Fifty years have passed since mankind began migrating to the new frontier: Mars.
It's an age where most culture is produced by AI, and people are content to be passive
consumers.
There's a girl.
Scrapping a living in the metropolis of Alba City, she's working part-time while trying to become a
musician. She's always felt like something is missing.
Her name is Carole.
There's a girl.
Born to a wealthy family in the provincial town of Herschel City, she dreams of becoming a musician,
but nobody around her understands. She feels like the loneliest person in the world.
Her name is Tuesday.
A chance meeting brings them together.
They want to sing.
They want to make music.
Together, they feel like they just might have a chance.
The two of them may only create a tiny wave.
But that wave will eventually grow into something larger...
(Source: Official Website)
*potentially vague and mild spoilers for a show I don’t recommend* Carole and Tuesday is an empty shell. It’s fundamentally at odds with itself as well, given the narrative of the show and the contemporary feel it oozes in every direction. You can smell the corporate in the air here, which is probably the most bizarre thing to say given that this is a Shinichiro Watanabe anime. The man responsible for stylish classics such as Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo is one of the main people who crafted something that’s at the crossroads of trends from both the popular anime industry and the popular music industry. That sounds epic until you realize that both industries are formula and trend chasers, meaning this show is the culmination of all that. It certainly hits home with the American crowd, much like his works always do. This time it feels even more designed for them than before. This leads to the first major problem with the anime: its setting. There is no reason for it to be set in Mars. There’s not a single thing this anime does to really have a setting that couldn’t have easily taken place on Earth without anything changing outside of where Carole comes from. The only thing they do with it outside of lame space politics is “Mars’ radiation tampers with people’s hormones” because they couldn’t just let trans people and androgynes be in the show without some kind of crazy explanation that raises more questions than answers. The space politics are done in a way where you could just replace Mars with America and Earth with a third world country, and it wouldn’t have made a difference to Carole’s backstory or the world. If they wanted this to be an allegory, then it needs to justify why it makes its setting based on real world events instead of just setting it where it’s pulling from. The show doesn’t tap into anything regarding the planet and what kind of climate you’d expect a city on Mars to have. It doesn’t really do anything regarding space travel. It’s just a futuristic show that happens to take place on Mars while having a suspicious number of American talent and ideas from the 2010s. Frankly, I’m left wondering why they didn’t just make this show take place in a futuristic America. The main characters have decidedly English names. One of our main characters is light-skinned. They have a plethora of both light and dark-skinned people in this show (compared to most anime, anyway), and even some lesbian and transgender characters. There’s more English than the recently finished El-Melloi anime which sprinkles in random English/Engrish words and phrases every chance it can get. The show has Denzel Curry and Thundercat, on top of some other American artists. Hell, the main music genre the show uses is pop music, one of the most American genres out there (there’s hardly any J-pop in this show). Why didn’t they set it in America? Would it have made too much sense? They ignore the most obvious idea for a setting and do nothing with what they actually chose! Sure, there’s a fair amount of world-building regarding the music industry and the technological advancements (even if some of the AI concepts feel underutilized) but this is still baffling beyond belief! Then we get to one of the show’s ideological conflicts: AI vs human music, or rather the divide between humans and people. The conflict between AI and human music and how one just sounds artificial and corporate and lifeless and whatnot falls on its face when you realize that the show's just using generic, melodramatic pop music for the human side. Just about everyone seems to love the typical pop music Carole and Tuesday put on (as well as the dismal chorus Angela showcased in episode 5) and I just don’t see it. I can’t see it with these vocals, let alone some of the lyrics. I’m no Anthony Fantano but I can’t help but roll my eyes at lyrics like “Can you feel my, can you feel my tear drops of the loneliest girl”. I understand that pop music has a lot of repetitive lyrics and tackles contemporary/relatable subject matter in a relatively melodramatic fashion, but this is just too much. Angela’s aforementioned song in episode 4 just features the chorus which primarily is about her moving mountains, and I can’t bet behind the lyrics or the voice. Another case of bad voices is the song Carole and Tuesday perform in episode 6, which often sounds off-pitch. Not all of the songs are terrible (I find the song capping off episode 5 to be sorta decent, and most of their songs are just mediocre) but still. They’re often cloying beyond comprehension. The characters treat the concept of AI music as artificial and lacking in warmth before we even get to hear it. It takes forever for us to hear proper AI music unless you want to count the terrible electronica that pompous fuck Ertegun pumps out almost every time he is introduced (as well as episode 5's chorus to one of Angela's songs that are written by AI). We just have to take the show’s word for it for more than ¼ of the show’s runtime while putting up with corporate, boilerplate pop music. In this regard, the show is at odds with itself, fundamentally speaking. There is a lot of commentary on the shadiness of the music industry with regards to how labels and producers often treat their artists like shit and try to control them, as well as how several of these producers are terrible people with several recorded acts that will ruin them if exposed. Even some of the more harmless producers have a ton of shit other characters threaten to expose them for, and there’s a ton of blackmail from or between producers in this show regarding exactly that. If only that amounted to anything beyond there being a shady corporation man working with our main antagonists for profit in the final quarter. Another problem is with Tuesday, specifically, her fear of getting noticed and sent home. It's one of the main things about her and yet it barely even gets brought up during that time everyone tried making a music video, or when she and Carole were backup performers at an event with over 10K people. Though the show treats this as some sort of looming threat until she develops past that after a single pep talk in episode 7, it doesn't feel like one. It doesn't even happen during an episode when one of her family members is in the city she is so he can look for her. Almost no one in the public or the media seems to make a big deal about it or look into it further anyway, which is utter nonsense given the show’s attempts to look into the industry and the connections of people inside it. It's not like her storyline amounts to much more than a worse version of Pokemon Sun and Moon's (even Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon's) storyline, anyway. That and the issues with the setting are the main problems with the first ⅓ of the show since honestly, the actual writing, for that portion of the show isn't all that bad. Outside of a detail that dismantles the 4th episode because they couldn't figure out how to do dramatic irony in a way that doesn't make the characters come off as utter morons, that's basically all I got. Unfortunately, sometime during the Mars Brightest competition, the show decides to create contrivances for our main duo to be separate for an episode, and for Angela to have a temporary conflict with her latest manager who was introduced several episodes ago. This is all by the halfway mark. The rest of the show is where the main conflict regarding human music VS AI, issues with the music industry, and issues with politics and capitalism take center stage. They’re so basic, one-dimensional, and on the nose about all of this to the point of absurdity. To think, the self-defeating conflicts about human VS AI music and the warmth of one vs the artificiality of the other wasn’t enough for this show. On top of that, while criticizing the music industry, they have our main characters train under someone that continually forces them to do upwards of over 52 takes until he is satisfied. He is overworking them to dangerous levels and that’s a combination of comic relief and an uplifting montage. That and the fact that the AI vs human music disappears completely by episode 21 should tell you everything about how this show handles these ideas and commentaries. Here I was thinking that the AI and people divide in general was supposed to be relevant with how much they brought it up. Admittedly there is this nice plot point that pops up in this latter half regarding Carole’s parents which the show had been building up to. It’s delicately handled, and it provides another genuinely good character who sadly won’t get much screen time in this anime since that whole plot point concludes by the end of episode 14. There’s also episode 16 which has a decent, bittersweet tale with some pretty nice songs by our main duo. That and a sorta decent episode knocking down and building that egotist Ertegun back up caught me by surprise. The second half of the show seems more character-focused despite also doubling down on the points that damage the show. When it focuses on the elements that are promising and true to its characters, it somewhat works, and when it doesn’t, it really doesn’t. It really goes to show you that the show’s writing isn’t all that terrible on paper, and that with some tweaks as well as a change in destination, this could have probably been a compelling anime. It’s just those critical logic, setting, and idea/commentary blunders among other issues that kill the script. The characters aren’t great either, even with a few cute moments here and there. It’s never a good sign when the two main leads in your show tend to feel virtually identical outside of their pasts and how they react to a deranged superfan/musician who goes mental around Tuesday. Carole is more of the tomboy type while Tuesday is more of the girly girl type, and that’s basically the main thing differentiating them...when it’s noticeable. Simply put, Carole and Tuesday don’t have much chemistry or anything interesting in their personalities or interactions. Their manager is ok. He has some interesting bits regarding former friends and his