Nodame Cantabile ep.20

June 10, 2007 | 11 Comments

Well, we're down to 3 more episodes left. I kind of wish we'll get to see a second season but after seeing the limited budget that the animators get for the series, I don't think that will happen. What I'm interested to know is how popular the anime has been in terms of Noitamina timeslot. I think apart from Honey and Clover, this is the only other Noitamina series that I've been really interested in. I know that Honey and Clover set the standard for high number late night viewing. However, I remember that it has been eclipsed at times by other series. This is why I'm interested to know about the ratings that this series received. I assume just like Honey and Clover, this series probably already has a built-in fans who followed the manga before the live-action series and the anime came out.

The episode begins with Nodame wondering if there is a way to cheat in the competition. For example, she wonders if the students of the judges will be favoured to win. If that's the case, she thinks maybe Etou should start bribing them too. Etou yells sat her upon hearing this, telling her that participants are known by numbers and the judges are usually foreigners. Upon hearing this Nodame tells Etou that if no one can bribe the judges then she has nothing to worry about. Etou is shocked to hear this and wonders if Nodame is really that confident. That day Chiaki receives a text message from Nodame telling him that because Schubert is a difficult person to please. Chiaki himself is busy preparing for another rehearsal and much to his surprise, Kiyora's teacher, Kai Dowin, will be joining the rehearsal as a concert master. However, because the guy is an expert, he ends up giving instruction on how to play to Chiaki and everyone else.

Later on, Chiaki and Kai end up conversing so Chiaki finds out that Kai has been invited by the director of this school just like Stresemann. Chiaki admits that he's planning to go to Europe next year but not because of Stresemann. Later on that night, Nodame receives a reply text from Chiaki. Chiaki asks her if she thinks Schubert really is a difficult person to deal with. He thinks she should stop listening to herself and starts listening to what others tells her. He also reminds her to read the score. Nodame becomes encouraged upon reading this and starts practicing again while an imaginary Chiaki gives her some pointers. A few days later, Nodame performs Schubert’s Piano Sonata No. 16 in A minor D.845 in the preliminary round of the Maradona competition. Much to Etou's surprise, Nodame plays it really well this time around. Nodame herself is pleasantly surprised when she receives a loud applause from everyone.

Nodame decides to SMS Chiaki the happy news of her passing the preliminary step. Chiaki, who's about to prepare for the next R☆S concert, vows to do his best as well upon receiving the SMS. During the orchestra, a mysterious audience is impressed with the Cello Orchestra that Kikuchi and the group perform. This audience is not the only one because a couple of other people are also impressed to the point that they want to join the orchestra. Because of this Mine and Kiyora to inform Chiaki about it. At the same time, Chiaki is about to change his clothes when the mysterious audience made his appearance. He introduces himself as Noriyuki Takahashi, a violinist who studied in Paris and won the third place in the Buffon International Violin competition. As a result, he feels that he can do better job than Kiyora. Kiyora, who has just arrived in front of the room with Mine, inadvertently overhears the conversation.

Kiyora is pissed off to hear this and has to be restrained by Mine when she tries to do bodily harm to Takahashi. Takahashi himself, becomes distracted from his mission to join the orchestra when he sees Chiaki taking off his shirt. When Chiaki pauses to ask for his name again, Takahashi becomes impatient and asks Chiaki to just strip down already. A horrified Kiyora screams outloud, asking Masumi to come and help them soon. Meanwhile, Nodame is practicing a piece for the second preliminary round. For this stage, Etou wants her to practice Chopin's Etude Op. 10, No. 4 and Liszt's Etude No. 5 “Feux Follets”. Much to Etou's surprise, Nodame tells him that she has played Chopin's Etude in the past and she probably still remembers it. True enough, Nodame is pretty good at this particular piece. During the actual performance, however, Nodame scares Etou a little bit because she plays the song properly, which is quite unusual for Nodame.

Unfortunately, she also plays her Liszt like she's not interested in it. Thankfully for her, one of the judges is captivated by her performance so she ends up passing this round as well. During a celebratory BBQ dinner, Nodame, Etou, Kaori, and Etou's other student, Tsuboi, end up talking about about her upcoming rival, Segawa Yuuto. For some reason, Nodame feels that the name sounds familiar to her. The next day, Nodame is set to enter the third round. For this round, Nodame has decided to play Debussy's L'Isle Joyeuse. While helping Nodame to prepare herself, Kaori tells the girl that Debussy composed the song after abandoning his wife and running away with his new lover. Before her performance, Nodame receives a message from Chiaki, who asks her to do her best and promises to attend her final. Due to this message, Nodame's performance carries on her happy feeling. Unfortunately, the judge who liked her performance earlier believes that Nodame isn't expressing herself like Debussy but more like a little child.

Impression:

Takahashi is a very amusing character here just as he was in the live action version. I always laugh when I remember how catty he was about Kiyora's ability in violin in comparison to his own. It was a nice change to see Kikuchi's cello concert shown in this version since we didn't get to see that in the live action version. I also think the way they show Nodame's progression through various preliminary stage of the Maradona concert is a lot better here. In the live action version, I was confused what she played in what stage. Overall, however, I agree with the judge that I don't think she really understands her feelings for Chiaki. In a lot of ways, her crush on Chiaki does appear childish on a glance. I'm just not sure what Nodame sees in Chiaki apart from the fact that he's handsome. I wish we get to see which part of Chiaki's personality that she likes. At any rate, next week should be good because we'll finally see Nodame deciding on her future.

Preview:

On next week's episode:

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