Butterfly Dreams

The amazingly addicitive music theory-heavy LA returns with two two-hour episodes, continuing where the previous season left off with the pair heading to Europe. All the old characters are back, new Japanese-speaking Europeans are added, and together you have the same funny content mixed with drama in both the romance and actual life where music and their working future are concerned. Enough flashbacks to the previous season was shown for those who have forgotten what happened (I didn’t), but it was nice to see those moments again.

I don’t think two episodes are enough, even if they’re both two hours, because gosh darnit, I love this LA series. I’m not sure how much of the manga is crammed in four hours, and I’m not sure if it’ll end openly for another season since the manga is still ongoing, but I’m loving it so far. When I first heard NC was coming back, I wasn’t sure what to think. I mean, they’re in Europe. Either it won’t be authenic because everyone’ll magically understand Japanese (or everyone will be Japanese), or it’ll be awkward for the audience because they’d have to read subtiltles.

It ended up being a decent middle ground (and if my limited LOTR knowledge is correct, that WAS a pun, to add on to Nodame’s hilarious comment on the gates). There were a lot of subtitles in the first half or so with Frank and Tanya (and there was even an intermission with them apologizing for it), though it was kinda weird to see them talking Japanese after. It makes you wonder why they didn’t just speak Japanese to begin with (even though we know why they did). But other than the ones that did speak Japanese, I’d like to think that all the other extras didn’t, though that makes me wonder how the audience at the Final for the competition understood what the judge was saying if that was the case xDD

Frank was awesome. Otaku boy to the max. I think he’s the first male character who actually likes CCS xDD He gets kudos just for that, nevermind the awesome figurine collection (though I could do without all the DBZ). Is there really an anime convention at a castle over there? I wish we had conventions in a castle. Haha, that train scene with all the cosplayers made me laugh, because that’s exactly how the subways look like here during convention time xDD Tanya…the only thing that stood out to me for her was the very Nodame-like way she stuck her head in the door as Chiaki was closing it <33 Jean was cute. I liked his personality. I thought he’d be a little more stuck up, like the first time we see him, but after he stuck up for Chiaki when his girlfriend Yuko was going off about Chiaki’s bad performance during the second round, Jean got on my good side.

If you thought Chiaki actually reconsiled his feelings and is with Nodame in the Special, think again. The guy is in a major denial this first epsiode. He gets jealous, but whenever people bring up that Nodame’s his girlfriend, he flat out rejects the idea. I think he’s slowly starting to get it, but it’s not fast enough for Nodame, for she really goes off on him in the preview. It looks like Chiaki’s got a piano solo piece with a female player for his first performance in his one-year contract that he won, and then I think that guy shown at the end is going to be after Nodame (as if Frank wasn’t enough xDD). Problems also seem to be present with Mine and Kiyora, and hopefully that’ll be touched on in more detail in the second episode.

Story-wise, it feels odd to have Chiaki so into Viera again, especially when last season was focused so heavily on Milch (Stresemann). Despite Chiaki’s worries, Viera never forgot about him, and he’s planning on calling him after his contract is over. Viera’s not going to get his former student back so easily, though, for Milch still wants Chiaki, and it’s obvious he’s behind the kidnapping of Chiaki at the end of the episode. This episode was focused a lot of Chiaki, and Nodame finally starts her studies, so I can expect at least half of next episode to be on Nodame.

Funny moments this episode…I can’t count them all. The best by far for me was the scene where Nodame was reading aloud some French phrases for a Japanese-French book at a cafe. OMFG, I cry everytime I watch that scene, I laugh so hard. It started out nice and cute, saying things as if she was married with Chiaki, and then out comes the, ‘Help! Police! I was raped!’ Freaked out the freaking waiter, OMG, that was gold, especially when the pigeon then made that noise that the birds in NARUTO usually make xDD Another good scene was Chiaki learning that Nodame’s a D-cup xDD If that’s true. I can’t imagine that, somehow xDD

Arg, I’m probably forgetting a lot of things, but that’s my brief thoughts on it xP

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