Forum - View topicComparing the live action and anime versions of Nodame
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Steve Berry
Posts: 522 Location: San Francisco Bay Area, CA |
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Mods-- as this half of my earlier post doesn't really have anything to do with music, I figured I'd simply make a second thread and put that part of my post in the anime forum (versus the music one), as I'd prefer to discuss this aspect of the show here. Let me know if there are any issues with that.
*************** So, I've been watching Nodame (both anime and live action versions), and I've really been enjoying it. Very funny, great music, pretty good drama. I have to say though, so far, I really have preferred the live action version, which I'm surprised by, as I watched the anime first. The anime is funnier to me, but the l.a. version really seems to nail the drama, and I found the "performance" of the S-orchestra far more dynamic dramatically with it as well. I'm not really sure why though-- perhaps it's because the side-characters get more regular screen time and development? Mine's involvement in becoming a proper concert master (which isn't part of the anime) adds a certain something extra to the performance. Also, for instance, in the l.a. version, Nodame, Afro, and Mine all crash at Chiaki's house, and he ends up spending a lot more time with them on a personal level. All of them also all show up to go to the house of the girl who has to work part time (base celloist??)-- who also gets more screen time. I noticed, too, how at the end of the 1st performance he gives a "grudging" nod of thanks to Nodame, who responds happily. It's these sorts of moments and quick "additional appearances" of characters that adds a certain camaraderie that's missing in the anime version, where Chiaki always feels so separate from everyone else. Plus, lots of other characters like Eko sensei, the reporter for Classical World, Chiaki's ex, the school ?president? headmistress?, and the violinist who's the concert master for the A orchestra also get more screen time (generally a lot earlier) in the show. It makes the world Chiaki inhabits seem larger and more complex. Finally, I really liked how they brought the Stresseman plotline into the live action show from the very beginning-- more fully interweaving the character introduction and growth (anime eps 1-4 or so) with the beginning of the larger over-arching plot (anime eps 5-8). Both shows use about the same amount of time to cover the same basic plot points, but somehow, having almost all of the characters getting screen time from the very first ep allows one to get more attached to them more quickly. Is one version more closely adapted from the manga than the other? Has anyone else watched both versions of this show? I'm just interested in hearing some other opinions. Thanks. |
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velocet
Posts: 240 |
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I much, much prefer the LA version to the anime, on pretty much all levels. I enjoyed both, but I'm sorely tempted to save up for and import the Japanese R2s, and I'd never do that for the anime.
Though the anime version is closer to the manga in terms of plot, it didn't seem to add anything to the source material particularly apart from the inclusion of the music. I found the fact it used still frames a lot in performance scenes really detracted from the point of a series about the performance of classical music. In the manga you don't mind - it's a still medium - but in the anime it was a real let down. It's nice, but I get the same amount of enjoyment reading the manga while listening to a CD of the piece in question. (<-----geek moment) I was also pretty disappointed by Ayako Kawasumi and Tomokazu Seki's performances as Nodame and Chiaki. Seki is a bit hit and miss for me generally, and while I thought he was OK, Tamaki captured the gruffness Chiaki has that borders on downright rude much better. Kawasumi was just a bit too girly as Nodame for my tastes also. Nodame is a character that's portrayed as only a few levels above animals, and yet you've got this lovely girlish voice attempting to shriek nonsense phrases like 'GYABO!'