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As a fan of MS Igloo I was excited to finally see this in its entirety and was not disappointed.

Story and Characters

The year is Universial Century 0079 at the start of the war when Zeon has just landed on earth. These 3 OVAs are the stories of 3 common soldiers, their weaponary and revenge as their motivation in fighting for the Earth Forces during the period.

OVA1's protagonist is the conflicted Ben Barberry, notorious as a death god for sucking the life out of his unit but somehow surviving. At the start of the war, Zeon's Zaku's held the tactical advantage and Ben's anti tank unit is hastily renamed the anti Mobile Suit unit with their weapon of choice being a modified bazooka that fires (larger) anti Mobile suit missiles. Ben and his new unit of fresh recruits are sent to hunt Zaku's while providing cover for the Earth Forces Retreat - in other words, a suicide mission.

OVA 1 was reminiscent of world war 2 movies where everything is in black and white - the color, the landscape, good/bad, right/wrong, strong/weak. You felt like you were there with Ben struggling to survive and keep his men alive, and if nothing else it drove home 2 messages for me. First, it SUCKS to be ground troops against Mobile Suits. Second, technological superiority DOES matter.

OVA 2 had the most tactics as it was a cat and mouse game between two old enemies. Earth Forces tank Ace Herman Yardell survived against the Zaku ace Elmer Snell, the "White Ogre" and has sought revenge since. Both men have somewhat of a bushido code, wanting to fight only the best, and go to great lengths to achieve it, including feigning mechanical failure to get out of "Boring" fights.

At this stage in the war, earth forces tank has clearly somewhat bridged the technological gap to the Zakus and it is a pleasure to watch the genius Yardell (who is nuts) fight.

OVA 3 is the story of Arleen Nozen, a technical lieutenant unjustly imprisoned for leaking information to Zeon on the RTX-440 Ground Assault type Guntank. Arleen lives for revenge against the true informant, her ex (lover) because he not only betrayed her but the information leak resulted in her guntank program's development being halted with only 3 being produced. The Evil General offers a chance of amnesty to 3 prisoners in exchange for fighting in the battle of Odessa - Arleen accepts. By Odessa, the earth forces now have their own mobile suits so Odessa is the battle to push Zeon back into space.

Of the 3 OVA, this one had the best weapon. I thought the Guntank was phenomenal in it's flexibility! It had awesome maneuverability, high speed, ability to transform into 3 form factors and a TON of armaments to boot! Oh my god, information on this is truly worth stealing. If development continued this would surely have become a Mobile Armor. This OVA as a standalone would deserve a 9 because of the beautiful plot twist at the end.

All 3 ovas had easily identifiable and likeable characters developed in a short period of time, one could even consider their weapons as characters which grow in importance from OVA 1 to 3. The OVAs succeeded in making me cry. However, I felt like the death god theme was misplaced or could have been left out and the story would have been much better. The death god certinly wasn't "needed" and it seemed like it was put in just to showcase the beautiful animation of this character.

Art/Animation

The Animation was incredible from a technical standpoint (10) but weak in characterization (6) for an average score of 8.

One thing that cannot be denied is CGI has made great strides in a short time. I am continually amazed by the level of detail rendered - you can see individual strands of hair, eyelashes/eyebrows, even the pores on the skin of an individual's face! Compared to MS Igloo I they've also made great improvements in movement and explosions, these no longer look chunky/block/fake but are instead smoother, rounder and more realistic.

The problem is with characterization. The shots of a character acting surprised by widening/opening their eyes bigger is overused and looks artificial. Cel drawings don't have the same issue as we are accustomed to exaggerated facial reactions. Igloo 2 suffers from this problem because the art is so good you tend to compare it with what real life people would do and if it isn't a realistic reaction or expression in live action it looks artificial in CGI. Now, the women are rendered very lovingly and their expressions are for the most part realistic, but not so for the men in OVA1 and OVA2.

