Nodame Cantabile

Gyabo! Classical music and anime? All in one?

Chiaki and Nodame

After putting off this series for so long, and with many recommendations from a bunch of friends, I finally watched Nodame Cantabile (I'm getting to the sequels =/).

Nodame Cantabile mostly takes place at Momogaoka College of Music where our main characters, Megumi Noda and Shinichi Chiaki study. Nodame is a talented piano player, who can play music by ear (and prefers it) instead of reading the score. She also brings in her own style when playing the music, such as adding or subtracting notes, ignoring the score altogether. Chiaki is also a talented piano player (who also plays the violin) and was born in to a musical family. He has a secret ambition of pursuing a career in conducting, but is obstructed to study oversees (he resides in Japan) because of his child phobia of flying and the ocean.

The two of them accidentally meet and Nodame install falls in love with Chiaki. Chiaki discovers Nodame's talent and the series displays the lessons of music and life they give each other while encountering many other students and teachers of the college.

This series is definately a must for any anime and classical music fans (as you may be sitting through half an episode of classical music). Nodame Cantabile is a 23 episode series and was aired in 2007, produced by J.C. Staff. There is a sequel to Nodame Cantabile, which is Nodame Catabile: Paris, which continues right where the prequel left off. The whole franchise then concludes with Nodame Cantabile: Finale.

I do not own or take credit for all of the above images, if you would like them to be taken down, please message me.

Have you watched this series? Have you seen any music oriented series? Did you watch the dramas or live action movies of Nodame Cantabile?

Usagi Drop

Looks like grandpa has got it going on, but not for long...

Rin and Daikichi

And not for long because he's dead. Usagi Drop is an 11-episode, slice of life series done by the studio, Production I.G., which is known for high-quality animation, and has produced work such as GIST (Ghost in the Shell). It starts off with the funeral of Daikichi's grandpa, where we find out that his grandpa had an illegitimate love child (who is 6 at the time of his death). The child, who's name is Rin, was kept a secret to everyone up until now. Daikichi's family and relatives try to figure out what to do with her when someone suggests to send her to an orphanage. This is when Daikichi steps up, and chooses to raise Rin himself.

Daikichi is just a plain 30 years old bachelor, who works as a typical Japanese salaryman. When he actualy experiences what it takes to raise a child, he quickly understands the sacrifices and efforts needed. The series pretty much follows Daikichi and the development of Rin while Daikichi finds out more about parenting, especially from others, such as single moms.

I actually first started watching this series after hearing a podcast review of this. The reviewer is an American, who currently lives in Japan with his wife and they both admire this series for accurately portraying how life is for salarymen and housewives when they have children (as Japan has more defined gender roles).

The series thus far (I'm on episode 8) is very lighthearted and heartwarming. All the animation and choice of colour gives off a "warm" feeling. Production I.G also includes about a 1 minute intro at the beginning of each episode where the animation is in a totally different style, almost like a "roughly coloured-manga" feel (Yes, I just made that up). Bleh, I can't describe it, so just see the image below.

I've heard from others that the series will leap to Rin when she is older, so I'm pretty exicited to see how it goes as there are only a few episodes remaining.

I do not own or take credit for all of the above images, if you would like them to be taken down, please message me.
  What are your favourite slice of life shows? For those that have seen this, how do you think this portrays life with children?

Daft Punk the Movie?

Yep, there is a Daft Punk "movie", but at the same time, not quite.

Interstella 555

Interstella 555 is a film produced by Daft Punk in collabortion of Toei Animation.

The plot of the film is simple, 4 band members (pictured above) are abducted from an alien planet to Earth. They are then brainwashed of their alien memories and made to look like humans. Back home, an alien strives to bring back the band members back to their home country.

I know that wasn't a too detailed of a plot, but I do not want to focus on it as there is a deeper meaning of the story. I'd rather have you experience the whole film yourselves. The full movie can be found on Youtube. I've embedded the video here in case you really wanted to watch it right now.



But what makes this whole film unique is that the whole film, is a "musical", where Daft Punk's album, "Discovery" is played throughout the whole film. In addition, there is no dialog whatsoever within the film, and besides the album being played, occasional sound effects can be heard.

The animation itself is done by Toei Animation. It features an 80's style of animation, but a very refined version. (Note, this film was released in 2003)

Nevertheless, this film should be a real treat, especially to Daft Punk fans.

I do not own or take credit for all of the above images and videos, if you would like them to be taken down, please message me.

Have you seen this film? Do you like Daft Punk? Any similar films out there?

Shaft Inc.

But wait there's more!

The logo of Shaft Inc.

To those that may have been expecting a non-anime post, please accept my sincere apologies as today is no different.

I'd like to introduce today, Shaft. An animation studio that has either done the animation for many series or at least had their hands deep in others.

The main ones I want to bring up are: Sayonara Zetusubou Sensei (Finished the first series) and Bakemonotargai (I'm currently on episode 10).

If you've read some of my anime related posts, you know that animation quality is a huge factor for me when watching anime and material done by Shaft never disappoints, but aside from quality is their style.

The most prominent feature is that Shaft may use "real life" images for effect such as someone's face or body part. You can see this below, which is a screencap from Bakemonogatari.

The use of "RL"

Another technique they use is written words/kanji. Sometimes it is used in conjuncture with images or it is simply written out as is. Screenshot is from Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei.

Kanji used in conjuncture with other images

Another method, although common within many anime series is references to animes or known products.
Another screenshot from Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei.

Haruhi referenced in the top right.

The last thing, although I don't have pics for it is the opening sequences of Bakemonogatari. For many shows (not just anime) you'll hear a theme song and a sequence of pictures or video clips that go along with it and for most series, the song and clips only change once or twice. But for Bakemonogatari, these things change for every story arc. The opening sequence will be directly related to the main character of the arc the anime is currently focusing on.

So for that, I applaud Shaft for their quality and effort of animation.


I do not own or take credit for all of the above images, if you would like them to be taken down, please message me.

 Any animes done by Shaft you enjoy? What cool techniques have you seen done in animes or tv series?

Life Sized De_Dust?

Keeping with my seemingly unintentional "video game" themed post for the past week, there is hope that a life sized de_dust will be created!

De_dust, a popular map in the FPS, "Counter-Strike"

I know for some, this is old news (early June to be exact) but for me (as I just found this out) is pretty exciting news. Aram Bartholl is or will be the man responsible for this ambitious project measuring 115 x 110 x 15 metres. But for now though, he has a 1:250 scale model made out of plastic (see below). The final 1:1 piece will be created in full concrete with no colour or textures.

The 1:250 scale model

Bartholl's intention is to create both an art piece and a "walking museum".

Bartholl has worked on various projects such as the "Google Map Project:"

Making landmarks look like "Google Maps"

I do not own or take credit for all of the above images, if you would like them to be taken down, please message me.

What do you think of this de_dust project? Would you have chosen something else to better represent the gaming culture?