Nodame Cantabile Paris 01

Summary:

Shinichi and Nodame arrive in Paris and move into neighbouring apartments in a block owned by Shinichi's mom, Seiko. Nodame plays Ravel's Mirrors, drawing in the neighbours, Tanya and Frank. The latter met Nodame at the one of the entrance exams and tries to pick her up (again) but the language barrier saves them from each other for the time being. Our golden couple attend Sebastiano Vieira's concert; Shinichi determines to enter a conducting competition to test himself and sets himself the goal of doing well so he face his old master again.

A nice dinner at a fancy French restaurant followed by a night stroll on the streets of Paris turns sour; Shinichi scolds and teases her about her French (refusing her to teach her because he is busy) as well as putting down her Okawa dialect. Nodame stumbles upon Frank's Puri-Gorota tape and uses the French dub to level up with repeated rewatching while Tanya, after getting him to set up her internet connection, plays piano in attempt to impress/seduce Shinichi. Frank learns the terror of Nodame's Puri Gorota otakudom and Tanya learns the terror of Demon Chiaki.

Reaction:

I've been feeling a bit apprehensive about blogging this given how many (Chan Chan excepting) did not finish blogging Paris-hen. Let's see how it goes. I've also been apprehensive about learning Japanese from anime (mainly from how Stripey's Japanese sounds like a loli-school girl ) but it seems to be ok to learn French from anime dubs - egads, a demonstration of how dubs are not just for very small children or illiterate adults.

This episode covered the latter half of Ch 53 and the whole of Ch 54 with rather more cuts (e.g. Nodame's sightseeing) and rearrangement (the phrasebook scene) compared to the anime adaptation of the first season. Shinichi seemed a lot more obnoxious at the restaurant and after in the manga. Which would have been a good contrast to the great execution of his much kinder and understanding thoughts over sleeping Nodame.

I can see why Author disliked Frank and Tanya but it's not a deal breaker for me; what really drives me is to see how Nodame and Shinichi (and Nodame x Shinichi) develop. Particularly since I've sped through the manga all the way to Ch 131 132. By then Frank has, more or less, faded out while Tanya has developed into a much more interesting and sympathetic character; even though she's no Russian Hinagiku. Which is why I take issue with the anime slimming her down. She's just a tad tubbier in the manga - there's a good reason why she put on that weight and it'll be an important marker of change as her chara evolves.

Related posts:

1. Nodame Cantabile Paris Review
2. Nodame Cantabile Paris 04
3. Nodame Cantabile Paris 05

About Zyl

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