I reach out my hands and gathered up...
the scattered music notes in the 88th scene.
I don't know how to put my feelings in words.
I put them in the music score as the days passed by.
When we come across...
at the third time, the feelings will ring out here.
Let me put it straight forwardly like a song.
I write all of them in a song.
This endless crescendo is so strong...
and reaching out to someone.
The melody is heading to the pianist on the stage.
It's the melody of everything about life.
It's the real face.
A whole new world...
has opened up before my eyes.
A new prelude repeats.
Yuuto, are you all right?
Your hand is so cold! Are you nervous?
No, I'm not. I'm not nervous, mother.
Really? You don't need to use the bathroom?
Is your necktie too tight?
Are your shoelaces tightly tied?
I'm fine.
- Well, do your best. - Yeah. I will.
"Maradona Piano Competition, 3rd Round"
"Contestant No.21"
That's Yuuto Segawa.
"Brahms Variations on a Theme by Paganini, op.35, No.1"
As I thought, he's good.
The chord resonance is also good.
The lyricism of the variations also comes out clearly.
It feels like he's really studied the piece.
He's got a stability that others didn't exhibit.
But... look at the intensity of his mother.
"Ravel, Gaspard de la nuit, No. 3 "Scarbo" in G minor"
Like a grotesque little devil
wandering desolate city streets each night.
He is like the ghoul, Scarbo.
Scarbo's a fairy!
Wow. Not one mistake!
"Momogaoka Music Academy"
He plays like...
someone who could place 3rd in the Buffon International Competition.
High technical skill...
sure and articulate play of fast passages,
yet with subtlety and precision.
He's different from me.
He's better.
How's that, Chiaki?
Between me and this woman,
which of us is more suited to concertmaster?
Why you!
You came here to audition for the orchestra, right?
Why the concertmaster?
Pipe down, Frizzy.
If I can't be concertmaster, then I won't join this orchestra.
Eep! What nerve!
I've been offered a job with a talent agency.
If I can join this orchestra, I plan on refusing them.
If I'm going to do that, I want to at least be concertmaster.
- Talent agency? - As a model? Or an actor?
I'd be the leader of a male music group called "The Boys 15 Corps".
All of us gorgeous looking.
- Why you... - You're kidding.
Why would you want to join us badly enough to turn that down?
Because this orchestra is marvelous.
It's been a while since anything has excited me so.
Everyone's talented, good and full of confidence.
It looks like fun.
The pleasure of all those sounds mixing together.
To ecstatically abandon myself to the will of a beautiful conductor...
men in formal wear...
oh! How do I express it?
In short, I love classical music!
And I especially love this orchestra!
And I love Chiaki, too.
"Comes right out with it"
Go home! We already have a great concertmaster!
Welcome! Your passion moves me!
As of today, you're a member of Rising Star!
Ryu? What are you doing?
Takahashi's playing didn't match Kiyora's power.
But his precision technique and resonance beats hers.
I think from an advertising standpoint,
a member who placed 3rd in the Buffon competition will give us
more mileage than a 2nd place finish in a domestic competition.
- Ryu... Ryutarou. - Mine...
So Kiyora, you needn't agonize anymore.
Now you can return to Vienna without reservation.
Huh?
And if you want to return to us as concertmaster,
go out and win a few major titles that outshine this guy!
I know you can do it!
Ryu... you fool.
Don't worry about me.
I plan on working so hard on the violin,
I'll have no time to even look at another woman.
- What? You two are? - Didn't know, did you, Chiaki.
Really?
I promise to keep this orchestra going.
No matter how many musicians like you we lose,
we'll keep it going.
I hear you, Mine.
We need to aim for an orchestra that is always evolving,
rather than being static.
"I'll be waiting for you at the finals. Nodame"
There's one other person who's evolving at a dazzling pace.
I've got to do my best, too.
Oops... Something's wrong. The rhythm doesn't work.
Why does this happen... Schumann?
No... Nodame?
You have to eat lunch.
You haven't eaten a thing since yesterday.
What're you doing?
Things ran late today.
Tonight's lesson will run past midnight now.
We've got to work on Schumann.
That will require some time.
And we've still got two other songs to play. Will we make it in time?
Despite all the preparation,
I didn't expect Tsuboi to make it to the finals.
But for Noda to have made it, too, is beyond belief.
She's got it, already!
How... so suddenly?
Something's come over her. But what?
What are you doing?
Like I said... she was doing this!
I don't know what it meant, though.
She did that before.
She was playing Schubert disastrously one night...
and then by the next morning, she was spot on.
Electricity?
On the other hand, a piece she had down beautifully
the night before, she played wildly during competition.
What's going on with this girl? I'm totally stumped.
I've never had a student like this.
I don't know how I should teach her.
Noda!
38.8 degrees...
Problem is that she always seems a bit strange.
