Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. It’s time to take a look at the work of Watanabe. If there’s one thing you can count on with Watanabe’s anime it’s the music. The music is always great in his animes. Whether it’s the cool and dramatic blues of Cowboy Bebop. The mixture of rap and feudal Japan in Samurai Champloo. The funky sounds of Space Dandy. Or the suspenseful atmosphere of Terror in Resonance, Watanabe has you covered. This is a man who clearly understands and appreciates music and knows the importance of it in anime and how it shapes the story. So it only makes sense that he’d make an anime centering around music, Carole and Tuesday. Released in 2019 by Bones (My Hero Academia), this was Watanabe’s latest anime to be done and honestly, probably his best animated. There wasn’t a lot of publicity for this anime and it was a Netflix exclusive so a lot of people didn’t hear about it. Thankfully, people started uploading clips of it on Youtube and it gained a slight following. How does this anime rank among his other work? Let’s dive in and take a look at Carole and Tuesday.
Opening and Ending Theme
The first opening is “Kiss Me” by Nai Br.XX and Celeina Ann. One of my favorite opens from 2019 and still a great song years later. It’s sung an English so that’s a big plus for me and the singers really nail it here with their voices. They perfectly capture the vibe and personality of the two main characters and the animation is one of the most stylistic openings I have ever seen.
The first ending is “Hold Me Now” by Nai Br.XX and Celeina Ann. Anybody else hear What a Fool Believes from the Doobie Brothers at the beginning or is it just me? Either way the song is wholesome and cute. Didn’t really care for it all that much when I watched the show but it’s a fine some.
Episodes 1-4
The anime starts with our main character Tuesday (most likely born on a Monday) voiced by Kana Ichinose (Yuzuriha from Dr. Stone) running away from home with her AI briefcase (this needs to be a thing). We see that Tuesday comes from a rich family but was never able to fit in at school so she stayed at home for most of her days listening to old music on the radio (gotta love the oldies). Inspired by this, Tuesday decided she wanted to become a musician but nobody in her family took her seriously and because this takes place in the future where humanity has colonized on Mars and all music is sung by AIs (the Vocaloids finally won). She hops on a train and heads towards Alba City the largest city on Mars. We move away from Tuesday and meet our second lead Carole (most likely born on Thanksgiving or close to it) voiced by Miyuri Shimabukuro (Yuuna from Yuuna and The Haunted Hot Springs) who has the opposite life of Tuesday. She was born on the streets and lives alone not knowing where her parents are at all. She makes a living by working part-time jobs but also has dreams of becoming a musician as well. The two girls meet on the streets after Tuesday gets her luggage stolen (welcome to the city) and hears Carole play on the piano where her song is so beautiful that it actually makes Tuesday cry a little (scene here: https://youtu.be/KEi7z4TaAAc?si=TDLu5xuKUp4Cthx1). The two girls quickly become friends where Carole brings Tuesday back to her place (at least buy her dinner first) where they combine Carole’s song with Tuesday’s lyrics to actually make a good song (scene here: https://youtu.be/4w3-SkZVUmk?si=w2-J6GLn9VT12f9K. Wow, they got good singers as well. That’s Nai Br.XX and Celeina Ann singing and these guys kill every time they have to sing. This is where the anime won me and a lot of people over. I didn’t entirely what the anime would be about but it was this moment that made me say: yeah, I’m up for anything this anime has to offer). After having a jam session, the two girls decide to form a group and create music together that will change the world (or in this case Mars).
In episode 2 we see Carole go off to a new job where she has to pretend to be a mourner for this guy’s funeral (sadly, this stuff does happen in real life) but that goes about as well as you would expect. After this, we get a few more beautifully shot scenes (if you take anything away from this anime just know that it looks beautiful and it’s shot beautifully. I want to this place to exist) and the girls just hanging around and chatting with each other. They sneak into a music hall where they play their song in an empty hall with Carole on a grand piano and Tuesday on guitar. We see a few people are there to hear their song which catches the attention of a tech guy named Roddy who records their performance and posts it online where it trends (scene here: https://youtu.be/lfvJXuVVsZs?si=NiDKZdoE7xc9fg7c). Their performance captures the attention of Gus a former manager in the music industry but once the AIs took over his job became obsolete. With the help of Roddy he’s able to find where they live (stalker much?) and forces his way into their home where he says he’s going to be their manager.
