Nodame Cantabile Finale

Shinichi Chiaki is quickly making a name for himself as the principal conductor of the revitalized Roux-Marlet Orchestra, and Megumi "Nodame" Noda has made leaps and bounds as a pianist at the Conservatoire de Paris. However, tensions mount between the two as Nodame feels left behind by Chiaki's growing success and his close friendship with legendary piano prodigy Rui Son. Disregarding her teacher Professor Charles Auclair's advice, Nodame enters another piano competition in an attempt to jumpstart her own performance career.

Meanwhile, those around Chiaki and Nodame are at their own crossroads. Rui begins to doubt herself after hearing Nodame's playing and being denied tutelage from Auclair; Maestro Franz von Stresemann faces the reality of his mortality; pianists Yunlong Li and Tatiana Vishneva feverishly prepare for a competition, while the latter also struggles with her growing feelings for oboist and fellow student Yasunori Kuroki.

As Chiaki, Nodame, and their friends continue on their respective journeys, they must not only strive to stay true to themselves, but also where it all started.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Noda, Megumi Main

Kawasumi, Ayako Japanese

Chiaki, Shinichi Main

Seki, Tomokazu Japanese

von Stresemann, Franz ing

Ogawa, Shinji Japanese

Kuroki, Yasunori ing

Matsukaze, Masaya Japanese

Mine, Ryuutarou ing

Kawada, Shinji Japanese

Okuyama, Masumi ing

Fujita, Yoshinori Japanese

Miki, Kiyora ing

Kobayashi, Sanae Japanese

Vishneva, Tatiana ing

Itou, Shizuka Japanese

Auclair, Charles ing

Kiyokawa, Motomu Japanese

Son, Rui ing

Ohara, Sayaka Japanese

Yamamoto, Kouji Producer

Matsukura, Yuuji Producer

Jouno, Masato Producer

Oosawa, Nobuhiro Producer

Reviews

Aug 18, 2022

emsax

Recommended

For the most part it was an enjoyable season, everything is basically the same as usual however there was some issues with the characterisation that stood out to me.

Character intentions are muddy, they're very unclear. I suppose even Chiaki and Nodame don't know what they want but the constant flipflopping between wanting to have a relationship and not led to very little progress in their relationship the entire season. Chiaki mentions that he wants to heavily commit to them being together but then never professes so or seems to even try, he even actively attempts to distance himself from her on a regular basis. Originally ... I saw this as part of his character development, him having difficulties with his father as a child, however it feels rather unresolved when a much more satisfying ending was hinted towards.

Overall this season had lots of decent plot points and interesting parts, but as a conlcusive part of a 3 season long romance anime it didn't fully hit the mark. Nodame is in a much better place meanwhile Chiaki seems barely coming to with his romantic interest of a girl he has had feelings for over 2 years. Very odd.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Dec 14, 2021

Mephistofele

Recommended

"It makes me think it's all here and so I get irritated by the lack of involvement, but the ending with a bang leaves me completely satisfied." (Nodame on a Beethoven piece)
There are no words to better describe this show, which are even said directly by the protagonist; when I started watching it, I was initially afraid of a relapse of style and that the story would be incomplete: in fact, the story was empty, almost as if it had lost the way to follow. The only mirage of salvation was the secondary relationships, which kept the curiosity for history alive, and the hints of ... great changes to come. Despite this, the third season has proved to be up to the previous ones, convincing me to put the series of "Nodame Cantabile" in the list of my favorite anime.

STORY (7.5 / 10):
As previously mentioned, the story starts as we all expect: a group of people trying to achieve their dreams, with their failures and successes; but unfortunately the story ends here: until the end of the first half of the show we don't have an important involvement. To whet our desire to continue, there are some love stories between unlikely characters or some possible hint of betrayal. Then suddenly, the story takes a fast pace and launches us in a mad rush to follow the feelings of our protagonist, ending in the most predictable way possible, breaking abruptly; not that this is a negative point, indeed, perhaps, it is precisely because it makes us feel this roller coaster of emotions that it deserves a vote that classifies it as "Above average".