former lover and another former partner, but that’s about it aside from being a bumbling tough guy looking manager. The last member of the main quad squad is Roddy, who is just a shy guy with connections, and nothing else. I suppose he’s better than the myriad of stereotypes we meet in the Mars Brightest show such as the rapper stereotype. The worst has to be the insufferable Instagram boy always saying shit like “pow” in the most obnoxious way possible because clearly making a character out of zoomer stereotypes was a great idea. Honestly, the most engaging character was that one guy named Skip from episode 6 who gave C&T some wise words of encouragement before talking with a former love and then playing the song “Unrequited love”. The latter conversation in particular is one of the few times where the show just uses strong implication and actually good dialogue to convey what’s going on. This is a character who feels more tangible and engaging than the actual characters in this show, and he doesn’t reappear until episode 14. He doesn’t even play a major role in episode 6, and I was excited to see him return! Sadly, the show abandons him and his guys shortly thereafter when they could have easily filled the roles some non-entity characters fill in during the final ⅓ of the show. This anime does seem to abandon a few characters, like Angela’s female manager at the end of the first half. She’s absent for an incredibly long time, and all because of contrived, surprisingly vague circumstances. The anime does try to have some of the stereotype characters flesh out their views and whatnot so the show can feel more lived in, but none of them are particularly engaging. Even then, that only goes for the Mars Brightest stereotypes, not the political stereotypes. Tuesday’s mom is especially lame as she’s just a typical amoral politician created by fusing Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton together with the spell card Polymerization. She even drops a line about deporting illegal immigrants cuz this show likes to be very on the nose about its commentary and conflicts. She’s also influenced by a typical scheming advisor because of course she is. The show needs a main antagonist, even if he has nothing to do with our main leads beyond a few actions that indirectly impact them. They do get into some conflict by the end because the mother has to be redeemed at all costs, but that’s not enough to make this worthwhile. It all devolves into a bout of sugary, exceptionally rushed nonsense bin the last two episodes, anyway. I also get the feeling that we’re supposed to like Angela. Despite the show making her out to be a complete bitch at every turn, we’re supposed to feel joy whenever she wins something, and sympathy for her just because of a scene that implies that she was abused by one of her parents (if only the show’s dialogue was more consistently clever). Yet she talks about actively abusing her managers for fun as the reason why she doesn’t want an AI manager. This isn’t an Asuka from Evangelion situation where we’re supposed to understand the character as she gets peeled back regardless of whether or not we like her. We’re supposed to like Angela, especially when she determines that she wants a fair match against C&T instead of her winning cuz of them getting sabotaged. We’re supposed to like her when she tells her cold, AI-loving manager, Tao a bit about her past thanks to circumstances regarding his AI programs knowing everything about her. We’re supposed to fear for her when she gets targeted by a stalker and feel for her when we know that she’s doing everything for her mother’s dream at the cost of herself. Seeing what becomes of her in the final act is interesting, so the show does have me on her side by the end in terms of character writing. I just wish the presentation was better. For an anime prominently featuring and referencing music, the show’s songs are unfortunately hit or miss. I am somewhat ambivalent on the first opening, and I absolutely hate the second. However, both C&T and Angela have a song that I actually kind of like, that being their respective ending themes: “Hold Me Now” and “Not Afraid”. Otherwise’ I’ve gone over enough of their tracks for one lifetime. The other pop artists/characters such as Lauren Dyson’s performance as Crystal or J. R. Price as Pyotr the Instagram boy don’t do much for me either. The fact that they make up a majority of the songs in this show hurts because not only does an actually nice OST by Mocky get pushed practically out of existence by the 8th episode, but I do like a majority of the other songs. Maika Loubte’s (Cybelle) “La Ballade”, Thundercat’s “Unrequited Love”, Madison McFerrin’s (GGK) “Milky Way” and “Gravity Bounce” make up some of the many nice songs the non-pop singers perform for this show. The production for these songs is a lot more interesting and varied, and while not all of them have necessarily interesting lyrics either, they’re a lot more engaging and memorable than Angela’s or C&T’s songs. Even the latter’s songs get better over time anyway, so there ends up being a few tracks from them I actually find decent to listen to. If nothing else, this anime does provide a gateway to a variety of interesting artists, so I can appreciate that fundamental aspect of the show. I just wish that Mocky’s OST wasn’t mixed so low after a while cuz I actually want to hear more than just the eyecatches track and the piece that plays during the 30 seconds of recap at the start of every episode. Carole and Tuesday's contemporary, unadventurous feel even extends to the visual presentation. This doesn't feel like a Shinichirou Watanabe anime. I don't know what goes into being chief director, which is his role in the show outside of original creator, but I'd assume that there would be some real ambition or flare in the camera work of this show. Instead, it feels like just about anyone even remotely competent at anime direction and cinematography could have made it. That's probably because Motonobu Hori was the regular director credit for this show. He does do a fairly decent job, but there aren’t many moments that feel particularly enticing in terms of cinematography and presentation. The visuals by studio Bones are about as solid. The anime sports a vivid, varied set of character designs, often with different types of heads and faces that still mostly feel like they all come from the same world. There are some dazzling light show sequences as well, like with GGK, a contestant in the Mars Brightest talent show who has her outfit synch with the moving galaxy patterns in the background. I can't deny that outside of some dodgy CGI sequences and instruments, the show looks rather good, especially when they're able to pull off that aforementioned sequence on top of having overhead crowd shots that don't contain CGI. Still, even with generally solid, sometimes exceptional visual presentation, I can't help but feel jaded in context. It doesn’t help that the production does go downhill for part of the show’s third quarter thanks to less overall polish and further reliance on bad CGI instruments and objects. Even in the early episodes, we see our main duo's awkward CGI hands and instruments, so it's not like the production was ever that great. Where did it all go wrong? You'd expect an original anime, especially one with Watanabe as one of the credits, to showcase a ton of ambition and creative freedom. This feels the exact opposite, with only the vibrant city and character designs having any sort of flair. Unlike previous works like Macross Plus or Bebop, there isn't that same creative drive here. It's more about mass appeal, which Watanabe had already excelled at without even trying to. As a result, Carole & Tuesday feels empty and artificial, requiring dismal writing and uneven music to fill the void that ambition once filled. How fitting then, that it embodies the sugary, overly melodramatic, trendy pop music it employs so often. That said, even pop music tends to have a clear goal it wants to commit to. Carole and Tuesday has a bunch of ideas and concepts it merely pays lipservice to before barely going through with any of them. If nothing else, I hope Shinichiro Watanabe and his wife are satisfied with this product. I wish I could be. By the way, since we’re getting political, I have to ask: where are my hispanics at?! You’ve been tackling the deportation of illegal immigrants via a Trump x Hillary character, an issue that affects my people, yet we get no representation in the show outside of arguably the guy Denzel Curry performed as. What the fuck? I say “arguably” cuz we don't even know. At most, he dropped a line about speaking Spanish. That’s it! You got all sorts of white and black people, as well as a bunch of LGBTQ+ characters and people of other ethnicities and whatnot, but not us while you’re tackling our issue? Piece o’ shiet! Written and Edited by: CodeBlazeFate Proofread by: Peregrine
"When it comes to researching the human brain in order to control emotions using AI, music and politics are very much alike." — Jerry Egan It's been fifty years since humans colonized Mars. Cities akin to Tokyo and New York are populated with first and second generation natives and an array of immigrants from Earth. Technology crowds every facet of life. From streets to homes, an android or robot pet is commonplace. Thanks to artificial intelligence, people don’t have to burden with working, thinking, or even creating anymore. "99% of modern hits are produced by AI," a record producer tells an up-and-coming idol. Doing anything without a technological assist is an oddity. There are still people who prefer doing things the old-fashioned human way. Tuesday Simmons, a 17-year old from the lowkey Hersell City, dreams of becoming a musician. Fed up with the sheltered life under her strict mother, politician Valerie Simmons, she runs away from home with just a suitcase and Gibson guitar in tow. She arrives on the bustling streets of Alba City, and her suitcase is immediately stolen (never turn your back on your stuff in a big city). ~~~img(https://i.imgur.com/3HmHi3Y.png)~~~ On a sunset lit bridge—lost, penniless, and alone—Tuesday encounters Carole Stanley, a street musician who appears to be the same age as her. Carole's upbringing wasn't as cozy as Tuesday's. A refugee from Earth, she grew up in an orphanage, and struggles with odd jobs as a young adult. Carole's melancholic lyrics resonate with Tuesday in her moment of desperation. The two form an instant camaraderie as if by fate, and Carole takes her in. In a parallel story, Angela Carpenter, a 16 year old with excellent hair, already has a career as a model and actor. At the behest of Dahlia, her mother and manager, she works with a misanthropic technologist named Mr. Tao to start a music career. Mr. Tao prefers working with technology over people. His algorithmic approach to producing music is juxtaposed with Carole and Tuesday’s from-the-heart approach. At