badger11’s take on anime

It took a few moments to realize that the voice-over at the beginning of this episode was Mine. It took a few more moments to remember that he was reciting lines from a beginner’s book to orchestras. And we finally get to see the show’s punching bag in the form of Okochi Mamoru, a student from the Conducting department. In the live action, Okochi was introduced not only as a rival to Chiaki but as a Chiaki clone. We’d see him in the background imitating Chiaki’s mannerisms and at one point he tries to find out what brands of clothes Chiaki wears. Okochi was also one of my favorite secondary characters in the live action just because he’d routinely take abuse. Its interesting that I have no qualms about Okochi getting knocked silly, but the physical abuse that Nodame takes is starting to wear thin with me. It almost seems be verging into domestic abuse territory.

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I guess it isn’t a good idea to listen to Lisa Gerrard’s The Mirror Pool before watching this episode. And Mozart’s Requiem. Wow, this was a painful episode to watch. Poor Nayuki, having the only person constant in her life suddenly removed, it’s not surprising that she pretty much just shuts down. And what a prefect time for Yuuichi to remember that he knocked the snow bunny down that she made for him. Even though she told him it was in the past when he apologized, it still isn’t, otherwise she wouldn’t have asked if the snow bunny she made at school reminded him of something. Of course, that’s a minor issue now that Akiko is in the hospital. I’m not really surprised that Akiko wound up injured. Sayuri was also a secondary character and she wound up being attacked. But it was a sudden development and more serious than I thought. I had thought that the illness she had a few episodes back was going to return in a stronger form. I just didn’t expect the car accident. Still, it was painful to watch Nayuki suffer, especially after becoming accustomed to her endearing sleepy and upbeat persona’s.

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