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Three words are enough to introduce Nodame Cantabile: lovely, passionate, and inspiring.

This beautiful musical rom-com manga follows the life of the arrogant musical genius Chiaki Shinichi as he weaves through the music conservatory he is enrolled in. A bump in the road caused him to meet Noda Megumi or “Nodame” and this energetic weirdo just nonchalantly drags him into many life-changing moments he will never experience if ever they didn’t meet.

You may ask “why would I even dare to read a musical manga?” Of course this already has one excellent anime adaptation and two sequels to it, so it is wise to just go for ... the anime, no?

But do not let your expectations of dullness from this silent musical story take over. For a black and white manga, it is very full of color – full of emotions and candid moments. In funny times, in sad times, and especially in all musical performances, you can feel the emotions the characters have in every panel as if shot by a professional photographer. There is no exaggeration in labeling Nodame Cantabile more of a photo album than a manga.

The story of Nodame Cantabile is nothing but respectable. You have two college students struggling their way, meeting and parting with friends, and deepening their relationship as they hit many walls. It is a very relatable story revolving on timely struggles faced by people uncertain of their future. The story is handle with utmost care and respect, it never feels senseless; everything is just worth following. Even with such a mature story, Nodame Cantabile manages to be light-hearted and hilarious without ever making things just a bit awkward for the story.

Nodame and Chiaki is, hands down, the best couple out of all the animanga pair-ups I know. Chiaki’s perfectionist and Nodame’s devil-may-care attitude constantly in conflict sparks the growth of the two as individuals and as a couple. Slowly one learns and accepts things from the other while still being their true selves. They begin to rely more on each other but still remaining to be very strong and independent people. These changes also aid them in slowly coming into terms with the real dilemmas in life.

The supporting cast are a treat, too. From Tokyo to Paris, they meet a variety of interesting people challenging or just wanting to have fun with them. They get ample amount of panel and development that makes them really relatable.

This series is an emotional roller coaster for me. Hilarious most of the time, heartbreaking at the right moments, lovely every time, and inspiring all throughout. Nodame Cantabile transcends the traditional “achieve your dreams” story while remaining a sense of realism to be believable. The story is very dear to me, as someone who faces more or less the same problems as the characters had. I never let fictional stories influence my way of life, but I will gladly make an exemption for this one.

Even with all the great things about this series, it is very hard to recommend to others. The story is basically about people living their everyday lives and eventually facing the biggest turning point of their career – and that’s about it. It’s even more about Nodame and Chiaki’s growth as persons and how they need each other, and the romance between them is more or less an end result of this development. But the goal is never the true purpose of this manga, but the journey – the journey of accepting and enduring all odds whatever life throws at us and still having a positive outlook in life.

Take your time to read or watch Nodame Cantabile. The plot and characters are great, but what really matters is the passion it shows. It’s genuine and pure; a very honest series.

One Piece has always been known for its festive atmosphere, its wacky characters and the strong bonds that tie the main cast, the Straw Hats, together: the bonds of "nakama." Even in all of its non-canon OVAs and movies, these qualities are present and what mold the story in every title belonging to the franchise. There is one movie however that flips over these elements. Yes, I hated and never enjoyed this movie the first time I watched it just because it was not the typical One Piece and I felt stressed about the events in it. It took me courage just to rewatch it ... and appreciate what it tried to show. And I will simply declare that this sixth movie is gloomy, unpleasant and horrifying.

(MINOR SPOILERS)

Directed by Mamoru Hosoda (The Girl Who Leapt Through Time), Baron Omatsuri and the Secret Island tells the story of the Straw Hats' sidetrack visit to a vacation island owned by Baron Omatsuri, where it offers many great pleasures, good for relaxing from a grand journey. There is a catch, and that is they have to overcome the challenges given by the Baron to experience these pleasures. As Luffy and his crew continue to compete in these challenges, slowly they discover the dark secrets of the Baron and the island and while this happens, the crew's relationship gradually fall apart which makes them more vulnerable to the incoming adversities.

Just from the early minutes of the movie it is very obvious that the animation style is different. For first time viewers it looks weird with the evident dull coloring, lack of variety of shading and dimension and whatnot in contrast to the anime series' bright visuals. It still has the silly character designs for the non-Straw Hats, except for a few which resulted in some of the most frightening images associated with the entire franchise. For those familiar with Hosoda's other works, it is easy to get used to and you may even notice some angles or shots unique to him. Either way, the visuals work well with what the movie tries to do: a more serious approach on One Piece. Watch as the dull colors eat away at least one-third of the film's duration and you will feel the heavy atmosphere taking over what lightheartedness you know about One Piece.

The only complaint I have is the CGI. Most of the time, they do not mesh well with this movie's 2D animation. The film swapped the series' time-tested background art with full CGI (imagine a CG tropical island/forest as the setting). And it happens at the early stages of the movie which can only increase the possible disgust the audience has for the animation style alone.

Despite how much I said it gets heavier as it progresses, the early minutes exudes with the typical One Piece slapstick humor. Character introductions are being done by this point to help us again familiarize the Straw Hats. But as the conflict slowly arises, all that energy fades away too little by little. The story is also not the same for other OP titles, with one example in which the main cast does not approach the conflict but instead the conflict approaches the main cast.

Unlike other OP titles, the story moves because of the characters, not because the plot demands so. And thanks to the animation style, the storytelling is greatly enhanced. It adds mystery to the narrative that fits perfectly and just flows naturally. And with mystery comes the plot twists. They may not be among the best, but these twists were properly built upon with the few hints thrown throughout the entire duration of the film that makes the biggest reveal satisfying.