In episode 3 Tuesday and Carole agree to let Gus be their manager and during their conversation we get a Cowboy Bebop shout out by discovery that the currency is woolongs, the same currency used in Cowboy Bebop. This means the anime takes place in the same universe as Cowboy Bebop. As far as time goes, I say we’re in the past as they say that Mars has only been colonized for 50 years. In Cowboy Bebop they managed to colonized on moons and other planets an as far as I can tell they’ve only colonized Mars so far. We get to hear them make a new song together (and it’s good like the others. Scene here: https://youtu.be/JVU2rodJoVI?si=Qq03jkPZYFbdZk3F) and Roddy manages to get them a meeting with DJ Ertegun a big shot DJ who is completely full of himself but if they can open for him that’ll put them on the map. After completely ignoring the girls for some time, he finally talks to them where he refuses to listen to their song as he believes it’ll be generic and something he’s heard already (and that mindset right there is why the AIs took over). Tuesday takes offence to this and burns her music sheets right in front of him which sets off the sprinklers in his house (well this meeting is going well). The girls run away with Gus pretty far behind them and they vow to show Ertegun that their music will change the world. There’s also this one other girl that we focus on named Angela, a teen model who’s probably around the same age as Tuesday and Carole who’s also trying to get into the music industry. However, unlike Tuesday and Carole, her song is being written by an AI created by a guy named Tao and she has to adapt herself to the song that the AI has created for her. On top of that, she has to deal with Tao who likes machines more than humans.
Episode 4 actually gets a genuinely good laugh out of me. Since the DJ route failed, they decide to make a music video and get this AI robot from Amazon (or whatever online shopping humanity has become a slave to) named IDEA to direct and produce their video. Their whole music video is a combination of ideas from some of history’s greatest music videos of all time such as Michael Jackson’s Thriller, Grease, Take On Me, and Daft Punk just to name a few. We get to meet Gus’s ex-wife who is a makeup artist who we find out later is a lesbian about to get remarried and Gus wishes her nothing but happiness (that was cool of him). The whole shooting of the music video is crazy as we have Gus and Roddy dressing up as zombies, the end of the world, a giant mech battle which is really just figurines, and they destroy one of Ertegun’s priceless cars (I have no idea what their song will be about, but this music video sure sounds like a fun shoot). They finish shooting the video (in one day, get the hell out of here) and we get to see this bizarre acid trip of a music video (which honestly speaking I would re-watch this video multiple times just to figure out what the hell I just watched. Scene here: https://youtu.be/2b2R51EALuc?si=irxhCYmIKIuKgxPy). Roddy finds out that IDEA is actually one big scam AI (it had one star, what did you expect?) and they ship him back. The music video gets scrapped, Roddy’s rare figurines are destroyed, and Ertegun’s is the proud owner of a destroyed car.
Episodes 5-8
Moving on to episode 5 they move on to plan C to get their names known, doing a gig at a local music club. While Carole and Tuesday take up part time jobs to get money for their apartment we see Gus and Roddy dig through their connections to land the girls a gig. Gus reaches out to his old friend Hoefner who’s the overseer of Mars’ music festival, but he won’t take a risk on an act that is unknown and hasn’t even performed once (makes sense. The businessman inside of me would have done the same thing). In another part of the episode we see Tao has finished Angela’s song and he takes her in front of a sponsor where she sings her song acapella style. To her credit, she sings well, and the song is alright (I think Carole and Tuesday are better). Apparently, the sponsor thought so as well as he’s willing to give them 12 million woolongs (scene here: https://youtu.be/RnDQywiBdSE?si=YbvWjs8VUSrtE09u). We also find out from Angela’s manager (who is her mom) that Tao used to be a neuroscientist and one of the fields he loved to study was mind control (oh hell, his songs are carrying subliminal messaging). You would expect this to faze Tao for having someone dig up dirt about his past but nope, Tao also exposes Angela’s manager where we find out she has this illness known as Martian androgyny and that she’s been arrested twice for assault (now that’s class. He’s not afraid of his past but the manager obviously is). We also see that Tuesday’s brother has arrived in the city and is looking for her to bring her back home. Roddy manages to secure the girls a gig at a local music club where they’re the opening act for another band. They only get one song but they make that one song count as they play to a crowd of 10 people (and more counting us) and by the end of their performance all 10 of those people are cheering for them (scene here: https://youtu.be/u7oZnai0FZ4?si=DlxhY5dmpqzD2vH_, well those guys got bragging rights). Tuesday’s brother also walked in on the performance and doesn’t say anything to his sister. He just leaves with a smile on his face.
