Carole & Tuesday

Imagine, if you will, a moment of bliss. The dazzling array of lights illuminating the hall, radiating along the stage. Glimmering golden flakes floating down from above like snow upon two girls pouring their hearts out in the performance of their lives. Their eyes are transfixed on the spectacle of it all as the narrator bellows that “it would go down in the history of Mars as the miraculous seven minutes”. This is the moment that Carole & Tuesday wished to define itself by. A celebration of music and the power it holds consummated in seven special minutes. But behind these seven minutes is the journeythat set it all in motion. Carole & Tuesday is a tale steeped in the past, now set in the gleaming terraformed future of Mars. The story of rags-to-riches between a pair of talented women: Tuesday, who sneaks away from her wealthy sheltered lifestyle and takes a train to the big city, and Carol, an ex-refugee and orphan constantly looking for work with no clear direction in her life. In their world, music has been studied, dissected and repackaged to perfection through the use of artificial intelligence; the popular human artists now acting as merely fronts for the artistry. They both feel isolated and melancholy, needing some way to express it. In this, the two have a fateful encounter as Carol plays piano atop a bridge. She hums along to the music, but Tuesday insists she can hear the meaning of her song despite the lack of words. Carole and Tuesday, two musicians from radically different socioeconomic backgrounds, are able to understand each from through their music. Considering the nature of this series being centred around music, the anime puts a lot of attention towards the music incorporated within the show. Carole & Tuesday holds some clear similarities with other works by director Shinichiro Watanabe; not only does he use a variety of diverse character designs and art styles, but here he employs different genres of music and artists to coincide with the Western accessibility of the show in general. Flying Lotus, Alison Wonderland and Denzel Curry and just some of the names associated with this project. Most importantly, the music acts as a natural means for development between the two leads. When the two begin playing together, the flaws in their sessions are apparent: they aren’t in tune with each other, Tuesday is a step behind Carole and both continually have to restart the song. The session is a work in progress, but once they start finding their rhythm, it’s as if their souls have slowly begun to intertwine. Their unity, passion and emotional release creates a world of their own, free from the gloomy feeling around them. The worldbuilding details constantly echo the technology-driven culture of today, giving it a sense of believability amidst the more fantastical elements. Instagram, Google and YouTube are all featured in some way during the duo’s attempt to break into the music industry, before eventually entering a talent competition that parodies the likes of The Voice and American Idol. This is where the most diverse musical genres of the series are showcased, from a profane barbershop quartet number to an operatic hip hop hybrid piece that really shows the range of musical styles present in the show. While the pacing is slowed down significantly for this purpose, it also introduces an antagonist to the pair in Angela, a model turned singer on her own journey that acts as a clear juxtaposition with Carole and Tuesday. Unlike the lead duo, Angela embraces the influence of artificial intelligence and is pushed as the industry’s next big star, however her struggles are as real as the two protagonists. Angela as a former child star carries her own share of baggage whilst being used as a puppet of the industry and given no creative control over her art. But she is passionate about her career and has to work tirelessly in order to stay relevant. She provides an insight into what can happen when business takes priority over pleasure. All of the contrasting styles and motivations serve as foils to the stripped-down singer-songwriter ability of the titular duo, representing the traditional side of music with warmth and authenticity that cannot be replicated. At least, that is what the intention was with each of their performances. But the series only achieves this in theory. Their opponents in the talent show seek to treat music as a commodity first and foremost in contrast to Carole and Tuesday, who want to deliver a more intimate experience with their songs as down-to-earth musicians. Except that the music they play seems counter-intuitive, coming across as the kind of melodramatic pop that would not be difficult to find nowadays. It might not be surprising to see how the judges love the pair whose music you would expect to find in every talent show in the last decade, but consider how the series is trying to, in a sense, rehabilitate music, with some of the most generic pop tunes of our time. Lyrically the song