Nodame Cantabile ep.15

May 4, 2007 | 11 Comments

I think it was a good decision to separate the later half of Chiaki's family visit from the earlier half. This way I am not as angry as I was when I first read the manga. I mentioned last week that I feel this family undermines Nodame. I realise that they seem to warm up to her but in general, I feel they still look down on her to a degree. Regardless of what they think of her, I think it's a bit cruel to humiliate her by saying that she's not going to reach her dream. On top of this, she's actually a stranger and not one of the family. I don't think anyone would say something that harsh to someone they barely know. I realise it's supposed to be funny but I don't find it to be that way because I know how off-putting to have someone telling you that you can't do something that you want to do.

Continuing from last week's episode, Chiaki and Nodame's duet awakens the entire family. Toshihiko immediately recognises the piece as Elgar's Piano Sonata because he remembers his grandfather listened to it. He points out how Elgar was a lonely old man but even then, it didn't bother the guy that his music was classic and simple. After the duet ends, Toshihiko tells his father that he thinks Chiaki needs to continue playing music. In response, his father tells him that Toshi also should do anything that he wants as well. Although if he chooses the Miyoshi business it'd make him the happiest. Later on that day, Chiaki and Nodame bid goodbye to Chiaki's family. Before they leave, however, Chiaki's uncle suggests that Chiaki tries a dolphin therapy. In response, Chiaki gives his uncle his new school fund and apartment rental. As for Nodame, Chiaki's uncle asks her to come again because he wants her to meet Chiaki's mother, Seiko.

Apparently Seiko works for cultural business related to music and she also supports foreign students. Chiaki's uncle thinks that Nodame is aspiring to become professional pianist. Nodame corrects him by saying that she just want to be a preschool teacher. Upon hearing this, Chiaki tells her that she's not suited for that job. The others agree with him, allowing Chiaki to point out Yuiko's injuries. Chiaki thinks Nodame lead kids into doing dangerous thinsg with her and she doesn't scold them. He thinks she can never be a teacher if she behaves like this. Nodame thinks kids get injured all the time and besides Yuiko and her get along. In response Yuiko tells her that she sees Nodame as her friend but not her teacher. The others continue to tell Nodame that she'll be harassed as teacher, get no respect, etc. Yuiko, however, thinks that she has better opinion of Nodame because of her piano playing so she thinks Nodame should try harder to play Piano.

Nodame is shocked to hear this and insisting that she'd become a preschool teacher. In response, Chiaki harshly tells her that if he was a parent, he would never trust his kids to be with her because they could end up dead. This pushes Nodame over the edge and therefore she tells Chiaki that she'd be going home by herself. Much to her disappointment, Chiaki doesn't mind because he wants to go home by himself too. Even after Nodame threatening that their friendship is over, Chiaki remains unconcerned. To make things worse, the rest of his family actually tell her how to go home with a bus. As Nodame walks down the hill to get to the bus stop, she sees Chiaki goes by in a car without stopping at all. Inside the car, Chiaki tells himself that he's sure that Nodame will be better suited to playing piano. However, he knows Nodame will never become a pro if she stays this way. If Nodame doesn't want to be a pianist, it doesn't matter if she has talent or not.

Fast forward to April, Chiaki meets up with Kiyora Miki again and she introduces him to Yasunori Kuroki, the Oboe player, and Tooru Kikuchi, the Cello player. The three of them along with Chiaki have decided to create a new orchestra. They also don't waste time embarassing Chiaki by mentioning his foldout poster in Dream Color Classic. After the brief embarassment that Chiaki must suffer, the four decide to discuss about members they want to recruit as well as practice place. Their conversation comes to a halt when Chiaki's cellphone rings. Upon opening the phone, Chiaki realises that the message comes from Mine, letting him know that he passed the exam for A Orchestra. This means that he can join Chiaki's orchestra. Chiaki tells the other that they should add another string player, prompting the others to think that the mail came from his girlfriend. Meanwhile, Nodame's friends find out that Nodame's teacher has been changed from Hajime Tanioka to Kouzou Etou.

Nodame doesn't find out about this until Etou makes his appearance inside the training room. When Nodame tries to joke around using his Gorota puppet, Etou smacks the puppet off her hand and forces her to play the piano. He claims that he'd bring out the talent that she's buried in the past 3 years. First of all, however, he wants her to play her favourite or strongest piece. Much to Etou's horror, what Nodame ends up playing is a childish song. Nodame explains that it's a song for picture story show and there will be 12 songs in total. She actually composed 11 of them with Tanioka-sensei last year and she'd compose the last one this year. In response, Etou angrily orders Nodame to play classical music like Chopin or Liszt. Nodame tries to play Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star and ends up getting her head smacked by Etou using her Harisen (paper fan). Something seems to snap in Nodame's mind as soon as this happened.

All of a sudden, she becomes angry at Etou and storms off the room. Nodame then heads towards Tanioka-sensei's training room, asking the teacher to be her instructor again. Unfortunately for her, Tanioka now has another student and can't be Nodame's teacher anymore. Nodame also finds out that the transfer was Etou's request because he wants to become her instructor. Meanwhile, Chiaki and his newly formed Orchestra decides to have a get-together at a bar. Upon arriving there, Chiaki is surprised at how well-behaved the group seems to be. He remembers how in comparison S Orchestra was very rowdy. He, however, is proven to be wrong when 30 minutes later, everyone goes wild due to alcohol. They start arguing about the kind of music that they want to play. Mine and Kiyora immediately suggest Mahler's Symphony of a Thousand while Kikuchi suggests that they do Cello concerto. Eventually, Chiaki decides to do Oboe concerto with Kuroki.

Meanwhile, the now depressed Nodame tries to find Chiaki but she can't find him at his apartment. Because of this, she goes to Uraken to find him. Unfortunately Chiaki is not there as well. Mine's father, however, lets her know that his son is going to a party for the new orchestra so Chiaki is probably there as well. Nodame is depressed upon hearing this and decides to leave the restaurant. Mine's father tries to cheer her up by offering a new menu for her to enjoy. Unfortunately Nodame is not interested. Because he's concerned for Nodame's well-being, Mine's father decides to contact his son to let him know about Nodame's strange behaviour. Mine thinks there's nothing strange about Nodame behaving strangely until he finds out that Nodame refuses free food. Because of this Mine decides to let Chiaki know that Nodame has been acting weird and stumbles around as she went home. Chiaki wants to go home to check on her but unfortunately the rest of the group wants to go to another bar.

Impression:

I really didn't like the put downs that Nodame had to endure during her visit to the Miyoshi. To begin with, these people are not even her family so for them to tell her what she can or can't do is really rude. I'm glad Nodame was angry at them and decide to leave on her own. On the other hand, I have to admit that her idea of playing piano is a bit out there. The song that she composed, for example, is childish and immature. I guess if one considers her ambition to be a preschool teacher, this would make sense. But in that case, I have no idea why she played piano in the first place. In other note, I really enjoyed the appearance of the new orchestra. Kiyora, Kuroki, and Kikuchi will provide a lot of amusement in the upcoming episodes. Speaking of Kiyora, I didn't actually feel the chemistry between her and Mine in the live action but their pairing in this version is actually not too bad at all. I am, however, looking forward more to Kikuchi's serial dating adventures and the consequences it'll have on him.

Preview

On next week's episode: The R☆S Orchestra.

© memento 2003