As I said earlier, this movie flips over some One Piece elements, and one of them is the friendship theme. The movie adds several possibilities to the Straw Hats' relationship concerning their situation in the film (when experiencing great, unexpected pressure), that there are times fights occur despite how strong the bond is forged, and trust can be hard to build again when these bonds are shattered.

The common criticism the movie gets is how the Straw Hats are out of character thanks to how they are portrayed. I have to disagree with that. The movie thinks like “how would we react to each of the Straw Hats' personalities in real life?” or along those lines.

*SPOILER*
The best example would be the comical Nami-Usopp relationship. Aside from being greedy, canon Nami can be bold but bossy. And canon Usopp, despite being a liar, is frank about other people's negative points. Now what would happen if these two personalities clashed in a realistic way, minus all the comedy and fun attached to it?
*END OF SPOILER*

What I am trying to say is the movie only adds a new perspective to their character, not completely destroying it. These new perspectives really give you a feeling that this crew may be just one step away from disbanding.

There are other things to look out for. If you have been watching this the intended order, you get to see one of the earliest moments Luffy's leadership being challenged by his crew. As for the villain, Baron Omatsuri is the typical bitter villain who wishes for others to suffer the same fate as him, but the way the movie presents his characters makes him an interesting one. Once you've learned of his anguish, you can't help but feel sorry for him. But don't expect too much from Robin, since her character was still a mystery when this was released (during Water 7 arc).

And all the uncomfortable atmosphere that surrounds the movie are accompanied by timely-placed soundtracks. Those familiar with the anime series will recognize few soundtracks from it. Despite that, it is not short of movie-originals. It is also worth discussing is how the movie can have minutes of full silence. The mute scenes grab your attention easily and can make you really nervous about how will the next event unfold.

Final thoughts and recommendation:
This movie is clearly far from being a masterpiece. But to blast it just because it's not the usual One Piece is unfair. Movie 6 clearly accomplished something and that is worth crediting. So, do I recommend this to everyone? For the newcomers, whether you plan to catch up or not, wait until you've finished Skypiea arc. For the longtime fans who missed this, just readjust your One Piece knowledge back to how things were during Water 7 arc. Not really leaning to it as a stand-alone, but those not following One Piece but has little knowledge about it are free to watch.

As always, thank you for reading this review until the end.

Caution: the romance tag is a sham. If you're attracted to deep, provocative and intimate romance manga, this is not for you. However, considering that those said attractions end up being repetitive or disappointing (not that I have read even at least five titles to say that), why not give this one your precious time? After all, it might be just the one to ease your stress from all those never-ending, chock-full tropes in a story.

Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun (I'll refer to it as GSNK onward) is a 4-koma manga that features our tragic (?) heroine Chiyo Sakura on a struggle to let her true feelings ... be known to our resident normal student/secret mangaka Umetarou Nozaki, only to be mistaken as one of his fans and ultimately made as one of his assistants in his currently running shoujo manga series (which is downright awful, in my opinion). Can Sakura get out of this predicament?

Honestly, there is no way out.

In its truest form, GSNK is an episodic parody series that mainly references many shoujo manga archetypes and somehow turns it around to create funny situations by blending in many of the series' running gags. Like I said, romance is almost non-existent and it's mostly laughs and giggles you'll get. The plot develops in an odd way, but worry not because the manga never presses on that matter so much. Have the right mindset in approaching this and surely you won’t be disappointed.

If you've come to known the series' running gags, sometimes you can see the punch line miles away. That is not to say it ends up dull and corny, but rather emphasizes its consistency with the jokes it has for the characters, since most running gags are some of the characters' stupidity. Honestly, the sheer amount of entertainment you get from this series is vast it makes up for that minor problem.

Being a 4-koma, the art comes out very limited and simple. Rarely do we get to see well-drawn scenery and instead only characters talking about random things. Then again, it's not very dialogue heavy unlike what you would normally expect from something with a comedy tag. Each page provides a very light reading experience as their jokes come off usually straight to the point. And you have to thank our wonderful cast for providing hilarious exchanges that just can't help but to tickle our sides.

Every character here is an oddball and a dense, dumb idiot, literally. In other series those are enough reasons to hate them, but in GSNK you need to be like those to be the most appealing. Not to say they're the most original, but they follow archetypes you commonly see in shoujo manga (with a twist) that enhance and highlight the hilarity it tries to achieve. If you've come to know them, just seeing their faces are enough to know that they're up to something not good again. Oh, and the mangaka likes to ship tease its characters a lot.

I think the benefit of being a comedy series, when done correctly, is that it can become timeless; while GSNK does not try to be one, it unconsciously develops into one. What I'm trying to say is there is nothing that this manga is trying to prove. It's not thematic, sensational or intelligent/witty. If anything, it sticks to the idea of what reading should be first: entertaining. Thankful I am that there is a manga that's just chilling the heck out and still providing us a great time to spend. I don't mind if this publication goes on forever; actually I'll be so glad if it ever does.

Now, if you're looking for some light, innocent comedy series kindly check this one out. I won't guarantee it will hook you in an instant, but give the series your time and a proper approach and surely this will be a worthwhile sidetrack reading.

Thank you for reading this review. Now hurry up, lock yourself in a room, read the manga and let it fix that frown on your face.