this point, it’s unclear if Angela’s new path is something that she wants, or if she’s doing it for her mother’s sake. Regardless, she doesn’t take kindly to competition, and she has a strong desire to be the best in everything she pursues. ~~~img(https://i.imgur.com/RLLUBwG.png)~~~ The first 12 episodes, generally, had a casual slice of life vibe. It was so casual in fact that I worried if the story could stay fresh for the 24 episodes that were listed. On the other hand, I was hoping that needless drama wouldn’t be interjected to justify the runtime. Mercifully, with the exception of a few brief arcs (I'm looking at you Cybelle), the story neither dragged nor irritated me for too long. Strong worldbuilding, unexpected predicaments, thought provoking ideas, and bits of backstory kept each episode feeling new. After a string of light-hearted, and often hilarious, performances and competitions, the story took an unexpectedly dark and political turn, touching on real world issues like convenience verses privacy, and the morality of using technology to read and influence people. The same technology that’s used to produce hit music is being used by politicians to improve their poll numbers. Data is collected from facial and sentiment analysis to tailor messages that will resonate with people. This is an interesting prospect because something like this will likely happen, and is already happening to a less advanced degree today. ~~~img(https://i.imgur.com/rgW6WNQ.png)~~~ Valerie’s presidential election, advised by the perpetually shady looking Jerry Egan, opens a discussion on another real world issue, the immigration debate. One side feels that a country (or planet) has a moral obligation to help refugees, and the other side feels that unfettered immigration poses a security and economic threat; Valerie sides with the latter. There was also commentary on the struggle for human relevance as technology renders us irrelevant, and how neither pursuing our personal ambitions nor attaining societal acceptance can guarantee happiness. It was surprising to see such weighty topics in what I’d expected would just be a cute music anime. Shinichiro Watanabe (previously Cowboy Bebop) clearly had a lot that he wanted to say. ~~~img(https://i.imgur.com/MZ4YC8o.png)~~~ The animation by BONES studio shined. The art had a 90s aesthetic with a modern digital polish. Collectively, the cast had an extensive wardrobe, and the character designs were attractively detailed with highlights, shadows, and full lips. It would’ve been cool if those lips were always synced to the singing, but doing this likely would’ve exceeded their, presumably, already large budget. The vinyl record eye-catches, printed with song titles that mirrored the theme of the episode, were a nice touch. Pop music isn’t a genre that I’m intimately familiar with, so I can’t give an unbiased assessment of the soundtrack itself. Regardless, I did love a few of the songs, especially the first ED. It was a delightful bop that I never skipped. There were notable and instantly recognizable seiyuu surprises like Hiroshi Kamiya (previously Koyomi Araragi) as Tao, and Megumi Hayashibara (previously Faye Valentine) as Flora. Carole (voiced by Miyuri Shimabukuro) and Tuesday (voiced by Kana Ichinose) were voiced by actors with relatively short filmographies, but both filled their roles more than adequately. ~~~img(https://i.imgur.com/0Klazyz.png)~~~ I’ve been watching anime on-and-off for about 24 years (wow, I didn’t realize it was that long until I did the math). In that time, I’ve become less critical of the medium. If I’d seen Carole & Tuesday when I was a 20 year old film elitist, I’d likely rip apart how little friction the leads had to endure (despite enduring enough), how abruptly some turning points happened, and how briskly the last few episodes wrapped up the story—which are all valid criticisms. Today, at the ripe old age of 38, I’ve become a “filthy casual” in the way I watch things. While maybe not all of my expectations were met, I was more than satisfied by what was, for me, an uplifting and inspired experience. Thank you, Shinichiro Watanabe.
I'll save the plot comments for later. To start with, let's think of the concepts. Real singers, musicians, performers, etc, writing, recording and giving life to the characters that were in general well depicted, inspired and suited by the original songs created. This has never been tried and explored before. It didn't end up as the fans wanted, neither as the people behind the show wanted. Probably, a bit more of money and time would have done better to the looks. Some performances' movements look out of sync. Some others have voices/lyrics and the instrumental part so disconnected as if you get a dog and a cat and tell them to make babies. Plus, something we've seen already in other sources may be regarded as one of the concepts - that is our turning into robots, little by little. Music, of course, is affected. Everything as a whole. But the focus of this show is, as you do know, music. We are so concerned about doing as most as we can and doing it fast, without really experiencing anything and getting to know what we consume, that even if the future idealized is utopian (as in less than a century technology evolved faster than all the expectations for nowadays in 2019) and dystopian (well... arts are almost dead and so are our hearts. Also, it seems there'll always be a white rich person to try to build a wall) at the same time, it is still indeed a possibility. [You can see some people saying "huh but the show uses the songs to cover for its deffects" DUH THE SHOW IS ABOUT MUSIC. It's probably the same kind of people who'd say "Violet Evergarden is not good, just looks good because of its animation and design" or "Attack On Titan covers its flaws with blood". Well, they really didn't understood what they were watching on the first place] These as starting points are pretty valid to try building up a universe and writing a story, or so Watanabe thought. Given his experience in futuristic simulations as he's the mastermind behind such a cult/classic show as Cowboy Bebop, everyone should at least give it a try, huh? I myself did never enjoy CB that much. At least not until the mindblowing satisfactory ending. Troll, but satisfactory. He has credit. Then you get two girls with hearts and mouths and hands and instruments, united by mere chance. It's bold and lacking of inspiration as a plot starter, but it worked perfectly in this show as the two of them were looking for someone... like each other. In a world where 95% or more of all music is entirely made by AIs, they wanted to live the dream of proving there's still room for young spirits who are willing to challenge this world. I'll stop a bit to talk about the art, the animation, the CGs and the altogether we got: looks not only decent, but really good. Pretty different styles combined. Nice color patterns. Great sequences and flow. Nothing really extraordinary, but again, suitable. And beautiful. You don't need to look like Violet Evergarden and Attack On Titan if you're telling this story. You only need to do a good job that leaves nothing to be desired. Well, they did it. Simple and effective. Enter the other characters besides them two - well, they exist right? We have to talk about them. Let's start with the catalyst: the boy which was supposed to work for a DJ (read it as criticism: DJs are NOT musicians) and by chance, again, ended up seeing to girls performing a touching song and decided to record it later uploading it to social networks, giving them the task of making it viral. The duo was born. People got to see them. And... the catalyst becomes a dull, practically useless character. All he does up to the last episode is try to convince people to like the duo and help them somehow, failing miserably 99% of times. He is an AI operator and a sound mixer - something we forgot up to the last 10 minutes of the show where he is seen... doing his job. Wow. No, seriously... they could've given him at least a tiny bit more of screen time, backstory, importance, impact, ANYTHING. Now, the manager. We are talking about a former musician of a band that never really happened. He was there with some guys doing something that some successfull musicians called nice and some hipsters would agree, but that's pretty much it. As they all needed money and money didn't come, the band disbanded. He lived a sad life of drinking and complaining about nowadays music as lacking of feeling and reality. That guy that annoys everyone in the bar and thinks he really was something/someone big enough to deter all the DJs to come. Sounds like a pretty convincing character if well done, right? And he is. Thank you for making me forget the crap you've done to our catalyst by giving us at least one decently plotted character. Anyways, one day he ends up seeing their viral video by chance and storms after them not offering to become their manager but forcing them to accept. Oh, and he's got some nice contacts to help the girls. Manager-san understands the business and has good ideas! Aye! Something may happen! Then, there's the world's top DJ. Without his AI operator (our catalyst) and his flashdrive with his song, dude's basically null. Thanks, Watanabe. That also helps remember musician is a serious profession. And now let's talk about the sh*t ton of other musicians: they're all living legends inspired by real artists and... to be honest, I really feel they're a lot more human than some of the most reccurrent or even main characters. Finally, the rival. Ever seen a story of a famous artist so perfect in everything but with a dark past? Like, great at modelling, singing, dancing, acting, everything; having worked hard since the age of 3, 8 hours per-day, non-stop, to achieve something that wasn't even a goal to begin with? At a point we see the house of cards being teared down and the artist start doing drugs nearly dying and killing a carreer. Does it ring a bell to you? That's most of the kings and queens of pop music in the twentieth century. Cliché. But... I'll tell you: it actually was pretty well played. The rival girl acting as a spoiled brat being all b*tchy in attitude sometimes even pointlessly is something we are really used to. In the second part, the rival will become someone better, being enlighted by our heroes, and join the good side of force. Except for... it didn't happen. No one touched her. She's strong and snapped out of the hellish nightmare herself. Others (as the duo and as her.......... brother?) may have had some influence, but they were lesser. Her act was really nice. Tough. Coming back better than ever. Facing her fears. Facing her mistakes. But no regrets or excuses. Heads up, eyes looking down: she's still the rival. She's still the best. She's still superior. That was quite satisfactory. The political part of the plot is also credible. Some will come and say "oh that was a vague criticism to people like my beloved