It’s not easy being famous. The girls are learning that fame comes with its own set of problems. But, like the title suggests, the girls will be alright as long as they remember who they are and stick together through all the ups and the downs. Episode 14, ‘The Kids Are Alright’, is yet another heartfelt episode from Carole & Tuesday. 

Plot

The girls finally meet Gus’s legendary producer friend, Tobe: an ax wielding, foul-mouthed brute. He’s nothing like the producer the girls imagined they’d meet, but he does offer up some helpful advice and agrees to help them record their debut song. Meanwhile, Angela is having problems of her own, when Dahlia discovers a series of suspicious messages on one of her forum pages she fears that Angela may have a stalker. 

Later, Kyle, a reporter investigating Tuesday’s mother, confronts her about her relationship with her estranged mother, but she refuses to reveal anything. Carole is bombarded with people claiming to be her family and has to be rescued once again by Dann, prompting her to open up about her past… 

Episode Highlights

Tobe: My man came out in a wife beater swinging an ax! Then he proceeds to insult the hell out of Carole and Tuesday’s singing… he is my new hero! He comes off like he’s a raving lunatic which given the fact that he’s supposed to be this big hotshot producer is kind of comical (and terrifying). But, what I really love is how he just gives no f**ks about keeping it real with the girls. He even brings in Skip and his crew to help serve as the girls’ backup band!! 

Little Orphan Carole: Because of their newfound fame, a lot of people claiming to be Carole’s family start coming out of the woodwork, including two couples that claims to be her mother and father (one of which is a white couple). Carole reveals that her real father has a birthmark on his right wrist. Of course, the audience and Carole discover that Carole’s father is a lot closer than anyone would have imagined. 

Tuesday Family Drama: The reporter investigating Valerie makes contact with Tuesday. While he doesn’t threaten her, he does ask some probing questions about her relationship with her family. Later on in the episode we see that Valerie and Spencer are having some issues with one of their consultants. Valerie is down in the polls and the consultant suggests some drastic changes to her campaign strategy.

Tao Clones Angela: They’ve been hinting at this for a while, but Tao managed to clone Angela’s voice (and appearance) using just AI, much to Angela’s disgust. It really shows just how disposable Angela is to Tao, because if he can emulate her sound using AI, he doesn’t need her anymore. This a point that Angela herself brings up that Tao doesn’t refute. 

Army of Two montage: Tobe puts the girls through the ringer recording ‘Army of Two’ with Skip and his band. The whole thing is shown through a montage of the various takes (52 total) the girls go through before Tobe gives them the okay. It kind of harkens back to when the girls were writing ‘Loneliest Girl’ back in Episode 1. 

Themes and Trivia 

The Kids Are Alright: All of the episode titles from Carole & Tuesday are references to famous songs and albums. This week’s episode ‘The Kids Are Alright’ is a reference to a song from British rock band The Who’s 1965 debut album, My Generation. This song thoroughly captured the hearts of the Mods, a subculture of young, working class Britons at the time, and eventually become a byword for The Who.

Neumann Microphone: Neumann is a German manufacturer of professional recording microphones. 

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! 

Not Afraid: Performed by Angela (Alisa) via the AI clone Tao created. 

Army of Two: Performed by Carole and Tuesday (Nai Br.XX & Celeina Ann), during their recording session with Tobe. 

Comments

I really love the relationship between Carole and Dann. It’s emotional stuff like this that really get to me! It’s revealed in this episode that Dann is Carole’s father and that he is on parole for a crime he committed on Earth. He just wanted to see his daughter one time before finishing out his sentence, so he makes the trip to Mars to find her.  Everything about this reveal was done right; we get to know Dann before he’s revealed to be Carole’s father and while his stint in the series is only two episodes long, you really get a feel for the emotional weight his relationship with his daughter holds for the series. I’ll fully admit to getting a little teary eyed when he reveals the truth to Carole, and the gorgeous visuals really do wonders to set a sense of scale. Rather than a lot of closeups, we’re treated to a lot of great scenery shots of the city with Dann and Carole being shown at a distance. It isn’t until the very end that we focus in on the characters themselves, and when Carole started tearing up, I felt it! 

Angela is having problems of her own. When Dahlia notices some troubling messages on her social media page from someone calling themselves Black_Knight, she suspects that they may be dealing with a stalker. Then Angela discovers that Tao has been secretly using her to create an AI singer clone. From the beginning, Angela was just a puppet to Tao; someone he could use to fulfill his own personal agenda and finally we are seeing a bit of that come to fruition. The only difference is that Angela is invested in her musical career and the AI clone is a direct slap in the face since it means that Tao doesn’t really need her anymore. And, I’m not gonna lie that the entire scene was painful to watch. Angela wants desperately to prove herself, but time and time again she is shown just how little those around her really care about her wellbeing. This is the complete opposite of Carole and Tuesday, who are constantly surrounded by people that truly care about them. 

Recording ‘Army of Two’ takes place in this episode and it kind of brings back the art of making music to the series. This is the first time since the first episode that we see the girls actively working on a song and it makes for a more human experience. They don’t just run the song through a synthesizer and call it a day; they make mistakes… it’s a very human process and that’s the kind of details that make Carole & Tuesday such a wholesome experience. 

Making Music Together

Episode 14, ‘The Kids Are Alright’ brings back a bit more of the series’s heart and soul as we see the girls working hard to make it on their own. There were a few emotional moments with the girls as they work through their own personal issues, but ultimately they are brought back together by their music.  

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 Spring 2019 reviews!!

NEXT TIME: God Only Knows

Carole & Tuesday

Spring 2019 | Anime Info | Simulcast