Kiniro no Corda: Primo Passo

Seiso Academy is a prestigious high school that sorts students into two majors: General Studies, characterized by distinct grey uniforms, and Music Studies, characterized by pristine white uniforms. While rushing to class one morning, General Studies student Kahoko Hino has a chance encounter with Lili, a small fairy searching for someone with the ability to see her. Lili flies away, and Kahoko, puzzled by their meeting, continues on her way.

Later that day, the participants of a school-wide music competition are announced, and all of them are, unsurprisingly, Music Studies students—at least until Kahoko's name is read out. Immediately tracking down Lili, the small fairy gifts Kahoko a magical violin and convinces her to participate in the competition.

Kiniro no Corda: Primo Passo follows Kahoko's endeavors alongside Lili, as the young student must now face the challenges of competition and go head-to-head against her competitors while navigating a new world of classical music.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Tsukimori, Len Main

Taniyama, Kishou Japanese

Hihara, Kazuki Main

Morita, Masakazu Japanese

Hino, Kahoko Main

Takagi, Reiko Japanese

Tsuchiura, Ryotaro Main

Itou, Kentarou Japanese

Lili Main

Mizuhashi, Kaori Japanese

Shimizu, Keiichi Supporting

Fukuyama, Jun Japanese

Yunoki, Azuma Supporting

Kishio, Daisuke Japanese

Fuyuumi, Shouko Supporting

Sato, Akemi Japanese

Kanazawa, Hiroto Supporting

Ishikawa, Hideo Japanese

Ousaki, Shinobu Supporting

Konishi, Katsuyuki Japanese

Ochi, Koujin Director

Kikuta, Hiromi Sound Director

Kimura, Nobukage Episode Director

Okajima, Kunitoshi Episode Director

Reviews

May 30, 2007

icerydragon

Recommended

Note: May contain SLIGHT SPOILERS. Nothing too major though.








Now~ to the review!
...


Other than La Corda, the only other series that I can think of that somehow revolved around classical music (that I've ACTUALLY seen) was Piano. I won't go into that series as I did DO a review for it. Because of the fact that I haven't a series like La Corda before, that caught my attention. And also having classical music as a major theme within the series definitely sparked my interest.

My first impression of the series was that it just caught my attention because it was a bit different than many series that I have seen in the past. And I'll admit that by just watching the OP sequence, you may considered it a harem (this case, a reverse harem = more main guys than girls) anime, which it really isn't. Sure, there are several parts that have slight fanservice, but nothing major at all.

For me, from just watching the 1st episode, I was hooked and HAD to watch more episodes and I eventually made a fansite for this series, which used to be called 'Musical Secret, but is now called 'Crescendo'. Whether that had anything to do with the ED song being called that, I dunno, but yeah...

What I didn't like was that sometimes the animation would be a bit strange and look awkward. For example, in particular, I didn't notice this one thing until Meagi, one of my staff members at Crescendo, sent me a pic from episode 4 where Kahoko's talking to Lili and his feet are facing in the opposite direction to where the rest of his body was.

In some of the later episodes, many of the character's faces and such just look weird, like the lines were drawn thicker than in earlier episodes. It wasn't that big of an issue, but with the slight inconsistencies was a bit of a turn off. Overall, the animation was decent, but it wasn't uber, uber vibrant but not bland either (well.. that depended on the episode as sometimes the colors looked a bit dimmer in some shots and brighter in others...). Kinda funny considering that they look a lot more vibrant in magazines and such. XD;

A definite strong point in the series was the music. Though I did already have a liking for classical music, because of this series, I've come to like it a whole lot more and that makes me happy. And gee, I never realized how MUCH music there was for the series. I don't even think that I even own it all -- 2+ gigs and there are STILL more CDs. T.T

With the plot itself, it isn't a complex one, though it did make me wonder if the plot was going to keep my attention long enough. Luckily it did, but the music and the bishies were MAJOR bonuses. In general, the series itself, because of the reverse harem-likeness (as there are many more male main charas than female ones) it gives off is aimed more towards girls, rather than guys. But, any fanservice that even shows up in the series is nothing comparing to other series that have MAJOR fanservice in then.