So I failed to realize there was something wrong.
Why would she refuse food, and push herself like this?
This is the part of the competition
when fatigue takes its toll on contestants, too.
She was playing catch up from the start.
And now time has completely run out.
I've no choice. You did well. But now you need to rest.
Jump through the Paganini hoops and you win 15 black rabbits!
Help!
Nodame will go through the hoops!
It's a little late now, you square headed mongoose.
- It can't be done! - I wouldn't if I were you.
I thought you liked poisonous snakes!
Are protected species that tasty, huh?
Let me warn you...
If you make a mistake, you get 1,000 needles in your eyes.
You know it too, don't you?
I came to that room a long time ago, remember?
Megumi...
Yuuto.
What? You want to come along?
How do you know about her piano competition?
She told me herself the other day via email.
- Email? - Isn't it wonderful?
I looked it up and found out she's made it to the finals!
Toshihiko said your girlfriend played piano fabulously.
I guess he was right.
I said she's not my girlfriend.
You're going, right? Get me a ticket, too.
Gotcha.
This is Petrouchka, 3rd movement.
Petrouchka...
sounds like an exciting festival in a land of toys.
Play it again from the beginning.
Nodame! It's time!
We had no time to prepare one of the 3 songs.
I knew this would happen the moment she was put to bed with a fever.
Hello? Yamada? Where are you?
At Coffee shop Mexico in Ryogoku!?
Nodame! Hurry, hurry! For heaven's sake!
She's not giving up on it, huh?
I know her memory is good but this is impossible.
I can't let her play this third piece.
It would be an act of blasphemy.
Even if it means disqualifying her.
"Maradona Piano Competition: Finals"
Hey, I know that girl.
She came in 3rd at another competition
that our company helps fund.
Hmm, a competition veteran, huh?
She's good, but she plays it very safe.
She's not my type, I guess.
She kind of reminds me of that really cute girl...
although I can't picture her face anymore...
but that girl you first dated.
Why are you talking about this?
Oh... I know him.
He's a senior at the school,
another student of Professor "Paper Fan."
"Beethoven, Piano Sonata No.23 in F Minor, Op.57 'A ppassionato'"
He's playing it meticulously, emotively.
It's got weight to it.
He used to prefer it be played with strength and speed.
I guess "Paper Fan" has changed, too.
Megumi?
I thought it was you, Megumi.
"Dim witted Meg"
You're still playing piano, huh?
Yuuto.
In fact, I can't believe you enter competitions.
Mr. Hanazakura is in the audience today, you know.
So, you're going to play Petrouchka, huh?
I'm playing that, too.
Yuuto! I brought your snack!
I won't lose to you, anymore.
Once you've passed 20, you're no longer a wunderkind...
just a regular person.
Ah, there you are! Nodame, what are you doing?
We need to get you dressed!
Nodame's up next, right? I can hardly wait.
I wonder how she'll play.
Mozart, Schumann, then Stravinsky.
I wonder if she's really got all three of those down.
No, in her case, time isn't that much of an issue.
Has her piano really changed to final competition round levels?
Shinichi! It's Nodame!
- Look at that! - What a get up!
It's a power dress!
Wow, Scarlet O'Hara?
I knew it. She's been the most interesting.
Her playing is interesting, too.
It's like it changes with her mood. It's really wild.
I wonder what she'll be like today.
I knew it. It's been a tightrope walk the whole time!
"Mozart Piano Sonata No.8 in A Minor, K310"
What an amazing sound!
Mozart had been her weak spot.
Way to go, "Paper Fan". Good choice of songs, too.
He's managed to bring out her colorful diversity of sound.
It's an orchestral sound.
"Robert Schumann, Piano Sonata No.2 in G minor, op.22"
A forceful Schumann.
I've never seen her play like this.
She sweeps you up in the rhythm's urgency.
Maintain, my baby. Don't lose it.
You've come here for something, haven't you?
She's still got one song left and listen to the audience.
Oh, Kozo...
You did good, Noda. You conveyed your playing fully.
But this is as far as it goes.
Now, hurry, stand up and bow.
Noda!?
Nodame, you still haven't shown them what you can really do.
"Stravinsky, Petrouchka, to 3rd movement"
The first movement... the Russian dance.
With the sound of a puppeteer's flute,
Life is breathed into 3 dolls.
And among a gathering crowd at a carnival in St. Petersburg,
they awkwardly begin to dance.
"Today's Cooking"
She stopped.
This dazzling voice...
will last forever.
The mark of summer...
carved on my shaking heart...
will last forever.
When our paths overlap,
I will close my eyes and feel you.
I will never forget you...
All the blue tears and stars...
in the sky.
Nowhere...
can they be disappeared.
A light shines suddenly.
This very light...
shines on my dream...
Somewhere...
I will never forget.