? It just didn't work for me. Ueno has a deeper voice and is better at the frequent mumbling Nodame is prone to doing. The LA managed to capture the ridiculous elements and made them just as funny without seeming totally out of place (Masumi-chan in general is a good example of that...) and made the more delicate aspects of the series even more sublime. The fact that they hired foreigners as Viera-sensei and Kai Dun was a nice touch, though most fans of the manga seem to complain about the guy they cast as Stresseman, I LOVED him. Aside from the fact his weird appearance is a nod to a real Japanese conductor (I forget his name, but I've seen his face on CD covers) I thought his Gaijin-Japanese was amazingly funny. It's true that it's harder to take Stresseman's 'cool' moments seriously with that appearance, but for me Stresseman is predominantly a comic character, so I'm glad they portrayed him the way they did. I found the few bits and pieces that were changed for the sake of time (having Kiyora as a student there since the beginning) were very well done. I tend to be a bit stubborn when it comes to adaptations if it's a series I've adored as a manga first (as is the case with Nodame) but I liked all the changes made to the LA version, they were well thought out and kept continuity going. The only thing the anime does have that really blew me away was the OP and ED themes - Suemitsu's piano pop was really fitting in terms of the series' bright energy, and though it wasn't exactly great contextually speaking 'Konna ni Chikaku de...' is one of the best pop songs I've heard in absolutely ages. I usually can't stand Crystal Kay, but I love that song! I'm an absolute sucker for a catchy tune, and all 3 themes were great on that front, though Rhapsody in Blue and Beethoven's 7th are pretty darn catchy too... |
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Aylinn
 Posts: 1684 |
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It was like that in the anime because making scenes when someone plays for example on a piano takes a lot of effort and is as expensive as making good fighting scene. Showing animation of the orchestra all the time may have led the studio to bankruptcy. I don’t think hey could have done more with the budget of TV series. |
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velocet
Posts: 240 |
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This is absolutely true, and it probably wouldn't have bothered me as much, had the LA not been aired first, but when you've seen an adaptation using actors who've taken the time to learn instruments to the extent of being able to reasonably fake playing them and live orchestra performances, it still falls flat. Regardless, the producers knew what they were getting into when they pitched the series for funding for adaptation - it's not like the story just happened to be full of unanticipated and complicated fight scenes 6 volumes down the line, it's the entire basis of the series. If a studio picked up a sports manga for adaptation and then hardly animated any scenes of the actual sport being played, would people make such allowances for them? I realise that budget is a big factor when it comes to what studios can do; I was disappointed by the lack of animation in performance scenes, it wasn't my intention to suggest that I thought the studio were lazy with the animation, you do what you can with what you've got. I'm trained as an animator myself, I remember how much of a nightmare budgeting can be. However, the best thing about seeing an adaptation of a series you've enjoyed as a comic is that the characters move - when they don't meet that expectation, disappointment is inevitable. |
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Steve Berry
Posts: 522 Location: San Francisco Bay Area, CA |
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Oddly, I have to agree with velocet. I've liked any number of anime shows with limited animation-- Berserk comes directly to mind as an example-- because the story is so riveting anyways. But with Nodame, it's one of the first times I've really felt like the lack of fluid animation stunted the appropriate expression of emotion. I've been trying to identify what I've enjoyed so much about the l.a. performances (I'm now through ep 6), and part of it is simply that you're far better able to read their expressions and their forceful body movements during performances.