Sound

Igloo 2 has no OP, but 3 different EDs, all of which tie to their stories so I thought this was inventive and clever. The voice acting wasn't as good as I hoped, some of the voices just didn't seem to mesh with the character personalities.

Enjoyment and Overall

I loved how realistic this was. Each OVA was a look through the eyes of a small common soldier, but the overarching theme is Earth eventually caught up with Zeon's technological superiority and the entire course of the war changed. All things being said I really enjoyed this anime and would recommend it to anyone. I hope to see more MS Igloo. read more

Gundam 00 is a solid anime series with a lot to like. The pacing was fine, fights were exciting and you couldn't wait to see more. Since most of it is good for this review I will try something different, and state what was really good and could have been done better to elevate this series to Masterpiece status.

Story and Characters

Gundam 00 Season 2 takes place after Gundam 00 S1. Celestial Being comes together again to fight against the A-Laws although the process of "reforming" was not an easy one.

Here's what was great:-
* There are 4 Gundam Meisters, 3 from Gundam 00 S1 and a new one Lyle Dylandy taking over from his brother as Lockon Stratus. All 4 gundam meisters are likeable and interesting. Thumbs up.
* Noreiga the strategist had to be rescued from her "lover" and her tendency to drown her sorrows in a bottle to resume her strategic battle for supremacy against Kati Manneqin
* Sergei Smirnov and Soma Peries ... aaah :)
* Cataron, Federation, Celestial Being, A-Laws, Innovators, Awesome!
* Lots of fights, characters evolve and the powers that be were not afraid to show death in the battlefield. Kudos!

What was not so good:-
* Saji takes on a bigger role. Louise joins A-Laws, love is hard. I liked the whole how does this happen to a normal couple angle, but at parts I'm sure I'm not the only one who found Saji intensely annoying.
* Adding in many innovators but failing to develop the character, motivation or personalities of any of them. FAIL! Other than Ribbons I couldn't really distinguish between all the innovators and there were quite a few of them. Might as well have painted a "cannon fodder" sign on them and left it at that. Now, personally I believe if they cut out every scene with Marina Ismail and used the time to develop ALL the villians (including Mr. Bushido) this anime would have been a 10.

Art and Sound

Art was fantastic except when suits go into Trans Am they turn red and it becomes very difficult to distinguish who is fighting who and who is winning. Why can't they do Red Trans Am and Pink Trans Am so we can tell who is who? Sound Effects in general were fantastic too. Marina's song is kind of so so, the ED was good but the entire soundtrack lacked a cohesiveness that was evident in SEED.

Plot Pet Peeve (not unique to Gundam 00)

Why is it when they have any type of combining units (like 00 and Raiser, or Zeta and Zeta 2 to make double zeta) why can't they launch it already combined instead of separately launching then wasting 38 seconds on the mega-exciting-combine "Gattai" sequence not to mention giving the enemy a chance to shoot down both units which are in the process of combining? Also when they return to the ship do they have to separate to go in, or can the combined unit go in then dock and then separate? They never show this. In any of the gundam series! It makes no sense whatsoever! Stuff like this drives me nuts, really and kind of kills my enjoyment of the show. Somebody please explain this to me, there must be a logical reason.

Enjoyment

Overall I thought this was very good. I couldn't wait to watch it and see what happened next. Parts felt rushed and bits were a waste of time. But it was pretty and the plot and characters kept me interested. I never felt like I "HAD" to finish this, instead I looked forward to it. I'd recommend every gundam fan watch this series as it is solid entertainment. read more

Story and Characters

Initially, Turn A Gundam started as a total departure from the normal Universal Century Gundam formula. Set hundreds of years from the traditional gundam storyline, the earth has just began to recover from the depredations of the gundam wars, and the old earth citizens who escaped from the moon are planning a return to earth.

