Nodame Cantabile Live Action ep.04

November 14, 2006 | 20 Comments

S Orchestra - Beethoven Symphony No.7 (19.8MB, for PSP/Quicktime)

When I first started watching this series, I just wanted an alternative to all of the anime series that I watch. I never expected the series to be this good. Watching the characters interact with each other is a pure joy. Props should go to the actors and their facial expressions. I never thought that anime character's twitch can actually be replicated in a live action version. Speaking of anime, this episode actually features the anime within live action called Pururin Gorota. On a glance it looks like a Doraemon kind of story. I wonder if the upcoming anime series, which will aired in January, will include more Pururin Gorota scenes. As a side note, I have scanned the rest of the pages from The Television magazine for those who are interested. I've placed them in the same entry where I talked about Ueno Juri and Tamaki Hiroshi.

Nodame celebrates the fact that Chiaki gets to conduct the S orchestra but Chiaki could not be less enthusiastic about it. He wonders if Strezemann is really going to leave S orchestra like this. In addition to this, if Strezemann is going to conduct the A orchestra, then the S orchestra won't be able to compete with them. While Chiaki laments about this and closes his eyes, Nodame uses the opportunity to kiss the guy. Unfortunately for her, Chiaki opens his eyes and evades her kiss. He decides that this a chance for him and sets to prove himself in the contest. The next day, however, Chiaki realises that this is not going to be easy since his orchestra is more concerned with making S orchestra t-shirt than practicing. Meanwhile, Nodame is busy grilling fish inside a music room, producing smoke all over the area. When her classmates confronts her, she claims that she's just making Aisai Bentou (Bentou made with loving care by someone's wife) for Chiaki.

One of her classmates doesn't believe that Chiaki likes her so Nodame points out that Chiaki allowed her to take a bath in his place and has cooked foods for her. Her classmates, however, argues that Nodame is more like a stray dog who's been picked up by Chiaki. Nodame tries to point out other examples but unfortunately these examples involve Chiaki being angry at her so she's starting to doubt her own argument. At the same time, Chiaki gets his own surprise when his orchestra suddenly decides to play in an unconventional manner halfway through the music. He immediately halts the group and orders them to express their feeling through music instead of making up unusual image (style) while playing. Mine argues that the way they play at the moment is boring and encourages the others to play it rock-style. Chiaki loses his patience and orders his orchestra to play the way he wanted it. Chiaki also threatens to fire Mine if he continues to interfere.

Inside Uraken restaurant, the teachers are talking about how they should break up the S orchestra now that Strezemann is not interested in it anymore. Tanioka-sensei disagrees and tells them that he'd like to see Chiaki conducting the orchestra. Another teacher suggests that they should just let Strezemann to defeat the S orchestra so then the orchestra will break up on its own. Mine's father becomes angry upon hearing this and tells the teachers that Uraken now serves a new menu: 'Destroy-A-orchestra' Ramen. That night, Chiaki is in the middle of studying his conducting notes when Nodame appears with a large box filled with vegetables. She claims that her parents has just sent her a Nabe Set so she wants to make Nabemono together with Chiaki. Chiaki refuses and claims that he is in the middle of studying. Before he can close the door, however, Nodame stucks her head between the door and the door frame, scaring Chiaki in the process.

She asks him if his study has not turned out well. Chiaki denies the accusation and as a result, has no choice but to let Nodame in. As they prepare the ingredient, Nodame thinks that there is something missing in Chiaki's otherwise nice apartment. She suddenly realises what he needs: a Kotatsu! Before Chiaki can say anything else, Nodame has placed a Kotatsu inside his room. Chiaki admits that he never actually experienced Kotatsu before since he's been living in western-styled houses. Despite his initial reluctance, Chiaki is eventually tempted to try the Kotatsu and a few hours later, can be seen sleeping underneath it. Nodame decides to use the opportunity to kiss him again but fails because Chiaki shifts his sleeping position before waking up momentarily. Chiaki is horrified that he's fallen asleep but since he's too comfortable, he decides to clean up the Nabe dish and study his notes after he gets more sleep.

