Our beloved main protagonists.

Nodame Cantabile Pari-hen, the second season of the outstanding Anime of The Year 2007, Nodame Cantabile, has arrived in this blog. Can this anime repeat the performance of its illustrious predecessor who managed to beat off the challenge of many anime series to keep the Anime of the Year 2007 award? Or can it even unseat the current incumbent for 2008 version, Wolf and Spice? Read on to find out what will happen.

What an excellent stereotyping!

Story:-
Continuing from the end of first season, our main protagonist now has moved to Paris, France as Nodame continued her study at a conservatory while Chiaki is entering a conducting competition. Meanwhile, we will be able to see the whirling relationship between the protagonists taken even further as they juggle between their heavy commitments and relationship.

One of the first things that concern me about this anime is that it only has 11 episodes, and my biggest fear was confirmed 10 minutes into the first episode of Pari-Hen. Unlike the first season, the second season has hurried presentation and pacing that is so fast, you're thinking that you are watching that Evangelion movie. My heart sinks when 3 volumes of manga materials were covered in a mere 2 episodes (if this anime is Naruto, you will see 50 episodes WITHOUT FILLERS just to cover the same material). While the pacing slowed down considerably in the second half of the anime, the damage has been done, and Wolf and Spice will still keep the Anime of the Year 2008 title.

The story by itself is excellent, although it has more alterations compared to the first season's adaptation of the manga. More minor scenes have been omitted, but the major plots are still there and largely untouched. Pity about the pacing though, and maybe the omissions and alterations (mostly the former) is what made the flow of the story being paced so fast? The ending is very well done too, probably done even better than the first season and managed to prepare the series for the next season.

Excellent character development is another thing that the second season has managed to retain from the first, although the horrid pacing tried to ruin this for the new characters. The new characters are interesting in their own right, especially with some of the dwellers in the apartment that Nodame and Chiaki shared.

I will still look forward to the new season, and I hope it will have more episodes so that the mistakes with pacing can be eliminated.

Some of the funny scenes in the anime.

Character Design:-
Basically, there are no changes from the first season. Change is not always good, despite what a certain black president wants you to believe, and this is definitely a positive point for this anime. New characters (and old too) are created wonderfully.

Nodame and on her the faces she made in the course of the anime.

Voice Acting:-
There are also no changes from the first excellent season. In fact, I think Nodame has improved, especially with her attempts to learn French and also when she does her 'Chiaki's wife' impersonations. Ayako Kawasumi is truly brilliant in this anime, just like she does in the first season. Of course, Chiaki is still his usual self while Tanya also has done very well.

The flowery scene that are used to describe classical music performances are still here, and are very helpful to explain the context and mood of any given performance.

Music:-
The second season has regressed a little from the first in this aspect. While this anime has good OST and ED theme, the same thing cannot be said about the OP theme. As usual, the classical pieces are pleasant to listen to, adapting perfectly to the storyline instead of being the storyline (looking at you Macross 7).

The fluid animations is still there…

Animation/Direction:-
Watching this anime in HD is truly a pleasant experience; the animation is fluid and smooth. There are no fast-paced scenes (ironic considering that the story is fast-paced) and choreography for this slice-of-life romantic comedy is non-existant. The directing failed for the aforementioned pacing problems above, but has done everything else well.

…although playing violin without the bow touching the string is somewhat not very logical do you think?

Conclusion:-
8 out of 10. The pacing problem kills this anime's chances of reaching the same height that was attained by its predecessor. I hope this series don't pull a Macross (remember, the first installment get a perfect score, then the second one has slightly lower score before tanking in the third installment) and hope that the third season improves with more episode count and more Nodame! Blassreiter will come next!

My car has the same surname as our main protagonist is.