Japanese title: のだめカンタービレ 新春スペシャル ＩＮ ヨーロッパ
Number of episodes: 2
Some info:
1) D-Addicts Wiki
2) Official Site (Japanese)
The highly anticipated SPs for the popular drama series. Perhaps it’s because of the high anticipation (and probably expectation as well) that I found these 2 SPs were less enjoyable than the original drama series. But of course, it’s still a nice watch! Just that it isn’t as good as I thought it’d be.
Anyway, each of the SP lasts about 2 hours, which is almost the duration of 3 normal drama episodes. So technically, these 2 SPs add up to more than half a normal Jap drama series. Lol. Yeah, it’s definitely a treat to all the viewers and fans. =D
As you may (or may not) know, this time, the story takes place in Europe. Chiaki wants to develop his career and reputation as a conductor, while Nodame attends a music school in Paris. Somehow, the fun level isn’t as high anymore, with things seemingly become more “serious” and all. Perhaps they can’t act too crazy in a foreign country eh? =P On another note, the duration of 2 hours for each episode might be a little too long for a show of this genre.
Similar to its series counterpart, there is no lack of classical music being used in the show. After all, conductors do need to conduct certain pieces in competitions right? If not it won’t be a competition anymore =P Anyhow, the music’s quite nice, especially when an orchestra’s performing those nice pieces. =D Certainly one of the salient points of this show that must never be left out. =)
The SPs also made a point to make the foreigners speak in Japanese so that they need subtitle (jap) 3/4 of the conversations. Well, it sure gives the manga/anime feel where somehow everyone is able to communicate in Japanese (at least most of the time). Haha. Anyway, as for the cast, some of them who play foreigners in the SPs are actually of Japanese blood (though may be mixed etc). Others are really foreigners and they seem to be in 2 different groups. The first group appear to be able to speak Jap (at least it looks like they’re speaking Jap) and the other is quite obviously dubbed over. Haha, seeing the dubbed parts sometimes is really a weird feeling. There’s something about dubbing that makes me a little uneasy till this very day. =X
Overall, it’s quite nice to see this Nodame character again though I didn’t find this as awesome as I did when I watched the series. Those who haven’t watched the series should probably start on that first =)
[...] special is the continuation of the Nodame Cantabile JDrama, and has two episodes. Previously, Jia Hao has done a review on the special. The two episodes are 2 hours each, and they are continuous [...]