conservative president! This writer is just a liberal with butthurt" bla bla bla. Nah. It definetely wasn't the case. A message was passed along: stop separating people, thinking you're better because of your skin color, your money or the place you were born, or hurting them because of their differences. To some, it may look repetitive, too over simplistic, boring... but, hey, take a look around: how's society in your country? Does racism exist? Homophobia? Prejudice against the poor? What about immigrants? Do they all have the same rights, treatment and image the traditional or the elites have? Well, then it is valid. And it was not superficial. It went down the surface. We even saw how being innocent when dealing with shady rich politicians or consultants may be dangerous as f*ck as those guys rule the world. We saw how manipulation goes. How everyone may change positions and discourses if it is what it takes to win an election. We saw sabotaging is normal. We saw creating new enemies or ressurrecting older foes - and further promising to counter them - is a viable way to get people by your side. We saw they run campaigns through fear only. Real politics, you know? You do? Well, that's you. Some people still don't. Some people still live in fairytale states of mind. You have to sugarcoat those things, especially when dealing with teenagers (the main targeted audience, 14 to 21). It wasn't, one more time, anything of extraordinary. But it was good. And suitable. Now, something that really bothered me is how forced the LGBT topics seemed. But before anything, SJWs please hold yourselves for I am always liberal when it comes to this and am always in the extreme left-wings side of any analysis of politics or society. Even so, it really annoyed me. It felt like watching one of those random Netflix TV series which force this up every 5 minutes just to get masses to watch 'em. They don't really care about LGBT people. They don't give a f*ck about gender. They want our money. They'll use anything in order to having it. It probably wasn't what Watanabe aimed at; still some parts were unnecessary, coming out of nowhere - like our Manager-san's ex kissing her new partner (of the same sex) just to shock some teens. That was really pitiful. He can argue his idea was "society evolved a lot so this is of wider acceptance in the future". Ok, if there's a God, I hope he makes it happen. Still... WHY? JUST WHY? COME ON! A couple episodes before the everything of the plot really begin were also slow and dull. They tried to be funny and even episodic. Not too good at it. Should've stick to the main issues. But it's no big deal. 2 out of 24. We had a TOURNAMENT ARC. Yeaaaaaaaaaaah that's what we like. And it was a The Voice/X-Factor/Got Talent version of a tournament arc. It was just fantastic. Great artists, great songs, nice crazy moments. The peak of season one, surely. And we had the magical ending. Magical to the anime, of course. To us, it was many things: heartwarming, satisfactory, predictable (I'd say except for the rival and her nerdy romantic interest being...... "sibblings"? seriously, that was like watching a Mexican soap opera. I really thought she was gonna conclude by saying she was pregnant of a drugdealer). Not magical. Showing us flashes of this ending since episode one, in every opening, definetely killed all surprises. But I guess it was just like what we got some 20 years ago: predictable 'cause we were told of the finale, but still REALLY GOOD. Again, SUITABLE. I used this word a lot, right? It sincerely is the best one I found. Every peace just go fitting the other and the puzzle is easily finished. To see how all of those simple elements connected to form a consistent plot, like all of those "just ok" things turning solid and making it an amazing show, was really interesting. Now there's this thing that played a very important role into shaping the anime: each episode was named after a famous and important song. It became a ritual to me: every week as soon as the episode was released I'd listen to the song, check out the backstory and the musicians behind it, and that would really give me some new insights over the show. The first and the last ones, True Colors and A Change Is Gonna Come, are absolutely SUITABLE to the episodes 1 and 24. As I said in the title, the show is good but not even close to flawless. However, to sum it up, the flaws are so little you just won't care much at the end. All the rest - a chain of "good and simple" things that unite to make a "great and not so simple" show - makes C&T worth watching. I'll recommend it even to my students. Really, the songs are GREAT. I started watching it because I wanted GOOD MUSIC IN A CUTE AND GOOD LOOKING ANIME. Nothing else. And I got much more. If you're not addicted to music and are not looking for it, DON'T WATCH THIS SHOW. This ain't your regular seasonal moe or slice of life show. This is musically deep even though even when dealing with music it is really simple. And that's what makes it, as of now, one of my favorite animes.
I have no idea what happened to this show. Carole & Tuesday started off extremely strong, the first few episodes flew by and I was so sad when I reached the end of an episode. However, the second core of the anime was highly disappointing and there were many points throughout those episodes where I was like… are they serious right now? I am going to start off with what I liked about the show, which was the music. I would say I enjoyed about 90% of the songs that were performed in it, and it has made it into my daily playlists. Celeina Ann and Nai Brixx killed it. However, don’t expect too much lyricaly, it’s quite simple and they often repeat the lyrics. My favorite tracks have to be: Kiss Me (Opening 1), Loneliest Girl, Army of Two and Give you the World (both versions). I highly recommend that you guys go listen to these. Oh man… where do I even start with the plot? The beginning of the series was very misleading. We see Carole & Tuesday meet, develop their friendship and write songs together. It was nice, calm and their growth in friendship was heartwarming. They added a rival singer, Angela, into the mix who was the cliche child star that looked down on Carole & Tuesday. I was fine with this rivalry and thought that was the most drama we would be getting. I wish that was the end of the drama. It seemed to have lost its direction and.. Just went everywhere, it literally touched on EVERY trope. You’ve got the crazy stalker fan (two of them), death, falling in love AND heartbreak (IN THE SAME EPISODE!), drug overdoses/usage and wow even Trump made his way in here. I’m going to tell you that at least three of these things all happened in just one episode and in the matter of a few minutes. I don’t know what was going through their heads when they did this and I found myself laughing at how ridiculous everything got. There were many unneeded plot points that were shoved in and felt extremely forced. There was even a revelation at the very end of the series where one character reveals that they were both babies that were designed by the same person to be perfect?? OUT OF NO WHERE, THE CHARACTER SAID THIS AND THEN NOTHING ELSE, THAT PLOT POINT WAS DONE APPARENTLY. Maybe the first few episodes made me believe that I would be getting a show that focused on the music and friendship between these two girls. So when I got something so drama filled, it left a bad taste in my mouth. I would recommend listening to the songs, but I can’t say that I would recommend Carole & Tuesday. If you still want to watch this, I would say to only watch the first half. Just two small notes if you do plan to start this: 1. The singing is in English, and the mouth movements of the characters do not match at all. 2. They re-use a lot of scenes when it comes to audience members and reactions. You will see the same person, with the same emotions throughout a performance, and some even make it to a completely unrelated performance in different episodes.
~~~Carole & Tuesday is certainly no masterpiece, but definitely not garbage either. Some parts make me want to fall asleep, but other than that, it's pretty good.~~~ ____ __Animation: 7.5/10__ The animation was gorgeous! I loved the unique art style that they went with. Of course, the background and sceneries gave it a nice final touch too. Motions were clean and character designs were alright. The performances, especially, were beautiful works of art. Sometimes I've spotted some errors like disproportionate faces or messy details, but even so, I think this marvellous artwork deserves some credit. ____ __Sound: 10/10__ Do I even have to spell it out? Needless to say, this anime was filled with myriads of emotional and meaningful harmonies that brought out a lot of the singer's personalities. In particular, the few songs I preferred the most are 'Move Mountains', 'Loneliest Girl' and 'Galactic Mermaid'. Every singer had their own distinctive style of music. It is very interesting to watch them perform in their own ways. In terms of voice acting, all of the characters had wonderful voices. ____ __Characters: 5/10__ Characters felt a bit off... they're interesting people, just felt like something's missing. Overall character development was mediocre, it felt a bit forced. Nothing special to say here really. Other than the fact that they've got some nice designs and decent personalities. Sometimes their personalities felt unnatural, as in strained kindness, anger, consideration, etc. ____ __Story: 5/10__ It has overall a great story that brings out a musical and political definitive along with a futuristic setting. The story moves along following the familiar terms of friendships and family. The fact that these two are polar opposites makes their interactions even more entertaining. They had the common 'rich girl' intuitive, where she is given everything but not what she wants most. And boom, adventure begins. A rather ordinary base, I would say. It flows through rather forced emotions, which makes it an impaired way of storytelling. So... it's nothing special, actually. But it's still fun to watch, nevertheless. There are a lot of messages that you can take in from this anime which could change the way you think, depending on who you are and how you accept the facts. "The world can be rather cruel," is the message I got from seeing this show. Not really an interesting message, just a reminder for me. ____ __Enjoyability: 7.5/10__ I wanted to fall asleep at some parts, probably because musical anime is not really my type, or maybe because it lacked in proper flow. However, due to the presence of particular aspects I was able to appreciate this a little bit more. ____ So yeah, that's all I've got to say. Like I said, it's definitely no masterpiece, but not trash either. Watching Carole & Tuesday was in no way at all pointless to me. It had some meaning to it, I guess. Anyways, thank you for reading and I apologise if this review is against your opinion.
