Riuva : Research Institute for Unicultural Visual Arts

Despite the glaring (if few) animation inconsistencies that I can’t help but pick on, I am actually as pleased with this episode as I was annoyed with Kon Chiaki’s treatment of Episode 2, for this is the episode which not only stayed mostly faithful to the manga material for the most part, it is also the first Nodame ~Paris~ episode which actually seemed to recapture some of the feeling of the first Nodame series which was missing in J.C. Staff’s take on the Paris Chapter until now. Is it simply because the Saint-Malo chapters are simply easier to adapt, or has the butcher job that Kon Chiaki took to the earlier episodes been for the sake of fitting the later episodes in better? Whatever the case, this has definitely been the most enjoyable Nodame ~Paris~ episode to date, and one can only hope this standard can be kept up for the entirety of the Saint-Malo arc, the first within the Paris arc which brings the spotlight back on Nodame.

Nodame Cantabile ~Paris Chapter~, Episode 9.

The sonata is written a bit like a two-part invention. At times, the piece has a melody in both the right and left hand, but at other times, the left hand serves as accompaniment for the right hand." - Akira, The Nihon Review

However, despite the relatively reserved demeanour she has been displaying throughout her stay within the Saint-Malo chateau, maybe it’s still Chiaki who knows her best; and if he says she’s still enjoying life now, who are we to doubt the man who knows her best? In fact, we might very well soon see Nodame’s long pent-up reaction to being goaded to conformity, maybe even as soon as the recital which we will get to hear her perform soon. It shall be most interesting to see what she can come up with then.

Ascaloth in Tasmania, out.