In episode 6 the girls catch a big break. Gus manages to book them for the Cyondonia music festival a big time music festival where thousands of people show up. The girls are only backup for the singer of the band Omega, Joshua, a shy and timid guy who’s always causing trouble by destroying hotel rooms (blacklist him from hotels) and gets so nervous that he shows up to gigs drunk as hell and can’t perform (basically, he’s a talented person but he’s too unreliable). They go to the festival where sure enough Joshua shows up drunk so chances are high they’ll perform. As you would imagine the girls are nervous (makes sense. You went from performing in front of 10 people to over a thousand people. It’s like running a mile one day and then deciding to take part in a marathon. What do you think is going to happen?). They do meet some pretty cool artists like this guy named Skip who saw their video and liked their sound. We also get to see him perform and it’s amazing seeing this rough and masculine guy with a deep voice go on stage and sing with a high-pitched soothing voice (a trait that’s quite common among alternative music artists). The song he plays is actually a love song to another artist named Crystal talking about his unrequited love for her (scene here: https://youtu.be/AgRoOtoYoz0?si=xZ9ta9x5J1db4l-J). When it’s time for Omega to perform, Joshua is too nervous to go on stage, so the girls get to perform in front of a pissed off pro-Omega crowd (good God you just fed them to the lions. They’re gonna get booed off the stage). Naturally, the crowd is pissed and begin booing and throwing stuff at them. I will give the girls credit, they actually continue to perform in front of this hateful audience (they’re showing a lot of heart here. Most artists would have just walked off the stage after the first can was thrown but these girls continue to play). Joshua’s nerves eventually settle and he makes his grand entrance on the stage only to fall off (how did he get famous again?). The girls leave where they’re distraught over what happened but they get a hug from Crystal who praises them for standing their ground and knows that their music reached at least one person out there, her. Crystal goes on perform next where I swear they got Beyoncé to sing for them (scene here: https://youtu.be/lYzTCEaTsFU?si=yJrRziQwfGgsz910).
After the events in episode 6, the girls enter a talent show called Mars Brightest (think American Idol meets America’s Got Talent meets The Voice meets every talent show out there) where the top 8 contestants get to appear on the show. They sign up for auditions where they’ll be competing against over 200,000 “talented” (I use that word loosely) participants. We do get to see some of the participants where the cringe and laughter is real (we really don’t pay these judges enough). When it’s time for Carole and Tuesday’s turn, Tuesday hides her identity so her mother won’t find her and we actually learn a little bit about Carole’s past. We find out that she’s an Earth refugee, doesn’t know who her parents are, and grew up in an orphanage. This information comes as a shock to Tuesday as all this time she realizes that she knows nothing about Carole and she feels bad about that (in your defense, she doesn’t know that much about you either other than you ran away from home). The two girls do sit down and open up with each other where Tuesday decides that if they get on the show (there’s no if, it’s going to happen) she’s not going to hide her identity. At the end of the episode the girls passed the audition and are going to be on the show (scene here: https://youtu.be/lU1WaSI73Ic?si=LULpGPSCkBWvGOBM, welcome to. . .Marswood, I don’t know).