also come across poorly, with the melodies and rhythm having to compensate for instances of laundry being used as a metaphor for example. The song writing here speaks volumes about Tuesday’s lack of life experience to draw from, yet they are still showered with overwhelming praise after each and every one of their performances. As the series continues, there’s a concerning lack of character development going forward for a character-driven show such as Carole & Tuesday. The characterization starts off strong with establishing the differences in both leads, before the script changes to emphasize the commonalities between them and more nuance is added to their actions. However, their bond as a whole feels unnatural, as they become such close friends after a short amount of time and their bond is never challenged going forward. Chemistry between main characters, especially in dramas, tends to grow little by little through each of their interactions with each other. Because of this, viewers are able to see their relationship develop gradually for themselves, thus coming across more naturally. This does not happen with Carole and Tuesday. Instead the two are shown to be great off the get-go, putting on good to excellent performances together that garner high praise from well-known artists. There is hardly a struggle they face that is shown in their journey. Add to that how predictable and light-hearted the tone of the series is, Carole and Tuesday feel more like avatars than their own characters for the remainder of the show. From the offset Carole & Tuesday, despite its shortcomings as a music drama, was based around the two leads coming together and making a name for themselves in the music industry. But after the talent show, the narrative begins to shed more of a light on their backgrounds: Carole’s friends who are refugees and, more importantly, Tuesday’s family ties to politics. This is where the story transitions from the tale of two women chasing their passions in an age of AI-produced music to an allegory of current-day American politics that takes itself seriously. Politics in an anime is not an inherent issue and make no mistake, Carole & Tuesday wanted to be a socially conscious series from the beginning. But the sudden change in plot and focus causes most of the key events that occur to feel forced and inorganic, not to mention even more predictable than before. The execution is clumsy at best and incompetent at worst; it imitates the United States’ immigration policy yet holds a childlike perception of the debate that would only lead to more dissention. The show portrays it as simply a societal bad mood without any further nuance to the discussion, to where the audience is never told why Earth has refugees coming to Mars in the first place. The story becomes so concerned with being a social commentary on the world today that it does not bother to justify the political actions that happen within the story. And regardless of how much the story has shifted, the anime continues to revolve around Carole and Tuesday. The two musicians who at first strived to be a success in the music scene have had their journey side-tracked by the overt political agenda that, coincidentally, renders their previous journey obsolete. The AI-produced music that initially acted as a commentary on how pop music panders to the trends of today instead of creating something “meaningful” is tossed aside. The sub-plots unresolved from the talent show remains unresolved. Instead the series takes the overly-idealistic route that coming together and singing an inspirational song has the power to change the world, with music’s power lying in the ability to make one's own voice heard. Only a vague solution to the real-world crisis the show intended to reflect. There’s an air of cynicism to the series that feels crafted out of naivete, which is certainly odd when Shinichiro Watanabe’s name is at the helm of the project. For an esteemed director as himself, it feels as if he was phoning it in here, not overly concerned with how the show ended up looking. Obviously, external factors like scheduling and budget play a larger part than ever trying to gauge effort from a director, but comparing Carole & Tuesday to his previous work (Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo, Space Dandy, etc.) should highlight how underwhelming this most recent project is. Carole & Tuesday was ultimately a tale in two parts: the first enamoured in the original journey of its two protagonists, their pursuit of passion acting as a love letter to the art of music. While meandering in parts and feeling a tad bloated, it’s hard to deny the show had a genuine love of the craft on display. But its second half was burdened with misguided ambition, aiming to encompass every angle of drama the series holds without regard for their impact on the writing as a whole. Unwilling to commit on its initial story and core values, we can only imagine what could have been a true moment of bliss.