Rarely music in anime is held to the same esteem as the other factors that make an anime an anime. Rather, it settles into the ambient background music that quickly evaporates into a vague memory after the last ending plays. For many anime watchers, the exception to this is the work of Shinichiro Watanabe. Since his first full directorial venture with *Cowboy Bebop*, Watanabe carved a niche for himself by innovating flashy animation and compelling stories with innovative musical direction. In *Samurai Champloo*, the addition of hip-hop and lo-fi beats flows with the atmosphere and movements of the characters. in *Terror and Resonance* used this Sigur Rós/We Lost the Sea blend of post-rock to bolster the atmosphere of a darker story. *Carole and Tuesday* presented this grand opportunity to elevate this symbiotic relationship between music and animation Watanabe appears to strive for. The result, however, was a mixed bag. First and foremost, the vocalists and musicians cast are phenomenal. I would be astounded to see another show come close to attaining this level of talent in the near future. However, music is an exhaustive endeavor. Those who write songs insert trying periods of their life into a short passage and relive it with each performance. These parts also happen to be the most organic and make for awe-inspiring pieces. The songs that follow this structure in *Carole and Tuesday* are beautiful. It should be easy for someone to compose a song titled "Loneliest Girl" because everyone can pinpoint a specific moment where they felt lonely. The first song in *Carole and Tuesday* is "Loneliest Girl" and it is stellar. However, what if you are a lonely girl and you're asked to compose a tasteful rap song about politics and immigrants? Any poignant message falls into a lack of perspective and emotional drive. This show provides a spectrum of these types, ranging from incredible catchy tunes and somber ballads to kitschy genre pulls and trite song structures. Fortunately, most fall under the former and the latter never stay long enough to truly take away from an episode. Much like the rap song analogy, writers often struggle to place themselves, and the viewer, into the lives and the environments they created. This was the major downfall of *Carole and Tuesday*. From the first instance of the characters appearing on screen, they were saying generic matter-of-fact lines that reiterate the visual cues in the scene. Points where the characters express themselves often come across as shallow, eventually leaving the viewer with nothing but a storyline to drive any depth into the main cast. The major developments are relegated to one episode bursts that are forgotten entirely after the 24-minute mark, leaving us with sparse puddles of trials to drive emotion out of characters. Once that next opening hits though, they are back to normal without a second thought. Beyond the main cast, the minor characters feel disposable, rarely serving any need to steer the story. In some instances, multiple supporting characters serve the same function ten episodes apart to gently remind the audience of why the protagonists are the protagonists. The upside is some are also talented singers who give the viewers a catchy insert for 90 seconds before fading away forever. Looking nowhere but up from the script and character composition, the premise itself is a husk of what it sets out to be. The story takes place on Mars, but there is no reason why. Its only objective is to act as a surrogate to a country while also sometimes reminding the audience that the show takes place in the future when robots are not on screen. Additionally, the Mars depicted in *Carole and Tuesday* has no identifiable characteristics nor known unique cultural discrepancies. The denouement attempted to capitalize on the Mars/Earth relationship but never fully fleshed out the concept. Music is meant to be the savior, but outside of the people in the show liking music, it does not interact with the other plotline that develops. The conclusion this show builds up never fully intersects with the antics of our protagonists. What helped tie everything together was the quality of the animation. The vapid characters spouting vapid lines still had expressions that breathed life in the world. There were hyper characters who were always moving. There were mellow characters who were always vibing. Each character was animated in a way that was catered to that specific character, reminiscent of the unique fighting styles in Samurai Champloo. Additionally, they were surrounded by a world that never failed to complement the substance of the scene (minus the fact it was randomly on another planet). Most scenes were drenched in warm tones as we saw two girls become friends. Lighting was utilized quite well to emphasize characters. The comedic ones got an array of neon purples and pinks and greens while the elegant ones got bright angelic yellows. The animation never completely covered up the writing issues and pacing, but it created something that grabbed my attention episode after episode. This project almost felt too big to fail. Backed by Netflix and with Watanabe’s name attached, they had the funds to give the audience one of the most appealing music and animation projects in recent memory. They cast some of my favorite voice actors and some of the most talented singers with an incredible studio to bring *Carole and Tuesday* to life. However, it failed to deliver a compelling story, forcing the viewer to cling to two catchy songs per episode and some wild single-episode storylines. The project itself felt inorganic and artificial, a harsh foil to the main theme of genuine, organic expression.
# Carole & Tuesday 7/7/8/8/8 ___ Note: I'll use my MAL reviewing format until I tweak it for AL. [link Here ](https://desozone.wordpress.com/main-info/review-scoring-explanation/)is how my _"review"_ system works. __W.I.P__ ___ __✦Story✦__ To be honest, when I first saw the trailer many years ago I expected heavy drama Anime that is conveyed with emotional music. Maybe something like "White album 2" . In truth.... it was more of music Anime with some drama to it. Were I disappointed? A bit, but nevertheless I enjoyed the storytelling and music here. We got bits and bobs of various drama with tons of really odd and somewhat mysterious backstory to it. Can even say some plot twists. This Anime is very western take on music & drama, which means there are plenty of things I dislike as western culture can be rather ... not my cup of tea. Whilst at the same time it was rather solid take with some usual Anime / eastern morals. Anyhow, lot of story elements somehow surfaced but drowned as fast. Which was somewhat confusing as of why they decided to do various story elements in such a passing by method. Also the concept of the world in this Anime where music and a lot of other things are ruled by AI essentially is rather depressing, but I guess this Anime is a method to promote human element and importance in music (if not everywhere) ... in a really sweet and dramatic manner. From start to end I loved how the music was presented and how well emotions were conveyed. Long story short, it's a sweet Anime take on western music that offers pleasant music in a way it's conveyed. Bits and bobs of interesting drama and some mysterious story elements. `7/10` ___ __✦Character✦__ Don't want to talk much about characters as it's type Anime that it's more fun to learn about characters while watching. But long story short, there are plenty of more less stereotypical characters we are used to seeing in Anime. With some pseudo layers of complexity, but that comes always with characters if it's more of drama genre. There where bunch of characters I were kinda annoyed by and just pure comedy "just why" characters... but I guess that is the cost of trying to be more "western". Anyhow.. Carole, Tuesday, Angela are our main focus... to sum it up. Carole _is rough neighborhood strong independent black woman type of character_ ... I guess.. with dreadlocks ofc... . Tuesday is basically blondie rich teen that wants her own life.. and Angela is essentially a messed up druggie. Is how I would sum them up. Tuesday I liked, she was fairly cute but oblivious... There were some more fun side characters as well that were comedy in a good way.. not like some others. Anyhow, we got plenty of backstory, some drama and development. But most important part is of course their nice journey in music. `7/10` ___ __✦Art & Sound✦__ Yes. What can I say.... loved the Art and enjoyed most of the music a lot. Of course plenty of songs weren't my cup of tea, but loved the way they were presented. Anyhow, music is good enough to listen on youtube / spotify afterwards). `8/10` ___ ✦__Enjoyment & Overall✦__ Not exactly a type of Anime I expected it to be a after watching initial PV, but it was joyful, interesting a tad more unique and likable Anime that gives it a try on western music & drama. Not my top Anime in music genre, but one of the most enjoyable ones for sure. `8/10` ___ __✦✦Final score✦✦:__ `8/10`
I had no intention of ever watching Carole & Tuesday. My initial thoughts were that it would only be shallow and wouldn't be any more than a coming of age story that tried too hard. All this despite knowing that it was a Watanabe show too, which is saying a lot about my reservations about it. And then one of the songs from C&T showed up on my Spotify Discover Weekly. I instantly fell in love with it and realized that maybe I should give C&T a chance to prove me wrong. And I sure am glad that I did. The aforementioned song is "Lay It All On Me" and it's the reason I fell in love with this show and it's two loneliest girls. ~~~youtube(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvwhnMZinDQ)~~~ Visually, C&T is incredible. The backgrounds are beautiful in their depiction of the strange, futuristic Alba City. The characters are well designed, all incredibly distinct and colorful, reflecting so much personality with their designs alone. With all that being said, I think my favorite part of C&T visually is the concert set pieces. Each and every one is beautiful and reflective of their respective artist, some of them are simply just so damn cool. Ertegun's sets are among my favorites, but others like Crystal's Cydonia Festival set are so visually pleasing and enjoyable to watch. This side of Carole & Tuesday might be the most surprising to me. I certainly expected the music to be good and I had hope for the story once I started it, but visually, I was blown away by how well animated it was. Now for the music section that I'll keep somewhat brief since I'll be talking about music all through the review. I honestly don't have a single song that I could say that I disliked, because they were all so unique and fitting to their respective scenes or characters. The only negative I could probably say about the music in Carole & Tuesday is that Carole and Tuesday's music in specific was a little samey, especially in the middle. There were some huge standouts, though. "Loneliest Girl" being the first that always comes to mind after "Lay It All On Me", and honestly, I could name so many others that I simply adored listening to, but to save space, suffice it to say that there were only a select few that I wasn't super impressed with, like the second opening to name one. Obviously, to make a show about music you have to have good music, but suffice it to say that I was blown away despite having extremely high expectations. On a side note, I was actually really impressed with the actual OST for C&T, despite it not getting much of a chance to shine. In addition to that, the voice acting was really good in the dub that I watched it in. I can't complain about a single voice choice or performance, but I will praise a favorite of mine, Ray Chase, for a killer performance as Ertegun. __Favorite Character:__ Tuesday Simmons, but let's be honest I loved all the characters. ~~~img(https://data.whicdn.com/images/335790309/original.png)~~~ Cop out, I know, but I loved everyone for different reasons. Tuesday was my favorite overall, Carole was my favorite personality, Angela was my favorite character arc, Ertegun was hilarious, etc... I think this was a case that the ensemble pushed each character to be better