Our protagonist Loran, is one of three "advance scouts" sent to earth by the Moon's queen, Dianna, to figure out if the planet is (1) habitable (2) worth returning to. This is his story. On the way he learns about earth, the moonrace decides to return and he inevitably ends up piloting a powerful relic from past "Dark History", the Turn A Gundam. He also ends up surrounded by powerful, strong women - at least, compared to other gundam series, the women in this series seem REALLY strong, and I don't mean physically. But the best characters by far were Keith and Guin Lineford.

I have to admit, the first 22 episodes of Turn A Gundam flew by as the story, characters, lay of the land and politics unfurled. This whole set up was extremely well done and I was intrigued. Around episode 23 to 42, it started getting ... well ... repetitive and boring. Also by then my suspension of disbelief broke. Some of the actions of the third level peon military characters made me incredulous, I guess I can't believe how stupid they were, or how quick they were to change allegiences.

However, the series redeemed itself. By episode 43, there was a HUGE, major plot twist that made the last 7 episodes or so fantastic. To be honest, if this series was condensed to 26 episodes and the middle one third cut out, it could have been as great as 08th MS team! Again, this is another of those gundam series that had great potential but it wasn't fully utilized.

Art/Animation

Overall, animation was very dated with a lot of frame reuse, so was ok for its time but compared to current anime it really shows its age. But, I hated the moustache on the Turn A Gundam. It was ugly, seemed kind of pretentious and served no useful weapon or asthetic purpose other than having people be able to call it "the moustache gundam". Maybe I'm being harsh but when you think of the sunglasses from Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagaan - now, that's how you do a feature correctly! In this respect the Turn A Gundam animators/model designers failed horribly!

To be fair, the Turn X gundam was actually a good looking gundam. All the rest were blocky and not appealing. Well, let's just say if I had the space to collect gundam models, based on this anime, the only one I'd buy is Turn X. Whereas I'd have purchased nearly every gundam from Gundam Wing, Gundam Seed, you get the picture. Art/Mecha design just wasn't well done.

Sound

Average sound effects, but the soundtrack was unexpectedly good, no great! Ending and theme songs were where this series really excelled. One of the ED songs "Moon's Coccoon" I have heard later used in RahXephon. I researched the OST and was not surprised to find out it is done by Yoko Kanno, a composer I really like. So, sound has a high score!

Enjoyment

I am in euphoria at having finished one of the last "old" gundam series, which makes my goal of completing ALL gundam closer to being fully achieved. Turn A Gundam's premise was intriguing, everything dragged in the middle and it got exciting again at the end. All this with a really good soundtrack and one of the best last 5 min epilogues I've seen in Gundam. Turn A is a solid 7 if you can get through the middle 20 episodes. read more

The third season of Aria, Aria the Origination is a stunning and satisfying conclusion to the Aria story. With 2 seasons and a few OVAs behind it, I would say Aria the Origination has perfected the slice of life formula, hence its very well deserved high scores. I did analyze this alot, but at the end concluded that a review of this series would only be effective if it came from the heart :)

As stated by pretty much every reviewer, to fully appreiate the masterpiece that is Aria The Origination you should first watch Aria the Animation, Aria the Natural and the other OVAs/Picture Dramas. When you start with Aria the Origination, you're already familiar with boh Neo-Venezia, its citizes, the cats and Akari and her circle of friends.

The storytelling is high art. It always starts with Akari writing to her friend, Ai-Chan about the weather, and what is happening today. It's like watching some old friends go about their lives. It feels good and familiar, then there's the realization/lesson/moral of that episode, and a conclusion.

Everything is so well done that although I swore I wouldn't, somehow, sometime during each episode I would my emotions getting the better of me and then tears would fall from my eyes. Something would set it off, a line of dialogue, the scenery, the music with meaningful lyrics. Most of the time it's not even tears of sadness, but tears of gladness, or joy, or I'm crying because something is so beautiful.

OK, I cried every single episode, with major crying on the last episode when I realized there would be no more Aria after this. Still, even though I want this wonderful anime to continue forever, I am glad it ended perfectly.