The l.a. peformance of Rhapsody in Blue, for example, was just, frankly, more lively-- more enchanting as Strezeman would say. And this isn't because I get to see the details of everyone's fingering on bow strings or what not-- a technique that the anime sometimes includes, which is nice, don't get me wrong, and I feel should somehow be more emotionally effective, but in the end doesn't really produce the same effect that I get in the l.a. version where what I really see is whole body movement-- swaying, violin bows thrusting, cellos spinnning, heads bopping, etc. and facial expressions. It's these sorts of things that draw me in to the performance. Also, you really get to see Mine shine there-- largely because his expression of true joy comes through. The anime performance oddly focuses more on Chiaki and Nodame-- which I say is odd only because she's in a big suit the whole time, and you can't really read her emotions. One of the things the anime does is that it focuses far more on the response of the crowd (partly a budgetary decision, I'm sure, but also a directorial decision) than it does on really drawing you in to the performance yourself, as a viewer. Re: the plot in the l.a. version-- I've been really impressed with how they've cut certain things-- the music festival where Chiaki conducts (or plays?) and the violinist is introduced, as well as Masume's piece that's played with Chiaki come to mind-- and yet they integrate all the essential pieces of event into the ongoing plot. Thus, more time gets to be spent on character development for Chiaki, as well as all of the supporting cast, and yet the plot still develops. I don't really feel like I'm missing anything. Oddly, I feel like I'm getting a bit more, even though the plot's been simplified. I do have to say though, that the l.a. show is playing to its strength-- which is the drama, and that the comedy aspect of the show (although still there) is much more restrained than the frequent laugh out loud moments I had watching the anime, imo. It's still funny, just not as funny as the anime. |
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Aylinn
Posts: 1684 |
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I understand this I just wanted to explain why it was made that way. I personally didn't mind the lack of animation in performances but maybe because I haven't seen l.a. |
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marie-antoinette
 Posts: 4136 Location: Ottawa, Canada |
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You definitely should watch the l.a., I completely agree that the performances are much better in it than in the anime (though later on they were able to animate things more). I just don't like sitting and watching a still picture.
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d.yaro
Posts: 528 |
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Um, for the anime the studio didn't absolutely cut corners all the time when depicting musicians. On the R2 DVD they show how they went about filming a pianist playing and rendering the pianist's hands into a digital image that was then subjected to a colour palette adjustment so that the sequence fit in with the anime.
As for Takenaka Naoto as Stressman in the dorama: Yes, he looked ridiculous in that stupid wig but in my books he pulled off the role very well. Actually, his acting was as ridiculous as the wig. Anyways, does anyone recall him in "Shall We Dance?" or as the teacher in "Swing Girls" who couldn't play the sax to save his life? And who played the star role in that movie but Ueno Juri. Go figure eh. |
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arkady
Posts: 74 |
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I watched a few episodes of the LA version and didn't really care for it. Yes, the orchestral scenes were more enjoyable, but animating them properly would have cost so much that I'm willing to overlook their relatively static presentation in the anime.
I suppose what bothered me about the LA show was that so much of the humor of NC was rather slapstick and "cartoonish" to begin with, and didn't translate well to the literalism of the live medium. Watching Chiaki belt Nodame around while she yells "Gyabooooo!," for example, is funny when it's done by animated characters, but pretty distasteful when it's happening in a live medium. Sometimes doing a live-action version of a manga and/or anime works, but this time it didn't, at least for me.
When I saw how they'd done Stresemann in the LA version was when I finally stopped watching. Sorry, but Franz von Stresemann is a middle-aged, neatly-groomed oddball German, and how the producers thought they could get away with making him a blustering elderly Japanese in a blonde hippie wig is beyond me. Granted, finding a middle-aged German actor who could speak fluent Japanese for the role would probably have been pretty difficult, but then that's the sort of thing that argues against a LA version in the first place. Nodame Cantabile is a great story that was conceived as a manga, with all the latitiude that that medium allows, and its translation to the anime form was as smooth as the budget (which should have been a lot larger) would permit. But for me, it just didn't work as a live-action drama. |
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marie-antoinette
Posts: 4136 Location: Ottawa, Canada |
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Interestingly, I think translating the humor was one of the best parts of the LA, because they really showed that these "cartoonish" aspects could be done in a live medium. Also, saying that the violence is distasteful in one and funny in another probably says a lot about people in general, considering it was the same violence (in fact, I believe the LA actually toned scenes down a bit from the original). |
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Steve Berry
Posts: 522 Location: San Francisco Bay Area, CA |
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Well, I marathoned the l.a. version to the end yesterday. Personally, I loved it, and cried buckets at the end. I'm apologizing ahead of time for such a long post, but there's just so much to say.