than they perhaps would have been on their own. Carole and Tuesday's whole dynamic was built upon being with each other, which weakens their individual characterization, but builds our bond to them on their relationship as best friends and musical partners. And, honestly, I think that is more important and more so the focal point of the story anyway. We didn't need to know every little detail about either one of them because the point was the bond shared and their music as a duo, not on if they can be a strong independent character. Which, I'd have to interlude that they do get enough time apart from each other that they never seem as if they're completely flat without one another, just that they're better as a unit. I could concede that they never really had their bond challenged at all, but I was okay with that. Contrived drama is never the answer, even if it's there to "build character" or something. In fact, Carole & Tuesday benefited so much in my mind from being relatively light on the drama. It was present at times, but it was handled in small doses, you know, like real life drama. I think someone could probably make a point that potentially, Carole and Tuesday got off quite easy in a lot of situations in the show, like being almost completely shielded from Tuesday's mother's campaign, which isn't extremely realistic. In fact, I don't think that Tuesday got enough resolution about her familial storyline. She barely has any connection to her brother and only a handful of times during the show talks with her mother, despite it being a pivotal part of her character. I also think a case could be made for the ending being quite rushed and the lack of resolution being pretty weak, especially since we never get to see them after the big finale performance, which feels extremely lame. I wanted to see their friendship with Angela grow, their debut album release, and more of what they would get into next, but alas, it just....ends. I bring up things that could be construed as negatives up, because I want to show how little all those things mattered to me in the grand scheme of things. I love Carole & Tuesday. I was so emotionally attached to those girls, Angela included, that I can only applaud the writing for getting me so attached in the first place. I think, if I had to put it into words, I would say that Carole & Tuesday brings some absolutely great ideas and refines some flawed ones, bringing them together to create something flawless. Do I think Carole & Tuesday is perfect in every way imaginable? Absolutely not. I really think some of the things above are pretty iffy issues, including some others, like Carole and Tuesday's relationship building up ridiculously fast. However, do I love it all the same? Absolutely. Did I give it a 10/10? Absolutely. In my opinion, Carole & Tuesday is emotionally engaging. Music is naturally emotional, and Carole & Tuesday hooks you right in with emotional piece after emotional piece, all while showing so many different sides of music, but never hiding the passion and love that comes with creation and expression. It emphasizes how valuable it is to be able express yourself through art, you could argue that it was an edgy take that was, perhaps, a bit too on the nose, but I respect what was trying to be said, nonetheless. ~~~img(https://randomc.net/image/Carole%20and%20Tuesday/Carole%20and%20Tuesday%20-%2024%20-%20Large%2036.jpg)~~~ It might be a little controversial how much I shrug off obvious shortcomings, but I unashamedly love Carole & Tuesday. I'm extremely saddened that I won't be able to ride along with Carole and Tuesday as they continue journey, but I will hold out hope for a season two someday, even though Watanabe trolled us with that ending. I would absolutely recommend this to anyone, but especially those that are looking for something uplifting and cute. The positivity of this show cannot be understated and is another reason why I think that this had such a huge appeal to me. It's so genuine and wholesome without seeming like it's trying too hard. I think reasonable critiques can be levied at it, and they would hold weight. However, I genuinely believe that Carole & Tuesday is perfectly imperfect, and that's what makes it perfect.
It's hard to talk about this show, because almost all the elements anime are typically judged upon are fairly lacking here. The story is superficial in the first half, and then just kind of a mess in second. This reminds me a lot of Terror in Resonance, another ambitious Watanabe-directed effort that has a few beautiful moments while feeling very uncanny due to the lack of proper buildup or follow through. The characters and dialogue are also extremely basic, and many of them could have been done away with entirely (for example, Roddy, possibly the most omnipresent yet non-essential anime character I have ever seen, apart from, well, Risa from Terror in Resonance). There's a terrorism plotline, a presidential election, a one episode detour where Carole meets her long-lost dad, _two_ stalker subplots, and a couple of mental breakdown/drug overdose plots -- it's just too much, and when the characters are as perfunctory as the ones here, it just gets exhausting. It doesn't help that a lot of these plotlines are picked up and dropped across the course a single episode. The only thing a typical anime watcher would have to grab onto in this show is its sometimes excellent animation (maybe the character designs, backgrounds, and outfits, which I thought were all very cute, but I don't know much about the topic). And while this show does have some of the most beautiful rotoscoping sequences I'm sure you'll ever find, it also does heavily use limited animation and falls back into typical Netflix anime mediocrity for long stretches. And that's all the bad things I'm going to say about the show. Because despite all these very obvious flaws, I enjoyed this show and I very much appreciated what it was going for. My thoughts on this show are the very definition of giving an A for effort. First, Watanabe has always made it a point to work diversity into his shows, whether that be in terms of different ethnicities or gender orientations. Carole and Tuesday may just be the most diverse anime I've ever seen. That might not matter at all to you, but I personally am sick of Japanese high schools in anime, and I found it incredibly refreshing. Watanabe has always loved music and western culture in general, and of all his work, this series has got to be the peak of his unique style of idealistic cosmopolitanism (though of course, as we see, not everything is perfect on the terraformed Mars where the show takes place). What I really love about Alba City, and other similarly diverse settings in Macross Plus or Bebop, is that it really doesn't just look like New York or Singapore. It's got a distinct look and a distinct vision of a true post-Earth melting pot. The attention to detail in some shots is really nice to see, though there's enough reused shots of the sprawling city that you might get sick of seeing some of it. As for the representation of queer characters, I think it was leaps and bounds beyond anything I've seen in an anime before, even if I could be convinced that some of the examples are a bit strange and maybe in bad taste. Seeing nonbinary characters like the Mermaid Sisters (Desmond?), the bisexual judge, Gus's lesbian ex, I mean, you just don't get such a vast array of non-straight characters in a cartoon pretty much ever. Watanabe has always been ahead of the curve here. A few words about what I think most people seem to be missing here, which is that Carole and Tuesday is about music (I know that's obvious, but no one seems to give the music in this show enough credit). I have _never_ seen, in any music related media of any kind, such a skillful homage to so many styles and artists, while almost never devolving into pastiche. No music anime has ever encapsulated an entire genre like Carole and Tuesday (that genre is pop, but even then it goes farther beyond). I say this while being a huge fan of how Champloo and Kids on the Slope broke new ground on this front. Nothing those shows did compares to what we have here. First, the collaboration with well-known western artists like Thundercat and Denzel Curry, which alone would be enough to make me watch an anime, not to mention that Denzel especially wrote some incredible songs for this show. Apart from that, all the (mostly) English-language music in this show is widely varied in style while still sounding faithful to what pop music is today, from Angela's fight songs (and one very Charli XCX sounding song that I love), to Pyotr's funk nu-disco, GGK's take on FKA Twigs-esque experimental R&B, Flora's on-the-nose homage to Whitney Houston (down to her tragic backstory, though I am delighted to see this time we have a happy ending), Krystal's mix of Beyonce and Ariana Grande, and of course Desmond's painfully sincere tribute to David Bowie. In particular, Desmond's episode was very clearly a remix of David Bowie's final 2016 album, and the choice to interpose his song with a speech by a fictional Donald Trump surrogate showed that Watanabe (or whoever was in charge of the music of this show) is keenly aware of the modern context of western music. The core duo of the show, Carole and Tuesday, are if anything the blandest act in the cast. Though there are some truly great singer-songwriter type jams in the first half, I started to get bored by their songs in the second, apart from the 2nd opening (which I think is an excellent Peter Gabriel-esque tune that is a bit disorienting at first with all its polyrhythms). The best parts of this show were the music festivals as well as the tournament arc (which is a parody of American Idol). During these episodes, I was always excited to see where the new contestants would go, and was rarely disappointed if not outright shocked. The touches are sometimes subtle, like the bubbly percussion and PC music-like synths in Angela's "All I Want", or the reverb on GGK's breathy vocals, but it always feels like a lot of heart was put into these songs rather than just making you go "oh hey, that's supposed to be this musician." To top it all off, the music sequences are generally beautifully animated, with an attention to detail and fidelity to what playing music is actually like that I can't help but admire. I'll admit, I'm not as blown away as I was by some of the sequences in Kids on the Slope or Space Dandy, but I think that may be partly because those shows already raised the bar so high beyond anything I had seen before. Watanabe knows how to put a great music sequence in his shows, we all know this, but it doesn't make it any less of a treat to see it done with a new genre or ten. As for the overall message of the show, yeah it's a little ham fisted. It's a direct response to Donald Trump and his racist rhetoric. I'm not sure it really fits with the setting, and I'm not sure it's handled in a subtle and intelligent enough way to be truly great, but honestly, I don't really have a problem with it. Like I said, A for effort. I commend Watanabe's ethos and his idealism, and even if I did cringe a bit when Carole and Tuesday decided to sing We Are The World to protest against ICE (sorry, it was just _too_ on the nose), I'm glad that a show like this was made. I agree with the (perhaps a bit banal) message, and it doesn't hurt to see it in anime at all. You're a good guy, Shinichiro Watanabe. Keep doing you. I'll be returning to some of these songs a lot, some of these less. I'll be returning to scenes of this show for sure, and the fuzzy feeling it gives me will definitely last a while. It shows that the crew of this show, or at least a few people involved, were true fans and students of pop music, and that passion and respect for the craft shines through in everything from the meticulous compositions to the episode titles (all named after a pretty wide sample of chart-toppers of all sounds and eras, complete with showing the accompanying photorealistic vinyls during the eyecatches). As a huge fan of the genre, I couldn't ask for anything more. It's pretty rare that a show like this comes along that appeals so much to my specific interests. Even with all its faults, I am very glad to have experienced this show.