The next day, Chiaki wakes up and is even more horrified than he was before because he's slept throughout the whole night, morning, and afternoon. Moreover, he notices that Nodame is wearing her pyjamas in his room and his TV is now sitting on a sofa. When Chiaki tells her to watch the TV in her own room, she claims that she can't because her Kotatsu is in Chiaki's room. Not wanting to be outdone, Chiaki orders Nodame to take the Kotatsu back. Nodame convinces Chiaki that she'll go back later on and hands him a can of beer. As it turns out, Chiaki is quite easy to be silenced using a can of beer. Inside a library, Ryuutarou is in the middle of reading a book titled Orchestra for Beginner. Miki Kiyori, the A orchestra's concert master, then appears and tells him that she's surprised to see him studying on a weekend. Ryuutarou is embarassed that Kiyori spots him with a beginner book and asks the girl if she's here to make fun of him.

Instead of denying or admitting the accusation, Kiyori goes on to say that the concert master is responsible to lead the orchestra, makes decision regarding bowing, and if there is a solo section, needs to be the sole Viola player. In addition to this a concert master must use eye/body gesture to fine timing performance details which can't be met with a conductor's baton. An excellent concert master should also be able to act as a radar which catches the kind of music that the conductor wants to express and performs it immediately. Ryuutarou soon realises that Kiyori has been reciting lines from the book without even seeing it. Kiyori tells Ryuutarou that seeing the book brings back the memory of the first time she was elected to be a concert master. But that was then so she tells Ryuutarou to do his best. Ryuutarou realises that Kiyori was indeed making fun of him. After Kiyori left, Ryuutarou wonders if this means that he would be Chiaki's radar.

Speaking of Chiaki, he finally wakes up from another long sleep and is shocked to find his apartment looking like Nodame's. When he calls for Nodame, however, she is nowhere to be seen so he assumes that she's gone home. As he sets out to clean up his apartment, however, he finds out that Nodame has been sleeping inside his room. Not surprisingly Chiaki tries to boot Nodame out of his room but before he can do this, he hears the doorbell rings. His visitors turn out to be Ryuutarou and Masumi who have come with some foods. Ryuutarou wonders if they should call Nodame but Masumi disagrees. They, however, are shocked when Nodame comes out of Chiaki's room in her pyjamas. Masumi becomes jealous and promises to kill this Zashiki-Warashi (a spirit which tends to dwell in someone else's house). XD Chiaki is not happy to see the guys in his apartment but Masumi claims that they can offer support to Chiaki by being next to his side.

That night, Ryuutarou decides to catch Chiaki's radar by zooming in on the guy's face. Eventually Chiaki loses his patience and asks Ryuutarou what he wants. Ryuutarou talks about how Radar is supposed to help so he asks Chiaki to tell him if there is something that Chiaki needs help with. Instead of helping, however, Ryuutarou and the others end up creating mess inside Chiaki's room. Chiaki is horrified to see this and even more when he hears Masumi farts inside the Kotatsu. The 3 guys then quarrel about who should get more Sake. Ryuutarou refuses to get the sake, claiming that there is a cat sleeping on top of his legs. When Nodame and Masumi checks underneath the Kotatsu, however, they realise that they've just exposed themselves to Masumi's fart. XD Throughout these, Chiaki wonders why things turned this way and eventually decides to blame the Kotatsu. He thinks the object is capable of draining humans' energy.

In order to get rid of the Kotatsu, Chiaki pulls out a 10,000 Yen ($100) and tells Nodame, Ryuutarou, and Masumi to go out and buy something at the combini. Once the guys left, Chiaki cleans up the Kotatsu and throws it at a nearby waste disposal before returning to his apartment and locks the door from inside. At first he thinks he manages to get rid of the Kotatsu and his friends but much to his disappointment, Ryuutarou took his key so they return to his apartment again. Eventually Chiaki wises up and realises that the ones who's ruined his life is not the Kotatsu but his friends. With that in mind, he kicks out the three freeloaders out of his apartment. The next day at practice, Ryuutarou decides to catch Chiaki's direction with his 'radar' but ends up getting scolded by Chiaki who thinks that Ryuutarou is making fun of him. Ryuutarou tries to explain that he's just trying to be Chiaki's radar but Chiaki tells him to pay attention to his note instead.

