Ah, screw it. I originally started to follow the subs because I couldn’t pick up all of the details with just the raws, but I’ve gotten impatient now. Besides, this episode wasn’t really that difficult.
But boy, what an episode the creators decided to end this series with. You can see that the creators put their last bits of creativity here in the direction. I really liked it, and I’d rank this as my third favourite ending this season (after White Album and Aoi Bungaku). It’s basically a follow-up to the cellphone kid episode, where this time we see that his father also has issues.
It’s hard to describe exactly what was so good about this episode, and I think it was a combination of many things that created its charms. The way this episode completely broke away from the formula that it had previously built up, the weird tantrum scenes of this doctor inside the toilet. I also liked the characterization of that doctor for some reason. He’s very much one of those dads who is a workaholic and neglects his family, but the personality this episode gave him was a bit more than most of these stereotypes. And really, that’s the thing with Kuchuu Buranko: its characters don’t try to be unique or multi-sided, and yet they’re entertaining because they’re so down to earth.
As for the Christmas episode, well, the creators indeed stuffed the Christmas party into the final minutes of this episode. The morals at the end of this episode were a bit cheesy, but it’s also interesting how well the creators really managed to summarize this show with just three words: nobody is perfect. That really is Kuchuu Buranko in a nutshell. Whether you’re a student, journalist, writer, doctor or famous baseball player, everyone has something that he doesn’t like. And sure, in Kuchuu Buranko they were very exaggerated, but the series also tended to be spot-on at times.
As for the next Noitamina-show, it’s going to be another Nodame Cantabile. Because I’m searching for eight shows that are going to be interesting to blog, there’s a really good chance that I’m going to end up covering it, however my big worry for it is Chiaki Kon. With a show like this one, will she really be able to match the brilliance of Kenichi Kasai’s first season, or will it just be another quirky romantic comedy that, while nice to watch, isn’t anything special?
Rating: ** (Excellent)
I’m actually hopeful for the new Nodame BECAUSE of the different director 😀 The first season may have been a good anime, but compared to the live-action adaptation made before it, it seriously sucked. And live-actions aren’t exactly Japan’s biggest strength. I’m guessing the ‘exceptional’ part came from the manga being brilliant and the anime adaptation being faithful to a fault to it (but so was the dorama).
Chiaki Kon already directed the second season, Nodame Cantabile:Paris, which I thought was inferior to the first one. Hopefully it won’t be the same this time.