Nodame Cantabile: Finale

[herbert]

I wonder if you know what you said.

Logical story progression is to have Nodame replacing Rui? Only logical if you look only for a dramatic moment. It means 1) throwing all Rui's developments in ep 2 & 3 out of window; 2) Auclair doesn't know what is best for Nodame.

[BBOvenGuy]

Originally Posted by herbert

I wonder if you know what you said.

Logical story progression is to have Nodame replacing Rui? Only logical if you look only for a dramatic moment.

Yes, that's exactly what I said. Nodame and Chiaki are the central characters of the story. The story is ending. Logically, you want to bring your two central characters to a big moment that feels like an ending, or at least the turning of the page to a new chapter.

There are lots of ways to do that. You could, for example, have someone crash an airplane into the concert hall during Chiaki's performance, and have everybody die. The end. I wouldn't recommend that, but it is an ending.

Bringing Chiaki, Nodame, and everyone else as well, to a point where Nodame plays the concert with Chiaki is another way to bring about that kind of conclusion. One that is much better than the airplane crashing option, and is also much more likely.

Are those two options the only ones available? Of course not. There are infinitely many more, and some of them are probably even better. But at this moment, that's the direction my story-sense tells me things are heading in.

[aliensporebomb]

Originally Posted by BBOvenGuy

Yes, that's exactly what I said. Nodame and Chiaki are the central characters of the story. The story is ending. Logically, you want to bring your two central characters to a big moment that feels like an ending, or at least the turning of the page to a new chapter.

There are lots of ways to do that. You could, for example, have someone crash an airplane into the concert hall during Chiaki's performance, and have everybody die. The end. I wouldn't recommend that, but it is an ending.

Bringing Chiaki, Nodame, and everyone else as well, to a point where Nodame plays the concert with Chiaki is another way to bring about that kind of conclusion. One that is much better than the airplane crashing option, and is also much more likely.

Are those two options the only ones available? Of course not. There are infinitely many more, and some of them are probably even better. But at this moment, that's the direction my story-sense tells me things are heading in.

That's a thought for sure.

Spoiler:

Rui drops out for whatever reason: jealousy at the quality of Nodame's performance,
health mishap, stage fright, or whatever.

Nodame takes her place and hits the front page of the newspaper: amazing new
prodigy has her debut in front of a rapturous paris audience.

Weirder things could happen.

[herbert]

I am not questioning whom are the main characters. I am questioning how is the progression logical when it destroys buildups and plot threads of earlier episodes. Try to answer two questions: 1) does the replacement undermine Rui's developments? 2) do you think Auclair has wrong idea in Nodame's education?

Logical ending is not necessary to be a big bang, and both of them are world famous. The series only needs Nodame has a correct attitude towards music and Chiaki has a correct attitude towards Nodame. Epic is too much, bravo is good enough.

Spoiler:

I wonder if Rui is not a human character but a pure stepping stone, or is she an antagonist whose sole reason of existence is to be beaten down by the main character. I only heard how good if Nodame can be in her place, I haven't heard any about why is good for her to give the place to Nodame.

[BBOvenGuy]

Originally Posted by herbert

Try to answer two questions: 1) does the replacement undermine Rui's developments? 2) do you think Auclair has wrong idea in Nodame's education?

As for #1, that depends on what "Rui's developments" are. She may not be going in the direction you think she is. Personally, I think Rui and Nodame each have something to learn from the other, and whatever happens with this concert will probably give each one the opportunity to do that learning.

As for #2, we don't really know the full extent of what Auclair thinks. We see what he does and we hear what he says, but we have no clue to what's going on inside his head. It looks a bit like he's trying to teach Nodame to be more like Rui and Rui to be more like Nodame, and there's really no reason why that can't fit into the concert storyline as well.

[herbert]

Alright, I guess it's the difference between manga-reader and anime-only-watcher so I will let this settle.

[BBOvenGuy]

Originally Posted by herbert

Alright, I guess it's the difference between manga-reader and anime-only-watcher so I will let this settle.

Ummm... yes. I'm flying blind here. No manga to light the way. That's cheating.

[Kazu-kun]

Originally Posted by herbert

Spoiler:

I wonder if Rui is not a human character but a pure stepping stone, or is she an antagonist whose sole reason of existence is to be beaten down by the main character. I only heard how good if Nodame can be in her place, I haven't heard any about why is good for her to give the place to Nodame.

You think there's only one place at the top? What about Stresseman and Viera? Both Nodame and Rui can be successful. They're not really competing against each other.

[herbert]

Originally Posted by Kazu-kun

You think there's only one place at the top? What about Stresseman and Viera? Both Nodame and Rui can be successful. They're not really competing against each other.

At top or not is not my main point. You notice people talked was not how girls compete each other but how Nodame's fortune could be built on Rui's mishap. Some accident must fall on Rui so to pass the concert to Nodame and no one cared about such accident might affect Rui physically and mentally. It seems that Rui is just so cheap and expensable.

Myself is a Nodame fan, I want Nodame well and happy. However, I don't want Nodame's happiness upon others' misfortune, and paying no attention. If Rui chooses the piece because she knows Nodame likes, it's OK to trash her. But in this case, it's purely coincidence (the piece has been chosen before Nodame knows it). How noble to say "may something bad happen to Rui so Nodame can have an epic chance?"

[Shiroth]

Spoiler for Episode 06:

What an enjoyable episode that was.

All the Nodame and Chiaki interaction time was so much fun, along with the amount of talk of classical music. For one, Chopin is my favorite classical composer, so i had quite the smile on my face during the time spent on his Piano Sonata no.3 in B Minor.

Looks like the drama will return in next weeks episode.

[aliensporebomb]

Episode 6:

Great, great. But it does raise more questions than it answers.

Spoiler:

Now we see some of Auclairs methods: he has Nodame learning what some might think is an astonishing amount of music as she passes her second year.

But even Chiaki is concerned that she may be "bringing things to an end" and even he does not want to know what that means.

But, interestingly she already knows about Chiaki's performance with Rui thanks to Yunlong (I really want to hear Nodame's reaction to Auclair's Ravel).

And it looks like Kuroki is preparing for another concours and has a surprising request for Tanya.

And, interestingly as well the episode has a large amount of Chiaki/Nodame interaction and just general hanging out, practicing and talking about music and composers.

Perhaps Chiaki doesn't need to be as concerned as he is but the foreshadowing for the next episode is a bit concerning. Still: Nodame getting four hours of sleep because she spent most of the night practicing and studying scores - pretty impressive work ethic for someone who wears mongoose suits.

And Nodame definetely is more perceptive than some think and she's politely but firmly letting Chiaki know that she can do her studying herself.

[Kanon]

Episode 6 is my favourite of the season so far. The return of the domestic violence ! It's been a while since Nodame and Chiaki spend such intimate moments together, I missed that. The tidbits about Chopin were nice, as well as the talk about the Beethoven pieces, though I must admit some of it kinda went over my head

And I'm happy about the fact they didn't make a HUGE drama out of the "Ravel dilemma". Nodame's reaction was pretty mature, she isn't as much of a bebe as some think after all, at least not anymore. This whole episode proved that.

[Kazu-kun]

Originally Posted by Kanon_

And I'm happy about the fact they didn't make a HUGE drama out of the "Ravel dilemma". Nodame's reaction was pretty mature, she isn't as much of a bebe as some think after all, at least not anymore. This whole episode proved that.

Spoiler for just to be safe:

I wouldn't call it mature. Nodame thinks Rui and Chiaki are not suited for that piece, so she doesn't feel threatened by them playing it together. But ask yourself, what would happen if Rui manage to pull off an amazing performance nonetheless? I'm pretty sure that would crush Nodame.

[Kanon]

Originally Posted by Kazu-kun

Spoiler for just to be safe:

I wouldn't call it mature. Nodame thinks Rui and Chiaki are not suited for that piece, so she doesn't feel threatened by them playing it together. But ask yourself, what would happen if Rui manage to pull off an amazing performance nonetheless? I'm pretty sure that would crush Nodame.

Is this a manga spoiler? I didn't get the impression Nodame thought of it like that at all in this episode... but maybe I just missed the hints.

[Shiroth]

Originally Posted by Kanon_

Is this a manga spoiler? I didn't get the impression Nodame thought of it like that at all in this episode... but maybe I just missed the hints.

There's a chance that topic could come up next episode, going by the preview. Hard to say.

[Kirarakim]

Originally Posted by Kanon_

And I'm happy about the fact they didn't make a HUGE drama out of the "Ravel dilemma". Nodame's reaction was pretty mature, she isn't as much of a bebe as some think after all, at least not anymore. This whole episode proved that.

I really liked this part too. It wasn't what I was expecting but it's nice to show that Nodame has grown.

I also really like how selfless Chiaki was in this episode (maybe even too selfless) canceling his Italy trip to help Nodame work on her music. I guess I kind of agree with Nodame though that she needs to figure out this stuff on her own (and Chiaki has his own work to worry about) but I think she didn't have to get so angry at him. After all he was just trying to help her and when it comes to music Chiaki can't help but get absorbed like that.

And being the fangirl that I am I completeley squeed at this

Spoiler for Images:

[Shiroth]

You know, i feel like hitting myself for forgetting to talk about

Spoiler for episode 06:

the absolutely adorable kiss scene. Just that scene alone shows how much Chiaki cares for her, and it's super adorable.

[Kirarakim]

You know I am a lot like Chiaki. I can't predict when Nodame will be upset at him. I think she will be upset at him over skipping her recital to go off with his teacher. I think she will be upset over the Rui thing. Instead she gets over these things rather quickly. Instead she is upset at Chiaki when he helps her too much.

I guess Nodame is just unpredictable like that.

[SeijiSensei]

I think her reactions to both Chiaki missing the recital and Chiaki helping out were based on a growing sense of self-worth and professional development. Recall she accepted Chiaki missing the recital because she thought (rightly) that he had a professional reason for his decision. Now she objects to Chiaki treating her like a project because she views herself as a proto-professional and expects to be seen the same way. As much as she might enjoy spending time with Chiaki working on her music, she doesn't want to return to the roles they both had in Japan. She wants him to treat her as a professional, and her entreaties to Chiaki to practice his own music indicates she intends to treat him the same way, kiss or no kiss.

Does anyone think "anything else" happened after the kiss? In our household the consensus was no.

[Kazu-kun]

Originally Posted by SeijiSensei

I think her reactions to Chiaki helping out were based on a growing sense of self-worth and professional development.

I agree there's something about that, but I don't think that's the main reason. I mean, isn't people overlooking what Nodame herself said? She described herself as a turtle and Chiaki as a rabbit and all that... so, her reaction seems more about her inferiority complex (which is a known issue of hers) than any professional ethics.

It's funny how Nodame doesn't know the extent of her own talent. She thinks she's slow to understand things while Chiaki (and Rui) seems to do it naturally. But she's wrong. While Chiaki and Rui are extremely gifted musicians, Nodame is a prodigy. She isn't at the level just because she lost many years of practice during her childhood. That's why Nodame is such an interesting character. She struggles to catch up to Chiaki, believing herself just a student, a nobody. She doesn't realize that if she was just a student, then catching up to the likes of Chiaki and Rui would be more than impossible. She's as clueless about herself as she is about Auclair...