With nearly three decade span of experience, Shinchiro Watanabe once again takes the stage as a director for a new original anime project. It’s well known that Shinchiro Watanabe’s Cowboy Bebop managed to garner an international audience and achieved universal success. Carole & Tuesday won’t likely have the same level of success but the premise is worth to think about. Considering that there’s not many 2-cour music-drama these days, the idea of Carole & Tuesday sounds like a refreshing experience. The first time we see Carole and Tuesday is two characters with different backgrounds and personalities. It’s easy to get the image of these two girlsinto your head as the main characters thanks to their contrasting images. Carole has a cool, rebellious type of look while Tuesday is designed with more feminine delicacy and innocence. On-screen, both characters displays a remarkable amount of realism, characteristics that can be easily relatable in our society. First, there’s Carole Stanley, an orphan with keyboard skills and somewhat of a rebellious attitude. Working various part-time jobs, she’s a common type folk you can probably encounter easily on the streets. On the other hand, we also meet Tuesday Simmons, a timid rich girl with talent of singing and the guitar. After running away from home and into the city, it’s where she encounters Tuesday and their incredible journey begins. This is a character driven story, one that tells what humans can do when they put their minds into making their dreams into a reality. From the start, both Carole and Tuesday display remarkable potential for their skills although with a lack of experience in a professional environment, they need to push themselves. The first few episodes both shows and tells of their character personalities. Carole is the confident one who isn’t afraid to speak of her mind. Tuesday is the timid girl of this pair and for her to work in a professional environment would require commitment and discipline. The character chemistry is surprisingly compatible given their contrasting looks and personalities. Throughout the story, both characters come to learn and understand each other as part of the youth experience. Let’s face it, they’re young and have a long journey of life ahead of them. Making a career in the music industry will probably be one of the biggest challenges in their lives. They’d have overcome the fear of anxiety, build a strong audience, and promote themselves to be world-class superstars. Not to mention, being in public also requires supreme self-confidence, something that Tuesday need to realize and accept. Early in the show, both girls also get into trouble and having to run away to avoid consequences. The truth is that they don’t really know how the adult world works. It’s part of the reality of this show that performs so well. Honestly, the more I watched Carole and Tuesday, the more I felt attached to this anime. There’s even a feeling of nostalgia when you realize how inexperienced both girls are when dealing with adults and this new world they decided to step into. Thanks to their share of love and passion in music, Carole and Tuesday builds a great amount of trust and bond in their relationship. Thankfully, both characters evolve as they face obstacles. From dealing with the pressure of competition to harassment from a stalking fan, Carole and Tuesday shows that they have what it takes to be in the business. Their personality shows change too as Carole matures into a more sensible person while Tuesday displays a growing confidence in herself. It’s the type of character evolution that makes this anime worth investing into. Growing up is not easy after all in our own society when we have to make decisions ourselves. Carole and Tuesday learns that when making decisions, there’s usually a risk and they have to face the challenge head on. They also have to realize the impact it would make for their lives. Welcome to reality, girls. Being a music entertainment industry also has its competitive atmosphere. Meet Angela Carpenter, a former child model who wants to make a name for herself in the music business. With strong self-confidence and talent, Angela becomes a foil to the main characters. She exhibits a great deal amount of charisma and comes into industry with a focused sense of commitment. Some of the early comments Angela makes in the show suggests that she wants to truly prove herself although her words often come across as intimidating. In fact, during one of the competitions, she mocks Carole and Tuesday of their music. Even after the competition, Angela doesn’t seem to truly accept Carole and Tuesday as equals or friends. To me, a character like Angela represents the type in anime that protagonists must overcome or at least earn their respect from. She’s a type of realistic character that you may have encountered in your life. Indeed, the anime unravels colorful personalities of different people. It’s the type of personalities that garners an audience and create the sensation of a competitive environment. Outside of the two main cast, the show does put some value into characters such as Gus Goldman. While he may be overlooked at times, it’s characters like Gus who makes an important asset for Carole and Tuesday. Without him, their careers would not have been possible. Introduced later in the story, Flora is a character that is a source of inspiration for Tuesday. Indeed, music artists are usually influenced by others and it should come across as no surprise that’s also the case in this anime. Unfortunately, the anime doesn’t put enough emphasis on the others such as Cybelle, Dahlia (Angela’s agent), Tao, or even the judges. Most of the contestants are forgettable although it’s easy to say the Mermaid Sisters made an explosive impression when they dropped the F-bomb. Perhaps the most prominent element in Carole & Tuesday is the music and songs. From the very beginning, the show consistently manages to craft consistency with its soundtracks. With 24 episodes, the show featured many different songs ranging from its OP and ED themes to the various stage performances. I’m not going to list them all but the first album consists of at least 20 different tracks by various musicians. The first OP song “Kiss Me” contains a coming of age feel that brings the reality of characters growing up and is no doubt one of my favorite in the series. When it comes to the character performances on stage, every song artist or group brings their unique talent. The choreography combined with the visual elements is nothing less than spellbinding creativity. Carole and Tuesday's talent also synchronizes perfectly to bring the best out of each other during their performances. Honestly, you don’t need to be a music nerd to enjoy Carole & Tuesday. The experience of watching this show can easily be felt by what the staff wanted you to see. They managed to capture the essence of the music industry and make it as real as it can be. And while the show contains plenty of drama, there’s also room for comedy and joy. Music is a source of empowerment that draws people to feel and can even change lives. Carole and Tuesday is a duo with lives connected by their passion and love of music. We can learn more from them in this anime, even if you don’t agree with their choices. Honestly, Carole & Tuesday is so much more than just an anime.