Everyone should watch Aria. At the least it's an entertaining slice of life anime. But it has a much deeper meaning and is able to speak directly to the watcher's heart an mind if the watcher is receptive.

So please, please, watch this wonderful anime! Watch it slowly, savor it, think and reflect on the messages embedded in the wonderful story. Aria has changed me. What I've learned:-

* Stop and smell the roses
* You can find beauty in everyday things - I realized I never looked before but one stretch of woodland road on the way to work is spectacular when the sunlight is streaming through the leaves.
* Do not fall into despair! Be optimistic, look on the bright side, things will get better
* You have some control over your happiness
* Ask for help, but be willing to teach others. I wish I had a teacher like Alicia.
* You can do more than you think you can but you need to try AND believe in yourself
* It's the little things in life that matter
* Think of what is truly important to you.
* I had really good friends, I should have appreciated my time with them more
* Things come up, Life/people may change/leave. What's important is to cherish what you currently have and live in the now. In the end memories are all you keep.

I will be re-watching the entire series whenever I feel down. But in the future I have resolved to stop just working, doing household chores and worrying about the future. Instead I'm going to slow down, tell my family I love and appreciate them being with me and spend more time making happy memories with them. read more

In summary, Vampire Knight is the anime offspring of Ouran High School Host Club meets Twilight. I didn't have high hopes for this anime and was pleasantly surprised at the strength of character development and some plot twists.

Cross Academy is like 2 schools rolled into one. The normal day class students are all intrigued and have terrific crushes on members of the Night Class who look like Movie Stars. Of course they day class is completely unaware that the Night Class are vampires, and an uneasy peace is kept by 2 prefects (Yuki and Zero), obeying the Headmaster's ideals of "let's all just get along".

The night class looks like Ouran High School Host Club come to life. Every one of the men is handsome *sigh*, with the handsomest being Clan Kaname, the Pureblood Noble. He saved Yuki when she was a child, but Yuki's fellow prefect Zero hates him because he is a vampire.

Therein is the crux of the love triangle! The plot twisted and turned enough to keep me interested. There was a lot of angst, staring and brooding. Parts of it were downright sexy. Even I who hate the sight of blood found myself intensely interested in some of the ... food scenes.

Art was same as Ouran style, sound was just ok. Although the OP was very well done the rest of the soundtrack was very nondescript.

The ending was a little unexpected (a cop out) or I would have scored it higher. However thanks to 1 scene of fanservice for females the overall score ended up as an 7. At the end of it, the series didn't feel complete hence the 7 overall score. Good premise, lots of promise, could have been better executed. At the very least though, it was good enough to make me want to watch the sequel (just to find out what happens). read more

Story

Aria the Natural continues where Aria the Origination left off, chronicling the adventures of our very likeable main protagonist Akari and her best friends and fellow Undines (Gondoliers) Aika and Alice. Most of the episodes start off with Akari writing to her friend Ai-Chan about what is happening at Neo-Venezia and ends with a closing narration. The difference is, with Aria this is not only seamless, but very natural and fits the anime.

This is a true slice of life anime, the stories are random, mostly standalone (except a few arcs) and can be picked up at any time. All the stories are compelling in some form or another, and this anime is one of the best "feel good" anime I've ever seen. Aria the Natural is fantastically profound in that it can make you think and start to appreciate the little things in life that make it great to be alive because one can continue to experience wonderful new things and learn about themselves/the world/others.

Character and music

All the characters in this anime are well developed - the undines, their inner circle, customers, the city, the CATS! *poing-yau*, the music and the gondola. Aria the Natural made me feel as if I knew the planet Aqua and the city Neo Venezia, not just as some foreign place, but as if I'd lived there. Even though it is a fictional city, the watcher could easily get swept up in the pulse of the city/world.

