An Anime Review 'Carole and Tuesday' (Part 1)

Carole and Tuesday is the latest show to be directed and created by Shinichiro Watanabe (Cowboy Bebop, Kids on the Slope), and alongside, helping him on the director’s chair, is Motonobu Hori (Animation Director—Psycho-Pass, Beck). The show is scripted by Aya Watanabe (A Gentle Breeze in the Village, The Town’s Children, Josee The Tiger and the Fish) while the original character design is done by Kubonouchi Eisaku (Manga—Cherry, At that Time. She). As the first half of the show is on Netflix, finally, I chose to watch the show in its dubbed form and so the english cast for the two leads are Jeannie Tirado (Genocidal Organ, Fire Force), who plays Carole, and Brianna Knickerbocker (The Rising of the Shield Hero, The Seven Deadly Sins), who plays Tuesday. The Japanese cast for Carole and Tuesday are Miyuri Shimabukuro (Hanebado!), and Kana Ichiniose (Darling in the FranXX, Fairy Gone) respectively. The show is produced by Studio Bones (Soul Eater, My Hero Acadamia).

Carole and Tuesday is about two girls living on Mars aspiring to be musicians. Carole is a girl that has to work multiple part time jobs in order to keep a roof over her head, while going out busking in the streets. Tuesday is a girl that comes from a privileged family, however as a result of her domineering mother, and the suppression of her want to play music in the household, she runs away to Alba Mars. The two meet each other during a busking session and the two go on to become fast friends. As their story develops they are found by Gus, a former music manager, and Rody, who is an AI technician that works for DJ Ertegun, a prominent musician of the time. The group tries their best to get the girls known by having them play at bars, making a music video, asking to be featured with an established artist, and playing at a festival. Finally they end up playing at a talent show, X Factor or The Voice so that they could be signed by a label.

This is not the only story that is taking place, as we are also shown the opposite end of the spectrum with Angie and Tao. Angie is a model that is wanting to transition over to becoming a musician, while Tao is a producer that has created hit after hit on the charts. What makes Tao incredibly interesting is that all of his music is manufactured by programs, by using algorithms to see what type of song the public would be interested in listening to. Beneath the surface of the story of musicians wanting to be musicians, is an interesting allegory towards the state of the music industry as it is, where the top of the charts are dominated by manufactured music, while one needs to go down the rabbit hole to the local bands that are trying their best to pay rent to listen to music that is made using the human touch.

The best part about the show is the characters, they are all unique in terms of personality, and do well when it comes to bouncing off of each other, making each interaction unique and interesting to watch. Ertegun was one of my favourite characters, as he had a perfect balance of extreme self confidence, bordering on arrogance, while also being extremely charismatic, a type of character that had the potential to go very wrong, very easily. Another interesting aspect of the show that I was not expecting was the very mature way it handled the romance between two lesbian women, where it was depicted as, not something that is other, but as something that is completely natural and accepted.

Even within the various musicians that we meet, there are relationships that are treated with a depth that could only be done with masterful writing where you are left intrigued as to why said characters are the way they are. As if you are picking up on their story right in the middle as opposed to the beginning, and weaving it seamlessly into the central narrative. Among the musicians I saw shades of ZZ Top, Sade, Outkast, Lenny Kravitz, Beyonce, System of a Down, Rag’n’Bone Man, so on and so forth.

The character that left an incredibly lasting impression on me is Cybelle. She is quite unassuming when first introduced. However, as the show goes on, we see just how unhinged she really is. Ordinarily I am in favour of characters such as Harley Quinn, though when I watched Cybelle, I did not get the sense of adoring that I usually feel towards Harley, instead I felt uncomfortable, as it was intended. Musicians do have these kinds of followers, the most notable incident, to my memory, involves the attempt on Bjork during the nineties by a deranged fan. Cybelle has the character design of the type of character I usually like, however I found the character herself to be so chilling in its portrayal that even though the performance was great I cannot bring myself to like her.

Tao is an interesting character in his own right. He is portrayed in a way where he is shown to be incredibly intelligent, so much so that world leaders are seeking him to work for them so that they could get ahead. However, he maintains himself in the music industry. He is incredibly methodical in his approach and wants only to remove error, which is why he, up until this point, has only ever worked with AI in a song’s construction, and not with a human.

