It’s been a while since Carole met a runaway rich girl
named Tuesday on a bridge. Since then
they’ve risen to become front runners for the Best New Artist on Mars Award at
the Mars Grammys. If only everything
else were so bright. Tuesday’s mothers
political agenda pushes civil unrest to the brink and Angela faces her own
despair when the unthinkable happens.
With Mars becoming a powder keg about to burst, musicians from across
the red planet unite in protest…and they want Carole and Tuesday to write the
song they’ll all perform. At last, the
“Seven Minute Miracle” event will finally be revealed as the epic opening
chapter of the legend of Carole and Tuesday draws to a close.
“The light that shines in the dark is you.” Crystal says this to Carole and Tuesday just
before the epic final musical number and it basically describes the core duo in
a nutshell. The latter half of Carole
and Tuesday has been more of a mixed bag than the first half. Between trying to cram in Angela’s story and
making her more sympathetic and the growing political conflict, it felt like
everything was competing for air time and it felt like I was watching three
different shows at once. Part of me
wonder if this was the point and it’s soley because of that aforementioned
line…but I’m getting ahead of myself.
How about we take a step back and look a bit more closely at this final
four episodes of Carole and Tuesday, eh?”
For all the good that C&T had going for them,
everything else seemed to be going to hell in a hand basket. Valerie seemed pretty ignorant of the damage
her anti Earth refugee policies were causing…and yet it hard to forget the only
reason she took on endorsing the policies was to win to get ahead in the Mars
elections. People were getting arrested
for speaking out and even deported back to Earth. Come on lady.
And Angela, God for a character who has been mostly unlikeable and due
for a few episodes of actual character exploration and growth, did she not have
a predominantly good week. Between Tao
up and disappearing to go play Wiki Leaks and the sudden passing of her mother,
the model who would be pop star sank into a pretty deep depression that was
hard not to sympathize with. Even Carole
and Tuesday were there to voice their support of Angela…granted they never saw
her as a true rival but as a fellow artist so it’s not surprising theyd be the
bigger girls in this case. I actually
like how Angela’s story wrapped up, though it could have been explored a lot
more. She explained that she hated
C&T’s music because it reminded her of simple times when music was more for
fun than stardom. Admitting that, then
standing alongside C&T and their Avengers team of musicians was a pretty
big win for everyone. Angela might not
have been a great character but I think she’s going to be ok.
While Mars was about to implode, Carole and Tuesday were
left to wonder what they could do to make things better, especially when their
fellow artists were being arrested for speaking against the anti immigration
policies. Their solution ended up being
more brilliant than anyone could have expected.
Sure it’s one thing to write a song of peace. It’s another to call upon every single artist
they’ve met in the last year, including Angela, Desmond (who’s not dead…yet?),
Crystal, Flora and their fellow Mars’ Brightest and Best New Artist Nominees
from the Mars Grammys. Every single
character these girls have met and whose lives they’ve touched over the last
year (and 24 episodes) either made a cameo appearance or showed up to sing in
what has got to be one of the most moving and beautifully animated singing set
pieces ever conceived in the medium of Anime.
Shinchiro Watanabe is a major music fan and this show has been his love
letter to that medium. The music of
Carole and Tuesday has mattered to the story probably more so than Cowboy Bebop
or Samurai Champloo. We finally get to
see “The Seven Minute Miracle” and it is a seven minute piece of music that
should resound in the halls of Anime history for all eternity. It’s impossible not to feel anything as
Carole and Tuesday sing with their idols and fellow artists, united in the
ultimate act of world peace. I think I
felt the strongest seeing C&T embracing Angela happily and seeing Flora
take the stage again…God this…man I’m…I’m not crying…YOURE CRYING!!!!
The Seven Minute Miracle itself was enough to forgive
most of the second half of Carole and Tuesday’s shortcomings. But sadly, there were some plot threads that
were tied up that either didn’t need to be in the show to begin with OR had an
extra revelation that made you go “Whaaaaaa?”
