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Carole & Tuesday (Japanese: キャロル&チューズデイ, Hepburn: Kyaroru & Chūzudei) is an original anime television series directed by Shinichirō Watanabe. It was produced by Bones in commemoration of the studio's 20th anniversary and the 10th anniversary of record label FlyingDog. It aired from April 11 to October 3, 2019, on Fuji TV's +Ultra programming block. A manga adaptation by Morito Yamataka began serialization in Young Ace in May 2019 and ended in July 2020. The manga is licensed in English by Yen Press. An English dub premiered worldwide on Netflix on August 30, 2019.
Plot
In the future on a partially terraformed Mars, Tuesday Simmons runs away from her affluent lifestyle as the wealthy daughter of a politician and makes her way to Alba City to pursue her dream of being a musician with just a suitcase and her Gibsonacoustic guitar. On her first day in the city, she crosses paths with Carole Stanley, an orphaned refugee from Earth and another aspiring musician who plays the piano. The two decide to team up as a singer-songwriter duo under the name Carole & Tuesday.
A 17-year-old girl who came to Mars at a young age. A keyboardist, she originally performed on the street in between part-time jobs before meeting Tuesday. She plays a red Nord 88-key digital piano.
A 17-year-old rich girl who runs away from her home in Herschel City and has a chance meeting with Carole. She plays a Gibson Hummingbird acoustic guitar.
A boy acquainted with Gus who first discovered Carole and Tuesday during their first guerilla live performance together. He works as a sound technician for Ertegun.
A music producer who uses advanced AI in order to create high-selling performers. He is coolly professional and admits to preferring the company of AIs to people.
A popular DJ with a pompous attitude, initially bearing a grudge on Carole and Tuesday over their rough first meeting. He later appears as a guest judge for the Mars' Brightest semi-finals.
A highly-respected artist who stopped making public appearances after being diagnosed with an incurable disease that made them wheelchair-bound. Biologically male, Desmond identified themselves as non-binary after being exposed to the Martian environment. Though they end up in a coma after having Carole and Tuesday meet them for a final song, Desmond awakens in the series finale to make a final public appearance.
A retired singer whom Carole is a longtime admirer of and an old friend of Gus. Despite her past success, Flora has a history of depression and substance abuse.
A stalker who has a dangerous obsession with Angela.
Media
Anime
The 24-episode anime television series is produced by Bones and directed by Motonobu Hori with Shinichirō Watanabe as supervising director.[14][15]Eisaku Kubonouchi provided the original character designs, while Tsunenori Saito adapted them for animation. The series aired in Fuji TV's +Ultra timeslot from April 11 to October 3, 2019, and is streamed exclusively on Netflix.[2][16] The series is in commemoration of the 20th anniversary of Bones and the 10th anniversary of record label FlyingDog. A special broadcast, Carole & Tuesday Golden Week Special, was aired on Line Live on May 1, 2019. It included a behind-the-scenes documentary, recording sessions with the singers, and the music video for the opening theme song "Kiss Me".[17]Netflix holds international distribution rights, and the first half of Carole & Tuesday was released worldwide on August 30, 2019 with an English dub.[18] The other half was released on December 24.[19]
Starting on June 28, 2019, an eight-episode series of Flash-animated shorts titled Car & Tue began streaming on the series' official YouTube channel. The anime shorts center on "light-hearted, comical dialogue" between characters in the series.[20]
The opening and ending theme songs for the first half respectively are "Kiss Me" and "Hold Me Now", both performed by Nai Br.XX and Celeina Ann.[21] The opening and ending theme songs for the second half respectively are "Polly Jean", performed by Nai Br.XX and Celeina Ann and "Not Afraid", performed by Alisa.[18]Mocky composes the music at FlyingDog. Additional music is provided by other musicians, including:
The first soundtrack album, covering the first 12 episodes and comprising 20 tracks, was released on July 31, 2019. The album consists of songs written for the series' characters by the contributing musicians.[23] The first insert song used in episodes 1, 2 and 12, titled "The Loneliest Girl", was released on digital streaming services on June 27, 2019.
Episodes
All episode titles are taken from pop and rock songs.
Tuesday, the teenaged daughter of the prominent politician Valerie Simmons, runs away from home on terraformed Mars to be able to play music. In Alba City, chance brings her together with Carole, another aspiring young musician who's just been fired from her dead-end job. The two decide to make music together. Meanwhile, the prominent model Angela Carpenter is engaged as a "puppet" singer by the AI media mogul Tao.
Angela undergoes uncomfortable training with Tao. Carole is fired from another job. She and Tuesday sneak into a concert hall to play on a real piano. Their performance is surreptitiously filmed by the technician Roddy, and goes viral. Seeing it, the drunkard Gus Goldman tracks the two down and declares himself their manager.