CHARACTERS (9/10):
"To someone special, something special always happens" (Oliver about Nodame)
There is nothing else to add about the star who gives the name to the whole series: a complex character who hides in her craziness, but always shining when she shines and is fully aware of her personality and abilities; decides to throw away this exaggerated mask, relying on her great determination and making great strides both in her career and in her relationship. His male counterpart Chiaki, on the other hand, is a figure who tries to venerate himself as a superior and mystical being, but who ultimately turns out to be a mere mortal confused by his feelings and worried about the fate that awaits others. Moving on to the secondary characters, Professor Auclair and Maestro Stresemann must certainly be mentioned as father figures, who look after their respective pupils as if they were their children and all the company that is in the condominium, which makes a nice entertainment possible when the main plot is not going on.

ANIMATION AND SOUNDS (7/10):
"Nodame Cantabile" has this gigantic problem, which I absolutely cannot avoid: animation; in every single concert, we move on to graphics that try to emphasize the movements of the artists, but which in reality is only an insult to the 300 years of classical music that precede us, despite the rest of the animation is more than discreet. Fortunately, the presence of great composers and their works helps to digest this error of path, as well as making the whole story much more enjoyable. The importance of the pieces within the story is significant: in fact, most of the pieces have been chosen specifically for the reasons for which they were written, or for the topic they deal with; a true masterpiece of knowledge display.

OVERALL AND TO WHOM I RECOMMEND IT:
Despite the departure of this season, the anime still manages to stay up to the other seasons, thanks to the amazing ending; has managed to perfectly mix the Musical Genre and the Romance Genre, thus creating a true masterpiece. The feature that must strike us the most, however, is the evolution and the realistic realization of the characters, who succeed and fail, in their challenges, making us reflect on our goals and if we are truly able to achieve them. Recommended for anyone ionate about Romance or Musical.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Dec 14, 2015

MAND4

Mixed Feelings

*SPOILER FREE*

If there's one thing I've learned throughout the viewing of Nodame, it's that everyone would hate me within the orchestra. But then again, most people hate me as I am, so it isn't really a surprise.

Contrary to my score, I loved the series. I binge watched it within 2 days, and didn't regret it one bit. Yet, unfortunately, I felt a massive drop in quality during the 3rd season that relates to three major problems: story, character(s) and ending. I gave first season 9 without flinching, and will probably re-watch it again soon, but when I compare the finale to the 1st season, ... it all kind of falls apart. Why? Let's dive in.

Story continues right where Paris Hen ended and we're, once again, thrown into the ensemble of beautiful music and diverging paths our characters take. What drew me into this anime, personally, were the orchestral pieces, and occasional solo pieces by Nodame. Third season, however, shifts this about and focuses almost exclusively on personal competitions of side characters and the progress of Nodame, both as person and as a musician. I would be fine with that, but it was poorly executed. Unlike previous two seasons, pacing is all over the place; first 2-3 episodes seem to setting up the whole thing nicely, then suddenly it slows down and picks up in last two episodes where it ends abruptly, without major cause. It kind of felt spread thin and a lot of time was spent covering same subjects multiple times.

Cantabile's story was never its strong suite - far from it. It didn't really have that much depth or complexity, but that's where its charm lay. Due to its simplicity and ease of following, it allowed its other aspects to shine brightly. It was used as somewhat of a background ing character, and it fit perfectly into the whole thing. The entire structure of the first season, and majority of second, felt natural and it had its flow. Yet, Finale brings forth a set of unnecessary plot pieces and overused tropes, and it soon turns into somewhat of a convoluted mess, and even ends in such. Several characters are used as plot devices, some are given way too much screen time, some way too little. As an example, we have Shinichi's original sensei, who was introduced to us as pivotal point in Shinichi's life, because he's the reason Shinichi wanted to conduct. Yet, he has about 2 minutes of screen time throughout the entire thing, and for the most part is in the background/used as a cheap plot device. That's just an example of bad storytelling at its finest. I have absolutely no idea who this guy is or his importance within the world of classical music or how he helps Shinichi once they reunite.

Overall though, there are still some parts of the story that worked well. and as a finale it did its job ... kind of. Before the end, there were some parts that really did bring out emotion, and did show the progress of story and I liked that. However, I absolutely need to rant about the ending for a moment: it's bad. It's really, really, bad. What's worse is that the events leading up to it are also bad. All in all, ending leaves a bad aftertaste in your mouth, and it really forces you to look back at the series and think 'Wait, wait. That's ... it?' - ending is not only abrupt but it makes no sense. A lot of things are left hanging in the air, bunch of questions still unanswered, and it seemingly ends in the middle of telling the actual ending. Unfortunately, it's definitely the low-point of the entire series, and that's not the way you wish to end your series. Not in a long shot.