As much as I’m happy Valerie shut out her advisor and dropped out of the
race after learning he was involved in the Weather Center bombing that put her
in the lead, I’ll never fully understand why she endorsed what she didn’t wish
to in the first place: the anti immigration laws. Yes, it’s a huge political boom but come
on…have a freaking heart and some common sense lady. And then there’s Tao…or should I say ANGELA’S
BROTHER…wait what? Yeah that was thrown
so far out of left field it made my jaw drop.
I guess it’s better than the alternative that Tao somehow developed
feelings for Angela but still…NANI!!!???
Not only does that reinforce that Angela’s story needed more screentime,
it also doesn’t give reasons to why we needed Tao to go against a corporation
and vanish for so long. Did that plot
even really matter to the overall storyline of Carole and Tuesday? Tao could have just been swayed by Angela’s
feelings and Carole and Tuesday’s old school approach to music to have had a
fulfilling character arc. Oh and where
the heck has Angela’s Manager, Katy, been all this time? I forgot if Angela kicked her out back during
Mars’ Brightest when she thought that Katy planted the gift that injured
Tuesday’s hands. But she’s still around
apparently, after being absent for most of the latter half of the series.
There’s a special coda at the end of the final episode,
“Will be continued…in your mind.” We
don’t get to see the aftermath of the Seven Minute Miracle or the effect it has
on Mars down the road. According to Gus’
narraration though, it did what the girls set out to do. In the end, it’s a final moment so well done
you just have to have faith that it made Mars see the light and not turn its
back on people who needed it to be a new home.
This was Carole and Tuesdays finest moment, more than their triumphs at
Cydonia, Mars’ Brightest or the Grammys.
The whole series had built to it and it was the golden glory it was
promised to be. The road to get there
wasn’t an easy one, both in terms of the hardships C&T faced as well as the
storylines that didn’t go anywhere, needed more work, or just weren’t necessary
altogether. Will we see more of these
two eternal beacons of light in the darkness again? Considering none of Watanabe’s other mega
hits don’t have sequels I’m not holding my breath. But ending it on the Seven Minute Miracle
is…well it’s kind of perfect, a final scene that ranks up there with the likes
of Death Note and Code Geass.
Final thoughts?
There were shortcomings for sure.
The second half of the season went in multiple directions and felt like
three different shows were competing for audience attention. Some characters needed more time to develop
and other stories didn’t need to exist for added drama. When it came to Carole and Tuesday
themselves, this show could do no wrong.
These two were tested continuously and overcame them all with the help
of their friends but mostly thanks to each other. Few friendships are as genuine, natural and
loving as Carole and Tuesday. Class,
race and upbringings didn’t matter. They
just wanted to make music together…simple as that and they kept it that
simple. Sure there were moments of
fracture and they stepped up to a higher purpose at the end. But Carole and Tuesday made music for fun and
loved composing and performing as a united duo of old school tunes. Watanabe’s love for song and music shined
althroughout this beautiful project with a diverse cast of musicians and
artists and an equally diverse array of musical styles so that there was
something for everyone. I LOVED the
episode titles, all borrowed from popular tunes from across the ages, they fit
their respective episodes perfectly and you can tell they were carefully chosen
and not just selected cause they (and the songs themselves) sounded cool. And the musical performances were all amazing,
animated in a way that made it seem like we were watching real people sing and
dance, not just stylized Anime characters.
The story arcs not belonging to Carole and Tuesday might’ve floundered a
bit. But when it came to seeing people
perform on stage, this show went the extra mile and it showed. Perhaps those aforementioned story arcs did
matter and some did come together in the end in a way I kind of expected. If nothing, they all showed that no matter
how bad things got, so long as Carole and Tuesday had themselves and their
music…everything was going to be ok.
Their legend is one for the ages. While not quite on Cowboy Bebop’s infamous
level…Carole and Tuesday comes pretty close sometimes and it’s impossible not
to recommend this show to any lover of music and Anime. Between this show and K-ON, I’ve certainly
found a new appreciation for both and how they can touch my soul when combined
properly. Carole and Tuesday’s final
score is 8.5/10. Had the other subplots
been better crafted, it would be a 9.
But I don’t hate this show, I love it and I LOVE that finale. This is definitely a series worth your time
and a very welcome addition to two worlds…Anime and Music. See you around Space Cowgirls, someday,
somewhere.
No comments:
Post a Comment