Nodame Cantabile ep.07

February 22, 2007 | 20 Comments

Unfortunately those who are waiting for the anime to feature full-on animated orchestra will be disappointed with this episode. Just like the rehearsal scenes, the animators choose to use static stills for the orchestra scenes. I think this completely waters down what could have been an impressive segment. At this point in time, I get the impression that the purpose of the anime is not so much to showcase the music/orchestra like in the live action version, but to showcase the comedic side of the story. I personally think both are achievable but it is obvious that the animators have budget constraint on their hand. As a result, there won't be any Haruhi-styled performance in this adaptation and I don't see this changing anytime soon. I think the best thing for those of us who are still interested in the series is to lower the expectation and realise that the orchestra scenes would not be the main feature of this adaptation.

The episode begins with Mine stating lines from Orchestra for Beginners. According to the book, a concertmaster is the leader of the orchestra after the conductor. The concertmaster should lead an orchestra and make decisions regarding bowing. If there is a solo part, he/she should play it. In addition to this, the concertmaster has to lead the timing of small performance details that can't be expressed with a conductor's baton. This role also requires the person to communicate with just eye contact and the slightest movement. The greatest concertmasters catch the music and emotions that the conductor tries to express like radar. Unfortunately for Mine, Chiaki is not impressed with his attempt to follow his baton. He tells Mine that he needs to look at his music sheet not just watch his baton. When Mine tries to protest, Chiaki threatens to fire the guy. Chiaki also criticises the performance of the other players in his orchestra.

Meanwhile inside Uraken, several teachers are talking about how Stresemann has decided to quit conducting the S Orchestra. Because of this, they wonder if there is a reason to keep the S Orchestra. Most teachers seem to be in for dissolving the Orchestra except for Tanioka-sensei, who tells them that he'd like to see the orchestra because Chiaki will be the conductor. Since the other teachers seem hell-bent on breaking up the orchestra, Tanioka-sensei reminds them that Stresemann is planning on overthrowing the S orchestra. Upon hearing this, the other teachers think they should let Stresemann overthrow the S Orchestra so the orchestra would break up on their own. Unknown to them, Mine's father is angry to hear this and decides to serve up 'the attempt to overthrow A Orchestra' noodle. Meanwhile, the A Orchestra is not happy because Stresemann decides to leave the orchestra again after only rehearsing for 40 minutes.

When the orchestra's concertmistress insists that they need more practice, Stresemann claims he has no time before skipping out of the room. Outside the building, a student approaches Stresemann, asking him to let him conduct in Stresemann's absence. He introduces himself as Oukouchi, a student in Stresemann's conducting class. Apparently he heard that Stresemann let Chiaki to conduct the S Orchestra so he asks Stresemann to give him a chance too. In response, Stresemann asks Oukouchi what he will give to him in return. Oukouchi is shocked to hear this but Stresemann insists that when someone asks for a favour, that person needs to offer something in return, something 'under the table' so to speak. When Oukouchi looks even more surprised, Stresemann tells him that he can just swing chopstick in front of a mirror. An angry Oukouchi decides to visit the S Orchestra to see their rehearsal but unfortunately Nodame stops him.

Nodame tells the guy that Chiaki asks her not to let anyone in, pissing Oukouchi in the process since Chiaki is not even a teacher. In retaliation, Nodame accuses Oukouchi that he's a spy for the A Orchestra. Oukouchi tries to deny this and introduces himself but while doing so, he got smacked flatly against the wall when a girl opens the door and runs out of the rehearsal room crying. The girl is immediately followed by Masumi, who asks her not to run away. He also assures her that she's not the only one that Chiaki was yelling at. Despite this the girl feels that she's lost all of her confidence. Masumi tells her that on the contrary, her playing has improved in the last week. Just as Masumi manages to persuade the girl, Mine comes out crying, screaming "Chiaki no Baka!!". He's immediately followed by Sakura, who tries to convince him not to run away because he's much better than before. The rest of the orchestra then comes out looking depressed and angry.

They immediately declare their hatred towards Chiaki, who apparently has said things which offended them. Because of this, the group decides to boycott him as a conductor. Upon hearing this, Oukouchi smiles and tells Nodame that the orchestra hates Chiaki so he's going to fail as a conductor. He even thinks that maybe Chiaki bribed Stresemann in order to get the position and points out that a conductor's character is important. That night, Nodame decides to bring some Onigiri for Chiaki as well as a movie called 「プリごろ太」- Puri Gorota. The film begins with a boy called Gorota telling a fairy called Pururin that he's bored and therefore he wants to go to outer space. Pururin is against this since she just used her magic to take Gorota to Hawaii a few days ago. Unfortunately for Pururin, Kazuo, a big bully overhears their conversation so she ends up taking Gorota and his friends to an outer space.

There is, however, one condition to this: they must eat one space candy every hour or else they'll die. At one point, however, the space ship that the group use blew up so Kazuo blame this on Gorota and orders the guy to fix it himself while he plays with the others. Later on after the ship is fixed and the group are on their way home, however, Kazuo ends up getting blown out of the ship. The group thinks it's too dangerous to save him and decides to ignore the guy. Gorota is the only one who wants to save Kazuo even though the others remind him that if Kazuo is gone, the guy won't bully him again. Gorota tells them that Kazuo gave him a space candy so he thinks he has to return the favour. He climbs out of the ship and reaches out for Kazuo before the later got blown off the ship. In the aftermath, Kazuo apologises for what he did and Gorota tells Kazuo to forget about it since he now realises that humans can't live on their own.