*Minimum Spoiler Review* TL;DR: Futuristic Cowboy Bebop mixed with Kids on the Slope sprinkled with some Nana and a whole lot of wackiness from Space Dandy to give you the new hit, Carole & Tuesday. Seriously, it's just like wrapping yourself in a blanket by a fireplace and drinking hot-choco while enjoying some lo-fi music and falling asleep while watching this anime... Except you don't fall asleep. [Story: 7/10 , Characters: 7/10, Art: 8/10, Sound: 9/10, Enjoyment: 9/10] "Fucking bullshit... Goddamn bullshit... Son of a bitch, what the hell?" - Galactic Mermaid ♪ It's definitely a little cold in paradise tonight for the brainchild show Carole & Tuesday,by the visionary director, Shinichiro Watanabe, just came to its conclusion. This amazing show produced by Studio Bones to commemorate the 20th anniversary of their studio and the 10th anniversary of their record label, FlyingDog, in short was quite a success. For people who are not aware of Watanabe's style of work, they might have some reserve or approach his shows slightly differently. However, there's a reason he is known as the Quentin Tarantino of the Japanese Animation Industry. From his previous hits like Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo and Space Dandy, just to name a few, this new show once again proves he is one of the only successful directors that can bridge both western and eastern genres harmoniously in perfect convergence. Moreover, his fascination and importance of film scores and his belief in music being the universal language is heavily shown throughout his works. With all that background in mind, when you approach a seinen sci-fi show marketed as a musical, it's important to go in with an open mind. His shows are never linear with clear cut problems between people but rather looking at the issues plaguing the society today but just set in a different time or era. Now that you have a background of what to expect, let's dive in to see whether Carole & Tuesday is really going to create a wave that might grow into something larger... like a great anime. "If I believe I can do anything... I can move mountains, I can move mountains" - Move Mountains ♪ The story isn't really complicated at all. The story is set in this futuristic planet, Mars, where everything is maintained and propagated by the use of AI. It revolves around two girls, as you could've guessed by the title, Carole (low class orphan girl trying to get by) and Tuesday (a run-away posh girl) who both share the love for music and singing. They accidentally meet at the city of Alba and they decide to start a band and become successful musicians. The major conflict of this anime is the struggle they will have to go through to become successful in an age where AI rules the music industry. Sure there are minor conflicts among characters but it doesn't pale in comparison to the actual struggle. This conflict might not keep viewers interested throughout the show since they are really used to conflict among people but this is where the big brain thinking happens as Watanabe sheds light on the current state of artistic industries like movies, music, books or manga where we have become so formulaic that we know what works, what resonates within people and how to utilize it over and over again to make profits. We have lost the sense of innocence and ingenuity in our works. If our society continues to progress in this path, what's to say in the near future we too become heavily dependent on AI driven creative works and lose sight of our creativity. So from this standpoint, the story is relevant and appropriate; not just for today but also in the future. That being said, if you nitpick the character conflicts, there are barely any and at times it's just hormonal conflicts driven by puberty and growing pains of adulthood & interpersonal relationship issues. Nothing too gripping to rally behind but at its core it's fun and wholesome to follow the painful path to success these girls would have to take to become musicians. "Nothing's wrong with my head... Nothing's wrong with the way I walk" - Love Yourself ♪ Now that we have a good idea of what kind of story to expect, we can dive into the characters. Aside from the main characters Carole & Tuesday, the other major side characters are all caricatures of people from today's music industry. You have Gus, this washed out drummer boy, who found a new purpose in his life to manage and build the girl's career. You have Roddy, this tech-savvy computer wiz, who knows how to market and make things viral. They sort of setup a conflict character in Angela, who's your typical "Disney girl who wants to transition into a musician *cough Selena Gomez* *cough Miley Cyrus*, but she just turns out to be a character used as a foil to better propagate our likings for the main character. Sadly most of these characters seem very disingenuous. For me the most stand out characters would be Tao, this music AI-phillic composer, musician and producer who believes there is no such thing as real music and he has perfected the formula to produce pop hits after hits after hits, similar to the real life counterpart Max Martin Sandberg. Look him up; behind almost all the top Billboard chart pop songs, he has played a big hand in their success. Another one being DJ Ertegun, who just seemed the most comical DJ in the industry who was a great caricature of a mix of DJ's like DJ Khaled and David Guetta with his obsession of featuring artists left and right. Also, Tuesday's Mom's actions and