*Comedy* I can see where Arkady is coming from though-- if I was to ding this show for one thing, it's the humor. I _did_ often find it funny, and their use of a dummy to allow them to throw people around hit the funny bone in me-- but somehow the smacking and bonking and chopping of Nodame never really came off funny for me, whereas it did in the anime. I noticed that they toned this down as the show went on. I felt the same re: Chiaki's "eyes rolled up, I can't deal with this situation" comic reaction. It just never struck me as that funny. Still, the show _was_ funny to me-- although either it improved comically as the show continued, or I sunk further in to the type of comedy it was offering. Hard to say. Also, I thought that having Stresseman be a wacky Japanese guy was a bit of a stretch as well-- obviously they did what they had to do to get the show made, but it would have been nice to have a real foreigner play the part. *Ensemble Performances* But really, to me, those two things were side notes, and considering how much I loved the show, if those were the bumps in the road that were necessary for it get made, so be it. The fact that the l.a. nodame actually made me tear up more than once during different musical performances just said a lot to me. The anime, imo, features more music, more performances and labeled pieces-- which is really nice, I loved that--, but the live action version simply made me care a lot more about the performances they gave me. They had real drama to them, in part because the la version of Nodame is really more of an ensemble than the anime. I liked that fact, because it made the show more representative of what an Orchestra truly is-- the ultimate ensemble in many ways. In order to get me to care about the entirety of the performance, they had to get me to care about alot of the different people in the orchestra- and that worked. This was something that was missing for me in the anime, which focused much more solely on Chiaki and Nodame. *Re: Limited Animation* As for the animation in the anime-- you know, it hadn't really "bothered" me until I saw the performances in the live action version. As before, I don't normally mind limited animation-- this was just a situation where I thought greater full-body movement and facial expression was essential to understanding the drama occuring during the performances. Also, I did mention the wonderful attention payed to the hands of performers in the anime-- although it only occurs in a limited fashion. In the end though, the animated hands just didn't give me the same emotional and dramatic oomph that I got from watching the body and faces of the actors in the la version. In the la version, I really feel all of the passion of the performers, and that goes a long way for me as a viewer. *Final Performance* And man! that final performance-- it was just so..... so triumphant. There was just a powerful feeling of mixed sadness and real joy coming from it. Watching their faces-- straining so hard, almost crying, and yet happy too. Phew. As if it were real-- that they were truly feeling those things because making the show was special for them, or some such thing. It didn't feel like acting almost. I dunno. Gets me just thinking about it. The acting by the guy who played Chiaki, btw, in this last performance was utterly amazing-- you can see the utter commitment to the music and to the members of the orchestra in his face, the gratitude. That was something to watch. Still, I did like both versions a lot. The l.a. version simply moved me more-- both dramatically and romantically. I really liked a lot of the changes they made for it too-- cutting the music festival, Masume's drum performance, and the trip to Chiaki's parents (but keeping all the main plot points), introducing characters sooner, keeping Stresseman in the show here and there in the later eps to highlight Nodame's situation, and most importantly having Chiaki spoiler[have his "moment" with Nodame] before the final performance. I thought that choice was genius. It truly makes the performance a finale, rather than having things sorta drag on a bit after it. I also liked a lot of what they added-- more scenes with Eto-sensei, and others such as Stresseman and Mine, that really re-inforce the romantic relationship between Chiaki and Nodame. All in all, I'd highly recommend it. It had it's issues, I agree, but in the end, despite them, it simply moved me more than the anime did; I cared about the characters more-- and that's the experience that I what I watch stuff for. |
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kevn57
 Posts: 5 Location: Akihabara@DEEP |
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I really liked both with a slight nod to the LA, but the manga most of all, for other fans of the LA, you have something to look forward to. I thought Ueno Juri was just terrific as Nodame.
The special covers the European arc of the manga, picking up where the LA left off. |
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marie-antoinette
Posts: 4136 Location: Ottawa, Canada |
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I am so SO excited that they are going to cover the Paris arc with a live-action special. I've been hoping that they would ever since I found out there was a Paris arc (I am still very behind in my manga reading, alas).
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