Nodame Cantabile Live Action: the Faces that Bested the Anime
Posted by Aorii in Anime, Live-action, tags: Live-action, Nodame CantabileIn the art of enjoying blogging, I stopped caring about how late I am on posting things. This is winter catchup project #3, as I need to prepare for the series finale coming next season.
Only the live-action can bring such brilliant tears to Chiaki’s eyes
I still haven’t forgiven them for the unbearable disgrace that Toei calls Saikano, but Nodame certainly went a long way in reconciling my relationship with Japanese Live Action. Storyboard wise, both the live-action and the anime followed the same path, with a few differences in presentation that more or less canceled each other out in its pros and cons. However, it’s the performance of the actors, especially Chiaki (Hiroshi Tamaki)‘s face, that really made the live action shine over its anime counterpart. It’s ironic in a way: usually I’m jealous over the facials anime produce that simply aren’t possible in real life, this time it’s the anime that falls short of depicting Chiaki’s moods (prepare for incoming comparison pictospam).
Chiaki just got even more hawt~
First, the less interesting stuff…
Storywise, there’s only five significant differences I found between the anime and live-action:
First, in the live-action, Chiaki & co (Nodame, Ryuutaro, and Masumi) never went to the training camp. This didn’t disrupt the flow too much. Second, the live-action replaced the arc where Chiaki & Nodame goes back to his family with a mere visit from his mother, which really doesn’t come to par insofar as character development for Chiaki’s history go. However, the live-action makes up for this with far more screen-time given to the Mine x Kiyora relationship moments that’s scattered about the series.
Fourth, the anime did a far more detailed job depicting the judges’ and audience reaction to Nodame during the Maradona piano competition. This meant that Nodame’s unique style of playing the piano, as well as the moods her music project, is far more vividly described in the anime version. Without that arc, it’s a lot harder to recognize how truly unique her piano-playing is.
Lastly, in the live-action, Chiaki went to Nodame’s hometown to pull her out of depression first and then return to Tokyo to conduct his final concert, as opposed to the other way around in the anime. This may not sound like much, but it made a drastic difference in the moods involved. Suddenly the concert felt much more… heartfelt and conclusive. The music and conducting brought all of Chiaki’s experiences and melded them together, forming a nostalgic summary of his days that truly expressed his gratitude towards everyone he met and everything that happened (see header picture).
Now, without further ado…
Of course, Chiaki’s rage face comes first.
A brooding Chiaki is fine too
Too many emotions at once in this one. Notice the red blinking bulb on Nodame’s head
Overdone, but nevertheless hilarious
Some shock and bewilderment required. This takes place in the anime’s credits-epilogue so I couldn’t find an equal…
Not to mention the sentimental Chiaki. Must be a lacking of the animation style here, since normally anime characters seem to handle glassy eyes so much better…
I mean, the anime’s surrounding special effects do help a lot, but it’s rather lacking compared to the facial expressions they manage in the live-action.
Of course, it’s not Nodame Cantabile without Nodame’s signature :3 face. This one isn’t quite as good as the anime version, but Chiaki’s reaction makes up for it once again.
Notice the sheer difference between the characters’ state of energy and enthusiasm.
Of course, can’t forget about Maestro Stresemann either. His appearance in the live-action (Naoto Takenaka) is even more hilarious than his actions; while his speech, highly-accentuated broken Japanese, is even more so.
You got to love Japanese live-action style for this one:
And his beef-jerky-breaking manager Elise…
Okay I’m too lazy to spam the other characters.
Overall, I’d say that while the anime version gives slightly better characterization, the live-action version is far more enjoyable and leaves a far more impressionable memory. For introducing this show to others, I’d probably recommend the live-action version more.
Now, I want to see a To Aru Kagaku no Railgun dorama so I can see the live-action version of Shirai Kuroko’s Many Faces.
Beware of cooking Chiaki
P.S. the fact the Nodame live action (October 2006) came out earlier than the anime (September 2007), despite being a manga adaptation, also seems to say something about Japan’s gender preferences towards media presentation.
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Well, they are both bad in their own ways. Whereas in anime i was turned off by the primitive penciling and non-existing animation, in live there was Stresemann and also, in live version Nodame can pretty much be called mentally retarded.
Also, whats supposed to be pretty about live Chiaki ? Not only he is merely average-looking, he has these constant bags under his eyes…
Dammit, now not only am I going to have to watch the anime, but also the live action too. Which is dangerous because once I get into them I get really into them. I barely moved from the recliner for three days until I had gotten all of ‘Full House’ watched, to be fair though I didn’t have much else to do since I was recovering from surgery.
But even if I had been healthy I probably still would have marathoned it. Hubby got me a new computer because he was sick and tired of finding me on his watching Goong
OMG those wigs are awful!!!!!! 0-o
Sakura´s last blog ..Starting soshite ashita no sekai yori
@Sakura: ahaha~, yeah that was my first thought on the wigs too (and Stresemann’s entire look), until his acting kind of grew on me. I understand what you feel about marathoning lol, since I just spent four days blitzing stuff and my mind feels a bit mushy… it’s the reason why I often don’t pick up things until holiday season (or other vacation periods).
@karry: well Nodame is hardly know for the art, the style simply follows the manga’s which isn’t that great. Nodame herself is suppose to be ‘mentally retarded’ in a sense, from which spawns the humor of the series. As far as Chiaki, perspectives differ. There’s a reason why perceptions of beauty is different between East and West anyhow, not to mention regions, cultures, and individual conceptions. His teary-eyed / sentimental look is what drew me in the most. I’ll leave it at that to keep me from going into a fan-rage.
Well its good to know the animal on top of his head doesn’t distract him from acting. I wasn’t overly concerned, if bad wigs stopped me from watching Dorama’s I’d never watch any
I hear you on the mush, I probably should listen to my body when my vision starts to get blurry, but you always think, I can do it, just one more episode. I’m similar with things like Zelda, just one more dungeon…
Actually with that I’m worse, hubby usually ends up shuffling into the room at 2 in the morning yelling “D.J for gods sake blink, finish the damn dungeon and come to bed.“
Sakura´s last blog ..Starting soshite ashita no sekai yori