The contest begins in episode 8 as we see Angela is also participating in the contest as the favorite to win. We also meet a few of the contestants such as Cybelle a fan of Tuesday (who is either an eccentric fangirl/stalker or a trap). The contest is broken down into 2 brackets with Carole and Tuesday in one bracket and Angela in the other bracket (see you in the finals). The first round is two old geezers called the Fire Brothers (who barely survive their performance. Seriously, we came this close to witnessing an on-air death. Scene here: https://youtu.be/5hv2p0RtVY0?si=blY_Qksn0rLedvgK) taking on a social media celebrity named Pyotr who shocks everyone by showing he can dance and sing (the guy comes across as an idiot desperate for attention yet when it’s time to shine he shines like the sun. Scene here: https://youtu.be/3qFPLN4v8gc?si=TmjMG19HbPsvKt7o). Pyotr wins and we head on to the next round where Carole and Tuesday are up against OG Bulldog a former drug dealer and gangster who survived being shot 12 times and sings like an opera singer (scene here: https://youtu.be/v1LRVwdrKDo?si=UxCczbl8GnN1lXdN. This is probably the closest we’ll ever see rap and opera come together). Carole and Tuesday take the stage next where they charm us with a majestic song. When it’s voting time we find out that OG Bulldog is a poser. He was never a gangster, never sold drugs, worked at a drugstore, and is timid. Carole and Tuesday win as everyone liked their song except for Angela who hated it and says it to their face (congratulations girls, you have her scared).
Episodes 9-12
In episode 9 we get to see the second half of the performances for the first round. The first round is between a woman named GGK (who’s like a cross between Dhalsim and Erykah Badu) and the Mermiad Sisters (guys in drag). GGK goes out first where you would expect something bizarre but her performance has you mesmerized (I mean it, she has you in the palm of her hands. Scene here: https://youtu.be/Eq9jxeP3F9g?si=Gkl_KIOkgWbROyBj). The Mermaid Sisters head out next where it’s clear they’re gonna lose, so they give them a song where all they do is just cuss (scene here: https://youtu.be/7eUoWqAHryU?si=OBUNTYktSGkhJ5Uv. Wow, they didn’t care at all. I especially love everyone’s reactions; I’m surprised they didn’t get disqualified when the song started). GGK wins and the Mermaid Sisters go crazy on live television. As they cut to a commercial break we see Cybelle (who is a girl) give Tuesday a hickey (you are taking your fandom to disturbing places) and we also see Tao take an interest in Carole and Tuesday because they write their songs without the use of AIs (so the Tinman can recognize talent). After the commercial break it’s Cybelle against Angela. Cybelle goes on first where she sings a love song in French (wonder who she’s singing it to?). I say love but let’s be honest, it’s a song of lust. Cybelle wants Tuesday all to herself and no one else. To her, Tuesday is a goddess and Cybelle is her devoted follower. Despite the creepy undertone of the song, Cybelle performs well and has this air of mysteriousness and beauty in her voice that resonates with the viewers (scene here: https://youtu.be/yfyuS6G7BWo?si=9FBlywnYuYRtRF6s). Finally, it’s Angela’s turn where once again despite her bratty behavior, there’s no denying that she is talented and quickly establishes herself as the front runner for this competition (and to be fair her behavior is somewhat needed in the industry she’s in. She wants to be best and if she doesn’t have that mindset then why the hell is she here). In the end, Angela wins (no surprise. Scene here: https://youtu.be/3PLpsc6AxOQ?si=YC4s9ehL1mbNu7vV) but Cybelle accepts defeat gracefully as she believes that Tuesday will team up with her next time but Tuesday says no which upsets Cybelle and she walks away.
