major fangirl spasms over Nodame & Chiaki
I can't help but gush all over Nodame Cantabile right now. I spent the past couple of days reading up to Chapter 58 and I'm all in a swoon over Nodame's and Chiaki's painfully slow but totally satisfying character development.
First off, I love the way Nodame uses Stressmann's pocket watch to hypnotize Chiaki into forgetting his rabid fear of flying. The panels that reveal the core of his fear -- the music-loving man sitting beside him who dies during the almost-plane crash Chiaki experiences as a child -- is dramatic.
The whole chapter revealed so much about Chiaki's subconsciousness and his emotional baggage. The accident, coming on top of the announcement of his parents' divorce and his mother's decision to leave Viena for Japan, and the underlying parallelism of his father's spiritual abandonment vis-a-vis the physical death of a man sitting beside him, further compounded with the rejection of conductor Viera to take Chiaki in as an adopted son: the guy's got male abandonment issues on the brain.
I thought that Nodame would use some form of music to hypnotize Chiaki. Yet perhaps the watch was a better symbol because it refers back to Stressmann's cryptic dialogue. With Chiaki's fear of flying out of the way, Nodame is forced to change her habits in order for a chance to be with him -- and she can only do that if she goes to Europe, too.
First off, I'm really happy regarding the direction of Nodame's musical evolution. Harisen was the perfect teacher to whip her into shape. Once he got rid of his -- well -- harisen (paper fan), he gave her the discipline she needed without taking away too much of her fun-loving, light ways. It's also in these chapters (around 43 to 52) where Nodame begins to act more like Chiaki, and vice versa: Nodame becomes the obsessive-compulsive virtuoso that characterizes Chiaki's approach to music, and then Chiaki gets messy with his apartment and his personal appearance. Majorly messy. Nodame-level messy. (Not that he notices this shift in his own behavior. Hmph.)
Going back to the professor nicknamed Harisen, I absolutely adore his wife. I know she's a minor character, but the fact that she used to be a soprano and still manages to keep her interest in music by giving invaluable support to her husband's students during competitions -- I think it's great. As a couple, Harisen and his wife are symbol of stabilility. They may be the only example of a mature, married relationship within the Nodame universe. It's nice to contrast them with Chiaki's divorced parents and Nodame's dysfunctional family.
Of course, I love the moment where Harisen's wife catches Chiaki gets all stalker-ish outside her house, as he is laden with all souvenirs from his first plane trip after Nodame's successful hypnosis:
And I love this frame, too, where Chiaki gets all crabby (literally), a few panels prior:
Ahh... that panel just screams out to be colored and made into an avatar. I don't know how many days I feel like exploding in the same fashion... unfortunately I don't have it in me to do so! *sheepish grin*
I am not quite sure why Nodame turned him down when he first asked. Was it merely a device of the mangaka to heighten the drama of the series? I felt her motivations to do so wasn't fully explained. Yeah, Chiaki figured out she was lying, and that losing the competition was a big deal to her, but it didn't quite state explicitly that Nodame had grown so much as to be wanted to be taken seriously as a pianist. Chiaki's invitation wasn't sleazy; he wasn't asking her to just go to Europe to shack up with him (even if such an intention was in the foggiest recesses of his brain, he'd never tell her... not yet.) Perhaps his over-confidence regarding the knowledge of her affections irked her. Some females are like that: sometimes they like to throw the guy an occasional curve ball. Chiaki was pretty damn sure he wasn't going to be turned down so the rejection bothered him. Hmm. Perhaps I need to read further and then re-examine the scene...
It goes without saying that I just loved the way Chiaki travelled all the way to Nodame's hometown just to find her (turning off your cellphone and going incommunicado is sometimes the best way to find out who, exactly, loves you well enough to hunt you down) and how they accidentally meet on the road (she walking, he in that one helluva expensive cab ride.) Ahh!!! This is the stuff shoujo/josei fangirl dreams are made of.
That I am soooo enthusiastic about a single panel showing one embrace is undeniable proof that 1) my heart is like a marshmallow, and 2) I really am a girl.
That's what makes this even more funny. After how many chapters of hitting, snarling, and pushing Nodame away, suddenly all hell breaks loose, Chiaki's real emotions overcome him when she tells him she changed her mind... and it makes it harder for him to ignore the truth so much that Nodame pushes the envelope a bit:
A man in a major state of denial, that's Chiaki. I just have to gush. He's pure love. ♥
See? I'm not the only one who thinks Chiaki is uber hot. Here he is about to be sexually harassed by a pair of blond twins (and later on... two gay men) and he walks away from them all to look for... the messy chick who drives him nuts.