Ryuutarou immediately kneels before Chiaki when the later threatens to fire him as a concert master. Chiaki then proceeds to blast everyone else by telling them that their balance is messed up, wondering if any of them actually did any practice. In another room, Strezemann decides that A orchestra has had enough training even though they've only practiced for 40 minutes. Kiyori argues that they need more instructions since they don't have that much time left. Unfortunately Strezemann ends up scolding her, claiming that he already has other appointment. After Strezemann leaves the room, Ookouchi Mamoru tries to suck up, asking Strezemann to allow him to be a conductor. Strezemann, however, tells him that when asking someone for a favour, he should give something in return since it's Japanese common sense. Otherwise, he suggests that Ookouchi swings chopstick in front of the mirror.

Ookouchi is angry about this and tries to enter the S orchestra's practice room but Nodame stops him because Chiaki just told her no one can get in. She also accuses Ookouchi of being a spy for the A orchestra. All of a sudden, howeer, Ookouchi's head gets slammed by the door when the Cello player, Shizuka, runs out of the room crying while Masumi tries to convince her not to give up. Not long after this, Ryuutarou comes out of the room crying "CHIAKI NO BAKA!!" while the rest of the orchestra follows suit and complains about Chiaki's harsh teaching method. They even think that maybe they should boycott Chiaki. This worries Nodame, who is now looking at a strange finger puppet. Later on that day, Masumi asks Ryuutarou if everyone really is going to boycott Chiaki. Ryuutarou who is still angry at Chiaki can't care less. He, however, is annoyed when Kiyori tells him to do his best. In retaliation, he calls her an ice maiden.

Upon hearing this, Kiyori decides to give Ryuutarou one more advice: when the conductor is having a hard time, it's the concert master's job to reach out to him. After thinking about it, Ryuutarou decides to take the advice and asks the orchestra to practice once again. When the groups start to complain, he reminds them that this is their chance to be in an orchestra. He understands that everyone is angry but their conductor is Chiaki. Because of this, he asks them to practice the way Chiaki has instructed them to. Eventually the group begins to do this one by one. While they do this, it's up to Nodame to soften up Chiaki. She appears inside his apartment bringing a truckload of Onigiri and a video that he should watch: an anime called Puri Gorota. This is an anime about a kid called Gorota and a fairy who can grant his wish called Pururin. At one point, Gorota is bored so he asks Pururin to take him to outer space.

His words is overheard by his friends and a big bully called Kazuo. Because of this, Pururin has no choice but to take Gorota and the rest to outer space. To survive, however, they must eat a space candy every one hour. Due to Kazuo's fault, the spaceship that they came in blew up. Kazuo, however, blame it all on Gorota and forced the guy to fix it all himself (after beating him up). Later on, Kazuo for some reason is stucked on top of the spaceship while the vehicle is on the move. Gorota's friends think they should just ignore Kazuo but Gorota refuses to give up on Kazuo since Kazuo gave him a space candy not too long ago. If Kazuo didn't do that, Gorota would have died back then. Because of this, Gorota comes out of the spaceship and reaches out for Kazuo. Kazuo then apologises to Gorota for being mean and in return Gorota tells Kazuo not to worry since he now realises that whether in space or Earth, humans can't live on their own.

Chiaki is not impressed with the anime especially when Nodame compares him to Kazuo. And when Nodame insists that he's being a Kazuo right now, Chiaki threatens to kill her. Inside the nightclub, Strezemann tries to impress the hostess by bringing his orchestra poster. Unfortunately for him, the girls are more fascinated with Chiaki's picture. Strezemann's blood starts to boil but before he can become murderous, his cellphone starts to ring. Upon seeing the caller ID, however, he quickly turns the phone off. A hostess asks Strezemann to tell her the truth: why he's come to Japan and if there is a specific purpose for his visit. Cut to a shot of Strezemann's cellphone, which now shows a picture of a beef-jerky chewing and seemingly pissed off blonde woman called Elise. The next day, Chiaki is about to go to school when he notices Kazuo puppet. Upon seeing this, he can't help but wonder why Nodame was comparing him to the character.

