Carole & Tuesday Episode 13 Review: Walk This Way

Fame and fortune are just around the corner for Carole and Tuesday after their groundbreaking performances at Mars’ Brightest! But fame comes with its own set of issues, which the girls learn in this week’s episode, ‘Walk This Way’.

Plot

Mars’ Brightest is finally over and Carole and Tuesday are poised to make their big debut; gone are the days when they were just singing on the bridge. But their new fame comes at a price; when the girls are confronted by a group of thugs at the local laundromat, they realize just how dangerous fame can be. Thankfully, they’re saved by a helpful stranger who comes to their aid!

Meanwhile, Angela puts on her debut performance at a press conference in her first outing since winning Mars’ Brightest! Despite technically being disqualified, Carole and Tuesday were also offered a contract with Brightest Records. However, Gus warns them that a contract with a major record label comes with its own set of strings attached. With a huge choice to make concerning their careers, Carole and Tuesday contemplate whether to take the deal…

Episode Highlights

New Opening Theme: ‘Poly Jean’: The second half of the series kicks off with a brand new opening theme sung by the singing vocalists for Carole and Tuesday, Nai Br.xx and Celeina Ann. There’s even a new opening animation sequence that accompanies the new song.

New Ending Theme: ‘Not Afraid’: Along with the new opening theme, there is also a brand new ending theme, ‘Not Afraid’, sung by Alisa, Angela’s singing vocalist. The opening is light and free flowing, depicting the girls walking through the city interacting with each other and random people they met. The ending animation is definitely indicative of Angela’s journey. It’s much more restricted, in shades of blue with overlays of soundboards and soundwaves, or just Angela alone. It doesn’t have the same openness or freedom we see with the girls.

The Allen Show Interview: The girls have finally ‘made it’ after making a splash on the reality singing competition Mars’ Brightest. Their amazing performances on the show have won the hearts of the citizens of Alba City and landed them an interview on The Allen Show! On the show, the girls talk about how they met and how they feel about their time on Mars’ Brightest and of course how they feel about their ‘rival’ Angela.

Brightest Records Press Conference: Meanwhile, Angela is dealing with her own debut at the Brightest Records Press Conference (Tao is too busy to attend). During the press conference Angela sings her new single, ‘Breathe Again’, for the crowd, to much fanfare.

Showdown in the Laundromat: The girls are confronted by some rowdy ‘fans’ while waiting in the local laundromat. The guys pressure the girls to sing for them and when they don’t, they start to get violent, prompting a helpful stranger to step in and scare them off.

On the Campaign Trail: Tuesday’s mother and brother get some much-needed screen time in this week’s episode. Valerie is gaining traction with her constituents and it’s really starting to look like she might win. Her campaign rally is full of excited voters, but the most noteworthy event is the use of technology to gauge the crowd’s feelings.

The Contract: Gus turns down the contract and proposes that the girls try going out as independent artists instead, much to the girls’ dismay.

Performance in the Slums: In order to draw out this ‘famous’ producer friend of Gus’s, the girls put on a performance of their song ‘Army of Two’ and it gets a lot of love from the gathered people. But it also draws out Tobe and a wielding old man…

Themes and Trivia

Walk This Way: All the episode titles in Carole & Tuesday are references to famous songs and albums. This week’s episode, ‘Walk This Way’, is a reference to the 1975 song by the American rock band Aerosmith. Popular for its catchy guitar riff, it was covered by the rap group Run-D.M.C. in 1986 (feat. Aerosmith). This version became even more popular than the original, leading to a subsequent rap boom and a comeback for Aerosmith.

Aikido: Dann takes down some thugs using Aikido. Aikido is a modern Japanese martial art developed by Morihei Ueshiba. The martial art focuses on defending without causing harm to the attacker.

Brian Epstein & George Martin: While trying to convince the girls that it was a good idea not to take the Mars’ Brightest record deal, Gus says, ‘There’s no point having Epstein if you don’t have George Martin’. Like most things in the series, this is another music reference. Brian Epstein was the English music entrepreneur who discovered and managed the Beatles, who was often referred to as the ‘fifth Beatle’ by the media. On the other hand, George Martin was an English record producer, arranger, composer, conductor, audio engineer, and musician, who had an extensive influence on each of the Beatle’s albums. His influence was so great that upon his death in 2016, Paul McCartney referred to him as the official ‘Fifth Beatle’.

On Air Discography

Carole & Tuesday is a music anime, so it makes sense that they’d have a number of great tracks featured in each episode. So, rather than bogging down the other sections with all the new songs, here’s a section dedicated to just the tunes of Carole & Tuesday!

Breathe Again: Performed by Angela (Alisa) during the Mars’ Brightest Press Conference.

Army of Two: Performed by Carole and Tuesday (Nai Br.XX & Celeina Ann) to coax Tobe out of hiding.

Comments

I thought this during the Mars’ Brightest arc, but it really hit home in this episode. Angela’s singing is much more polished than anything Carole and Tuesday have done so far and you can really hear how outclassed the girls are in comparison. It’s like night and day. When Dahlia calls the girls amateurish she isn’t wrong. Angela is on a completely different level than Carole and Tuesday and it shows in the way they act in front of the camera and people treat them during the negotiations. They aren’t even a part of the contract negotiations for their record deal… meanwhile, Angela was right there with Dahlia during everything.

But what really stood out to me in this episode was that it doesn’t just glamorize fame. Rather it shows a little bit of the darker side of Carole and Tuesday’s newfound fame. They went from being relative unknowns singing on a bridge to household names and while they have many supporters, their popularity can attract the wrong kind of attention. The girls are still operating like nothing has changed, which opens them up to some conflict. Early on in the episode they’re confronted by some pushy ‘fans’ who try to pressure them into performing for them and it really shows just how ill prepared the girls are for the limelight…

We also spend some time with Tuesday’s mother and brother on the campaign trail and all I can say is that it was about damn time! Tuesday’s family has just kind of been looming in the background, while we focus on the girls’ rise to fame, so it’s nice to finally see them getting some much-needed screen time.

Making it Big?

With Mars’ Brightest behind them, the girls are starting to think about the next steps in their career. Episode 13, ‘Walk This Way’ is a nice midway point for the series that sees the girls in that nebulous middle ground career wise. They aren’t exactly nobodies anymore, but they aren’t exactly famous either and it’ll be interesting to see where they go from here.

I’ll be back next week with another Carole & Tuesday review, but in the meantime, be sure to check out MANGA.TOKYO’s other amazing Summer 2019 reviews!!

NEXT TIME: The Kids Are Alright