Aah, the cats. Maybe it's because I love cats (even the unrealistically long lived 50+ year old President Aria) but no one who has watched Aria could possibly consider them just animals because of their intelligence and ability to emote. And then there's Cait Sith, who adds so much more than just mystery to Aria the Natural.

The music in this series is so good it is not background but it is like having another character. Everything fits the story perfectly. I would never skip through the OP because the animation changes each episode. Think of it this way, instead of the same stock OP song, you get a brief start of the anime, then it segues into the characters doing stuff as the opening song is on. So don't skip the OP. Also, the OP (euphoria) is so beautiful it's worth listening to again and again. Just so you know, I had to get the whole soundtrack. I can't say enough good things about the music - it can transport you to another realm of feeling.

Finally, I have to mention the gondola. Just because I never thought I would be the kind of person who could possibly ever have feelings for a "boat". *Embarrassing remarks not allowed*. But seriously, Aria did it so well it wrung all those emotions out of me I didn't even think I had. If you've seen those episodes you will understand :)

Art

For the most part I enjoyed the animation in Aria the Natural. I still hate when it goes to the super deformed mode as I generally don't like that. The rest of the animation is great and I wish they didn't bother swapping art styles, oh well. If not for that I would have scored this anime a 10.

Enjoyment and Overall

For maximum enjoyment of Aria the Natural, I recommend you do NOT marathon this series. Instead, think of each episode like a piece of sweet, gourmet chocolate. Whenever you're having a bad day or feeling down, watch 1-3 episodes for an instant pick me up. I guess if you like sugar rush you could marathon it. But seriously ...

Take your time. Savor the feelings and reactions this show evokes in you. Reflect on the small positive messages sprinkled throughout the series and believe in the promise that tomorrow is another day to be filled with new learnings and experiences. If watched with an open heart and mind, this anime is should leave a small smile on your face pretty much nearly every episode :)

Please, enjoy! The whole series can be summed up as "and I think to myself, what a Wonderful World". I'm was really sad this was finished but now I have Arietta and Aria the Origination to look forward to.


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What do you get when you cross a classic Hong Kong style martial arts movie with the Gundam Franchise? Mobile Fighter G Gundam - a very unique Gundam series which for many reasons I'm really glad I watched.

The setting is in the future where each country vies for the right to rule space by participating in a "Winner Take All" Gundam Fight on earth every 4 years. It started out slow (6 rating) but the pace picked up throughout and the last 10 episodes flew by. Although parts of the series are predictable, there are plenty of plot twists to keep us entertained, Cliches and all it was still very entertaining.

These are my top 10 reasons why G Gundam is worth watching:-

*01* The hero has limitless potential. So, the "young fighter in training" sequence is mandatory. There is always a wise Miyagi-san (Karate Kid) like character willing to teach our hot-headed hero. Who eventually powers up!

*02* Hong Kong style martial arts movie-like fights, except in Mecha. The Kung Fu moves come along with their special names, which must be yelled out while executing the moves e.g. "Burning Finger", "Hurricane Punch". There is ALWAYS a hyper mode/super mode/super secret technique. e.g. School of the Undefeated of the East's secret special technique.

*03* Men may start off as enemies, but if you are a true martial artist after you fight you end up learning about, respecting and finally becoming friends with your opponent. Very macho, very manly man. Very true to life.

*04* The bond between teacher and pupil is very strong. See episode 45. Similarly, the bonds of friendship between men who have come to an understanding through fist/martial arts communication are extremely strong to the point that friends are willing to risk their life for each other in true "band of brothers" fashion. All the characters rock, even the secondary characters were very well developed.

*05* Men cannot multitask well. If they are fighting they can only think about fighting and nothing else, whereas when fighting a woman can multitask by (1) fighting (2) thinking about repairing a gundam (3) worring if a man loves her and (4) agonizing with another off screen character or her superiors on what is going on with the man she is in love with.