The semifinals begin in episode 10 where the new guest judge for this round is Ertegun (oh hell). The first match is GGK vs Angela followed by our girls vs Pyotr. When Carole and Tuesday go to the waiting area, Cybelle is there to greet them (what are you doing here, you lost. Get out, I can legally shoot you). She doesn’t do much, she just wishes them luck, and is just sad that Tuesday rejected her (she didn’t reject you, she just doesn’t want to sing with you because you give off Yandere Stimulator vibes). So the first round starts where GGK sings first. Her song is called Gravity Bounce and I personally thought it was alright. I think her first song was better (scene here: https://youtu.be/om-DYtgkVy8?si=YbjEzkhwq1UwTY1G). Her performance does worry Tao as he changes up Angela’s song at the last minute (for a split second there he sounded human). Next up is Angela where she sings All I Want and yeah I actually do like this song way more than the first song (scene here: https://youtu.be/ffpLvo0I9Aw?si=CYQED1JgACmaTFIX. I don’t know, I feel her voice goes very well with these upbeat songs). Angela wins (you all knew this was coming) and moves on to the finals. It’s time for the second match where Pyotr takes the stage first where he sings Love Yourself where once again I feel his first song was better (that’s not to say the song is bad. It’s good, I just like the first song better and felt it matched up better with his voice and character. However, I will say the second song does shine a more serious spotlight on him into how he might have been a guy who lacked confidence in himself but found it, stopped caring about what other people thought of him, and became a star). As his song comes to an end, Carole goes to look for Tuesday who ran after Cybelle only to go back to the waiting room where something possibly bad happened to her (scene here: https://youtu.be/SFaPpSue-8U?si=UzntT9isEDGNep3q).
In the opening moments of episode 11 we see that Tuesday got one of her hands burnt after opening up a mysterious package (okay, first rule in show business. If you see a mysterious package, don’t open it. Don’t even stay in the same room as it). With Tuesday’s hand burnt she can’t play the guitar so she’ll have to perform without it and rely on Carole’s piano. They perform on stage where they sing a new song “Lost My Way” a slow, powerful, and emotional song accompanied by the amazing voices of our girls who knock it out of the park (scene here: https://youtu.be/pkDWm92rGYU?si=3gWIaI8QDvbIB_SJ. but was it enough to win?). It’s a tough choice for the judges but in the end Carole and Tuesday get the win and move on to the finals which will be taking place in a week. As for the person who attacked Tuesday, it remains a mystery, but we have a few suspects in the case such as Cybelle, Angela’s new assistant, and Tao (I would even go as far as saying Ertegun). Thanks to Pyotr’s constant streaming videos we find out that the culprit is Cybelle (of course, crazy obsessive fangirl. You hurt her she hurts you, now love her). Cybelle gets captured by the authorities and after all that craziness is settled, Carole and Tuesday have a talk with each other where Carole gives Tuesday some hard truth about her personality. Such as how she doesn’t speak her mind and can be unfocused at the times which almost costs them this time around (she’s got a point. She could have easily stopped Cybelle a long time ago but no, you let her have her way. You tease). As they continue to talk, some men show up and take Tuesday away (did she just get nonchalantly kidnapped?).
In episode 12 we see that Tuesday was kidnapped by the order of her mom and has been confined to her room. As a week goes by, Carole doesn’t even try to save Tuesday until Gus talks to her about a regret he has about the past which gets her to open up and admit that she misses Tuesday and wants to see her again (then run to her, she needs you just like you need her). Tuesday also receives some encouraging words from brother who says he was amazed by her singing and wants her to continue doing it. He decides to help her escape and as she’s trying to escape, Carole and the others are there to break her out (great minds think alike). The girls get a ride to the train station while Gus and Roddy get arrested to make it back to the city. We get to see Angela’s performance where she tears the house down with her song as it’s very emotional and really does reflect her true personality. Behind her attitude is a girl who just wants to make her mom happy and proud of her (and possibly get the attention of the Tin Man. Scene here: https://youtu.be/ck7G-7FtaKc?si=cwkCgqXYO608eN2R). Carole and Tuesday arrive at the station and are told they’re disqualified for arriving late. However, everyone wants to hear them sing (including Angela) and the judges allow it. We get to hear a full version of The Loneliest Girl and I have to admit I almost teared up from how beautiful the song was. Hell, Ertegun even cries from their performance (the man who outright rejected them and said their music was generic is now in tears. Scene here: https://youtu.be/ybyPB9x8HXc?si=iTs1uRwBRF5KU_bC). The girls receive a standing ovation for their performance and even though the song was excellent, they’re still disqualified and Angela is declared the official winner of Mars Brightest. However, they’ll be allowed to make their debut along with Angela (oh~, a collaboration album in the future).
And that’s the first half of Carole and Tuesday. Come back next week to see what happens next. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.