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ファイト／ステイナイト 
Air Date: October 2008
As everyone probably already know, there'd be a continuation to Nodame Cantabile anime coming up this October on Fuji TV's Noitamina block. Ttitled「のだめカンタービレ 巴里編」(Nodame Cantabile Paris Hen), the series will hopefully be similar to the drama version in that, it doesn't go beyond the manga storyline since the last time I checked, the manga is not completed yet. I am actually a bit apprehensive about this since it seems like the producers just want to capitalize on the series even though the series is nowhere in completion yet. Moreover, they ended the first season in such a rush that they just showed parts of the stories as static stills that shares space with the ending credit.
At any rate, sequels seem to be popular in the anime industries these days, which understandable since the fans (including myself) lapped it up but at the same time, it does make one wonders about originality. At times like this, I'm glad that Honey and Clover manga is finished. This means there's nothing that greedy producers can do to milk its popularity apart from doing various drama adaptations. Speaking of which, I'm still waiting for the US adaptation of Honey and Clover drama. Just kidding, Japan. Don't even think about it. I think three live-action adaptations are more than enough. Anyway, there are other sequels that we'll see this year or next year, click after the cut for some preview.
Update: included better images.
The solution to the problem that Lelouch faced on last week's episode turns out to be a lot more interesting than what I had anticipated. It still surprises me to see Rolo helping Lelouch willingly like this. It looks like Lelouch's pep talk has really got into him because his turnover from enemy to ally is very quick. I do wonder about the rest of Lelouch's alliance though. Because at the end of the day, he's still a Britannian. What would happen if the rest of Black Knights find out about this? Sure, several members like Karen has accepted it so far but would others be happy as well if they know that their leader is actually a Britannian? And then there are 'uneasy' alliance that he's made with unwilling parties like Villetta or willing but possibly have other motives like Li and the Chinese Federation. Most importantly, there is C.C. IIRC, so far we still have no idea what she demands from Lelouch in exchange of giving him geass. What if at the end of the series, her request ends up being in conflict with Lelouch's interest? Will Lelouch honor her request or betray it?
I just found out from the official website that there's some kind of cell-phone based, short drama spin-off series called "Eri, My Love". The series will be distributed every week and the story will show Eri's private life, which is not shown much in Last Friends. That sounds interesting and a good thing for Mizukawa Asami since her character hasn't exactly been getting much of a focus here. But I feel like I'm missing out on the story even though the website claims otherwise. I hope we'll get to see it as well someday. On a happier note, DramaWiki points out that this episode actually got a 19.9 rating, a 4.0 jump from its usual 15.9 rating. This puts it on the same level as a normal Nodame Cantabile episode. I hope that this increase is not just a one-off incident though atlhough I admit that I didn't expect this drama to end up being this popular even though it features at least 3 principal casts from Nodame Cantabile. But the writing has been quite good and the characters' motivation are easy to understand/sympathize even if you can't put yourself in their position.
Orange Range - O2 (45MB, PSP/Quicktime format) | YouTube version
To be honest I didn't really like song the first time I heard it. While the lyric seems relevant to Lelouch and Nunnaly's situation in Code Geass R2, the actual melody and composition of the song are not really the best that I've heard coming Orange Range. I am actually kind of amused that the producers decided to use Orange Range and wondered if they want the viewers to be reminded of Orange-kun. I don't think that's the case but it's a bit amusing everytime I heard about it. Anyway, I still think the song is not as great as Colors but the full version seems to be better and less abrupt than the TV Size. The PV itself is very funny and features Orange Range members dressed up as Samurai in Edo period. They end up helping this one hapless Samurai to be with his lover when the hapless Samurai is beaten up by a bunch of henchmen. At one point, one of the members actually moves at a lightning speed and grabs all of the swords from the henchmen's hand. On a glance, it looks similar to what Rolo can do when he uses his geass. In general though, nothing about the PV gives any impression of Code Geass.
I'd guess that the only way I can fully enjoy this episode is if I have a full understanding of the games' rules. Otherwise, it feels like I'm only watching half of the story since I have no idea why certain things seem funny to the characters. This also makes me realized that there are several Japanese cultures that I can't connect with on a personal basis. Mahjong is one of them and Shougi, which I mistook as mahjong last week, is another. I think the same thing can be said about Pachinko. I remember sleeping at a nearby chair while my friends were busy trying to get more money out of Pachinko machines at an arcade in Japan. I do wonder if it's wrong that I don't want to understand them a bit more. It's just not in my interest to do so even though in general, I do like Japanese cultures. I just think that just because you like a culture, it doesn't mean you have to pretend that you like every single facet of said culture.
The lack of chemistry between the three leads is starting to wear me down. I think there's something wrong when I don't really care that Night is off with another girl instead of staying with Riiko. I am starting to agree with some posters who suggested that the guy who plays Soushi's older brother would have been a better candidate to play Soushi. At least he looks a bit closer to Soushi in the manga. This reminds me of that new remake of King Kong where Peter Jackson for some reason think it's a good idea to cast Adrien Brody against Naomi Watts when the two have zero chemistry with one another. Meanwhile, Thomas Kretschmann, who plays the captain of the ship, actually looks a lot more similar to the original Jack Driscoll in both attitude and looks. Anyway, this episode also suffers from a mid-episode problem where the story feels stretched out longer than necessary. This would have been fine if some development comes out of it but at the end of the episode, everything just returned to the way they were.
