Nodame Cantabile ep.17

May 20, 2007 | 12 Comments

Woot! Lately my personal life seems to be a lot more tense than my blogging. I apologise for that but things have been a bit rough in the past few weeks. Between the work, the computer virus, the hard to format HD, I barely have any desire to do anything else apart from sleeping. Anyway, this is a much better episode than last week's mostly because there are some amusing humour inserted in between the serious practice scene. In addition to this, the various members of R☆S Orchestra actually have interesting personality and their interaction with the existing characters are pretty good. From all of the new characters, I like Kuroki the most because he seems to be the easiest to relate.

The episode begins with Chiaki remembering how he tried to perform Brahms Symphony No.1 with the S Orchestra but Stresemann wouldn't let him. Upon seeing the look on Chiaki's face, Kimura tells the guy that the song suits him. However, he also thinks that Chiaki needs to decide on a short piece as well. As for publicity, Kimura is going to work on that. Chiaki is surprised to hear this since they haven't even decided on a hall. All of a sudden, the director of the Momogaoka music school comes to Uraken, telling Kimura that she just reserved the Weltraum Hall. Kimura is now the one who is surprised because Weltraum Hall is an expensive venue. In addition to this, it appears that the director didn't just reserved the small hall with 700 people capacity. She reserved the large hall which can hold 1,600 people. Kimura is panic upon hearing this since he's not sure they can get that many people to come even with publicity.

As if on cue, Keeko and Sakuma also come to Uraken, telling Kimura that they'll help with publicity. Keeko suggests that they put an ad in Classic Life magazine although they do have to charge a little bit. All of a sudden, Mine's father come up with his savings and order a one page ad. Chiaki, however, is not impressed and asks the two why they are there. As it turns out, Keeko and Sakuma got a phone call that Chiaki is going to be conducting an orchestra with great members. Chiaki becomes embarassed upon hearing this because the members in question are actually just students who were in Nina Lutz' music festival. Despite this, Keeko is still impressed about the idea. Their conversation, however, comes to a halt when Mine suddenly goes downstairs chasing after Kiyora. He demands that Kiyora teach him violin but Kiyora refuses because she's late for her lesson. After Kiyora left, Mine's father explains that Kiyora is Kai Dowin's student.

Upon finding out that Kiyora will be in the finals held at the Oshiuri competition, Keeko thinks that they can use it as a publicity for the orchestra. Chiaki suddenly remembers that Kiyora is not the only one who's going to compete in it. As a result, R☆S orchestra can only rehearse twice this month. The next day, Kikuchi arrives at the school inside his girlfriend's car. Before they part ways, the girlfriend ask him not to cheat on him so Kikuchi tells him that the girl is the only one for him. Chiaki is horrified to hear this because he knows that Kikuchi has another girlfriend. If that's not surprising enough, Kuroki appears looking happy and carrying a pot of Lily flower. Apparently he bought it from shop so he can thank Nodame for the Onigiri. Upon hearing this, Chiaki asks Kuroki what part of Nodame that Kuroki likes. Kuroki starts listing all of Nodame's 'qualities' such as cute, honest, bright, and sweet.

Chiaki is shocked to hear this and tells Kuroki that the Noda Megumi that he knows is the very opposite of Kuroki's description. He even list some of her less flattering qualities such as peeping at him while he's changing his clothes, surfing erotic websites, and collecting his cigarette butts. Kuroki, however, refuses to believe this and ends up giving Chiaki the cold shoulder treatment. Later on that day, everyone in the orchestra seems to be in the mood for love. This includes Kuroki, whose performance really reminds Chiaki of the pink colour. While this is good because it's a Mozart piece, Chiaki is worried what would happen if Nodame breaks Kuroki's heart. After the training is over, Mine criticises everyone else because they can't seem to concentrate on what they played. In defense, everyone explains that the reason is they have competition to think about. Mine, on the other hand, want to bet his future on this orchestra.

Everyone laughs at him upon hearing this because they think this is not a professional orchestra. Mine is angry to hear this because he believes this orchestra can be more professional. He belives it's not just a fantasy but an orchestra which can last forever. Unfortunately for him, everyone else starts to give him the cold hard reality. The fact is, most of the members have intention to go overseas very soon so they don't think they have future in this orchestra. They also believes that Chiaki will go overseas very soon because he's Stresemann's student. Chiaki refuses to answer this question but he secretly feels depressed that everyone laughed at Mine's idea. As a result, the entire orchestra playing without any kind of harmony with each other. After a few minutes, Chiaki decides that he's had enough and decides to stop conducting. He tells the rest of the orchestra members that they should take a break practicing until the competition is over.

That night, Chiaki's mood swing results in Nodame getting canned foods again. Nodame claims that she's fine if they eat canned foods again but she'd like to remind him that there are delicatessen food or lunch boxes Chiaki could buy. Chiaki snaps upon hearing this and tells Nodame not to eat if she's just going t complain. In order to cheer him up, Nodame suggests that they watch PuriGorota. When she wants to record the program on video, however, Chiaki notices that the video she's going to use contains recording of the Berlin Philharmonic's performance. 3 days later, Chiaki becomes completely obsessed with his orchestra that he ends up not eating or taking a bath. Meanwhile, Nodame is busy composing her "Moja Moja Suite" song with Harisen. Thanks to the teacher, she eventually manage to complete the task. However, this comes with a price. After they finish composing the song, Etou gives Nodame 3 songs to learn the next ime they meet.

Nodame, however, is more concerned with the fact that Chiaki still hasn't had anything to eat or had a bath. The next day, Kuroki is on his way to ask Nodame to come to his music competition. Unfortunately for him, Nodame is too busy trying to buy Eel for Chiaki. Despite his effort, however, Nodame fails to get any. She tells Kuroki that since she can't help Chiaki with his music, she just wanted to at least give him more energy. Upon hearing this, Kuroki realises that Nodame is in love with Chiaki. This causes Kuroki to not pay attention during his competition and ends up soaking his reed for too long. Meanwhile, Kiyora only get 2nd place in the competition because her neck is in pain while Kikuchi gets 1st place but earns the wrath of his girlfriends when they find out that he's been triple-dealing them. The episode ends with Kuroki, Kiyora, and Chiaki promising to do better next time so people can see their real performance.

Impression:

This turned out to be a lot more enjoyable than I originally envisioned. First thing first, however, there is one minor difference between this one and the live-action version. In the live-action, the person who finds the group a hall to perform is actually Saiko. In here, however, the director of the school is the one who finds the place to perform. Anyway, the most enjoyable part of the episode is seeing that Nodame is actually quite a pervert. This is probably the first time I see a female anime character who likes to peep and surf porn sites. On another note, I'm surprised that Moja Moja Suite turns out to be quite a decent song. I thought it'd be child-like but the result is actually feel more like a classical music. The highlight of the episode, however, belongs to Kuroki, who for some reason reminds me a lot of Takemoto from Honey and Clover. His monologue towards the end of the episode is quite good and is probably the reason why I find him so easy to relate.

Preview

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

© memento 2003