Hi, I’m the Eclectic Dude and I review it for the lolz.
Music is quite exquisite is it not? I am quite a fan of music, ever
since I was little. I did Kindermusic and youth choir back in the days. In
middle school, I played viola for the string orchestra. It was also in middle
school that I dabbled in musical composition, even entering and winning a
contest once. However, once high school came around I lost interest in playing
any sort of instrument. I did play keyboard for one semester, but none after
that. I do still write music to this day, though not as frequent as I used to.
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| Nodame at piano and Chiaki at violin |
There’s a point to this, as this week I’m looking at the first episode
of Nodame Cantabile. It was suggested to a friend of mine as this person
mentioned that I’d like it since it’s about classical music. I decided to watch
the first episode and see if it was any good. Well, it is quite good.
Done by JC Staff and directed by Ken’ichi Kasai back in 2007, Nodame
Cantabile tells the story of the relationships and daily lives of two college
musicians. It’s a rather mature and sensible (read realistic) slice-of-life
series from the outset. The Opening is quite nice as well, with some
interesting visuals (floating music staves and piano keys).
The first of this duo is Chiaki, a guy with quite a talent for music
(piano and violin notwithstanding) but personality wise he’s a bit strict,
abrasive, etc. However, he would prefer to conduct music rather than play
music. After getting his butt kicked out of the master class, he stumbles a bit
with wondering to do. One day, he bumps into Nodame, the titular character
playing the piano. Nodame is a bit of a foil to Chiaki; she is actually better
at piano than Chiaki (when he helps her out) but has the personal skills of a shut-in.
The two get paired together and in the process Nodame falls in love with
Chiaki. That’s pretty much the gist of the first episode.
So, yeah the main draw for this series for me has to be the music
aspect. Lot of the soundtrack is well-known pieces by classical composers
(Beethoven and Mozart) and another pieces featured in the episode. I hope that
other composers’ music is featured (like Mahler, Stravinsky, Wagner, etc.) but
for the moment I can’t complain too much. It is somewhat original in terms of
doing a slice of life series that deal with college musicians, something that
doesn’t come up often in anime (aside from BECK and K-On!).
The art style reflects this strongly. It has similarities to Genshiken,
in that it is very realistic and doesn’t go off-model wacky a whole lot. The
colors are limited but used effectively. The voice-acting, at least in the English dub,
is also much like Genshiken in that it’s very workman-like and listenable.
Though, most of the cast make it sound like a Naruto/VIZ reunion (Chiaki and
Nadome are voiced by Doug Erholtz and Kate Higgins respectively).
I am still watching this series (up to the fourth episode at this
point) so I am not sure on how great this show might become. I shall see. But I
am hooked enough to find out though. I plan on doing an actual review of the
whole series later in the year.
If you’re a fan of classical music, then check it out. You won’t be
disappointed.
‘Til next week
The Eclectic Dude
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