[Post by Lelangir]

Kimikiss, congratulations, for the only jazz I’ve heard in anime, ever – at least in the meager amount I’ve seen.

Now, I’m not saying that justifies or otherwise changes my overall objective (if such a thing were to exist anyway) opinion of this show, though it was an extremely nice touch considering my taste in recreation. I suppose the presence of jazz is either a very important part of the dating simulation this anime adaptation arose out of or the animators themselves were music aficionados. The funny thing is that, well, it was a dating sim (galge, visual novel?), and the juxtaposition with something like jazz doesn’t really ‘make any sense.’ It’d be one thing if it were “jazz” (i.e. muzak, porn music), but when you combine Charlie Parker and ‘slife the humor of the disparity is hard to match.

So, anyway, in episode 15 we see that Kai gets a gig, though we aren’t graced by his playing, unfortunately. The important reference is the song Mao mentions, “Now’s The Time“, by Charlie Parker.

Everybody knows the tune (well, not everybody, of course) – it’s that song you play when you first start playing. You’ve been to your little brother’s music recital and dread having to sit through a hour and a half of redundant music that’s been played to death. Now’s The Time is perhaps played in that context 90% of the time. The other 10% are times like those two [videos] when pros lay back and say “well, what the hell, let’s play Now’s The Time, for old times’ sake.”

It’s quite easy to ascertain to significance of the placement of this tune in the anime – or I’m pretty sure only the name has any meaning. Connoting movement, resolution, steadfast love affairs, action; typical procedure for a romance. I haven’t heard of a more ‘hidden’ story behind this song, though the life of Charlie Parker – filled with heroin – doesn’t quite match up with this orthodox love tale.

While there isn’t much detectable meaning in straight-ahead jazz references, what lies under the radar perhaps is a reference made pretty early on in the series.

Usually taken as a bitchy teacher comment made at a developing supporting character, I’d say the typical viewer would view this guy as a douche. But he’s totally right. Kai is just a bitchy whiny Stanley Turrentine wannabe.

It was kind of embarrassing that he was practicing outside…don’t practice where everyone can see you if you don’t want to be seen. While Kai drifts away from school work to submerge himself into his ipod, his teacher reprimands him for not paying attention. On one level, you could argue that a generalized education is important for realizing other non-musical aspects of music, its history, its sociology, its math, its physics, etc. But then if you take it metaphorically, you really do have to study – to shed – an instrument in order to ascertain your own ability. You reach a certain point in theory when you realize you don’t know even a bit of the stuff out there, or when you buy a lot of CD’s, you realize how many people, dead people, are out there that you have to listen to become inculturated into the mindset of whatever it is you’re achieving to do. The teacher also touches upon the pedagogy of music – learning to study, learning how to learn. It doesn’t take a private teacher to learn, I can say that from experience, but it obviously takes a lot of work, learning a harsh mental discipline, systematically learning the structure of your thing, etc.