All in all, story is definitely above average, but you wouldn't go wrong in rating it anywhere from 4-6, depending on your personal taste. It fits into each part for a number of reasons, and that's quite unfortunate.

Next up with have production: animation is definitely the best its ever been, and there are far less stiff shots accompanied by awesome music from first season. It's still not that great though, and the "age" kind of shows, but it does what it's set out to do well enough. Art is still crisp and colorful, comedic expressions are done well, and there are some vibrant scenes (mostly involving reflections on water) here and there that I still . Easy on the eyes, but nothing spectacular.

As for the sound, I really have no need to touch on this: music is still here, in all its glory. Absolute 10 without a doubt. Could give even more if I could - definitely the high point of the entire show, the way it was meant to be.

The reason I wanted to skip through production is because it's the thing that works in this anime - and I want to discuss things that don't, because I'm anal like that. Characters. Ugh. Looking back at season 1, I really should have expected this, but it still hurts.

I have this love-hate relationship with airheads if I'm being honest - I always end up being their fan at the beginning, but end up hating them by the end. Why? Because, most of the time, that's who they stay as. At first it's cute and funny, but if you drag it over 40 episodes, than it's annoying and distracting and, honestly, plain insulting. Nodame starts out as a great character - your typical, talented, overly-cheerful airhead. And through the first season she mostly remains the same, with a few changes here and there, but that was fine because the focus wasn't really on her. However, they drag out her natural klutz personality to hell and back, and drive it through and through for forever. Another trait of hers was a lack of motivation and indecisiveness - which comes into play this season, and holy hell does it overstay its welcome. It's used as nothing but a plot device, and it's as obvious as well. It's used to create drama. At one point, here actions just stop making sense, and, just the same, you stop caring. She becomes a walking bore and annoyance, and I really didn't want it to end up this way - but I should have figured out it would. You can make your audience laugh because your character is an unaware airhead only so many times, after all ...

The set of ing characters from Paris Hen returns this time around as well, and are given ... way too much space, if you ask me. I understand the need to flesh out your side-characters, but we already knew that they were never supposed to be the focus because writer literally abandoned everyone from season 1 aside from Oldy-Pervy. Yet, their problems and struggles come into focus here and take way too much time to resolve, sidelining main story and the progress of main characters. Yes, there are some nice moments here and there, it felt nice knowing more about who these people are, but ultimately they're still just a fodder. They barely interact with the main story - I'd go so far as to say that they have no actual impact on it. And this was supposed to be a finale - thing that wraps up the entire series - not a season that sets up your side-characters. This also ties in to the pacing problems I talked about before, and overall leaves a bitter taste. A few more pairings bear fruition, and there's an introduction of a random Japanese girl midway through that had even less point that the original sensei. I have absolutely no idea what was that girl doing there, and I'm happy she stayed only for about 10 minutes.

Overall, Shinichi is still the best character in my opinion. Unfortunately, he's given less and less focus as the series progresses. He's often thrown into random journeys across Europe just to get him out of the picture for a while, so that we can focus on Nodame. For me, it backfired, as he was always the one leading the show, and Nodame was the one following. They reversed the roles and it didn't work. Too bad.

It'd be a lie if I said I didn't enjoy Nodame Cantabile as whole, because I did. I love this series, and will probably re-watch it more than once. However, if I compare my enjoyment from 1st season to Finale, they're worlds apart. Here, instead of enjoying things, I spent far more time questioning motives, actions, characters and story, and trying to understand what the hell was with that ending.

I still wholeheartedly recommend Nodame Cantabile - it's definitely the best anime about music that I've seen to date, and whether you're a fan of classical music or not, it has some outstanding pieces. From the familiar Bach and Mozart tunes, to some that your average Joe would have never heard of. First season was definitely its high point, but the entire 3 are worth watching without a doubt.

*If you wish to discuss the review, feel free to leave me a comment. Thanks for reading.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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