characteristics sort of gives off this Hillary Clinton & Trump vibe with how her scandalous political angle was setup in the show but it wasn't executed well. Looking at all the characters, it seems they were just setup to give us glimpse of issues persisting in today's music industry. Other than that, they didn't have much of a function. Special shoutout to the Mermaid Sisters. I understood your music even if the judges couldn't. As well as Pyotr, you have earned a follower in me, Pow! "Can you feel my... Can you feel my... Can you feel my tears? They won't dry" - The Loneliest Girl ♪ After critically looking at the story and characters, one might wonder, well what could possibly be the it factor that's giving this show such high ratings. Well that would be it's art & animation as well as the music; after all it is a musical anime. It's produced by Studio Bones and if one thing we know about Studio Bones, they are always delivering on the animation. From the stellar works in Noragami and Mob Psycho, they didn't hold that much back in animating this anime. Nowadays almost everything is CG blended and they used it well while animating this anime. The character designs all felt really unique and the mix of western culture and different ethnic backgrounds as well as the rugged New York Bronx/Brooklyn futuristic setting really propped the show up to be more realistic. Some of the scenes felt a bit jarring, like the way the hair flaps or the crowds just being dots but they really painted the picture well of how one may experience different genre of music. Now the biggest highlight for this show is the music. The songs are all sung in English by various artists both in Japan and outside. The lyrics, albeit somewhat formulaic, still able to string a chord among people and the composing of the overall OST is very chill & lo-fi akin to what today's people are used to. None of those loli style, vocaloid music to make your "heart" go doki doki and purchase all the overly priced ecchi figurines for unnecessary reasons. Jokes aside, at times, it really felt like the music was also used to highlight the singers actually singing the song but it was executed well. The show used two sets of voice actors for each characters. One set for just regular talking and the other to sing the songs in English. The transition at first was a bit shocking but you get used to it really fast. So overall, the seiyuus and the singers did a phenomenal job. I would highly recommend listening to the OST plus the OP & ED song are both catchy and sung by same singers as Carole & Tuesday. It's really good. The show features various music genre like ED, pop, rap even opera. Seriously, Watanabe is a serious music-philliac. Also, each episode is titled after a great western hit song and I found that really fascinating. Not only did it open up new classics to enjoy but also to go back and listen to the classics I loved growing up. With or Without You, Every Breath You Take and Don't Stop Believing is just a few of the amazing songs to listen to. "Two hearts, four broken pieces... That's who we were before... Somehow we fit together... Now we're unbreakable" - Unbreakable ♪ Nevertheless, the best way to describe Carole & Tuesday is to use the quote the great philosopher Aristotle once said where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. If we break things down to judging the story, the characters, the animation and the music separately, it may not look that great but as a whole, it is a really chill, laid-back, feel-good anime. Sure the anime lacks a concrete conflict but in real life, our major conflict is the over-pressing society blockading us from finding success in our career. Sure the characters might seem disingenuous but in reality, it's just trying to mimic the type of people everyday humans are. We aren't some anime protagonists or antagonists. We are both the heroes and the villains of our own success and failures. Sure the music might seem formulaic but guess what, it's the same formulaic music, your trashy music taste continuously seeks out and listen on repeat. Seriously, we made Old Town Road, a billboard chart-topper. Overall, this anime may not be for the mass but it is for the many who enjoys works of Watanabe and enjoys complete anime that looks at issues plaguing the society. It's more of a story driven conflict, rather than a character driven conflict where people are just trying to better themselves to survive in this society without losing themselves in the limelight. You might like it, you might not like but it's worth giving it a shot. I would highly recommend to anyone that wants to jump into watching anime as this works as a great bridging anime for newcomers. Regardless, viewers who love the music genre and not into the loli vocaloid musical anime, you should definitely give this show a watch. There might be a second season or a movie since it ended with a to be continued. Anyways, thank you for reading this review & feel free to share with me your favourite quote from the anime as well as your fav song. Ciao. P.S. Thank you for reading. I hope you found this short and supaishi review helpful!

*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 off 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. Sasuga, Mrs. Watanabe. Your script writing and series composition knows no bounds. 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. 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

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