Nodame Cantabile - RePost

Nodame Cantabile is an anime adaptation of a shojo manga that came out a couple of years ago. The series was previously a short live action drama. The entire inspiration for the story was due to a photograph the creator, Tomoko Ninomiya, saw of a beautiful grand piano sitting in a room surrounded by garbage and clutter. So she decided to write a story in which one of the main characters was such a person that would live in such a room, thus was born Megumi Noda, Nodame.

    Nodame is a disorganized, packrat, slob who is going to the top music college in Japan for piano. She is amazingly gifted at piano, but doesn't read sheet music and adds in notes when she is playing. Her technique infuriated her instructors, causing her to try and shun her work. One of the other students at the school, Shinichi Chiaki, is the schools top talent. He is handsome, well educated and a musical genius. He excels at both violin and piano but his passion is to be a conductor. His lifelong dream is to study under a famous European conductor in Europe. There's just one problem with the dream, due to a plane crash when he was a boy he can no longer fly in a plane and he can not ride in a boat. So until he overcomes his fears he is stuck in Japan, where, in his mind, he can never achieve greatness in the classical world. Along with his phobia, Chiaki is arrogant, self centered and patronizing. He doesn't exactly look down on everyone around him; he just can't understand why no one is as serious or particular about their talents as he is.

Chiaki, in a fit of rage, fires his piano teacher and is forced to find another one. The one that accepts him is Nodame's teacher. This is where the two officially meet, in class together. Right away Chiaki is drawn to the odd way Nodame plays the piano, yet is disgusted by it at the same time. He also despises her goofy, bubbly attitude and try's to shun her. Nodame mildly falls for his good looks and piano skills. Later Chiaki is enjoying a cigarette on his balcony when he notices a garbage slick spreading from the apartment next door. He finds the next door balcony pilled with garbage and filth. In a fit of rage, being a clean freak, he bursts into the next door apartment to demand them clean it up. There, surrounded by garbage, clothes and everything else, is Nodame and a beautiful piano. Chiaki freaks out due to the garbage and the fact that the annoying girl in school is his neighbor; he cleans and sanitizes her entire apartment and cooks her food. Nodame, in a state of un-cleanliness and ill health, triggers a series long trend of Chiaki mothering her. Nodame is pretty helpless and useless, she clings on to him for his cooking and 'friendliness'. Nodame, you could say, begins to be a free loader to Chiaki.

    Through out the series Chiaki is constantly reminded that he needs to apply himself better than he does to attain his goals. The first instigator is a visiting German conductor who is teaching at the school for a period of time, the lecherous and deceitful Franz von Stresemann or as Nodame calls him Milch or milk. Milch is a cunning womanizer and general party animal who consistently berates and taunts Chiaki. In the end though, Chiaki begins to see what the lecher is trying to get through to him and is actually, in a twisted manner, trying to make him a better person.

 

    The series follows Chiaki, Nodame and a few others are followed through about two years at school as they performe various orchestras and over come their own artistic and social flaws. All the while Chiaki is working on becoming a famous conductor and getting to Europe, with the one-sided relationship between Chiaki and Nodame sitting idly in the background. This part of the story only really comes to the forefront in the last two episodes, the climax of the series where the characters decide what courses they will take to determine their future. Chiaki wants to go to Europe and Nodame struggles with her wish to be a kindergarten teacher or to try and become a professional musician.

    The series is nice and comfortable with a vast amount of great classical music, which is really the center piece to the series. The love story is so minimal that people who dislike romances could enjoy this series. The characters are goofy and funny and it's just a fun anime all around. This series was followed up by a second series, reviewed earlier, and there is a third series pending to be aired. There is also a live action series that covers this series and the second that has seen a mild amount of success. The live action is fun and goofy as well and enjoyable if you enjoyed the anime.

UPDATE: The series is licensed by Animax Asia and appears to currently be streaming on Crackle but apparently is not available on DVD...