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Six years after I first started, I have finally finished Nodame Cantabile.
My relationship with this anime is dreadfully complicated. In 2007, I started this anime and sped through the first 10 episodes. But then I got to the Rachmaninoff episodes, around episode 13, where Chiaki and Nodame played a piano duet together.
Somehow I just couldn't get myself to move on. I had become annoyed by Chiaki's insistence that Nodame become a concert pianist. "What was wrong with being a kindergarten teacher, if she is also working hard towards that goal?" I wondered. Better stop before the anime disappointed me. This would be like my Rachmaninoff with the series.
In a series of coincidences, I started taking the bus again around the same time that I wanted to find a series to watch. But I was in a bus full of working professionals. What could I possibly watch that I wouldn't be trying to hide from everyone else on the bus? Oh? I still have Nodame on my phone. What objections could a working professional have with classical music...
It wasn't easy getting into the series again. I struggled all the way up until episode 18, when Chiaki finally got his new orchestra going. Then I started to marathon the episodes again.
Now I wish I'd done that from the start. The anime didn't disappoint me. Nodame decided on her own that she wanted to become a concert pianist to be with Chiaki overseas. And then Chiaki... reciprocated.
The way that he asked her to join him overseas just hit me in my heart. Then he started talking about how he'd miss her piano if she didn't continue to pursue a music career. He takes a long journey to visit Nodame in her hometown, where he and Nodame have a really moving conversation about their bright future. I wasn't the only one moved, because then CHIAKI HUGGED HER FROM BEHIND.
CHIAKI. HUGGED. HER.
This is me screaming into the distance of how perfect Nodame and Chiaki looked in that moment. SO PERFECT. Nodame's pursuing music because she wants to, after all her scars. And Chiaki is able to admit he loves her, finally, especially after she gave him back the ability to fly. This is a scene I want to rewatch, over and over and over.
And to think that it took 23 episodes and 6 years to get here.
My relationship with this anime is dreadfully complicated. In 2007, I started this anime and sped through the first 10 episodes. But then I got to the Rachmaninoff episodes, around episode 13, where Chiaki and Nodame played a piano duet together.
Somehow I just couldn't get myself to move on. I had become annoyed by Chiaki's insistence that Nodame become a concert pianist. "What was wrong with being a kindergarten teacher, if she is also working hard towards that goal?" I wondered. Better stop before the anime disappointed me. This would be like my Rachmaninoff with the series.
In a series of coincidences, I started taking the bus again around the same time that I wanted to find a series to watch. But I was in a bus full of working professionals. What could I possibly watch that I wouldn't be trying to hide from everyone else on the bus? Oh? I still have Nodame on my phone. What objections could a working professional have with classical music...
It wasn't easy getting into the series again. I struggled all the way up until episode 18, when Chiaki finally got his new orchestra going. Then I started to marathon the episodes again.
Now I wish I'd done that from the start. The anime didn't disappoint me. Nodame decided on her own that she wanted to become a concert pianist to be with Chiaki overseas. And then Chiaki... reciprocated.
The way that he asked her to join him overseas just hit me in my heart. Then he started talking about how he'd miss her piano if she didn't continue to pursue a music career. He takes a long journey to visit Nodame in her hometown, where he and Nodame have a really moving conversation about their bright future. I wasn't the only one moved, because then CHIAKI HUGGED HER FROM BEHIND.
CHIAKI. HUGGED. HER.
This is me screaming into the distance of how perfect Nodame and Chiaki looked in that moment. SO PERFECT. Nodame's pursuing music because she wants to, after all her scars. And Chiaki is able to admit he loves her, finally, especially after she gave him back the ability to fly. This is a scene I want to rewatch, over and over and over.
And to think that it took 23 episodes and 6 years to get here.
