Extra: La Corda d’Oro ~primo passo~ [A Summer Encore/ep 26]

I just came back from a 7-day trip to Singapore and haven’t really sorted out the episode summaries and the screencaps yet. I’m so backlogged, but work is to be prioritized (yes, I do have a life, in case you’re wondering. ~Lol). I was supposed to happily blog all the way there and cheerfully brought my laptop with me, but unfortunately, the hotel I stayed in wasn’t a wireless hotspot… pfft. Anyway, I’ll try to get back on track as soon as I can and probably manage to catch up by next week on Bamboo Blade, Shion no Ou, and maybe finally get around to the last 2 episodes of Seirei no Moribito. *Ahem* Enough of the random babbles…

In the meantime, here’s a quick rundown of the La Corda d’Oro ~primo passo~ special bishounen-filled summer episode. ^_^

Each of the guys is holding a calla lily (my favorite flower! =D)
I am totally smitten with Tsukimori, but somehow I’m more drawn to Tsuchiura on this photo… Those clothes he’s wearing looks so good on him, don’t you think? ^_^

Thanks to usagijen’s post at Scrumptious, I was able to see it. Shame on me, I wasn’t even aware that there was a special episode! I managed to watch it and do screencaps before I left Manila even though I wasn’t able to post it immediately. If you’ve been a fan of Corda, this special episode is something you probably wouldn’t have allowed yourself to miss, no matter what the outcome. ;P

As usual, the guys are as bishielicious and talented as they were. However, it didn’t really have much story to tell. It basically gathered them together for some summer fun and music. Hino has continued playing the violin and is attending violin classes. She once again encounters the main participants in the recently concluded intraschool concours , but this time it’s set as a summer training camp for 2 days and 3 nights. Each of our beloved bishies played a lovely tune for Hino as their appreciation for what she was able to make each of them realize. Even Ousaki and Kanazawa had their share of screen time to make us remember how adorable they also are.

SUMMARY: While at camp, Hino first bumps into Hihara and they share a duet of the piece they played together once before in a previous episode (“Gavotte in D major” by F.J. Gossec) with Hihara later saying he enjoyed playing the tune much more than before adding that maybe it’s because he was with Hino [kyaaaaa! How sweet is that?! If I were Hino, my face would probably be so red at that time! xD]

Hino gets lost while looking for a souvenir place as Ousaki, who is coincidentally filling in for a friend’s job at the resort, drives by and notices her. She jumps in the car and they have a nice chat with Hino thanking Ousaki for his pep talks when she was ready to give up playing the violin and Ousaki telling her of his experience when he was a participant at the concours, then later says that he really enjoyed her performances and that he loves her violin-playing, making Hino blush.

Back in the summer house, she runs into Yunoki who asks her to meet him at the entrance hall after dinner. He takes her to the garden filled with the Queen of the Night (a flower that only blooms for one summer night) and its sweet smell. He says he brought her there as a reward since he enjoyed himself at the concours and managed to oppose his grandmother and cancel his school transfer to Europe because of her, then plays a song for her (Notturno d’ Amore “Serenade” by Drigo) with his flute.

Later that night, Hino couldn’t sleep and goes down to the kitchen where she walks in on Kanazawa having and evening drink and cooking his own meal. They have a little chat with Kanazawa saying that she should enjoy her youth and young girls like her should love. He then shares his recipe with her as a special reward for her hard work at the concours.

Next up is Shimizu who plays the cello for her inside the church nearby (“Suites to solo cello No. 1″ by JS Bach) thinking to himself that he wanted Hino to hear his music here since he was able to find his own music because of her and he can play the best sound when he thinks of her.

On her way to the aquarium to buy a souvenir keychain, she crosses paths with Tsukimori who was asked by the aquarium’s director, who is their family acquaintance, to play a tune for the dolphin who was feeling blue since maybe he could change its mood with his violin. He begins to play (“Op. 50, Romance No. 2 in F major” by Beethoven) with Hino sitting nearby, listening to his music and watching the dolphin as it cheers up, with Tsukimori thinking to himself that it’s thanks to Hino’s tune, it opened a new world of his music.

Back at the summer house, Hino is sitting outside and Tsuchiura notices her as he was about to go out for a walk and invited Hino to accompany him. They go to some sort of planetarium which he reserved with a piano in the middle of the room. He then starts to play (“Liebestraume No. 3 in A flat major” by Liszt) with Tsuchiura thinking to himself that Hino opened the closed doors of his music so he’s playing this song for her so that her music would flourish, as the ceiling of the planetarium with the contellations lights up.

Finally, they have a barbecue back at the house with the guys saying they’d like to hear Hino play. After some encouragement and Fuyumi offering to play the piano as her accompaniment, Hino obliges and plays a part of the violin piece she has recently begun practicing (“Salut d’Amour” by Elgar) with Hino thinking to herself that although she can only play a part of the piece at the moment, she believes a day will come when she can play the entire piece with all her heart.

~ The End ~

(A VERY BRIEF) IMPRESSION: There was nothing epic on the story of this special episode, but it sure was nice to see them and hear them play again, particularly (1) Tsukimori, (2) Tsuchiura and (3) Hihara for me! ^_^ In case you’re interested in more of my La Corda babbles, check out my earlier “Bishounen fever!” post which consists of my take (and fangirlism) on each of the La Corda guys. =D

Check out usagijen’s post at Scrumptious for a more detailed summary and review of this special episode. You can also find more screen shots and a larger version of the images with the black backdrop there (according to her, those are postcards included in the DVD) . Also, kudos to Strawberry Mint Subs for doing a wonderful job on subbing it and sticking with the series to the end! =)

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You might want to check out my other posts:

• Other La Corda d’Oro-related entries