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I really enjoyed “Nodame Cantabile” when it first aired – I watched both the live action version as well as the anime version and I guess the combination of a light-hearted comedy/love story and classical music setting was something that worked for me. Well, maybe that’s an understatement.

I haven’t watched a new anime in a long while so I’m actually very impressed by the animation and general look of the show so far. I’m not actually sure if it is relatively better than other anime currently airing, however. The show delivered……

I’ll start off this post with a link and video. When I really enjoy a film or series, and I also happen to enjoy the music and/or identify it strongly with the work in question, I typically feel compelled to write sheet music for it. Maison Ikkoku is certainly no exception. So here is some sheet music for a piano arrangement of “Kanashimi yo Konnichiwa”.

http://omohide.com/theowne_maison_ikkoku.pdf

And here is a video of myself playing the piece:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0n2gLBJInw

Now, let’s continue on to the general music review. Maison Ikkoku is an older series, so the music may sound a bit outdated at times. For example, there are several string pieces that I think are quite good compositions but the older recording gives them a somewhat harsh quality. But the melodies retain a…..

I will soon write a full review of the series (and its music). This post is more or less just my reaction to finishing the series. It will contain slight spoilers. My full review, however, will not contain spoilers. Just a heads up.

I’ve officially completed the longest anime series I have ever watched – a full 96 episodes (plus one hour long movie), and I enjoyed every single minute of it right up until the end. Having just finished episode 96, Maison Ikkoku has one of the most satisfying endings I have ever watched. There is one specific thing that I am very happy about, and that is that the producers decided to bring back the melody of “Kanashimi Yo Konnichiwa” to play as the entire series came to a close. This was a wonderful choice. Maybe nostalgia just gets to me too easily, but I couldn’t help but get….

Link to my post on episode 1-40

(Mostly spoiler-free, until last paragraph) I’m finding it hard to believe that I actually went through 36 episodes of this show in the span of a few days. I suppose the fact that classes were cancelled due to a holiday helped, but regardless, that is quite a large marathon and I am sitting here thinking there must be some kind of mistake. I planned to write a third episode block review before going into the ending, and episode 76 seems to be the perfect place to do so. I mentioned before that episode 40 felt like the first peak in the show’s plot and character development, and I can now say that the second one is episode 76 (the final one, of course, will occur during the climactic final episodes….or so I assume).

As I was watching these latest episodes, I started to wonder about what it must have been like to have watched this show when it originally aired. Of course, this series aired before I was born, but the idea sounds very interesting to me, of watching these characters lives progress, realistically, through several years. I really enjoy the passing of time in this anime. You are literally watching the main character grow, experience new things, and develop into……