Gus, a manager whose best days are behind him, convinces the girls to sign on with him. A laundromat visit inspires them to create a new song ("Round & Laundry"). Carole, Tuesday and Angela separately undergo dubious voice training, and Angela's mother Dahlia pressures her daughter into continuing. Roddy connects Carole and Tuesday to the sleazy star DJ Ertegun. He dismisses the mere idea of non-AI-made music, and the visit ends in a disaster, but the girls are not disheartened.
Carole, Tuesday, Gus and Roddy decide to make a viral music video. They buy the cheap director robot "IDEA", Gus convinces his ex-wife Marie to be the stylist, and they scrounge together the materials for a zombie-robot-dance video. But IDEA turns out to be a scammer who just wants to drink beer, the clip is awful and the girls are back at square one.
Gus and Roddy try to find a venue for the girls' first gig. After Gus is thrown out by his ex-buddy-turned-CEO Höfner, Roddy convinces his friend, the bar owner Beth, to let Carole and Tuesday play one song, which is warmly received by the audience of ten. Tuesday's brother Spencer arrives in town to look for her, but leaves after he hears her sing. An a capella performance by Angela convinces the magnate Schwarz to invest 12 million woolong in her with Tao.
Höfner arranges for Carole and Tuesday to be the backup for the flaky star Joshua in the prestigious Cydonia Festival. In shock, the two quickly compose a rock song. At the festival, the girls have to evade Ertegun and are encouraged by Skip, a veteran performer, before he takes the stage ("Unrequited Love" by Thundercat). When Joshua has a breakdown, Carole and Tuesday are called up. Facing a hostile crowd, they get through half of their song ("Round & Laundry") before the recovered Joshua storms the stage. But Crystal, another prominent musician, lifts their spirits with praise, and closes the evening ("Unbreakable" by Lauren Dyson).
Gus signs Carole and Tuesday up for the talent show "Mars' Brightest". In the qualifying round, they meet the excitable social media star Pyotr, and perform after a number of bizarre and varied contestants. Afterwards, Tuesday is disheartened, realizing that she doesn't really know Carole, but a riverside chat with her friend cheers her up. When the two are selected for the finals, they face the media for the first time. Meanwhile, Angela, whose relationship with her mother becomes more distant, is also selected as a finals contestant.
In the quarterfinals of "Mars' Brightest", Pyotr ("Dance Tonight") defeats the 99-year-old Fire Brothers ("Never Die"), and Carole and Tuesday ("Whispering My Love") triumph over the operatic wannabe gangster OG Bulldog ("Bulldog Anthem"). Angela derides the girls as amateurs, and Tuesday meets her fervent admirer, the fellow contestant Cybelle.
Quarterfinals continue with the drag queen quartet Mermaid Sisters ("Galactic Mermaid") losing to the esoteric GGK ("Milky Way" by Madison McFerrin), and Angela ("Move Mountains" by Alisa) defeating Cybelle ("La ballade" by Maika Loubté). Tao takes an interest in Carole and Tuesday, and Cybelle clings possessively to the baffled Tuesday, who eventually rejects her.
In the semifinals, Angela ("All I Want") defeats GGK ("Gravity Bounce") after a last-minute song change by Tao. As Pyotr performs ("Love Yourself" by J R Price), Tuesday becomes concerned about Cybelle and searches for her. Minutes before the girls are due on stage, Carole discovers Tuesday with a burnt hand after she opened a now-smoking present.
Tuesday's burns prevent her from playing the guitar, but she and Carole still beat Pyotr with "Lost My Way", despite interference from a judge, Ertegun. Cybelle is found out to have committed the attack on Tuesday out of jealousy, and is arrested. As Carole and Tuesday share each other's worries, goons sent by Tuesday's family abduct her by force.
Tuesday's mother Valerie confines her to her room. With help from Carole, Gus, Roddy and Spencer, Tuesday manages to escape. Although Carole and Tuesday are disqualified for arriving late to the finals, their performance of "The Loneliest Girl" convinces the judges to allow them to make their debut alongside Angela.
Carole and Tuesday, now famous, sit for interviews. They are harassed by louts at the laundromat, but a stranger, Dann, drives them off. Gus rejects a restrictive records contract with the owners of Mars' Brightest. To launch Carole and Tuesday as indie musicians, he takes them to the slums to find the retired producer Tobe, who turns out to be a deranged old man with an axe. Valerie, assisted by Spencer, launches her election campaign with an anti-immigrant message.
Tobe takes on Carole and Tuesday. With Skip and his friends as backing, they record a song with which Tobe is satisfied after "only" 52 takes. A reporter questions Tuesday about her mother, who hardens her isolationist position against Earth. Dann reveals to Carole that he is her father. Abandoned as an orphan on Earth, she never knew her parents. Dann says that, after 17 years of prison on Earth, he used his probation leave to get a glimpse of her.
Desmond, a reclusive, eccentric musician, invites Carole and Tuesday to their garden home. Desmond, suffering from an incurable disease, mused about their life and friendship before treating the girls to their last song and then entering a coma. Meanwhile, Valerie meets the incumbent president of Mars, Hamilton, in a debate. She calls for an end to the admission of refugees from Earth and the termination of the trade agreement with Earth.