Even though this series is one of my favorites, there were some episodes that were a bit boring towards the end, say around episode 20, as the episode(s) were a bit boring because Kahoko's all angsty and such and when I found out there was a manga version, I noticed some differences, like in virtually any adaptation that originated from a manga first.

I noticed that some of the events that happened in between the selections were either excluded altogether, modified, or where just different. And also, since the manga itself hasn't finish the concours (from last I looked, they finished the 3rd selection but no word on the 4th and final selection of the concours), so the ending of the concours will be different probably in the manga than in the anime.

I really hope that there is a second season as the series itself originated as a game, than manga, now anime and the anime itself opened the possibility for a second season as it was an open-ended ending. There's a second game, so it's a possibilty that it could happen, but for now it's quite unlikely as the manga isn't done with the concours (aka not enough material for a second season) and if Yuki Kure doesn't adapt the 2nd game into manga form, it'll be less likely than if she did.

Overall, this series was really good and is definitely one of those series that can be viewed again and I won't get sick of it. I can't say that it's one of those 'you'll love or hate it' series, but the first few might be a bit slow at first, depending on the viewer. I enjoyed watching it and I do recommend watching it, or at least give it a try.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Jan 23, 2008

lowell

Mixed Feelings

La Corda d'Ora is a reverse harem story with a heavy dose of music. I first heard about it when I was really into Nodame Cantabile and Ouran High School Host Club. So I thought,"Wow, it combines two great shows -- how perfect!" Only... it wasn't, which was disappointing. It does combine music with a reverse harem, but -- in my opinion -- it doesn't do music as well as Nodame and it doesn't do romance as well as OHSHC. I guess you can't have everything at once.

What it does have is great music. Ave Maria, which is one ... of my favorite pieces of all time, plays a pretty prominent role in the series. And there were some other pieces that I really enjoyed -- familiar and new to me. And it also has a great collection of really, really gorgeous bishies. ;) Like, when you think of traditional hot anime guys -- this is it. They're so pretty. So pretty. ^.^

Plot wise... story wise... character wise... it's okay. It has a nice overall theme/message/moral. If you go in with average expectations, a fan of reverse harems or bishies or music-themed animes would be pretty satisfied. More satisfied if you're looking for eye or ear candy.

The plot is pretty simple. The synopsis hits the nail on the head and there really isn't too much more to it. The characters are a little shallow, a little cliche... a little under-developed. The biggest problem for me was probably the conflict felt by the main character and how she reacted to it. I liked the beginning of the show; it was pretty entertaining. But in the middle, I got so frustrated and turned off by the angst and the whining that I actually dropped the show: I didn't care what happened next because I was too annoyed to watch. (The time between release of episodes probably made that worse -- I might have barreled through if I had the whole series at once.) Not everyone is going to feel that way about the main character or the show -- I just personally have low tolerance for that character type.

After several months, out of boredom, I decided to go back and see if I could just finish it off since I had gotten all the way to episode 20 while it was being initially fansubbed. It was the beginning of the end so a lot of the annoying behaviors that drove me away were gone and it went back to being a nice, if somewhat predictable, story with great music and pretty bishies.

To be honest, more than anything... it makes me want to watch Nodame Cantabile again. Maybe it isn't fair to compare the two, but I can't help it -- I compare everything to anything. ;) And, as a matter of personal taste, I think I prefer when things are a little bit more romance and a little less harem, so that probably skews my score too. I didn't think it was a masterpiece or a must-see, but it was cute and entertaining and watchable because I like all the genres it falls into.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Jan 22, 2012

Bishounen_Hunter

Not Recommended

OMG this was an incredibly boring anime...it took but sheer force of will not to drop this title! But rest assured I wasn't sitting in front of the monitor the whole time. Such a waste with all the lovely bishounen, but I guess it goes to show; "you can't put lipstick on a pig" and having all the bishounen in the world isn't a guaranteed success. But seriously, I shouldn't have to be a classical music major or aficionado to appreciate this anime. If I could enjoy an anime about baseball [Big Windup] when I dislike sports or be completely entertained by a story about ... galactic garbage collectors [PlanetES] then I should be able to enjoy this anime. But I don't and not because of the subject matter but because of the story itself which I found to be very slow, non-existent in some parts, non-committal in others and totally indecisive.

