Very Satisfied with the ending. and looking forward to more!
This summer I've been watching School Rumble Season 2, but the first half of the season couldn't make me laugh like Season 1 did - the episodes were all just lame parodies and no serious character development (there's retardation, even......like Tenma swt). Then suddenly around ep 17,18? everybody started developing at a rapid rate, and I was really pleased by the arc - even though everything was ridiculously illogical in retrospect. That's what School Rumble is though. Ridiculously Uber Misunderstandings. And I really can't figure out who will end up with who in the end!!?? Tenma with Karasuma or Harima? Harima with Tenma, Yakumo, or Sawachika? Yakumo with ?? I'd prefer Tenma x Karasuma (coz both of them are so absurd and impossible to figure out) and Harima with Yakumo... i generally don't like the Sawachika-type....though there's a high chance of her ending up with Harima. Aih the Goukai (misunderstanding, misunderstood) Queen and King. What will happen of them?!
So anyway backto what i was going to say...uh yea! School Rumble was lame and couldn't make me laugh . I didn't feel like watching Bleach or Tantei Gakuen either (not very laughable anime =.=), so I ran out of anime, and decided to download Nodame, which I had wanted to watch for quite some time! And summer is the perfeect time!
Every Nodame episode makes me laugh like crazy. Nodame made me laugh straight from the heart. I love Nodame's drawling speech (though usually drawls annoy me). I also loved how they described classical music with imagery and stories in a way that anyone could understand. I wish i had the privilege of watching Nodame or La Corda when i was younger and had not given up on piano. Then maybe i would 've realized that my strong point was my ear, and then i might've been able to learn piano better if i listened to the songs (i wouldn't have had the guts to ask my piano teacher for those nor would i have thought of internet resources though ^^ll). And perhaps, from La Corda, I would've been more inspired to practice until i could play well.
I'm not making myself look good. Really, one of the reasons I hated practicing piano (besides just plain laziness) was because I couldn't figure out what was going on when i excruciatingly sight read the notes. I was weak with timing, which made me unable to see or hear the melody, and that was very discouraging, and I felt it was meaningless playing. But then, when it was a song that I knew or heard before or the tune was easier to hear, I was able to play much better (though my technique - like timing and fingering - was still really bad). For example, Fur Elise, Santa Lucia, a baroque piece i played for an exam. Because i was able to see where i was going, I wanted to play so i could hear the music.
aaaaaaagh i'm never gonna get to the point at this rate.
I wanted to talk about the last ep and the last part of Nodame.
I loved the anime from the beginning, but I felt especially touched since Chiaki/Stresemann's Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No.2 performance...T_T
That was the very first classical piece that totally enraptured me.....usually i tend to nod off with classical pieces because i didn't understand what was going on. But this time the music actually made sense to me (perhaps with the help from the characters' dialogue?). Oh I salute the actual pianist and the orchestra who played this...........for moving me.
The story behind Rachmaninoff writing this piece is actually quite moving. Rachmaninoff had fallen into depression for several years, but he managed to overcome with the help from his doctor. So this concerto was dedicated to his doctor. And the music totally made sense when you knew this story. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piano_Concerto_No._2_(Rachmaninoff)
And then from there, things just started moving rapidly.
SPOILER ALERT EVERYONE: LAST PART OF NODAME CANTABILE SEASON 1. Don't read if you don't like spoilers.
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I loved the scene where Nodame hypnotized Chiaki.....and how Chiaki actually fell for it. Really, felt moved when I saw that Chiaki actually trusted (?) Nodame enough to let down his guard. And the story behind his phobia. And Nodame's words. "Daijoubu. Sempai mou hikouki wa noreru." (quote from memory).
AND THE KANI (CRAB) PART WAS JUST HILARIOUS. "Please buy lots of crab for Nodame."
Then Nodame gets serious! Wooh! Her scales are amazing and so fun to watch! They must be so difficult to play = =||||
I like to see Nodame when she's serious. (I like her being weird too.................orangutan.....gyahahahaha-gyabo- o) I already found myself making the mouse mouth ( =3=)... perhaps soon i'll start saying gyaboh~! and buki~~ not that i'm not already making funny sounds myself ;P adding to my nonsense vocab i guess
I enjoyed seeing Chiaki when he starts missing and thinking about Nodame and getting all worked up about her. It is realistic....two years of seeing each other all the time.....and really interacting with one another.....would really build a relationship.
And then I liked Nodame's hometown and family alot. (i liked Chiaki's family arc too lol). Hahaha rural hometown and warm family home is always close to my heart, even though my own hometown isn't exactly "rural"~kind of rural but it's a town and not a farmland even though a river runs right along it. And it's enjoyable to hear the Kyuushuu? accent.
I also liked how Nodame stood up on her own......I usually don't see the main protagonist stand up on her own without getting some kind of help or emotional push from other main characters. Particularly here where its a female character and a strong male character. I actually expected Chiaki to have to shake Nodame to wake her up, but contrary to my expectations, Nodame recovered on her own (perhaps with the love and accceptance of her family :))!
And Chiaki, instead of
"Pass the exam before you say all that."
For some reason, this scene really touched me (yes until i had to write a blog post about it). I can't remember any hugs from the back that i liked as much as this. Suki desu. I think my heart was with Chiaki when he hugged Nodame.......it's like "once was lost, but now found."....a culmination of gladness after all that anxiety............
So simple. So clean. So wonderful.
And then I'm so happy that they put the comics in the ending credits. It was actually a very effective way of telling the aftermath story that ppl want to know without overshadowing the more essential part of the story.
* * *
In retrospect, why i was so moved by this kind of relationship is perhaps due to my preferred language of love - XX and YY (not going to give out my secrets so easily ~ but i might've mentioned them in one of my previous posts. (http://www.5lovelanguages.com/)
:)
So that's all i'm gonna say for today. it's crazy i wonder if i should go to choir tomorrow.