Before he left the house, Chiaki grabs one of the Onigiri that Nodame made. Upon eating one, he feels a strange sensation on his throat which continues even after he arrives at school. During conducting, Chiaki is happy to know that his orchestra plays really well this time around. After a while, however, he realises that they are not paying attention to his conducting but to their own note. Chiaki suddenly feels sick and begins to lose his consciousness. Masumi who notices this alerts everyone. Before Chiaki can fall down to the ground, Ryuutarou manages to catch Chiaki's hand just like Gorota manages to catch Kazuo's hand. Despite this, Chiaki is still losing his consciousness. As he lays on the floor, a strange object comes out of his mouth: a space candy. A few hours later, Chiaki regains his consciousness and is surprised to see Ryuutarou apologising for paying too much attention to the note instead of Chiaki's conducting.

While taking a shower, Chiaki wonders why the orchestra didn't sound good even though they played very well and followed his specification. All of a sudden, he hears Nodame playing Beethoven Symphony No.7 freely on her piano so he rushes in to her apartment. He's surprised to find out that Nodame manages to memorise the entire Symphony on her own. Nodame tells him that the reason is because she hears the song almost everyday. Chiaki finally realises that although Nodame's style is still messed up, there is a character to her performance. He also understands that everyone in his orchestra is essentially composed of 'Nodames'. The next day, Chiaki informs the orchestra that he wants everyone to forget how they used to play the song. Everyone is stressed out about this since they only have one day left. Chiaki sincerely apologises to everyone and promises that they'll get better this way before telling them to play it whichever way they like it.

On the day of the performance, the group is nervous but they regain their confidence when Chiaki takes off his tux and reveals the S orchestra t-shirt underneath it. At first everyone except Nodame and Tanioka-sensei doubt the S orchestra but after several minutes into the concert, they are impressed with the S orchestra's stylish performance. After the concert ends, Ryuutarou asks Chiaki if it's just his imagination or if he actually saw Chiaki laughing. In reply, Chiaki smiles and tells his friend that it's definitely not his imagination. Later on, the A orchestra also gets to perform but unfortunately for them, Strezemann had asked Ookouchi to conduct in his place and the guy can't conduct to save his life. In the aftermath, S orchestra is glad that Chiaki is their conductor because his harsh teaching actually brought out the best in them. Meawhile, Nodame spots Chiaki sleeping on a bench and becomes happy when she manages to kiss him on the cheek. Unknown to her, Chiaki actually let her kiss him as a thank you.

Impression:

"CHIAKI NO BAKA!!!" was the funniest line in this episode thanks to Eita's expression and awesome delivery but to be honest, it's hard to point one single awesome moment in this episode. I'll try to mention which scenes I like though. The Kotatsu scene was absolutely hilarious. The expression on Chiaki's face when Masumi farted was priceless. I'm surprised that he didn't kick them earlier for messing up his apartment. The entire radar thing with Ryuutarou was also amusing and provides a lead-in for the Kazuo and Gorota comparison. Despite his denial, Chiaki is clearly Kazuo. He bullies and belittles Ryuutarou (Gorota) from time to time. Having said that, he was also the first person to believe in Ryuutarou and adjusted his piano playing style so that Ryuutarou can pass his examination (Kazuo giving Gorota his space candy). In fact, this entire episode is about Chiaki letting go his control freak nature and learn to go with the flow like Nodame.

This episode also questions the relationship between Chiaki and Nodame. They are not exactly boyfriend and girlfriend and yet they always do things together. I think despite his complains, Chiaki finds Nodame interesting because she does things that he won't otherwise do (Nabe, Kotatsu, watching anime). His life is probably rather dry and boring without Nodame. Heh, this reminds me of Kyon from Suzumiya Haruhi. Despite their continual protest, Chiaki/Kyon enjoys the presence of Nodame/Haruhi because the girls bring fun and excitement to their life. Anyway, the S orchestra performance was satisfying since I always root for the underdog. Chiaki's willingness to take off his tux and wears the same t-shirt as everyone else also suggests that he finally learns to work as a group and enjoy what he's doing. Having said that, I think their win would have been more satisfying if Strezemann didn't botch the A orchestra's performance.

© memento 2003