Nodame Cantabile:

Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei:

xxxHOLiC: (by Jay):

Yūsuke Nakamura (by tAtEkAnE):

I think Nodame Cantabile is the ONLY series where I’ve read the entire manga, watched all three anime seasons, and the live action series (to the Europe special). I may have to track down the two live action movies soon. I also started a Nodame WIP to attempt to fill the abyss in my soul… it’s sort of helping

Seeing this image in the ED sequence always tore at my heartstrings, so… love to Nodame and Chiaki, and why, WHY did such an awesome series have to end? Whyyy?

1. Why why why do all of my favorite shoujo mangaka have to stop at cliffhanger developments in their series and go on maternity leave?? Cases in point – Tomoko Ninomiya (Nodame Cantabile) stopping right before Nodame’s big debut, or Karuho Shiina (Kimi ni Todoke) leaving right before a pretty big misunderstanding between Sawako and Kazehaya can resolve itself. (Not going to ruin Kimi ni Todoke for those of you who haven’t caught up to the hiatus point, but this crisis is HUGE. Probably not too hard to guess what happened and the amount of agony such an event would cause the reader.) I know Tomoko Ninomiya has since returned from her break, but still. Babies suck

…I AM kidding, for the most part. I just wish they didn’t have to stop tantalizingly before a major plot event. I can totally see the mangaka plotting this out with some evil editors though: “What? You’re going to have a baby in X months? Ok, let’s build up the story as much as you can before you have to leave so the readers will stay tortured and hooked until you come back!”

2. Princess Tutu seriously ROCKS MY SOCKS. The show’s creators are my new heroes – I love how the music and many different fairy tales are woven so cleverly into a lovely new story. All of the characters are awesome. Also, nothing about the plot is cliche – I just finished DVD 4 (of 6) and still have no good guess about how the story will end. I’m constantly on tenterhooks waiting for the next disc to arrive from Netflix. Also, I’ve watched Tutu’s transformation scene repeated 18 times now (once every episode?) but am still loving it every time.

3. RahXephon sucks. Granted I approached this series very lazily and spread out the viewing over a long period of time, but it just never kept me hooked enough to want to marathon it. I basically forced myself to finish watching the series today, and thought the ending was kinda dumb. I appreciated a bit more of the hidden themes and whatnot after googling some reviews (I had picked up this series because it had received so many positive reviews) but I’m not impressed by having to google in order to gain that iota of appreciation. I’m far too lazy of an anime viewer nowadays to really enjoy anything that requires trading a bunch of brain cells for understanding. Also, I think I’m completely over the whole emo boys who are emo for the sake of being emo crap (and to a lesser degree, surreal for the sake of being surreal sequences). I didn’t have much sympathy for Ayato at all. And in case you’re wondering, I really disliked Evangelion – and this is actually the other main reason why I picked up RahXephon, because I thought I might appreciate it more in contrast. As is, I (marginally) hate RahXephon a little less than EVA. I’m really not a mecha hater – I just seem to really dislike seminal mecha series.

…I’m probably extra bitter towards RahXephon because I had finished both of my Princess Tutu Netflix discs and have to wait until Monday to get the next one. As a substitution for Princess Tutu, RahXephon just doesn’t hold a candle

Anyways, the plot development in Lesson 124 of Nodame Cantabile is flat out awesome. I really felt for Nodame when she finally expressed how she felt about being left behind, while Chiaki’s been trekking around and moving on to great things. Since Nodame’s dream has always been to perform with Chiaki, things have been rather one-sided. Yes, Nodame had a lot of catching up to do in terms of her musical training. Yes, Chiaki dropped some sort of cryptic line hinting at his motivations for acting the way he has; still, Nodame hasn’t really had her big moment while Chiaki’s had many. So I was incredibly glad when Stresemann finally stepped in and said, forget Chiaki, just come with me! I can’t wait for her to finally be able to shine (although I’m wondering in the back of my mind if this screws up Auclair’s plans for Nodame). I’m also rather intrigued by the parallel allusion to the devil (even if that magic circle was a bit tacky xD;) and am dying to find out where the story goes from here.

The other thing that strucked me, that I loved in this chapter is the presence of the older men in this story, the Auclairs and the Stresemanns. That one scene where you see Auclair sitting in the empty room, realizing that Nodame was going to miss her lesson for the first time in years, was incredibly poignant. Yet at the same time there was the contrasting storyline with Stresemann, an older man who is both insanely talented and knowledgeable being able to step in during crisis mode and extend a helping hand, an opportunity that many young musicians might never be able to attain. That offer from Stresemann really captures for me all the random chances and wonderful opportunities that life may throw at you – but you have to know enough to grab onto them with all your teeth. For all these things I found this chapter and these characters to be amazingly powerful, which just makes me love this series all the more.

Lesson 106 – The second half of Nodame’s salon concert

Liszt – Legendes, “St Francis of Assisi Preaching to the Birds”

Lesson 112 – Tanya’s first preliminary performances for the Canton International Competition

Bach – Well-tempered Clavier, Book 1: Prelude and Fugue no. 22 in B flat minor

Lesson 118 – One of Nodame’s lesson pieces for Auclair sensei
Beethoven – Piano Sonata No. 31 in A flat, op.110 1st movement

So with Vampire Knight temporarily done I was at a bit of a loss about what to watch/read next. Not to say that I don’t have a full watch/readlist right now, but I wanted to pick up something that can really hold my attention like Vampire Knight did. So I picked up Nodame Cantabile manga from where I dropped off, and it’s STILL AWESOME. Most people who know me knows that I freaking love this series to death, having watched anime, manga, and live action – I just can’t get enough of this series, it’s definitely an absolute favorite. I’ve forgotten some of the finer details of the story since I took a pretty long hiatus from the manga, but the plot is still going strong with quite a few threads creeping in with the appearance of Chiaki’s father. I’ve had so many laugh-out-loud moments reading the manga… usually whenever characters go into blank-eyed angsty/moody mode… or when Chiaki (fondly) imagines Nodame in weirdo forest mode… seriously FTW stuff.

One of the (few or only) shortcomings of the manga is that you can’t hear the pieces that the characters perform. I’ve started youtubing every piece performed when I get to them in the manga so I can get the full experience, and I’ve definitely found that being able to hear the music, even if it’s just the opening minute or two, adds so much to this story. I’ve also really enjoyed sampling the wide range of music presented in this series and discovering new musical favorites.

Right now I’m close to finishing Vol. 18, which incidentally a friend picked up for me in Japan a while back, and am on Lesson 106 – Nodame’s salon concert. I fell in love with the last piece she played before intermission: Chopin’s Polonaise-Fantasie Op. 61. Auclair sensei picked the piece out for Nodame because he thought the piece feels like Nodame – “a fantasy-like series of changing melodies, yet the main theme doesn’t immediately appear. Major one moment, Minor the next.” It really does suit Nodame’s character to a tee, but it’s also a beautiful piece in itself. So here is Chopin’s Polonaise-Fantasie Op. 61, performed by Sviatoslav Richter.

I’m hoping to make a few Nodame “concert playlists” if anything else really catches my ear