*06* A man will treat his childhood friend and crewmate like a disposable doormat. He will only realize what he feels for her AFTER she is gone, then he will have trouble expressing his feelings.

*07* There is more than 1 enemy and the enemies are complex. After a while you're not even sure if the person is a villian or just misguided. This ambiguity makes us relate to the series better

*08* Gratituous eye candy factor!!! Fan Service for females! Tightest mecha suit ever, tighter than even CC's (from Code Geass). Also, Master Asia and Major Ulube are majorly built, with what look like 12 packs. Yowzers!

*09* Tribute to Hong Kong Style Chinese Martial Arts. The names in this series were very cute. Name of one of the villians is Wong Yun Fatt (Chow Yun Fatt?), Final tournament set in Hong Kong, Cantonese music. Aaah, the memories!

*10* FUN watching each country's Gundam and learing their special attacks. Most fun of the whole series! Africa's gundam was a zulu warrior, Holland's had a windmill. China's was a dragon and the US had a boxer. Singapore and Malaysia were represented! I loved Nepal's Gundam too. Gambatte!

Worth watching if you'd like to see a Gundam series crossed with martial arts. I certainly wasn't bored with this :) read more

The "Worst Gundam Ever" tag didn't scare me from watching this series as part of my completionist mentality. After all I had managed to eventually finish Zeta Gundam - so how bad could this be? I guess the tag wasn't exaggerated. Now, while the other reviewers may have liked this, I have to beg to agree to disagree. Read on for a "keeping it real" review.

Story wise, ZZ follows the generic gundam story line. Young hero, happens to "fall" into piloting the "latest and greatest" suit. Gets conscripted into fighting for adults whether willingly or unwillingly. Grows up, finds his own reasons to fight/not fight which usually includes a love interest somewhere. Goes to space, comes back to earth, goes back to space and there is the inevitable big battle to end it all.

However, despite having a good backstory with Zeta Gundam, ZZ fails to use the story framework to entertain the watcher.

Judau is annoying. I know he started as a scavenger but after someone is kind enough to let you pilot their latest and greatest suit you and your friends should not be "biting the hand that feeds" by trying to turn in your rescuer's ship to the enemy for salvage. That ungrateful brat. Although I didn't particularly care for Camille B'dan (from Zeta Gundam) because he was a whiny cry baby, let's just say by episode 10 I was PRAYING that he would come back and kick some sense into Judau.

So, if I didn't like the protagonist why did I continue to watch this series? Well I'm not a quitter, I honestly thought it would get better. But it didn't. The rest of Judau's friends were totally unlikeable too. Do they not know the meaning of the word "LOYALTY"?? The villians were terribly whiny cry babies too. And weak. Not really villianous, more like Silly. Victory Gundam had more characters but they did it right, I've honestly not seen another Gundam series with so many annoying characters.

To top it all off, the plot was horrible and got worse. Judau cross dressing in the harem episode was surely the low point. The animation is dated with lots of re-use. Sound is average. And despite Gundam being known for good music they couldn't even manage to squeeze in JUST ONE good song into the series, that's not asking for much, right???

So there's nothing there to really elevete or redeem this mess of an anime. I really wanted to like this and I gave it my best shot but let's just say by the time the anime ended I was relieved that it was over. If you don't have a lot of time to spare I would recommend watching some other Gundam Series and skipping this one.
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Gundam has always been a series I watch. I've always been drawn to the Mecha Genre, the newer series are usually awesome in sound/animation but that doesn't mean we shouldn't give a chance to the older ones. Luckily for me Victory Gundam was actually enjoyable (unlike Z or ZZ)

Story and Characters

Story wise, Victory Gundam follows the generic gundam story line. Young hero, happens to "fall" into piloting the "latest and greatest" suit. Gets conscripted into fighting for adults whether willingly or unwillingly. Grows up, finds his own reasons to fight/not fight which usually includes a love interest somewhere. Goes to space, comes back to earth, goes back to space and there is the inevitable big battle to end it all.

