bmwracer wrote:

Any benefit always has a downside.

Behind every silver lining is a cloud...

thtl wrote:

Behind every silver lining is a cloud...

LOL, yes.

Well...well...and finally I got infected with the Nodame virus too (curse you jdorama )

OMG...this drama is so great!
(the only downside for me is when they try to speak German especially Stresemanns manager is so terrible...or as Chiaki would put it "sloppy"- but he is surprisingly good. And "Milch Holstein" does not simply mean cow milk, dammit:banghead:)
I just wished Chiaki would stop hitting Nodame...can't he see that this makes her just more silly than before? Bad Chiaki...(and I would not have thrown her out of my bed either...hehe)

Nodameeee-chaaaaan! (one of my favourite scenes so far )

I think the hitting is played off rather well by her expressions, such as "Gyabo!", turning it more into slapstick comedy. Truthfully, I found it funny almost every time. The only times the hitting wasn't funny was when it wasn't Chiaki, say Eto-sensei and her old piano teacher. However, those times weren't in comic light.

We all wouldn't though Juri out of our bed
Gotta keep in mind that Nodame is very smelly unkempt girl so that's probably one of the reasons Chiaki would avoid her.

Okay...the comical elements. But for some reason I still don't find it that funny. But I guess it's a personal thing...^^/

Well, I was keeping all that in mind when I was explicitly writing Nodame and not Juri;) (hm, of course I would not push her styled and kempt "normal self" away either)
You know "birds of a feather" or however the saying goes... you should see my room (but at least I wash myself every day and still find my bed )

daiango wrote:

I just wished Chiaki would stop hitting Nodame...

I think people are taking the slapstick way too seriously... If this were serious drama, then restraining orders, the police, and jail time are all warranted, but this is comedy, folks...

And I'll take it over a weep-fest any day of the week.

bmwracer wrote:

I think people are taking the slapstick way too seriously... And I'll take it over a weep-fest any day of the week.

As I wrote just at the same time...it's a personal thing it seems. And some short scene of Chiaki in a cell would not be that...hm, now I miss the right word...one could think of it as slapstick too, if he would get arrested out of nothing for hitting Nodame lol

I like my weep-fests
*goes back to Kamisama, mou sukoshi dake*...just joking (even though I like that drama for some mysterious reason)

daiango wrote:

As I wrote just at the same time...it's a personal thing it seems. And some short scene of Chiaki in a cell would not be that...hm, now I miss the right word...one could think of it as slapstick too, if he would get arrested out of nothing for hitting Nodame lol

Yeah, it's a personal preference... But the slapstick is a rather small part of it...

If you look beyond that, the story between those two and how they make each other better is wonderful... And I can't say enough about the music... Well chosen and performed beautifully... Terrific.

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I like my weep-fests

I can't deal with those type of dramas... I wanna come home and be entertained and have a smile put on my face, not get dragged through emotional mud.

bmwracer wrote:

I can't deal with those type of dramas... I wanna come home and be entertained and have a smile put on my face, not get dragged through emotional mud.

Good for you... and bad for me that somehow I have a rather melancholic temper and am still drawn to these type of drama (no, this surely is *not* healthy)
So somehow I like emotional mud:puppydog:

I know it's just a small part...
Hm, thought about it...and I think I can make it a bit more objective: One thing that bothered me about the "slapstick" scenes is that they exaggerate for a good part the behaviour that Chiaki has at the beginning. Like when he hits Nodame, as she plays sloppy at their duet(or whatever it is called then). As the story develops he realizes that the behaviour is noit right (bad sentence and stating the obvious, sorry), especially after this scene, when he watches Nodame favourite movie...and OMG, Chiaki realizes that he is just like the bully there. But still he does not change in the "slapstick" aspect even as he does change in the "normal" story.
Sorry if this is confusing...I am very very tired today

But hell yeah, the music is just great

atskv9 wrote:

I think the hitting is played off rather well by her expressions, such as "Gyabo!", turning it more into slapstick comedy. Truthfully, I found it funny almost every time.

So did I... I guess you have to like the Three Stooges or that comedic style from ages ago...

Some people see it as violence as a means to an end, so they don't like it.

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The only times the hitting wasn't funny was when it wasn't Chiaki, say Eto-sensei and her old piano teacher. However, those times weren't in comic light.

Even that was an exaggeration of the style that's part of manga, wasn't it?

daiango wrote:

But still he does not change in the "slapstick" aspect even as he does change in the "normal" story.

Ah, that is true... And he does continue this behavior in the Special... All for comic effect.

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But hell yeah, the music is just great

Yup... I listened to the OST and watched the series so much I now refer to Beethoven's Symphony #7 as Nodame's Theme...

bmwracer wrote:

Yeah, it's a personal preference... But the slapstick is a rather small part of it... If you look beyond that, the story between those two and how they make each other better is wonderful... And I can't say enough about the music... Well chosen and performed beautifully... Terrific.

Exactly

bmwracer wrote:

Even that was an exaggeration of the style that's part of manga, wasn't it?

I wish I could say but I haven't read the manga. I'm not a manga reader anyway. More of a visual type of guy.

atskv9 wrote:

I wish I could say but I haven't read the manga. I'm not a manga reader anyway. More of a visual type of guy.

Same here... The only comics I've ever read are from Marvel.

I've watched a couple of the anime episodes of Nodame, but it just doesn't compare.

bmwracer wrote:

Some people see it as violence as a means to an end, so they don't like it.

