It’s always a little difficult to do a final thoughts post on a series I liked. I probably should say something mushy here like, “It’s like saying goodbye to an old friend.” In reality the feeling is much more along the lines of, “What now?” I don’t usually wrap my thoughts up when I finish a show. It’s more like a progression into the next thing. It possibly has to do with my personality, or maybe it does not. What was the last show I did this for? I think it Gankutsuou or was it Honey & Clover. I’m not sure.
Nodame didn’t cause much fuss in the blogging community, as far as I could tell. Others liked it, but not many placed it in the highest regards when posting about it. There were not many complaints, but there was not much adulation either.
In my opinion, that reception was rightly deserved. The show could have been better. I don’t think many would disagree that Noda’s character could have been deeper. She was a simple character, no doubt. At times she was literally compared to an animal. However, given that she received that treatment in the story, what was her real role? Noda’s story doesn’t come out until the very end of the series. It is in the final few episodes that we are told what exactly happened to her.
The story revolves around them both, but for the most part it is Chiaki’s story. It’s he whose character is developed throughout the story. We spend a great deal of time with Chiaki. We know what drives Chiaki. We know what Chiaki fears. We also can see his developing feelings for Nodame. Still, what was Noda’s role in the story other than to offer comedy?
Despite being the main character of the story it is very hard to empathize with Chiaki. There just isn’t anything there to connect with. Who else can we “know” in the story? Where is the character that resonates with us? It can’t be Mine? What about Stresemann? No, they will not do for us. We need something to latch onto. We need something distant but also familiar.
There just isn’t a character in the story for that. We have to accept that the story isn’t what we wanted. It isn’t the story of two people coming together and the journey they take. Nodame Cantabile is simply about overcoming obstacles in a literal sense. Noda isn’t a classical love interest.
She isn’t Julieto to Chiaki’s Romeo.
She isn’t Hagu to Chiaki’s Yuta.
Still, Noda is the character that I liked. She was simple. There wasn’t any pretense with her. She was the character that I identified with. What we see from examination is that she wasn’t necessary to the main story. She made the ending romantic, but was a background harmony the rest of the time. Though the show was much more pleasant because of her.
Yet, the argument can be made that one note cannot move people. A single rhythm does not make a song. The soundings of a single instrument’s progressions, while beautiful, will eventually become monotonous without others to accompany it.
In an almost insulting way it could be construed that she was put in the story because we are just too ignorant and untalented to enjoy a show just about Chiaki. His intelligence was too deep; his talents were too vast. Nodame brought Chiaki down to earth. He became accessible. He wasn’t the magnificent conductor when he was with Noda. He was the child scared of flying. Nodame made Chiaki normal, just for our sake.
All things considered, I would have preferred a simple love story. Damn it.
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