I have to admit that I'm quite surprised with the decision that the animation team made in regards to this adaptation. At first I thought they'd be staying away from all of the erotic part of the series but that's not true at all. This episode is particularly kinky with all the neck, blood, and finger licking good that each vampire does to another vampire or human. This also makes me realized how unfazed I am with this kind of thing anymore. A few years ago, I would be too embarrassed to include some of the screenshots that I took for this episode. Now, I just don't see the problem with it and sometimes they kind of amuse me. It makes me wonder if anime does lower my inhibitions or it just makes me shameless. XD Wait, maybe I shouldn't have wrote that because this is how the media over-exaggerates things and claims that anime is an evil influence that turns good people into the perverted types that anime fans are known for. :D
Well, this is a rather pleasant ending to Dr.Stein's mini arc. This is actually one of those occasions where I feel lucky that I haven't read the corresponding chapter. If you haven't either, then try not to read it until you watch the episode first because it's worth it. Unfortunately, the animation starts showing sign of degradation here. While it still looks good in general, it's not as clean and perfect as the past 4 weeks. As long as it doesn't degrade a lot more than it currently is, I think I'm going to be fine with it. Anyway, I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news but the missing interrogation scene wasn't added in the late night version and we don't get to see it either in this one. Since Soul Eater is an evening show, I can understand BONES decision to excise the scene although it's a bit unfortunate as well because it's a funny scene more than anything else. This, however, makes me wonder about the purpose of the late night version. Is it just a way to increase ratings for the series instead of giving the ultimate version of the series?
This episode is actually pretty good. The animators are starting to get used to using shoujo style conventions (soft filters, pastel colors, etc). The cheesy crayon drawings that always appear during Hikari/Kei scene still present but it's easy to ignore them and just focus on what's good about the episode. I do wonder what people think about the 'tablecloth' effect. I'm talking about this white tablecloth patterns that appears everytime they try to emphasize harmonious situation. The scene usually involves a static screen so the tablecloth looks like a watermark/pattern overlaying the image. At first I find it amusing but I'm getting used to it know and sometimes they actually look pretty good. As for characters, the focus of the story is still on Kei and Hikari but at least the other members are getting more screen time than in the previous episodes. And if the anime continue in this direction then we'll actually see an arc involving Akira pretty soon.
OP Theme: 「踊れ」 (Odore) by Micro
Download: AVI version (27.1MB) | PSP version (17.1MB) | YouTube version
My original intention was to actually blog this drama, but since I already picked up Last Friends on top of Zettai Kareshi, I have to put this on the side for a while. I simply can't afford to download more than 20GB worth of stuff per month and 3 one-hour dramas per week means losing around 2.4GB per week. Not good when I have other series to cover. It's especially hard since for some reason anime broadcast goes pseudo-HD, inflating the filesize up to 500MB each. Moreover, 3 dramas in one week would be a bit too much for me. Having said that, I'm still interested to cover this and will find a way to do it somehow. I probably won't be able to keep it up on a week by week basis but I'll catch up somehow every few weeks. Anyway, let's see what happens. I'm more concerned with the bandwidth thing more than anything else. At any rate, this is a pretty good first episode. It brings back good memories of old anime series like Fruits Basket and Yakitate! Japan. It's probably because this show is so entrenched in Japanese culture just like those series I mentioned above.
This is a rather nice surprise from the series. The comedy is actually spot on and the little twists and turns provided in between are enough to make me want to see the next episode. I'm also surprised to see the new Suzaku, who seems to be smart enough to play tactician against Lelouch. Granted that it's not over yet but he just checked Lelouch into a corner during the last few minutes of this episode. This episode is also chock-full of fanservice and the good thing about this is that most of them are actually hilarious. Because of this, I'm not even going to attempt normal summary. I'm just going to highlight what amuses me during the episode and a little bit of the plot if necessary. It'll be a nice thing to do once in a while and at least this way I'll get to sleep a bit earlier. :D
While I'm not exactly a fan, I've been following Ueno Juri's career ever since Swing Girls. With every film/series, I notice that she always chooses a role that is different from the one that she played beforehand. Her role in Swing Girls requires her to be a spunky high school girl whereas in Summertime Machine Blues, she plays a geeky and rather quiet college girl (and Eita's love interest). I don't think I need to highlight how different her role in Nodame Cantabile was in comparison to her role as Ruka in this series. It's also interesting to see her working with Eita over and over again. Although they seem to work together quiet frequently, their interaction in each projects are distinctly different. Takuma/Haruka in Summertime Machine Blues are reluctant couple whereas Nodame/Mine in Nodame Cantabile are goofy friends who get to drive Chiaki mad. Ruka/Takeru, on the other hand, is more like unrequited love mixed with deep friendship.
If you're interested to see the difference between the pan/scan version and the widescreen, I've changed all of the screenshots from the first episodes into widescreen version. As you can see, it doesn't make much of a difference since washed out colors would stay washed out even in widescreen mode. The framing of the scenes are slightly better but it's nothing extraordinary. Maybe it'll be more apparent in episode 2, which has better, warmer color in comparison to episode 1. This episode itself is rather pedestrian in terms of animation. As I said before, the animation does make it harder to like this series. Sometimes I wish this series look more like Soul Eater (quality-wise) while still keeping the story similar. This episode itself is not too bad although it's certainly not a reference episode either. What stands out in this one, however, is the soundtrack, which is really good and in a way, is wasted on such poor animation/character design.