Well, I rather see it as senseless violence, especially if it is not even in line with the story anymore. But enough of that...I'm not here to argue after all.
BTW: I always thought (most) manga are very visual already...especially compared to western comics with all their descriptive texts of stuff you see anyway. Historically manga seems to have been rather influenced by movies than literature so this might be an explanation...

Since we're going into that off-topic realm, I've always found that manga had a better ability to tell a story versus the Western graphic novels, mostly due to the fact that the Japanese have adopted it as a form that goes beyond entertainment and more into the equivalent of the 300-page novels you find.

With that said...yea, after watching live-action Nodame, it's hard to look at the manga or the anime the same (I can say the same about PGSM, it was actually my favorite telling of that universe!).

daiango wrote:

Well, I rather see it as senseless violence, especially if it is not even in line with the story anymore. But enough of that...I'm not here to argue after all.

It is sorta senseless, but like I said it's for comic effect as the characters rebound rather quickly... Prime example is when Chiaki clangs Nodame with a frying pan and she rebounds instantly and continues talking as if nothing happened...

Now some manga are pretty violent in their content, even though it's static (not animated)... Is that justifiable over the playful bonking in Nodame?

Not trying to argue, but just trying to understand the differences...

Tenshigure wrote:

With that said...yea, after watching live-action Nodame, it's hard to look at the manga or the anime the same (I can say the same about PGSM, it was actually my favorite telling of that universe!).

I've only browsed through a few of the manga and anime for Nodame and they just don't appear as dynamic as the live action... Unusual, because I like the style of anime and movies like Mononoke Hime (Princess Mononoke) have a great style and flow to them...

I guess it shows that the direction and writing for Nodame is very very good... And why the director won an award.

bmwracer wrote:

It is sorta senseless, but like I said it's for comic effect as the characters rebound rather quickly... Prime example is when Chiaki clangs Nodame with a frying pan and she rebounds instantly and continues talking as if nothing happened... Now some manga are pretty violent in their content, even though it's static (not animated)... Is that justifiable over the playful bonking in Nodame? Not trying to argue, but just trying to understand the differences...

I know I know...and some of the slapstick stuff was actually something I laughed about... but it was more Masumi-chan (or whatever his name is...college papers eat my brain currently...sorry) and the sub story with Sakura.

The second part: Haha, now you try to give me a hard time, right? Well, as we already saw: It's a personal problem (no, I won't point out at my bad childhood or something like that...simply because that is my own business *acts like a dorama character*) To me it is not a matter of "justifiable" in all cases. But let's take another drama I like very much (understatement²): LIFE...not really something to make you laugh (but I did not cry either so far...maybe I just held myself back lol). I would say it is dark, depressing and...oh, has some violent scenes (psychologically and physically)...but, these are there to make a point about something( mostly that such things actually exist and what it tells about the characters). And OMG there is even something like a message. So, I would say in this case it's "justifiable". Violence per se is no fun ( to me at least)...and such scenes can be done for good or bad ( to actually say something, create excitement...or make you laugh - no, I won't make groups, what is good or bad....and... I seem to loose the point right now, but as my former typing seems to me not totally nonsense I will not delete it all

But if you like to hear that: The playful bonking without consequences is better...

daiango wrote:

I know I know...and some of the slapstick stuff was actually something I laughed about... but it was more Masumi-chan (or whatever his name is...college papers eat my brain currently...sorry) and the sub story with Sakura.

Ack, Masumi-chan... One of the very few things I didn't particularly like about the drama: it stereotypes gays as being abnormal in dress and personality... But it's for comic effect (again), so I can't complain too much.

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The second part: Haha, now you try to give me a hard time, right? Well, as we already saw: It's a personal problem (no, I won't point out at my bad childhood or something like that...simply because that is my own business *acts like a dorama character*) To me it is not a matter of "justifiable" in all cases. But let's take another drama I like very much (understatement²): LIFE...not really something to make you laugh (but I did not cry either so far...maybe I just held myself back lol). I would say it is dark, depressing and...oh, has some violent scenes (psychologically and physically)...but, these are there to make a point about something( mostly that such things actually exist and what it tells about the characters). And OMG there is even something like a message. So, I would say in this case it's "justifiable". Violence per se is no fun ( to me at least)...and such scenes can be done for good or bad ( to actually say something, create excitement...or make you laugh - no, I won't make groups, what is good or bad....and... I seem to loose the point right now, but as my former typing seems to me not totally nonsense I will not delete it all

I gotcha.

Past experiences would/could make those scenes sorta traumatic in some way...

bmwracer wrote:

I gotcha. Past experiences would/could make those scenes sorta traumatic in some way...

Yes, but then the "if I lie [and break this promise] I will be made to swallow 1000 needles" saying taken serious - *very* serious- by Manami in LIFE was more traumatic for me then Nodame being hit with a frying pan ( but the choking scene after she messed a bit with Chiakis PC was) - not to mention other sick stuff Manami is doing to a "former friend"

But, hey, my brain is not in a good condition after being forced to write a paper about Richard Wagner all day... I won't listen to his operas for quite a long time, when I am finally done with this stuff.


Well, Masumi-chan is *so* "gay" that he is not really gay anymore...but that it is slapstick and can't be anything else. I would not say he is abnormal..it is overdone, yes...but not really abnormal. The only problem I could find is that there seem to be no "normal" gay people in Japanese media (at least in what I watch/read) They all tend to be a overdone stereotype. But I still find him funny...despite having gay friends (who btw would NEVER behave like that lol)