Nodame Cantabile

When I started watching this I didn't have very high expectations. But this is without a doubt one of the most enjoyable TV series I've ever watched. It is based on a manga, and a lot of the manga aesthetic -and even acting- comes through.

Chiaki is an extremely talented, motivated, efficient and arrogant piano player whose real dream is to become a conductor. However, his fear of flying means he cannot travel to Europe to study under the masters. Oh, Chiaki is also extremely handsome, making him the hottest boy in school.

Nodame is his next-door neighbour. Although she is equally talented, she has no inclination to be a professional. She would rather raid people's lunch boxes, play silly songs on the piano and live a carefree life in her extremely messy bedroom.

They study at the same music school, and alongside them are a whole range of characters: Chiaki's girlfriend Saiko, perverted conductor Strezemann, the eccentrically gay Masumi, rock violinist Eita, calm & cool beauty Asami, and at least two orchestras' worth of characters.

As the story develops Chiaki learns to become more human, and Nodame learns to appreciate her exceptional talent.

The series fits into the "achievement" genre, a bit like all those sports films where the underdog eventually wins. But the fact that it's done through comedy makes it much more enjoyable and far less presumptuous. The use of music is also inspired, and if I may say so, very informative. Until I saw this series I really thought a conductor simply moved the stick to the rhythm of the music. I have also learnt to appreciate classical music much more than I ever did before. I may even go to see an orchestra now.

Anyway, all in all a very enjoyable series. Overall the acting was excellent, technically the film is great (apart from some odd sudden changes in the colour correction), and it is a delight for the ears.

One thing I can say about this series is that it's an expensive production with no efforts spared to improve the quality of the show. The actors are top notch, and music is portrayed accurately with interesting points captured to highlight the talents of the performers.

Shinichi Chiaki (Hiroshi Tamaki) is a talented music school student studying piano. His reputation is near cult level amongst the students. Combined with his good looks, he has many girls (and even a boy) enamored with him. One day under duress, he finds himself in his next door neighbor's apartment. His neighbor turns out to be Noda Megumi or Nodame (Juli Ueno) also a student studying piano in his school. She a perfect slob and her room is filled with garbage, and can't even find her own bed. Nodame was a child prodigy and can play almost any music without reading the music, but due to unfortunate incident during her childhood, has no aspiration to improve on her talent. Her goal is to become a preschool teacher. They meet, and Nodame comes to rely on Chiaki. She visits his apartment for food, to borrow a bath (because gas in her apartment has been stopped for non payment of monthly fees), and any excuse to be close to him. Chiaki has one weakness - due to a childhood trauma, he can't take a plane or a boat trip. This prevents him from going aboard to study in great European conservatories. One day a great conductor Frantz Strezemann (Naoto Takenaka) shows up at their school. He's a terrible womanizer but his true reason for coming to their school is - to teach Chiaki (On behest of the school's headmaster). Chiaki is a senior but he decides to change his major from pianist to a conductor. Strezemann starts to collect a rag tag team of flunky (but talented) students to form an orchestra and puts Chiaki in charge as its conductor. Chiaki while disgusted with the lack of discipline of the orchestra, with his talent and devotion, makes it into a credible ensemble of performers. In the mean time Nodame's talent is also discovered and she gets the training that she really deserves, but the only one who's not too excited about it is Nodame herself.

This is a delightful love comedy played on the back of an inspiring story about two talented musician's way to becoming world class performers. The show is both entertaining and inspiring. Hiroshi Tamaki captures the mood of world class composer in training perfectly, and Juli Ueno plays the unlikely partner to the perfectionist Tamaki portrays.

One of best comedy drama to come out of Asia of all times, it's highly recommended for viewing along with its "Europe TV Speciall" and the two "Nodame Final part 1 and 2" movies.

An English subtitled version is available for all audiences.

Variety of plot is what japanese drama excel kdrama. This time it is music and drama. Not only is the plot enchanting, the acting of leads is amazing. Female lead is magnetic. She fits perfectly to the role of a fussy piano student. Together with the cool male lead they makes up a perfect pair.

A must see for Jdrama.

Nodame Kantabire is a live action off shoot of the manga by Tomoko Ninomiya, which also has an animated counter part.

Overall this series keeps in the spirit of both the original work and the animated work in comical antics and gags, which are quite enjoyable to watch.

The cast is full of incredible actors, Ueno Juri portrays the unique and often times quirky Noda Megumi with the up most talent, while Hiroshi Tamaki does a an excellent job playing Chiaki Shinichi. The most notable actor is Ogawa Shinji, his over the top performance of Franz Von Stresemann is a sight to behold and most memorable in my opinion. The cast gives a great performance to bring out each individual character. You can not help but fall in love with the characters in the show.

The live action series deviates on some musical pieces that are performed and selected from the original work and animation, but nonetheless are great musical pieces to hear. Should not pose a problem in watching the series.

Tomoko Ninomiya does her homework with musical history, references, and technical term. Unless your an uptight classical musician you would learn a thing or two about classical music and be happy with it.

You will not be disappointed if you decide to watch this series. I highly recommend it.