Nodame Cantabile was quite fun

Nodame Cantabile was a pretty long view for me (I started watching it way back when it started airing, which was at the beginning of this year, which gives you a clear idea of just how on the ball I am) and despite being confused at all the high-class music snob talk (I have zero experience with identifying elements of musical compositions, so all the *GASP* SHE HANDLES THESE FORTISSIMOS ELOQUENTLY was kind of lost on me) it was a pretty fun show. I just marathoned over the last couple of days the last eight episodes, and they were pretty good, ending on a sweet note between Chiaki and Nodame.

I heard all these horror stories going into it about how the live-action drama was SO MUCH BETTER, and I’ll probably check that out at some point in time, but the anime was quite nice. It wasn’t omg amazing, but I like what little josei I’ve seen, Honey and Clover being the only other one, which was ironically done by the same staff as Nodame Cantabile, and you can really tell. Both series were heavy on light humor intermixed with all the drama, although Honey and Clover got much less lighthearted towards the end of the run. Nodame Cantabile was perhaps a bit more on the “fluffy” side of things, and never really got into serious, hard-core drama, but that’s not a problem, because Nodame herself is a lovable character. Chiaki is a total asshole to her, of course, but he’s just stuck in grade school mode where he mocks those he loves.

The final episode was wonderful. The whole bit with the taxi and the sneaking up on Nodame was wonderfully done (and Nodame was clueless all throughout it) and Chiaki finally seems to have worked out his feelings for Nodame. Of course, the manga probably goes on long past that point, so I should probably get myself to a bookstore soon and buy the volumes. If I had money. Which I don’t.