Carole and Tuesday learn their first single made number 53 on the charts. Gus, seeking to bolster the girls popularity, gets them a gig at South by Southwest (SXSW). To prepare, they pick up a drummer, a bassist, and an electric guitarist. Meanwhile, Gus runs into Flora, an old artist he used to manage who has fallen from grace and out of music. However, at SXSW, Carole and Tuesday's singing manages to sway her heart.
One morning, Ertegun awakens to find himself bankrupt - his AI manager has made off with all of his money. Ertegun's house is foreclosed, and without a penny to his name, he is forced to sleep at Roddy's place. Ertegun completely loses his confidence and begins questioning his own identity. Trying to cheer him up, Roddy takes Ertegun to visit Carole and Tuesday, who are busy working on their first album. And so, Ertegun's comeback drama begins, with everyone including Tao and Angela dragged into it.
Carole and Tuesday are officially confirmed to play at the autumn Cydonia Festival. Tuesday resolves to confront her mother and decides to meet with Kyle, the reporter doing a story on Valerie. Tuesday gradually becomes attracted to Kyle, who provides a sympathetic ear for all her concerns. Meanwhile, a weather plant is bombed by unknown persons. This incident, along with Valerie's hardline stance against immigrants from Earth, stirs up public opinion.
Dahlia reveals to Tao that Angela is being threatened by a stalker who calls himself "The Black Knight". Upon hearing this, Tao takes it upon himself to find the culprit. For the upcoming Cydonia Festival, Angela has agreed to appear as a secret guest for Ertegun. Meanwhile, Carole and Tuesday, eager to redeem themselves after their last disastrous performance at Cydonia Festival, are also making preparations. Finally, the curtain rises on each of their stages.
Following the weather plant terrorist incident, presidential candidate Valerie sees a sharp rise in popularity for her anti-Earth immigrant rhetoric. Carole & Tuesday and Angela are nominated for the Grammy Award for Best New Artist, and Tao is suddenly taken into custody by the Mars Federal Attorney's Office after refusing a request from Schwartz. Meanwhile, Carole tries to make contact with the rapper Ezekiel, who she believes is her childhood friend Amer from the orphanage.
With Tao under arrest and her mother Dahlia in a coma, Angela is left feeling alone like never before. The Mars Grammys are to take place on Christmas, Carole’s birthday. Carole & Tuesday rack their brains for the perfect song to complete their album, while Gus runs around trying to organize a special guest to co-perform with them. Carole also goes to see Amer to convey her feelings before he’s deported back to Earth.
Crystal agrees to perform with Carole & Tuesday at the Mars Grammys ceremony, but on the condition that the song they sing be a light of hope in the current darkening political times. They complete a song that Crystal approves of, just in time for the ceremony and Christmas, which is Carole's birthday. The morning of the show, Dahlia apologizes to Angela before passing away in the hospital. The show begins with Carole & Tuesday's performance, followed by the announcement that Angela won Best New Artist. She performs a song, before collapsing on stage.
Angela is in a coma following her collapse at the Mars Grammys. Meanwhile, musicians such as Skip who oppose Valerie's proposed restrictions on freedom of speech are being arrested one after the other. In a meeting with Gus, Roddy and Ertegun, Carole and Tuesday suggest musicians from all over Mars sing together in a show of solidarity, and the girls are charged with writing the song. They also hope that Angela will join them, crediting her as the reason the girls were able to grow as artists.
Tao reveals a long-kept secret to Angela while Carole and Tuesday finally complete their task. Valerie withdraws her candidacy for president upon finding out from Spencer (via Kyle) that Jerry was involved in the bombing incident. On New Year's Eve, musicians from across Mars including Crystal, Flora, Pyotr, GGK, a revived Desmond, and Angela, secretly gather at the Mars Immigration Memorial Hall to perform Carole and Tuesday's new song "Mother" together, in an event that would go down in Martian history as the "Seven-Minute Miracle".
Media release
FlyingDog released Carole & Tuesday across two volumes, in DVD and Blu-ray media formats.
A manga adaptation, illustrated by Morito Yamataka, began serialization in Kadokawa Shoten's Young Ace magazine on May 2, 2019.[26] The manga ended in July 2020.[27]Yen Press announced the license of the manga at Anime NYC in November 2019 and released it from December 2020 to January 2022.[28]
Reception
Carole & Tuesday has been critically acclaimed for its story, animation, music and songs, characters, voice acting, art, setting, and themes.
James Beckett of Anime News Network commended the show, giving it an A overall, citing "genuinely delightful" music, a "colorful, well-realized world", and stated that the English dub "serves the anime even better than its original Japanese track".[29][30]
In her review of the show for Syfy, Laura Dale criticized the LGBTQ representation in the show, arguing that the show often uses "minority characters as punchlines and stereotypes for plot progression" and stating that while the show has "really sweet, soft queer energy," she remained disappointed that the show had "repeated harmful representations of queer characters."[31]