I'd talk about all the other characters I adore -- like Mine and his brilliant girlfriend and how he was so brave to let her go back to study in Viena without him, and that oboe player I'd want to keep in my shirt pocket, he's such a stoic sweetie -- but I may never shut up about it. It's sufficient to say right now I'm just so riveted, my imagination's been engaged, and yes, while I have yet to successfully imagine Chiaki and Nodame in bed together, they are definitely my newest OTP. :D
First off, I love the way Nodame uses Stressmann's pocket watch to hypnotize Chiaki into forgetting his rabid fear of flying. The panels that reveal the core of his fear -- the music-loving man sitting beside him who dies during the almost-plane crash Chiaki experiences as a child -- is dramatic.
The whole chapter revealed so much about Chiaki's subconsciousness and his emotional baggage. The accident, coming on top of the announcement of his parents' divorce and his mother's decision to leave Viena for Japan, and the underlying parallelism of his father's spiritual abandonment vis-a-vis the physical death of a man sitting beside him, further compounded with the rejection of conductor Viera to take Chiaki in as an adopted son: the guy's got male abandonment issues on the brain.
I thought that Nodame would use some form of music to hypnotize Chiaki. Yet perhaps the watch was a better symbol because it refers back to Stressmann's cryptic dialogue. With Chiaki's fear of flying out of the way, Nodame is forced to change her habits in order for a chance to be with him -- and she can only do that if she goes to Europe, too.
First off, I'm really happy regarding the direction of Nodame's musical evolution. Harisen was the perfect teacher to whip her into shape. Once he got rid of his -- well -- harisen (paper fan), he gave her the discipline she needed without taking away too much of her fun-loving, light ways. It's also in these chapters (around 43 to 52) where Nodame begins to act more like Chiaki, and vice versa: Nodame becomes the obsessive-compulsive virtuoso that characterizes Chiaki's approach to music, and then Chiaki gets messy with his apartment and his personal appearance. Majorly messy. Nodame-level messy. (Not that he notices this shift in his own behavior. Hmph.)
Going back to the professor nicknamed Harisen, I absolutely adore his wife. I know she's a minor character, but the fact that she used to be a soprano and still manages to keep her interest in music by giving invaluable support to her husband's students during competitions -- I think it's great. As a couple, Harisen and his wife are symbol of stabilility. They may be the only example of a mature, married relationship within the Nodame universe. It's nice to contrast them with Chiaki's divorced parents and Nodame's dysfunctional family.
Of course, I love the moment where Harisen's wife catches Chiaki gets all stalker-ish outside her house, as he is laden with all souvenirs from his first plane trip after Nodame's successful hypnosis:
And I love this frame, too, where Chiaki gets all crabby (literally), a few panels prior:
Ahh... that panel just screams out to be colored and made into an avatar. I don't know how many days I feel like exploding in the same fashion... unfortunately I don't have it in me to do so! *sheepish grin*
I am not quite sure why Nodame turned him down when he first asked. Was it merely a device of the mangaka to heighten the drama of the series? I felt her motivations to do so wasn't fully explained. Yeah, Chiaki figured out she was lying, and that losing the competition was a big deal to her, but it didn't quite state explicitly that Nodame had grown so much as to be wanted to be taken seriously as a pianist. Chiaki's invitation wasn't sleazy; he wasn't asking her to just go to Europe to shack up with him (even if such an intention was in the foggiest recesses of his brain, he'd never tell her... not yet.) Perhaps his over-confidence regarding the knowledge of her affections irked her. Some females are like that: sometimes they like to throw the guy an occasional curve ball. Chiaki was pretty damn sure he wasn't going to be turned down so the rejection bothered him. Hmm. Perhaps I need to read further and then re-examine the scene...
It goes without saying that I just loved the way Chiaki travelled all the way to Nodame's hometown just to find her (turning off your cellphone and going incommunicado is sometimes the best way to find out who, exactly, loves you well enough to hunt you down) and how they accidentally meet on the road (she walking, he in that one helluva expensive cab ride.) Ahh!!! This is the stuff shoujo/josei fangirl dreams are made of.
That I am soooo enthusiastic about a single panel showing one embrace is undeniable proof that 1) my heart is like a marshmallow, and 2) I really am a girl.
That's what makes this even more funny. After how many chapters of hitting, snarling, and pushing Nodame away, suddenly all hell breaks loose, Chiaki's real emotions overcome him when she tells him she changed her mind... and it makes it harder for him to ignore the truth so much that Nodame pushes the envelope a bit:
A man in a major state of denial, that's Chiaki. I just have to gush. He's pure love. ♥
See? I'm not the only one who thinks Chiaki is uber hot. Here he is about to be sexually harassed by a pair of blond twins (and later on... two gay men) and he walks away from them all to look for... the messy chick who drives him nuts.
I'd talk about all the other characters I adore -- like Mine and his brilliant girlfriend and how he was so brave to let her go back to study in Viena without him, and that oboe player I'd want to keep in my shirt pocket, he's such a stoic sweetie -- but I may never shut up about it. It's sufficient to say right now I'm just so riveted, my imagination's been engaged, and yes, while I have yet to successfully imagine Chiaki and Nodame in bed together, they are definitely my newest OTP. :D