paraparajmorated Nodame Cantabile
Even though the lead character is a male, the presentation and themes of this show to me managed to pull off the elements of an old school shoujo. I’d say something on the lines of Ace wo Nerae, Rose of Versaille and Garasu no Kamen. Granted this anime is not in the league of those 3, but I felt the charms of those classics as I got more into this. The concept of a classical music anime may either interest you or not. But I feel regardless of the presented medium, I feel this is something you have to give a chance. Though it lacks action, fan service, and sex or anything like that, which is a great thing sometimes, it has comedy and class. Which is something you rarely see combined together nowadays in any country’s entertainment. All the characters are likeable in their own rights and I feel you can relate to them as the series progresses. In the end, it’s a story about truly finding what you want to do and how far you can take it.
Granted Chiaki’s characteristics are more typical of Shounen Jump titles, he’s still portrayed in a realistic manner and if anyone is his worst critic, it’s himself. In a lot of ways, we are a lot like Chiaki, but in some ways, we have also felt we have known someone like Nodame. Some other characters may come across as stereotypical like Stresseman as this old skirt chasing perverted master who is mostly in martial arts anime, the genre of music freshens this kind of character and is well balanced when you can actually take him seriously.
Well, the style is simple but yet tolerable. It’s nothing really too generic, but nothing really ground breaking, but still something you can distinct after viewing. I’ve read very little of the manga and all I can say is it is pretty faithful to it. There’s nothing over the top like hair of fashion or anything like that, so you’re getting a more realistic approach. The eyes aren’t too big and the faces aren’t too pointy. The characters really don’t look too foreign. Whenever an orchestra scene is set in, close ups of the instruments are in an interesting rendering of CG with realistic detail. The orchestra is in sync but I feel there are too many instances where they rely on still shots paintings when playing songs, which can be good and bad. Good reasons are so that you can concentrate on the music, bad reasons is because of the intention of Chiaki wanting to be a conductor and you really don’t see his style of conducting in a physical approach. It’s also nice to see an orchestra play which I will address in my review of the live action adaptation more in depth.
Now time to talk about the heart and soul of this anime, the music. The in-show soundtrack naturally of course consists of the use of classical music by Beethoven and Mozart. I like how the anime gives you an in depth look at the back-story of how the music came about and how it should be expressed. When you finally get to listen to the song after learning the proper information, you can finally appreciate the music in that sense if you had no prior knowledge of that song or songwriter. I do have criticisms of the execution of the music, but I’m saving that for my review of the live action. The opening and ending themes are catchy and capture the spirit and other qualities of this anime 100%. I like the first ending theme Konna ni Chikaku de by Crystal Kay. I’ve always been a huge fan of her.
The voice acting is also superb. I felt that Chiaki’s character was truly tailor made for his seiyuu, Seki Tomokazu, a man that I have noted in virtually a lot of my reviews and a name you should know if you watch them. The way I described him should tell you that he is fit to play this role. Of course Stresseman is portrayed as one of those characters who have a broken Japanese accent like Apachi from Kenichi, but it lacked a certain kind of charisma and enthusiasm. Nodame is played by Kawasumi Ayako, the voice of Natsuki from Initial D truly captured the characteristics of her as well. And the majority of the cast members were guys I couldn’t recognize, but I felt they did enough, but I just don’t felt they had the same presence as the cast in the live action.
As I have noted throughout this review, there is a live action version to Nodame Cantabile. As a matter of fact, this anime came out a season after the live action did and I watched them simultaneously just to keep my mind fresh and see how they executed them. Personally, I liked the live action a whole lot better.
Granted Chiaki’s characteristics are more typical of Shounen Jump titles, he’s still portrayed in a realistic manner and if anyone is his worst critic, it’s himself. In a lot of ways, we are a lot like Chiaki, but in some ways, we have also felt we have known someone like Nodame. Some other characters may come across as stereotypical like Stresseman as this old skirt chasing perverted master who is mostly in martial arts anime, the genre of music freshens this kind of character and is well balanced when you can actually take him seriously.
Well, the style is simple but yet tolerable. It’s nothing really too generic, but nothing really ground breaking, but still something you can distinct after viewing. I’ve read very little of the manga and all I can say is it is pretty faithful to it. There’s nothing over the top like hair of fashion or anything like that, so you’re getting a more realistic approach. The eyes aren’t too big and the faces aren’t too pointy. The characters really don’t look too foreign. Whenever an orchestra scene is set in, close ups of the instruments are in an interesting rendering of CG with realistic detail. The orchestra is in sync but I feel there are too many instances where they rely on still shots paintings when playing songs, which can be good and bad. Good reasons are so that you can concentrate on the music, bad reasons is because of the intention of Chiaki wanting to be a conductor and you really don’t see his style of conducting in a physical approach. It’s also nice to see an orchestra play which I will address in my review of the live action adaptation more in depth.
Now time to talk about the heart and soul of this anime, the music. The in-show soundtrack naturally of course consists of the use of classical music by Beethoven and Mozart. I like how the anime gives you an in depth look at the back-story of how the music came about and how it should be expressed. When you finally get to listen to the song after learning the proper information, you can finally appreciate the music in that sense if you had no prior knowledge of that song or songwriter. I do have criticisms of the execution of the music, but I’m saving that for my review of the live action. The opening and ending themes are catchy and capture the spirit and other qualities of this anime 100%. I like the first ending theme Konna ni Chikaku de by Crystal Kay. I’ve always been a huge fan of her.
The voice acting is also superb. I felt that Chiaki’s character was truly tailor made for his seiyuu, Seki Tomokazu, a man that I have noted in virtually a lot of my reviews and a name you should know if you watch them. The way I described him should tell you that he is fit to play this role. Of course Stresseman is portrayed as one of those characters who have a broken Japanese accent like Apachi from Kenichi, but it lacked a certain kind of charisma and enthusiasm. Nodame is played by Kawasumi Ayako, the voice of Natsuki from Initial D truly captured the characteristics of her as well. And the majority of the cast members were guys I couldn’t recognize, but I felt they did enough, but I just don’t felt they had the same presence as the cast in the live action.
As I have noted throughout this review, there is a live action version to Nodame Cantabile. As a matter of fact, this anime came out a season after the live action did and I watched them simultaneously just to keep my mind fresh and see how they executed them. Personally, I liked the live action a whole lot better.
0359
0 Comments
No comments yet. Sign in to be the first.