Random Musings – Nodame All-Stars Edition

A few news items and updates – which you may or may not have already heard about – on this first day of December.

  • One of my friends has been watching the super-popular Nodame Cantabile drama and was so thrilled about it that he got me interested in the series. For those of you unfamiliar with Nodame Cantabile, it is a series about a guy who aspires to be a conductor and the free-spirited, piano-playing girl who attaches herself to him. I haven’t seen the drama yet, but I did pick up and read some six volumes of the manga, and I really enjoyed it. I’m planning to watch the drama once I get a chance sometime next month during winter break, but more exciting to me (for now) is the upcoming anime version. The reason is because of the strength of the cast and staff that were announced. They include Kawasumi Ayako voicing Nodame, Seki Tomokazu voicing Chiaki, and Noto Mamiko voicing Sakura. On top of that, it’s being animated by J.C.STAFF and directed by Kasai Kenichi (aka. the director of Honey and Clover). This being a music-oriented series, I’m most interested in hearing the quality of the classical pieces they include and how they use them in the show. And since I like the manga so much, this has quickly become my number one anticipated series for the winter 2007 season. The anime version of Nodame Cantabile will air Thursdays starting January 11th on Fuji TV’s Noitamina block.
  • Many of you who have seen the Death Note live-action movies have seen the actor who plays L, Matsuyama Ken’ichi. Well, Mainichi Shimbun reported yesterday that he will be voicing a role in the anime version of Death Note (as the Shinigami Jealous) and will be also getting a spin-off L movie set to be released in 2008. At the rate they’re going, Jealous should appear in the anime in a month or two.
  • I’ve got the song God Knows… from Suzumiya Haruhi stuck in my head again thanks to this video on YouTube of KURIKINTON FOX playing the song. It sounds really good to me, but I’ll also be the first to admit that I’m not that musically inclined.