Carole & Tuesday
Music heals! Music is therapy! Music is a universal language! Can you imagine a world without music? Even in our day-to-day lives, we can hardly go without music. It's everywhere, in the boiling water, when mom makes pasta! Rhythm is everywhere. This is a story about making music. It's a story where making music is no longer a viable option.
Motonobu Hori, Shinichiro Watanabe, and Studio Bones collaborated to create "Carole and Tuesday," a 24-episode original animation series that ran 22 minutes each. The names of each episode are drawn from popular and rock songs. From April 11 to October 30, 2019, the series aired on Fuji TV and was exclusively available for streaming on Netflix. In the spring of 2019, it made its debut. Eisaku Kubonouchi created the original character designs, while Tsunenori Saito brought them to life in animated form. The makers of Cowboy Bebop and Fullmetal Alchemist collaborated on this animation. Hakuhodo DY Music & Pictures, Flying DOG, BS Fuji, and Hakuhodo DY Media Partners collaborated on its creation. The anime has a musical theme and includes sci-fi and drama elements. Its Netflix TV rating was TV-MA, while its actual rating was PG-13 for teens 13 and older.
There were eight episodes in a brief Carole & Tuesday flash animation series, published on the channel's official Twitter and YouTube accounts, plus an extra episode that served as a review of the previous 12 episodes. On May 2, Kadokawa Shoten's Young Ace magazine began serializing a manga adaptation with illustrations by Morito Yamataka. Yen Press confirmed the manga's license at Anime NYC, with a publication date set for 2020.
It has been 50 years since humans first migrated to the terraformed planet Mars, where they now live comfortably. People are happy to be passive consumers in an era when artificial intelligence (AI) dominates the majority of culture. One of our main characters, Carole, resides in the city of Alba City, works part-time during the day, and performs on the keyboard at night. She had always felt as though something was missing until that fateful day when she met Tuesday, who fled her home in Hershell City to escape the control of her privileged family. Her family did not understand her and disregarded her ambition to pursue music with her acoustic guitar.
After their encounter on a bridge, where Tuesday spotted Carole singing, the two decided to collaborate on music. To practice their song, the two sneak into a concert hall. The duo is confident that their songs can convey their emotions more effectively than the AI singers that now dominate the music industry. Non-AI-generated music isn't as mainstream as the newest and greatest manufactured pop sound, and some of the biggest stars in the music business despise it. This is a subject of contention throughout Carole & Tuesday. Whether the music was composed by musical prodigies or purportedly manufactured by AI is irrelevant to spectators. Will their determination and luck be sufficient to produce the greatest miracle Mars has ever witnessed?
In the anime series "Carole & Tuesday," two young ladies band together to succeed in the music industry. This futuristic anime contains some mature material, including strong sexual innuendo and profanity. The primary characters in the program are enthusiastic, dedicated, and motivated by music, though adult figures aren't always the ideal mentors. Thus, we have Tuesday, a poor little rich girl, and Carole, a Gamin. It's interesting how little character development occurs, as they are extraordinary individuals from the beginning of the anime. Yes, they transition from being unknowns to celebrities, but they don't undergo significant changes in terms of their personalities and morals. Typically, the protagonist is the one who develops and evolves since we are meant to relate to them. But altering the opponent accomplishes the goal, and thus their rival, Angela, grows as a character.
Nevertheless, Hori and Watanabe's passion for music is evident. Whether it's the apparent commitment to racial and ethnic diversity, the vast array of music performed by actual musicians from around the world, the topic of manufactured music versus "true" craft, or the handling of issues like immigration and industrial copyrighting, it's all here. Watanabe expresses their undying passion for the fascination and wonders of music by using Carole and Tuesday's story as a type of declarative essay. In that regard, it's far more realistic to think of Carole and Tuesday as a project than an anime. To create a broad panorama of music that transcends all boundaries and genres, the show partnered with over 20 musicians from a diverse range of nations. It featured music from international performers such as Taku Takahashi and Celeina Ann, as well as Flying Lotus, Thundercat, Alison Wonderland, and Taku Takahashi of the J-pop/rap ensemble m-flo. A non-binary artist discusses their method of navigating psychedelic music to stay stable halfway through the anime.
Another episode has an Instagram celebrity who admits to listening to pop music to boost his fame and self-confidence. One of the later episodes even makes a clear allusion to the ICE situation in America by depicting the arrest of a rapper for his lyrics about being oppressed and doomed to a life of fugitive freedom.
Although all of these songs have a fictional setting, they convey a strong message about the relevance of these events and individuals, and as a result, the significance of music as a means of promoting diversity and representation. Watanabe and Hori take this element seriously, as it conveys a potent message. The animation is consistent overall, and a wide range of music-related topics is covered. Whether it’s about the power of music to captivate despite boundaries, the difficulty of internet sensations when it comes to being a rising pop star, the impediments of being a woman in the music industry, or even the hurdle of self-expression when it comes to gender, identity, and politics.
The first song, "The Loneliest Girl," by Taku Takahashi and Celeina Ann, as well as the opening and closing tracks, have excellent harmonies, moving lyrics, and a sentimental feel. This series feels so original and realistic. Nai Br.XX and Celeina Ann's performances of "Kiss Me" and "Hold Me Now," respectively, serve as the opening and closing theme songs of the first half. "Polly Jean," sung by Nai Br.XX and Celeina Ann, along with "Not Afraid," performed by Alisa, serve as the second half's opening and closing theme songs. The music at FlyingDog is created by Mocky. Other musicians contributed additional music. On July 31, 2019, the first soundtrack CD, featuring 20 tunes and covering the first 12 episodes, was released. The songs on the CD were composed by the participating musicians for the characters in the series. The Loneliest Girl, the first insert music featured in episodes 1, 2, and 12, was made available via digital streaming platforms on June 27, 2019. Cut sequences and animations have a flowing, futuristic style. You could enjoy this anime style, particularly if you enjoy cartoons like "Team Galaxy."
Carole & Tuesday is unquestionably worthwhile, whether you are interested in music, current events, or simply just want to witness a multimedia effort come to life in the form of animation. It may not consistently achieve the heights it seeks, but it still comes off as an immensely bold and practical experiment, addressing subjects and ideas that few today would dare to explore.