Nodame cries after seeing the movie but Chiaki is anything but impressed by it. He becomes even more angry when Nodame tells him that he and Kazuo are quite similar. He immediately throws the Onigiri to Nodame and threatens to kill her. The next day, Chiaki is surprised when the orchestra is able to plays per his instruction. However, after looking at the orchestra members, he realises that no one is paying attention to his conducting. Chiaki suddenly feels sick and loses his consciousness. Before he can hit the floor, however, Mine manages to catch his hand. Later on that night, Nodame thinks that Chiaki passed out because he only had three Onigiri yesterday. Chiaki refuses and tells Nodame that Mine was just over-reacting. Besides, he's more worried with the fact that the orchestra only has one day left before the day of the performance and yet they still can't play well. Upon hearing this, Nodame wonders if the orchestra boycotts him.

Chiaki admits to himself that he did think the orchestra boycott him but later on, Mine and the groups apologised for not paying attention to his conducting. He also remembers that the orchestra played well but he's not sure if the song that the orchestra played is No.3 that he's looking for. He's confused about this because now that the orchestra plays the way he instructed them to, it actually feels different than he expected. His thought, however, comes to a halt when Nodame plays the same song that the S orchestra normally plays. Chiaki is surprised about this especially after he finds out that Nodame can actually remember the song because she hears the orchestra plays it everyday. Upon hearing her performance, Chiaki admits that although Nodame is carefree, her performance is excellent and she has pure, uncalculated character. Upon saying this, he realises that everyone in his orchestra are "Nodame". That day, Nodame managed to play the entire song.

The next day, Chiaki tells his orchestra that he wants to change the entire performance. He wants the group to forget how they use to play it and that they're going to fix it in one day. The group are shocked to hear this and thinks it's impossible to do. Much to Mine's surprise, however, Chiaki apologises to him for being selfish. Having said that, he promises that things are going to be better so he asks Mine to support him. He then tells the orchestra that this time around, he wants them to express their music with something that creates good image for them. Although it seems silly, he wouldn't mind if the orchestra tries the movements that they attempted before. Meanwhile, the A orchestra is relieved that they manage to master their song one day prior to their performance. The only person who is not happy is Oukouchi because Stresemann didn't let him to conduct even once. He even tried bribing Stresemann but the later simply rejected his offer.

On the day of the performance, Chiaki is shocked to see his orchestra wearing the S Orchestra t-shirt. As it turns out the group rehearsed all night and didn't have time to go home. Mine suggests that Chiaki also wears the same S Orchestra t-shirt but Chiaki refuses it. :( When the group is called to perform, everyone starts to become nervous so Chiaki tells them to calm down since their rehearsal was perfect. And since this is their debut, he suggests that the group enjoys it. Despite the initial reservation of the teachers, the S Orchestra slowly proves themselves to be very capable. Soon, they impressed everyone, especially the teachers who wonder how the orchestra ends up being so good. Halfway through the performance, Mine signals Chiaki, suggesting that he'd like to perform their special movement. Despite his reservation, Chiaki allows the orchestra to do it so the violinists start lifting their violins while performing.

In the end, the visitors end up congratulating the orchestra on their excellent performance. The only person who's not happy about this is Oukouchi but his anger is interrupted when Stresemann tells him that he wants Oukouchi to conduct the A Orchestra in his stead. He then runs away from the place, claiming to have stomache. In the end, the A Orchestra performs badly due to the sudden change in conductor. In the aftermath, the S Orchestra admits that their success is because Chiaki pushed them hard. Because of this, they promise to try harder. At the same time, the teachers are at Uraken, deciding that they should let the S Orchestra to continue because it'll be good for Chiaki. Speaking of Chiaki, he's now sleeping on top of a chair in the school's park. Upon seeing him, Nodame tries to give him a kiss. Unlike the last time, however, she successfully plants one on his cheek. Unknown to her, Chiaki actually let her to kiss him as his thanks.

Impression:

If it's not for the comedic tone of the series, characters like Gorota and Nodame/Mine could be classified as Stockholm Syndrome sufferers. Even though they get abused constantly by Kazuo and Chiaki, it seems they still keep their arms open for their abuser. On the other hand, Chiaki's harsh method does help them to be better so I guess there's an advantage to his dictatorial conducting style. However, I'm kind of disappointed that he didn't actually wear the S Orchestra t-shirt. I never realised that the live-action actually took quite a liberty with this scene. I feel that by wearing the t-shirt like in the live action, Chiaki comes across as someone who genuinely cares for his orchestra. In fact, I think they become even more motivated after seeing their conductor willing to put himself on the same level as the rest of the players. Unfortunately that is not the case here, Chiaki refuses the t-shirt flat-out although he did encourage them to enjoy the performance.

It's unfortunate that the orchestra ends up being composed of mostly static stills. Thankfully the comedic scenes pretty much make up for this loss. I really like the way Oukouchi gets shoved both literally and figuratively by Stresemann and the S Orchestra. For some reason it's actually a lot easier to understand Oukouchi's POV in this version than in the live action version. After all, he's the one who is actually the conducting student and yet Chiaki gets in the door first simply because of his fame and talent. Anyway, I am glad the animators didn't cut down the part where Chiaki throws a bunch of Onigiri towards Nodame after she compares him with Kazuo. Having said that, this scene always has a rather creepy domestic abuse feel to it. I think this is one part of Chiaki's personality which should be addressed first before he is paired off with Nodame. Although this is just a piece of fictional work, it feels a bit unsettling to know that Nodame is in love with someone who likes to abuse her everytime she says something wrong.

Preview

On next week's episode: Stresemann's gaijin pals come to Tokyo.

© memento 2003