Nodame Cantabile ep.06

February 15, 2007 | 17 Comments

I think I've given up hoping that some of my favourite scenes would make it into this adaptation. This episode is basically the reverse of last week's. While last week felt really slow in terms of pacing, this one is unbelievably past. In the process, it cuts down some of my favourite stories and comedy scenes. The most notable of this is the story where Chiaki gives free lesson to Nodame and Mine. Thankfully there is still likelihood that this entire story might be included in the DVD. However, there are some comedy scenes which got cut out from this episode and I don't think they'll be included in the DVD. This brings me to my next point, I don't understand why the writers are in such a hurry since I doubt they'll go into the Paris/Europe arc. At this rate, they'll reach the R☆S Orchestra arc soon.

Chiaki is surprised when Stresemann lets him know that the orchestra are going to perform at the next public performance. He is not impressed about this because this means the orchestra only has one month left to practice. Strezemann, however, assures his orchestra that they're going to be okay because he personally chose each single one of you. Chiaki thinks that it's not his problem but much to his horror, Strezemann selects him to be an assistant conductor and hands him Beethoven Symphony No.3, Eroica. As it turns out, Strezemann wants to go on a date so he needs Chiaki to takeover for him. When the students try to ask him a question, he directs them to Chiaki. However, before Chiaki can begin the rehearsal, a girl enters the room and apologises for being late. Upon seeing the girl, Mine immediately recognises her as Sakura (Noto Mamiko). He wonders if she had to work late but as it turns out she didn't have to work today.

However, because she doesn't have any money for train ticket, she had to walk from home to school. Once Sakura completes is ready, the orchestra begins to play. Unfortunately, the orchestra remains as bad as they were, especially Sakura. After a while, Chiaki has enough and decides to let the orchestra go. Sakura who doesn't have the bowing notes decides to ask for it from a fellow member but she ends up being scolded by the guy and his friend. The tension in the room is suddenly broken when Nodame appears in the room to congratulate Chiaki. She also brings him a towel and whole lemons in honey. Masumi is not happy about this and tries to murder her. Chiaki himself is distracted from this weird scene when an orchestra member asks him to give her some pointers. Soon, every single orchestra member wants him to help them with their play. Nodame is depressed to see this since Chiaki told her that they were going to have stew tonight.

Later on that night, Chiaki is frustrated because his orchestra has been pestering him with phone calls, asking for his advice on their personal problems. To make matters worse, as soon as he gets home he hears the door bell rings. Chiaki is sure that Nodame is around to pester him again but much to his surprise, he sees Sakura handing out a bowl at him. Chiaki immediately slams the door, thinking that he was just hallucinating. However, he then hears Nodame's voice asking him to open the door. This time around, Nodame and Sakura stand up in front of his door, begging for food. Chiaki wonders if this is a Conductor's job as well but he ends up cooking pasta for them. Sakura immediately gulps her food like there's no tomorrow and claims that it's been a while since she ate such tasty pasta. She also tells the two that her family doesn't even have rice. Apparently her father's business is not doing well and because of this, her family has a lot of debts.

Although her mother works part-time, the money is stil not enough to pay her college fund. Because of this Sakura has also been working part-time. The problem with this is that, she can't practice her music that much and this makes it impossible for her to keep up with everyone else. When Sakura thinks that she might not be able to stay in S orchestra, Chiaki suggests that she practice more. In return Sakura reminds him that she doesn't enough time to practice because she's working. Chiaki coldly tells her that in that case, maybe she should quit her job. Sakura reminds him that she can't go to college if she doesn't work but Chiaki tells her that maybe Sakura should quit college. He thinks if Sakura doesn't have the time to practice because she has to make money then there's no meaning for her to go to college. If it were him, he would quit and practice at home. However, if she doesn't want to be good, she can leave things as they are now.

Sakura cries and tells Chiaki that she wants to be a good player. In response, Chiaki coldly tells her that if she has the time to sit here and cry, then clearly she has no time to practice. Sakura is sad to hear this and runs out of Chiaki's apartment. The next day, everyone wonders why Sakura didn't come to the rehearsal. Nodame comes to the orchestra and thinks that Sakura's absence is due to what Chiaki said the night before. She also thinks that Chiaki is a demon and the devil who does not understand what it's like to be poor. Chiaki thinks he knows about poor and his imagination casts itself to scenes from The Little Match Girl. The next day, Chiaki and Nodame head towards Sakura's house. Nodame thinks that Chiaki is going to apologise to Sakura but Chiaki denies this, claiming that he just wants to tell her not to miss the orchestra rehearsal. Nodame doesn't believe this and starts to pout, annoying Chiaki in the process.

The two eventually finds the house their looking for but both are surprised when they realise that Sakura lives in a big expensive house. Because Sakura is working, her father ends up greeting Chiaki and Nodame. The two are weirded out upon entering the room and notices the 'attached' sign on the majority of the furniture inside the house. In addition to this, Sakura's father only gives them tap water to drink. As it turns out Sakura's father owns an imported furniture company. Unfortunately business has not been good lately and it's hard to sell all of the expensive furniture inside the house. All of a sudden, however, the guy asks them what kind of musical instruments they play at college. He looks excited upon finding out that Chiaki also plays Violin so he decides to show them his secret violin room. Chiaki is shocked upon seeing Sakura's father's collection because some of the Violins that he collects worth a lot of money.