Hhmmm, the art....,I wouldn't say it was terrible, but for a 2006-2007 title, I'm pretty much underwhelmed. Barring the character designs, which were lovely, there is absolutely nothing interesting about the art. The backdrops were generic, the sceneries were boring...actually anything that went beyond the characters was boring and inconsequential. Oh and be prepared for lots and LOTS of still shots like when the characters are playing their instruments, a lot of the time you'll just see still shots of them holding their instrument of choice with some serene look on their face. It doesn't happen all the time, some of the animation is nice [it's nice to see the fingers moving on the strings] but the static images do appear very frequently. And I feel, the topic of classical music is already boring enough as it is, they could have at least put some proper effort into the animation. Also expect to see the same audience for ALL FOUR concerts, there is a lot of recycling of stock images.

Not much I can say about the music either, since I'm not a fan of classical music...I might have a vague interest in Baroque and some piano works but that's as far as it goes for me. I'm sure it's all lovely but it did nothing for me. Which if anything made me like the anime even less, but before you jump down my throat and say stuff like “then why did you pick an anime about classical music if you don't like classical music???” But like I said, from my own experience, anime titles in the past have taken topics I've had zero to little interest in and made them fascinating. I hate sports, but liked Wild Striker, Prince of Tennis and totally LOVED Big Windup! I hate Westerns but loved Gun Frontier, I hate talking animals and god knows how many of those are in anime? So I expected an interesting [if at the very least informative] story about classical music, but there was none of that, so I'm still pretty much an outsider when it comes to classical music.
I also have mixed feelings for the intro song “Brand New Breeze” part of me likes it but the other part of me think it sounds a little bit too much like a commercial for some kind of laundry detergent or feminine product....[just keeping it real, sorry]

Story....hhhhmmmm, one word: ABYSMAL! OK so the story is about a girl who was magically chosen [for some reason or another, which is irrelevant since it's only some thinly veiled premise to get her surrounded by a bunch of hot guys] to participate in some sort of classical music playoff. But the contest is not the central theme, the actual theme is music appreciation and each character's relation to it...which, yes, may sound deep but none of this came across to the viewer. There was nothing that really drew me into being interested in classical music like I felt when I watched a baseball game with Big Windup, for example. There's no humour, there's no romance to speak of, they didn't even get into the technical aspects of classical music. In Hikaru no Go, they made moving those little game pieces on a board seem so exciting and dramatic and they also informed me about how the game of GO is played and even certain strategies and tactics. There is none of that in this series, except maybe if you want to count the fairy at the end talking about Bach and Beethoven, which I don't.
This series seriously spent the better part of 24 episodes to talk about how each of them loved music or played their music [which to be honest sounded just a little more than pretentious “Ah this sonatta is so brilliant and the strings are so vibrant and so transparent”....yeah bull***t] There’s nothing else to this anime besides this and maybe some minor romantic innuendo [FAIL]. It's only after episode 20 when all the B.S. goes away, such as the magic violin and all that reverse harem kitsch that she, Kahoko, has to really deal with the fact of being a such novice violinist does the show even have any sort of merit.

So Like I said before, the character designs were lovely. I can't really complain there! And to be honest, that's the only real selling point of this series: very nice character designs and a lot of time spent on character development. That being said, it's not like we're going to discover anything new with these characters, they all pretty much follow the typical anime character templates: The Femme/Bishie Heartthrob, The Sporty one, The Angelic/Loli one, The Loud Comic one, The Posh/Stuck-up one, The Glasses one, etc... It's all pretty much colour-by-number, isn't it?

My Verdict: The cast is PRETTY, but the show's BORING so overall it's "pretty boring"....get it? Hey, gotta do something to entertain myself cuz god knows this anime ain't doing it for me.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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