff. I have yet to see anything that rivals Haruhi Suzumiya's glorious concert episode in terms of accurate animation of musical playing. The bar's been set high...perhaps they just don't have the budget. Oh well, as long as it's funny and engaging as a story, I'll continue watching. Now, back to my listening of Beethoven's 7th Symphony...
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