As if that's not bad enough, Sakura's father clearly can't play them. Chiaki immediately explodes on the poor guy, calling him an idiot for having expensive collections which he can't play. Chiaki orders the guy to sell the violins but the guy refuses, claiming that they are more important than his life. Upon hearing this Chiaki yells at Sakura's father, reminding him that her daughter is more important. In the aftermath, Sakura brings a bentou made by her mother to thank Nodame and Chiaki. Sakura's father apparently sold all of his violins and his company is also doing better since apparently he once had a 'cursed' violin. The result of this change seems to be good since Sakura's performance clearly impresses everyone. Despite this Chiaki is still worried since they only have two more weeks and yet Stresemann hasn't come. Chiaki's fear turns into terror when everyone in the orchestra suddenly lifts their instrument up in the air.

He immediately halts the orchestra and asks them why they made that stupid pose. Mine, however, thinks that it's a cool pose and that they're just adding a taste of rock to the orchestra. In fact, he's the one who told everyone to practice their poses, to play it like Jimi Hendrix. Chiaki explodes once again, telling his orchestra that it's more important to pay attention to their playing style. Chiaki is frustrated about this and decides to confront Stresemann, who's busy entertaining himself at a night club called One More Kiss. The hostesses are happy to see the young and handsome Chiaki and start to crowd around him. Nodame who's also in the club is angry to see Chiaki being surrounded by other girls. Chiaki himself is surprised to see Nodame in the club so Nodame explains that Stresemann told her that she should learn how to seduce Chiaki. Meanwhile, Stresemann is pissed off that no one is paying attention to him.

The next day Stresemann announces to the S Orchestra that he'd quit being their conductor and lead the A Orchestra. He claims that now that the S Orchestra has the 'wonderful' Chiaki, they will be okay without him. Chiaki wonders if Stresemann is having a grudge on him due to what happened yesterday. Stresemann confirms this, telling Chiaki that the later disrupted his harem. In fact, this is a form of his revenge. Chiaki is horrified to hear this and even more so when Stresemann claims that the A Orchestra is his and S Orchestra is Chiaki's and he will embarass Chiaki at the public performance. In the aftermath, everyone wants to give up and Chiaki thinks there's no point of continuing without Stresemann. Sakura, however, tells everyone that she wants to stay in the orchestra. Upon hearing this, one by one everyone regains their interest to stay in the orchestra, especially after Mine encourages them to overthrow the A Orchestra.

Chiaki, on the other hand, is depressed about this. He thinks that now Stresemann will be conducting the A Orchestra, he can't possibly compete with the guy. Nodame who sees a reflective Chiaki wants to kiss the guy but at the last minute, Chiaki evades her lips. Chiaki picks up his sheet music and tells himself that this is a chance for him. The next day, Chiaki continues to conduct the orchestra learning Symphony No.3. Halfway through the performance, however, the orchestra starts doing their poses again. When he asks them why they assume such pose, Mine claims that they're trying to express Napolean's imposing figure. In retaliation Chiaki orders the orchestra to express it with sound and to produce a sound that he wants. He threatens to fire Mine as concert master if Mine gets in his way and scolds every single members in the orchestra. The episode ends with the orchestra feeling that Chiaki has turned into a dictator like Napoleon.

Impression:

Up to this day, I still don't understand the whole giving someone a lemon in honey. Yeah, I get the joke that Nodame put the whole lemons into honey but even if the lemons are cut and put into thick honey, I still think it's a weird food to give to someone. Or is it meant to be some kind of condiments or jam? Anyway, the thing that I miss from this episode is Chiaki slamming Nodame with a frying pan for criticising his instant soup. I get the impression that the anime writers try their best to excise scenes where Chiaki is being extremely violent towards Nodame. There is also another dialogue which got eliminated from the Sakura visit scene. Sakura asks Nodame if Chiaki always cooks her such delicious foods and Nodame hilariously answers that he does and puts a lot of love in them. I always thought that's hilarious and it's unfortunate that they cut that dialogue out of this episode. And I don't think they'll show up in the DVD either.

On the other hand, I appreciate the little detail that the animators put in during some scenes. For example, Nodame feeling Chiaki's heat when he's angry at Sakura's father. I thought that was a nice touch. Speaking of nice touch, there's something about this scene which amuses me. It's probably because Stresemann looks kind of creepy with his upper teeth showing but that shot perfectly captures the two-face nature of Stresemann's speech about Chiaki. Overall, the graphic style of this episode is a lot more preferable to me than last week's episode. While they're not up to Honey and Clover's quality, they're still quite good and stylish. As for Noto Mamiko as Sakura, I thought she did an okay job although as usual, she doesn't sound that much different from her other roles. She sounds a little bit like Yakumo (School Rumble) except that she's a lot more vulnerable. Having said that, there were times when I wonder why Enma Ai (Jigoku Shoujo) sounds so timid.

Preview

On next week's episode: They better not cut out the Purigorota scene.

© memento 2003