Victory Gundam succeeds for three reasons.

First - the character development is very well done. Unlike some heroes, Uso is actually both identifiable and likeable. The supporting cast of characters all have their own storyline and despite the fact that there are a lot of supporting characters somehow you grow to know (like or dislike) each and every one of them even the dog and baby. That's a smart dog. I want one just like him. Throw in a Haro too while you're at it. By the end of the series the baby is actually walking and starting to talk. How is that for true to life?

Second - This portrays war in a realistic manner. It isn't one of those gundam series where people escape death all the time in fact, if I were to give a tagline to this series it would be "In War People Die". I felt bad at 90% of the deaths and cried more than once. That is effective storytelling.

Third - although there was the slow part, the story really picked up in the last 5 episodes and I probably enjoyed those more than the preceding 46. The ability to surprise, move the viewer and entertain at the end is the mark of good anime.

Art/Animation

Very dated with a lot of frame reuse, so was ok for its time but compared to current anime it really shows its age. Nothing special here and one reason why I couldn't give this anime a higher score.

Sound

Pretty average OP/ED songs although Shakti's song was very catchy and the sad music really works. Sound effects were ok also.

Enjoyment

I only had 2 issues with this anime. First - Katejina (ugh!). Secondly, why is it in every Gundam Series the adults are all too willing to give their latest and greatest suit to some young, irresponsible fighter pilot ace? Ok the second reason is applicable to all gundam series but seriously if I were a captain I would NEVER let them pilot those suits until they were mature.

That being said, although it took some time to finish it I liked this a lot. Completionists should watch this series. read more

Story and Character

Paris Chapter is a direct sequel to Nodame Cantabile and picks up where the previous anime left off - with Nodame and Chiaki journeying to Paris to continue their musical education. Besides our two main protagonists a whole slew of new secondary characters are introduced.

You'd have to have a heart of stone not to enjoy the development of the relationship between Nodame and Chiaki. Parts were truly hilarious (episode 5-6), some bits were sad and others were "aah" moments that let you reflect on just how much both of them have grown as people. Their music has also evolved throughout this arc.

That being said, there are several weaknesses in the Paris Chapter. First of all, the series is TOO short to fully tell the story in all its glory. Paris Chapter could have been 24 episodes and still we would have wanted more. Because of the shortened length a lot of stuff felt compressed and there wasn't nearly enough plot, or music (we need MORE music) to satisfy me or most Nodame fans. *sigh*

Secondly, none of the secondary characters (fun though they are) quite GRABS you the way the secondary characters did in the original Nodame Cantabile. For example, there is no comic relief that comes even close to Timpanist Masumi Okuyama - I miss him so much! Also the developing romances between any secondary characters in Paris Chapter pales in comparison to the Mine - Kiyora Miki Violin Romance. As for Rui Son - what a wasted opportunity, another plot thread started that just seemed to fizzle into ???

Basically with a little more running time I believe the plot and character development would have been perfect. It only scores as high as it does because Nodame/Chiaki are a truly brilliant pairing.

Art/Animation

The art was very much in the style of Nodame Cantabile Season 1 so there is no incongruity. Paris is lovingly depicted - watching this anime brings me back to when I visited Paris, I could see some of the places I had been and it was easily recognizable. The animators got the "feel" of Paris close to perfect - I guess nothing can compare with the romance of actually being at the river side at night.

Sound

Great soundtrack and sound effects fitting with the anime - I doubt I'll be the only one wishing for more music. Episode 10 is definately the highlight music showcase wise. OP quite ordinary (disappointing really) but the ED is fantastic, one of the more catchy ones I've heard.

Enjoyment

Loved loved loved it. I laughed, cried and anxiously awaited every new episode. Would have been a masterpiece if it were just a little bit longer, enough to make up for some of the "hanging" developments. Still, this did a great job of whetting my appetite for Season 3, I need more Nodame! read more