This movie came to me, recommended by Wyrdwad. Its original story comes from the same writer of Night on the Galactic Railroad: Miyazawa Kenji. I’m glad I checked it out, as it’s one of the most unique music-anime I’ve seen. The story is about Gauche, a professional, though not very good cellist. While this premise sounds rather bland, there is one element in the story that totally gives this movie its own style and charm. I refrain from saying what it is, for the sake of spoilers, though. It’s best if you watch this movie without knowing anything.

Because of that element, this movie turned into quite an adorable fable, that neither feels too long nor too short. I also admire the realism, Gauche (or “Goshu”, as his name is in the anime) acts surprisingly likable throughout the movie, as do the other side-characters. The story also isn’t afraid to go into a bit of the technical stuff, while still remaining easy to follow.

Despite its age, Gauche the Cellist remains an enjoyable light watch for every age, apart from the people who need action, perhaps. While the movie didn’t reach any heights, it did what it set out to do, and a very good job as well. The art looks fairly unimpressive, though. But because of that, the characters end up looking like any other average Joes, making the mood of this movie even more down to earth.

The animation is nothing impressive for a movie, but I must note that this is one of the few times where the animators actually bothered to try and synchronize their instruments with the background music. Most anime nowadays don’t even bother, and I remember how Nodame Cantabile’s attempt of using CG for this failed horribly.

Before I start with the usual episode, I’d like to share the following:

Ooedo rocket - 19
Ooedo rocket - 20
Ooedo rocket - 21

For some reason, no new raws have appeared at all on Tokyo Toshokan, so Kallen requested these. It would be great if someone would host these on a torrent and submit to Tokyo Toshokan, for those who can’t use Megaupload or don’t follow this site. It reminds me of last year, when the same happened to Sasami Mahou Shoujo Club. It’s such a shame that even the raw providers don’t bother with such excellent shows, though it’s great to see that Shinsen Subs are starting to release subs for this series, They’re up to episode eight already.

Anyway, you don’t want to miss any second of this episode, as it’s one of the most hilarious of the entire series. It’s one of these episodes that are completely devoted to comedy and characters-development, while the story takes a step back, and it works perfectly. I finally realize that this is one of the few shows where the building-up scenes are better than the actual climaxes, just because it’s a delight to see al the different characters interact with each other.

Basically, this episode revolves around a play, organized by O-Ise, probably to raise money for the rocket-developments. The entire thing looks completely improvised, and things keep screwing up, but people sure do have fun in the process!! Another interesting thing is that it’s a play, based on Kaguya-hime, but with Seikichi and Sora not in the main roles. Tenhou is the prince (she looks awesome, dressed as Seikichi, by the way), Hiraga Gennai is the farmer who digs Kaguya-hime up, Tenten is the leader of the government officials (combined with a grat accent), with Santa, Shinza and Rokubei as his underlings. Sora plays the voice of Kaguya-hime, and as for Kaguya-hime herself… *grin*

Probably one of the biggest reasons behind the success of this episode was the following: Genzo returns!!!! Finally our hero gets his original form back, and the result turns out awesome. He gets to play the role of Kaguya-hime because of his feminine features as well, and I’m so glad that we finally see him as a normal human again. O-Ise also was brilliant in her role as manager, and not to mention her new costume.

The several interruptions to the play also were hilarious. Both Tetsugyu and Kagiya try to intervene, with hilarious results. Oh, and Shinza falls in love with Genzo in the middle of his acting, and Seikichi blows up the entire stage near the end of the play. ^^;

There also were quite a few subtle jokes in this episode. It again took another jab at modern technology with a new version of the ambulance, and even though people could communicate via earphones, I spotted a tin can, attached to a string at one point. ^^; There’s also a strange cameo from Gurren Lagann, who showed up at random times. I’m not really sure what that one was about. ^^;