From a visual standpoint the show excels. The look of Alba Mars is absolutely breathtaking, especially during the night, when artificial light illuminates the darkness. The movement of the characters are incredibly natural in the ordinary scenes. By using a combination of 3D animation and rotoscoping they are able to make the performances by the musicians incredibly engaging to watch, while at the same time having a fluidity in natural movement that would otherwise not have been possible. It is fascinating to watch the behind the scenes footage that is available on Youtube.

One aspect I do find quite disheartening is the fact that there are a few times when it was obvious that they reused a few segments of animation over and over again, Ertegun’s intro being the main casualty. The intro was used multiple times throughout the show, and while at first I assumed it was as a commentary on how manufactured music is shoved at us to a nearly obnoxious degree, the fact that it was the same clip, and the frequency at which it was used out of context puzzled me.

In the grand scheme of things it is a minor gripe, as for the most part the characters are never completely still for too long, and the usage of 3D animation being integrated makes for an incredibly fluid world to dive into. There is an extreme amount of detail present in every frame that it is actually impressive. This shows how lived in the world feels when compared to a lot of other anime that has very standard, interesting backgrounds. Here, these backgrounds do a lot to develop the type of characters they are. The natural feel of Carole's home shows how she is very much creating music organically, while the artificial setting Tao is in shows the mechanical way in which he is manufacturing music.

The character designs are all interesting in their own right as no two characters look the same. Carole is shown to have an impeccable taste in fashion that I wholeheartedly approve of, primarily because we both wear the same shoes. What I did not realize until about episode six is the strong resemblance Angie has towards Five from Terror in Resonance. Another Shinichiro Watanabe show. Which is great in its own right and one I highly recommend.

Ultimately this is a show that revolves around music. I must say the music is fantastic and varied. Naturally, there are some genres that I favour more than others, and your acceptance of them is more subjective towards your personal tastes. However, as far as production value goes, it is quite obvious that the creators has gone the extra mile to make sure that each of the musicians has an identity that is unique to them, without there being any overlap at all. Not only are the original songs well made, the original soundtrack is a fantastic mix of Jazz, Rhythm and Blues, and Hip Hop.

I would go so far as to say that one of the best segments of the first twelve episodes is the music festival, where the combination of music and visuals were so overpowering that my eyes and ears were glued to what was happening on screen. The segment took up the better part of a couple of episodes where much of one of them was dedicated towards performances, and while the central story was put on hold, I was riveted. I must admit that my praise for this segment is somewhat lowered as a result of the many still shots that were reused of the crowd reacting to the performances at times, as they ran the risk of pulling me out of the moment a few times whenever they came up. The wonderfully animated visuals and a fantastic selection of songs sung by the musicians more than made up for this minor set back.

My favourite track from the show is without a doubt the marquee song "The Loneliest Girl" (Linked above), it is a song that I have been listening to on loop for days. It is a simple song, simple lyrics, that is sung in a very simple manner. In addition, the song is incredibly pleasing to listen to. My least favourite of the tracks are those that are sung by Angie, I am not the biggest fan of the songs that appear on the charts a majority of the time, due to the fact that they feel incredibly similar to each other regardless of the subject matter of the song itself. Naturally there are exceptions to this, though I found myself incredibly uninterested whenever Angie sang. Once more this is something that was based on personal music taste, even then I admit that the production quality of the songs themselves are quite impressive.

Was there a need for this show to be set on Mars? When you really think about it this is a story that you have seen countless times before. A group gets discovered by a former manager, they win 'til they are at the top of the world. They have a falling out and crash only to pull through at the end becoming the best there ever will be. We have seen this twice in the past year alone with Bohemian Rhapsody and Rocketman. It is a story that we have seen countless times, not only in music, but in sports and many other genres. What I feel benefits most from the setting is the allegory beneath the surface of the main story, as I mentioned earlier, it is a commentary on the manufactured nature of modern music and a contrast to what true music is at the street level. The technological advancement in setting this in the future, and on Mars, only goes further to emphasis the standpoint of the creators.

One final tidbit I really like is the fact that the names of the episodes are named after actual songs from musicians in our world. This reminds me of One Tree Hill, another show I really enjoyed, at least until the end of season four. Which brings me to the point of the amount of real brands that are used in this show, which just goes to prove how much they spent on this show, and the commitment they had towards authenticity.

Ultimately, is this a show that I think you should watch. If you are into anime, definitely. This is a Shinichiro Watanabe anime after all, and the positives that I have talked about so far should be an indication as to the high regard I hold the show in. If you are into music, I would say watch the first couple of episodes as, like I mentioned earlier, the allegory to modern music is interestingly explored. If you are not into anime, I would still say to give, at least, the first episode a chance.