Watching 'Carole and Tuesday' Episode 1

The first thing that is noticeable about the show is that it is beautiful to look at. The backgrounds are incredibly detailed, the cityscape at night shown at the end of the episode is breathtaking to look at, and the characters all have really interesting designs that stand out from each other. In fact, even if you are not able to remember who the character is, there is no doubt that you would be able to pick them out, and recognize who it is from a glance. Interestingly enough there are references to real world musicians, and impressively, many of the instruments have recognisable brand names. This goes to show how much money was spent to get the rights for the names to be used in the show.

Tuesday is from a rich family, and runs away from home so that she would be able to properly express herself by playing music freely without the contempt from her mother. The city that she goes to is called Alba Mars, a setting in the not too distant future. However, the moment she enters the city, taking the technology out of the equation, it could be mistaken for any urban city today. This is where we meet Carole, and immediately we get an idea of the story. They meet, and having come from completely different backgrounds find each other to be friends through music, going on to become the best thing since sliced bread.

Considering this is a show that revolves around music, it is great to find that the music the duo plays is wonderful to listen to. In fact, the jam session they had towards the end of the episode was wonderful to listen to. There were a few times during this segment where I was reminded of Kids on the Slope, and the jam session they had at the start of the show. During this session we get to see how the performances would be animated, using a combination of 3D models and rotoscoping, both of which are integrated into the show near seamlessly. Coupling that with the Jazzy/ R&B/ Hip Hop soundtrack that is sprinkled throughout the episode you get to experience the very best of Shinichiro Watanabe’s taste in music. The fact that the two meet as a result of Carole busking is great as it immediately creates a bond between them through the thing that they both love. Plus, it was also great to see how they were chased as a result for playing illegally on the street.

Countering the raw passion that is driving Carole and Tuesday with regards to music, we are shown the complete antithesis to their interpretation of pure musical expression through the characters, Angie and Tao. The music made by Tao is completely artificial, using AI and various algorithms to figure out what type of music the crowd would be interested in listening to in order to make hit after hit. Angie is hoping to transition from being a model to a musician, and so approaches Tao about making this happen.

What these two characters bring forth is an interesting commentary about the artificial nature in which music is being produced today, where most of the songs that you find in the charts all sound near identical to each other, while music created with the pure human touch is found on the streets.

Even after the first episode, you get the very real feeling that you know exactly where this story is going to go, at least in broad strokes. Despite this notion, I found myself glued to the screen, and watched through the entire first half of the season in a single sitting. Only the first half due to the incomprehensible manner in which Netflix is releasing their anime. Though that is something I have made clear in prior posts, and vented through a post dedicated to this frustration. Getting back to the topic, there are a couple of things that I would close this post on. The narrator has a sense of humor as he narrates the intro and the outro to the episode which is fun in itself.

Finally, what I thought was curious is the fact that the names of the episodes are the titles of actual songs, for instance this episode is titled, "True Colors," after the Cyndi Lauper song. This is the second time I have found a show to do this. The other time is from another show that I thoroughly enjoyed, at least the first four seasons of which, One Tree Hill.

As far as a first episode goes I found it to be incredibly effective.