img100%(https://i.pinimg.com/564x/ff/3e/8b/ff3e8bb6f28de2cc26256361c4ebe884.jpg) __~~~NO SPOILER review~~~__ __Description__ Carole & Tuesday is an anime about music, specifically the music industry on mars. Carole is an orphan who migrated to Mars from the earth in early childhood, now tries to make a living, while pursuing her goal of becoming a musician. Tuesday is the daughter of a famous politician who loves playing the guitar, while her family doesn't pay much attention to her, she decides to run away and show them that she can make a living on her own and become a musician as she has always wanted to. Will those two be able to achieve their dreams? __My thoughts__ I knew I was going to love this show from the start, and it would have definitely come in my favorites enjoyment-wise, but I could not ignore it's may be minor, but numerous flaws. It started off well, but the further the anime went, the less of the atmosphere which I liked so much was to be seen. I'm not going to say that the show is bad, because it definitely isn't, but certain changes would have made it much better. _-what I liked_ First off I can start with the atmosphere, music, and visuals. All of them were portrayed beautifully, the art style went well with the atmosphere and the characters looked unique and interesting. What amazed me the most was the music, and the amount of it, nearly every single episode had a new song and all of them were in English, which made me want to sing along. Many of them had deep meanings and some made me quite emotional. This show also shows us a new perspective on AI and how it can be used. I myself am not a huge fan of robots, mechanical stuff, and so on, but this show didn't make me hate them(_~~that's weird~~_). I was also a huge fan of characters, they looked unique and made the story more interesting. What I __liked the most__ will have to be the way they brought the problem of racism up, not many shows do that, and even less do it well. I didn't think that the show would take up such serious topics when I started it, and might I tell you that was a pleasant surprise. I'm afraid I can't say more about the heavy topics without spoiling so this will have to do it _-what I disliked_ As I said there were quite a few things I wish were changed, none of them were huge enough to make me dislike the anime itself, but they certainly played a role in the end score. First off is how episodic it felt, it was supposed to show me a story, but every episode introduced us a new character, and forgot about them right after (minor spoiler)~!until ep 24!~I wasn't able to get attached to the characters that weren't in the main spotlight and that the story was about. We were brought all those stories about different ppl and their lives, but most of them felt abrupt and incomplete. The pacing was all over the place, with some arcs being too long, and the main arcs being too short. One more thing I didn't like was how easy the main characters got everything, whatever they wanted was handed to them on a gold plate with easy solutions and they had too few problems on their way. in the end, I felt as if the story was missing something. They could have definitely made it longer and added more to the story(i think that would have made it much better) _-Conclusion_ __Carole & Tuesday isn't an anime you should skip__, it brings up the problems of our society and doesn't try to make them seem less important than they are. Maybe this is not the best anime out there, but everyone should try it(at least for the music) ___~~~Music from Carole & Tuesday~~~___ _The lonliest girl_ youtube(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfvJXuVVsZs) _Carole & Tuesday opening 1_ youtube(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxFpNkOD5UE) _Mermaid sisters song_ youtube(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFjqEexH0Tg) _crash the server(minor spoilers)_ youtube(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-AF81iBCi0)
Ok, fuck this, I'm writing reviews now. Welcome, welcome, one and all, this place should never be such a bore. Why do I watch this kind of shows? It's simple. Because I love almost nothing more than seeing artists express their souls and feelings. I am no music critic, I have no idea about what themes or lyrics or motives should be put into the song. I'm just your ordinary Billy-Joe-Jimbob who loves watching cartoons. But only once I felt like music was the best representation of the moment. Can you guess what moment it was? It was the episode about main duo manager's previous girl who can't sing anymore. Dogshit basic and simple narrative actually worked here. Overall I can say there were three nice plot lines. First - aforementioned girl. Second - androgynous vampire druid who died singing (but for some goddamn reason was resurrected for last performance because fuck you, we can't have good drama here). Third - Angela's plot. Yeah, it's actually reasonable but I still don't like the girl very much. Main duo is just garbage. I've never seen more plastic characters who has nothing, want nothing, and do nothing but the world is turning around them. Literally every single characters other than them is more interesting (except for streamer boy because fuck him). Same goes for their songs. All their songs are literally the same "Can you feel my can you feel my can you feel my tears they wont dry". The design of everything is weird. I mean it's ok in most of the moments but then we have Carole who has been wearing the same clothes since she was seven years old and those clothes somehow grew together with her because we obviously cannot distinguish a character in the past if she isn't wearing what she wears today. Or if she get's another outfit she'll suddenly become another character and the viewer will get scared. This show also thinks you are a moron. Let's get an example. Carole doesn't know who her parents are. After some fame there are tons of people claiming they are her parents but obviously are just after the money. Carole knows that her dad has some kind of birth mark on his hand. Then a new character appears who looks like her and just trying to kind of get along. For the moment, show didn't show us his hands. This character persists for some episodes. Then we have some actually nice written monologue about his story. And instead vaguely showing us that Carole got that she found her dad she just says it out loud. And then for some batshit reason because we are all absolute degenerates the show decides to reveal his hand. Because we cannot have any hint of _romanticism_ here or popcorn-eating heads on the other side of the screen will melt due to mental exhaustion. That actually was the boiling point for me. Fuck that shit. Did you know we also have a plot line about how there's music written by artificial intelligence and by people and that was the main issue story tried to tell us for... I think two episodes? And then just forgot about it. So what do we have here? Nothing, really. It's an empty shell of a hermit crab in a suit. Everything here feels like it was made by some metrics and graphs in a meeting with investors. How should I love show about artistic expression if it was made by soulless suits? Go watch zombie land saga and forget about this empty-eyed abomination staring at you from beyond the glass.
