scottishlass | [jdrama] Nodame Cantabile review

summary:
Nodame Cantabile is an 11 episodes drama that aired on Fuji TV from October 16th 2006 to December 25th 2006. Adapted from the manga of the same name by Tomoko Ninomiya it tells the story of two very opposite individuals who happen to meet by accident at Momogaoka Music Academy.

Noda Megumi (Ueno Juri), calling herself Nodame, is a very talented yet strange young woman. She is a genius in piano playing yet in every day life she lacks certain skills, like cooking, taking care of herself or her apartment and comes across as slightly autistic. She sometimes raids the bento boxes of her school mates when she either has forgotten to eat or her allowance has run out. In a university full of musicians and other quirky characters, she certainly stands out.

Chiaki Shin'ichi (Tamaki Hiroshi) is a model student and said to be the best piano player at university. Coming from a very musical family and having been able to accompany his parents to all big musical cities in Europe from a very early age, he is multi-lingual and not only skillfull in piano playing but also playing the violin. Due to his skills and his upbringing he is an arrogant young man whose pride and also expectations of his family keeps him from fulfilling his one dream: becoming a conductor.

After their first meeting and discovering that they are in fact neighbours in an apartment building called Sweet Home, a tentative friendship begins that soon turns into love for Nodame. Shin'ichi is not too amused but quietly and steadily he starts to appreciate not only Nodame and her genuine talent of interpreting music but also the basketful of friends they seem to acquire, rock star violinist Mine Ryutaro (Eita) and Timpani player Okuyama Masumi (Koide Keisuke) who has a long-standing crush on Chiaki.
While Chiaki appreaciates variation both in life and music through Nodame, and learns how to become less arrogant and more humble, Nodame learns to strive for a higher aim, a goal, because of Chiaki. When she helps him conduct a student orchestra for the first time after famous German conductor Franz Stresemann abandons the underachiever musicians, Shin'ichi realizes that these underachiever have a genuine quality he wants to draw out. From here on onwards, his and Nodame's life seem to be irrevocably connected and Nodame becoming his inspirational muse ...

my review:
I love the drama. Not only it is well acted, the camera work is beautiful and most scenes have beautiful lighting and sets enhancing the scenes instead of distracting from them. E.G. the camera underlines Shin'ichi's professional and also personal loneliness by capturing him in stark modern surroundings.

The OST as well as the classical pieces chosen for the show are to die for. I love the fact that they didn't go for the usual fare of classical music you seem to encounter at every other show. However, they choose pieces that you might have heard before but have still a freshness and crispness that other more well known pieces seem to lack. Kudos to the musical director of the drama.

The drama has many manga-like moments, I like especially that they kept Nodame's Gyaboo!! and Shin'ichi's penchant to throw Nodame around a bit. It might be a shock for those who do not know the manga, but it adds to the comic relief. Watching Nodame flying across the room or hitting her head and then just bouncing up lively again might give you the wrong idea but it is damn funny. I also like the fact that Chiaki is almost constantly in fear when he encounters Nodame for the first few times.

The look of impending doom - Shin'ichi has already a penchant of what is in store for him ...

... when he sees NODAME!

I had only seen Tamaki Hiroshi in Water Boys and I thought he was hilarious but he didn't strike me as overly gorgeous or greatly talented, but here, even though his character seems to have limits in the first few episodes, he shows that he is a well enough actor. Of course, the voice overs help to develop and further any character development but sometimes the lack of normalexpression in Tamaki's face was painfully evident even though I liked the overly funny manga like expressions of WTH?. Still, I enjoyed his portrayal of Chiaki Shin'ichi very much. Kudos to his perfect pronounciation of the few German lines he had. I was impressed.

I have been a fan of Ueno Juri ever since Swing Girls and here she gives another good performance. I like the fact that she played Nodame sturdy yet with an underlying fragility as well as that the autism is hinted at but never spoken of. She is referred to as hentai but if you throw the autism into the mix, it isn't so much that she is strange, but different and cannot help the way she is.

Eita!! Eita!! I just love this guy. He is quirky, talented and not a Johnny. His portrayal of Mine Ryutaro is both cute and grown up. I think from all three to four main characters of the show, Mine grows the most. He carries off his performance from rebellious rock star violinist to seriously hard working student who wants to become first violinist (concert master) and who grows to love classical music, very well. I love that even though he grows more serious about his profession, he still keeps his rock star style. And Eita, I just love him. He is a lesser well known young actor, but he has been in a lot of my fave dramas, starting from Lunch no Joou to Remote to Water Boys etc. It is good to see he has a bigger role here in Nodame Cantabile.

Another character that really endeared me was Okuyama Masumi played by Koide Keisuke. Usually, Koide is such a good-looking chap but here with his afro and this little mustachio, he looks both hilarious and not so gorgeous but still appealing in a weird 1970's way. Actually, he looks like the seventh brother of the Jacksons in his get up. He is a great comic relief as Masumi.

Takenaka Naoto plays Franz Stresemann (or Miruhi/Milch). Oh Gosh, this man cracks me up. Ever since he played pilot Naito Jane in Good Luck!! alongside Kimura Takuya, I have a soft spot for him. He also played in Water Boys and because of him I will never view a speedo quite so casually again ;-) In Nodame he plays a German conductor who tries to further both Chiaki and Nodame's skills through some really strange means. Another very over the top character, he pulls off believably, even though his Japanese, his English and overall his German is so cracktastic and funny. And he sports a Cyrano de Bergerac-like nose ... honestly!!

All in all, this drama is a wonderful little tale that hopefully has a second season (the manga defintiely takes Nodame and Shin'ichi on their journey towards love and musical greatness to Paris). It's cute, it's quirky and some wonderful classical music. Even if you are not a music lover, this is a drama that touches on the one thing that is most important ... the heart!

A few pics: