Further to the Tanaka Rie thing, she is listed as "responsible for sound production" in the end credits, and then Magic Capsule is credited right after her for "sound production," as if she was in charge and they did it. The fact that Magic Capsule seems to be a
doujin distribution group has me even more confused.
Off-topic: From what I read on
Japanese Wikipedia, Tanaka Rie sounds like quite a person. She is quite beautiful, yet her manager says she is like a man. Her motto is apparently: "Never back down, never run away, never give up." Once she was groped on a train, and she grabbed the guy and dragged him off onto the platform, then shouted insults after him as he ran away. If you're interested, her
blog is worth looking at. Among other things, she fills it with pics of herself cosplaying. But I didn't find any reference to sound production in a brief scan of the text.
As for Kawasumi Ayako vs. Ueno Juri, I found Ueno's acting too extreme at first, like a sort of burlesque. Kawasumi is striking a more comfortable note for me right from the start. Of course, I came to love Ueno, too. "Adorable" is right.
And as for the nickname "Nodame," I'd like someone who really knows to be more specific than just "of course you know what that means," but I think the idea is right, that people are always telling her "da-me," which means "no," or "bad," or "don't do that," or "fouled up."