~~~Carole and Tuesday is an anime that is one of its kind—only a 24 episode anime yet filled with social commentary, speaking about what our society has become the past years. This is analysis of the show's social commentary. ~~~ _~~~__AI usage in music industry __~~~_ Carole and Tuesday was first released in 2019—yet it has already predicted the reliance of people on AI technology, specifically on music industry. Everyone knows how much AI has done to all of us in the world. Nowadays, not only you can use it to make your homework or even your job (using ChatGPT) but you can also create an entire film, a book, a play, and especially MUSIC using AI.[ Some of you may have heard of an AI generated music of Kanye West and Drake not too long ago.](https://www.forbes.com/sites/danidiplacido/2023/04/24/ai-generated-songs-that-sound-like-kanye-and-drake-are-going-viral-on-tiktok/?sh=5468e9983531) It shows how scary it is for an AI to easily mimic a voice. If early AI can do something like this, what about in the future? ~~~img400(https://imageio.forbes.com/specials-images/imageserve/64468be3dc046c3305a3babe/The-Official-Birthday-Bash-Afterparty-Hosted-by-Future/960x0.jpg?format=jpg&width=960)~~~ Carole and Tuesday is set in a cyberpunk-dystopian setting where in the future, most of humanity are in Mars. With this, technological advancements has been made and of course, AI has been used rampantly. With it being a music show, the anime shows us that majority of musicians have been reliant on AI technology to create music. Enter our two leads, Carole and Tuesday who makes music the traditional way—without AI. ~~~img400(https://newsoasis.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/thumbnail_caroleandtuesday2.jpg) ~~~ It is interesting that this show portrays the usage of traditional way to make music as something "unusual" or "unique" that even some characters are shocked, or make it a big deal that they are making music "naturally". The people in the show are too used in hearing AI music that hearing a "naturally made" song is deemed as "refreshing" or something that is out of the norm. And that people in the show are conditioned into thinking that non-ai music is deemed as bland. Of course, as what has been said, the characters in the show are too used in hearing AI music. Enter the "rival" of our lead, Angela. ~~~img400(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ck7G-7FtaKc/maxresdefault.jpg) ~~~ Angela is a star—turned to a singer. She makes an AI generated music that appeals to the crowd. With AI generated music being the norm, it is no wonder why she appeals to the crowd over our two leads. Over the course of the show, C&T and Angela have been clashing whether it be in a competition, or in the music charts. Carole and Tuesday can barely keep up in the Industry dominated by AI. Both the leads having "slow progress" in becoming a successful singer in AI driven music industry is great, because it tells how the society have adjusted their taste in music due to the emergence of AI over the past years, and how AI has changed the perception of people in arts and media. _~~~__Migration between Mars and Earth __~~~_ Set in a cyberpunk-dystopian setting, majority of characters in the show have settled in Mars. Due to the massive development in technology, people all over the Earth have migrated to Mars. But what is left on Earth now that people have migrated? ~~~img400(https://preview.redd.it/zr1w8s7mngj61.jpg?width=960&crop=smart&auto=webp&v=enabled&s=e83d3b82d0324674f81c8820ced5c131a5fe7aeb) ~~~ Earth in this anime is portrayed as something dystopian—dry lands and refugee camps spread all over. Migration from Earth to Mars has been happening, and also served as a major conflict in the show. Mixed with politics, we have political candidates running for position in the show, seving as an overarching storyline, and one of them is Tuesday's mother. Over the course of the series, there has been numerous debate over the immigrants. Political parties treats them as a threat of humanity on Mars and are being discriminated upon. Earth on the other hand, is dying pitifully and yet, there has been no action has been made to heal the Earth and instead people settle on other planet instead of restoring the Mother Nature. This presents us a question on how would lawmakers react and make response as Earth slowly deteriorates—will they find a way to heal it or find a futile measure to survive, leaving the Earth dying? _~~~__A light in the darkness __~~~_ Being centered on musical industry, the songs in this anime stands out due the incredible composition especially its lyrics. Each social commentary in this show are addressed subtly through music. In light to recent issue about the dying Earth, its message has been spread through Carole and Tuesday's performance during the Grammy's. Below is the excerpt of the lyrics—a call for action about the dying Earth. >"Where you gonna turn when Your whole world is burning? This is the beginning Don't give up >'Cause after the fire, new maps are drawn Nothing to cry for, new dreams are born Out of the ruins, flowers will grow People rebuilding, stone by stone After the fire, fire, fire" _~~~__Million Voices Are Strong __ ~~~_ >Freedom is the strength to make you right Amillion voices are strong But together we are one Together we can change the world Together we're the missing piece Mother, come and heal this Earth Mother, you're the love we need In the latter part of the show, musicians are stripped out of their freedom of speech and thus their expression through music is limited—another social commentary on how politicians and lawmakers manipulate the mass media. With this, expression through art is limited and music, Ai or naturally made, as an artform is dying. People always forget the most cliche yet important thing—unity. By becoming as one, the voice and plea of the masses can be heard. Not only this powerful moment an act of rebellion and protest against unlawful politicians, but is also a call for change—a reminder of what's currently going on with the Earth right now as it is dying, and to remind the society to wake up and stop being blind to societal problems. This last segment tells us that people have been way too comfortable in their lifestyle in Mars, but forgot how the Earth is dying. _~~~__LGBTQ+ Representation __~~~_ The show portrays queer characters in subtle way and dont tell it directly. There has been a mixed reception about the representation of queer community. Others have stated that it's a dangerous portrayal of queer characters, or is it? Let us talk about them one by one. 1. Ex wife of Gus Early in the show, we are introduced to the ex wife of Gus who shortly came out and is actually planning to remarry a women. It is a great example of a "late bloomer" who discovered their gender identity at later stage of their life. She was written delicately as late bloomer and also loved how she gave Gus a closure about her identity. 2. Angela's mom She is often complained about her "violent" nature which is a bad way to portray transgender. While yes, violent stereotypings are honestly awful, however what people dont get is that she is supposed to be villainy and "violent". The series tries to portray a parent with failed dreams trying to achieve it through their child (a common trope too) so her character was intentionally villainy since she's pressuring her dreams to Angela. Her being "violent" is her character and isnt tied up to her being queer. 3. Pyotr During the talent show arc early in the series, Pyotr is one of the contestants in the show. Pyotr is queer, which he confirmed it during his performance at talent show where he sang about a song of him being finally comfortable coming out. The song's title was "Love yourself" the lyrics was fitting and meaningful for his identity. youtube(https://youtu.be/SFaPpSue-8U) 4. Desmond Desmond is a non binary/intersex character and so far there has been any problems about them as they also had a short mini arc about them falling in love with a man. 5. Mermaid Sisters This one is where I can say that the representation was a bit off. Not only that their performance was awful, being used as comic-relief characters that dont fit, but also they became violent at the end of the show. Their performance was disastrous and not fitting for the show as it is unrealistic. Had this been executed in another manner, their performance could've been funny... only with context this is just awful. youtube(https://youtu.be/OFjqEexH0Tg) 6. Cybelle Cybelle is a creepy admirer of Tuesday, and also really violent. This one also where the representation was not that good Overall majority of the queer characters have been done well with some drawbacks. It is a flawed representation—yet its effort in representating the community is appreciated, as some of the representations were actually great. ~~~__Other social commentary __~~~ I will never forget one time in the show, a white policemen arresting one of the black characters in the show. Another subtle commentary of police brutality and racism. ~~~webm(https://i.imgur.com/9Oj8LSe.mp4)~~~ Drugs under pressure. On the second half of the show, we are introduced to some mini arcs in the series, and one of them is about Flora—a famous artist and also an acquaintance of Gus. She was given backstory about her being addicted to drugs due to constant pressure in musical industry and was then inactive as an artist. Her mini-arc is one of the most emotional as we saw Flora slowly regain hope through Carole and Tuesday singing Flora's song. ~~~youtube(https://youtu.be/MEF1R5jwW5A) ~~~ _~~~__Carole and Tuesday as musical show __~~~_ Shinichiro Watanabe is one of a kind director when picking and composing the songs in this anime. You can tell how much soul and passion are put into this when listening to the music compositions. Each lyrics speaks thousands of stories—music as freedom of expression. youtube(https://youtu.be/0oF3koaFZEY) Our two leads, Carole and Tuesday, has had an amazing slow journey to become successful in the musical industry. Their progress has not been rushed, and their story about becoming successful is done in slow manner—which is what I appreciate as it is a realistic portrayal. Just as how we see them become successful, we also saw them at their lowest. >The audience for this pivotal first gig consists of only ten people—But these ten will have a bragging rights of saying 'I was there'. In the first part of the series, we get to see the subtle slice of life moments of our two leads. Working part time jobs and making music—,with the help of their manager, Gus. Through Gus, they have landed on their first gig—one of the first stepping stones. ~~~youtube(https://youtu.be/fTQ1a3oB_kA)~~~ Following their gig, they have landed another opportunity—to perform at a festival. It all sounds too good to be true to perform to a big festival right away, thats probably what Watanabe thought. In this segment, we get to see our two leads being pushed and dissed against by the audience, leading to unsuccessful performance. It is great that in this show, we get to see the characters failing and not succeeding with what they want because it all sounds boring if we let the characters "win" all the time. Following their unsuccessful performance, another opportunity was opened to them, to compete in a talent show. In this arc, I have encountered pacing issues with it being too long as all songs performed by the contestants have been featured. It also became messy during the Cybelle incident, which is written in baaaaaad way. Not only that, I feel like Angela's perfrmance isnt as good as how the character in the show make it out to be. Both Cybelle and GGK are so much better than her, but it felt like Angela won for the sake of it.It felt forced, her songs are nothing extraordinary and just your average popstar girlypop. However, despite my gripes in this arc, this served as a great exposure for our leads as they also interacted with new characters that let them having another opportunity in becoming successful. And of course, all of the songs are bangers. youtube(https://youtu.be/3zw7_GKBWis) youtube(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eq9jxeP3F9g) youtube(https://youtu.be/PCWUerhEIKg) youtube(https://youtu.be/QxS1RFQG0R4) For the second part of the show, this is where we see the more serious side of this show. If on the first part we get to see our two leads having sevaral exposures, on the second part we get to see them rising the industry by recording singles and albums. During the second half, they have attained countless opportunities and met new people that will help them become successful. This is where we get to see some mini-arcs of the characters. One of the mini arc that stood out to me is about Ezekiel—Carole's long lost childhood friend, and also an immigrant from Earth. youtube(https://youtu.be/B7deSbnWosw) This second segment also shows the social commentaries I have stated above. We also got to see how politics has been tied and related to the musical industry. In this more serious side of the show, it fleshes out its worldbuilding, relating musical industry to politics and it was done magnificently, as what I have stated on the analysis of social commentaries above. ~~~__ Conclusion__~~~ Carole and Tuesday is a musical show that is more than just about music—it shows the reflection of the society and how its societal problems remain unsolved due to society's blind treatment of its problems. Despite having its issues, as all shows have, it remains to be one of iconic work of art telling countless issues that needs to be addressed. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~