Nodame Cantabile

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Alternative Titles

Japanese: のだめカンタービレ

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Information

Type: TV

Episodes: 23

Status: Finished Airing

Aired: Jan 12, 2007 to Jun 15, 2007

Premiered: Winter 2007

Broadcast: Thursdays at 21:00 (JST)

Producers: Dentsu, Genco, SKY Perfect Well Think, Kodansha, Fuji TV, Magic Capsule, Asmik Ace, Sony Music Entertainment, Fujipacific Music

Licensors: None found, add some

Studios: J.C.Staff

Source: Manga

Genres: Comedy, Romance

Themes: Adult Cast, Music

Demographic: Josei

Duration: 22 min. per ep.

Rating: PG-13 - Teens 13 or older

Statistics

Score: 8.27¹ (scored by 126,699 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #273²

² based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #723

Members: 306,227

Favorites: 4,906

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Synopsis

Shinichi Chiaki is a first class musician whose dream is to play among the elites in Europe. Coming from a distinguished family, he is an infamous perfectionist—not only is he highly critical of himself, but of others as well. The only thing stopping Shinichi from leaving for Europe is his fear of flying. As a result, he's grounded in Japan.

During his fourth year at Japan's top music university, Shinichi happens to meet Megumi Noda or, as she refers to herself, Nodame. On the surface, she seems to be an unkempt girl with no direction in life. However, when Shinichi hears Nodame play the piano for the first time, he is in awe of the kind of music she creates. Nevertheless, Shinichi is dismayed to discover that Nodame is his neighbor, and worse, she ends up falling head over heels in love with him.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Related Anime

Adaptation:	Nodame Cantabile
Side story:	Nodame Cantabile: Nodame to Chiaki no Umi Monogatari
Sequel:	Nodame Cantabile: Paris-hen
Other:	PuriGorota: Uchuu no Yuujou Daibouken, Channel 5.5 3rd Season

More characters

Characters & Voice Actors

Noda, Megumi

Main

Kawasumi, Ayako
Japanese

Chiaki, Shinichi

Main

Seki, Tomokazu
Japanese

von Stresemann, Franz

Supporting

Ogawa, Shinji
Japanese

Kuroki, Yasunori

Supporting

Matsukaze, Masaya
Japanese

Mine, Ryuutarou

Supporting

Kawada, Shinji
Japanese

Okuyama, Masumi

Supporting

Fujita, Yoshinori
Japanese

Miki, Kiyora

Supporting

Kobayashi, Sanae
Japanese

Auclair, Charles

Supporting

Kiyokawa, Motomu
Japanese

Saku, Sakura

Supporting

Noto, Mamiko
Japanese

Etou, Kouzou

Supporting

Nakai, Kazuya
Japanese

More staff

Staff

Yamamoto, Kouji

Producer

Matsukura, Yuuji

Producer

Oosawa, Nobuhiro

Producer

Kasai, Kenichi

Director, Storyboard

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Opening Theme

"Allegro Cantabile Sound" by SUEMITSU & THE SUEMITH

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Ending Theme

	1: "Konna ni Chikaku de..." by Crystal Kay (eps 1-12)
	2: "Sagittarius" by SUEMITSU & THE NODAME ORCHESTRA (eps 13-23)

More reviews

Reviews

Jul 20, 2010

Archaeon

Recommended

Gyabo!

I'm not sure why, but for some reason I've found myself reviewing certain franchises in reverse order. Then again, given the nature of Nodame Cantabile and its heroine Noda Megumi, maybe doing things in a not so normal manner is the way to go.

For those of you who don't know the series, Nodame Cantabile is based on the bestselling manga of the same name by Ninomiya Tomoko, and while I do like that particular work, the anime is a little bit special in that it's one of the rare occasions where the adaptation is as good as, or in this case better than, the original.

We'll ...

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Feb 18, 2009

Touka

Recommended

"Let's go have some fun by playing some music."

Nodame Cantabile follows the lives of Chiaki, Nodame and an assortment of other musically talented characters attending Japan's top music university. Throughout their studies they encounter any number of trials and tribulations as their undying passion for the art grows evermore, and through each other they learn to appreciate music and performance in a whole different light, while also discovering true romance and what it is they want out of life.

The story is handled in such a mature, hard-hitting, ever so relatable way. A romantic, musically-focused plot about ardour in and outside of a relationship, Nodame Cantabile ... is not just for instrumentalists, romantics and music fans, but for doubters, dramatics and anyone who has ever had a passion. It's a relatable series with realistic characters, thoughtful dialogue and worldly themes of uncertainty, struggle and infatuation; as enjoyable and funny as it is heartbreaking and frank. It's well structured, wonderfully written and superbly developed. The plot has a real sense of purpose, there's genuine progress in the characters and just as many light-hearted, warm, fuzzy, humorous and loveable moments to be had as there is dramatic twists, heart-wrenching drama and eye-popping musical set pieces.

As with the plot, this exceptional quality and superb writing - which I should attribute a great deal to Tomoko Ninomiya as the author of the source material, along with the anime staff - is ever-present in the characters. The main characters - Chiaki and Nodame - are an always-interesting duo, and certain members of the supporting cast are extremely well matured; there's large amounts of progression not only in terms of their personality, but also in their actions and motivations. The characters feel very 'real' - even Nodame's sometimes outlandish behaviour never wears thin - they're down-to-earth, relatable, likeable and memorable creations, flawlessly complementing the story.

As a series focused on classical music, the sound department utulise many of the famous maestros, from Rachmaninoff to Bach. When the characters aren't performing or practicing, Matsutani Suguru provides the score, which blends seamlessly with the vintage classical tone of the famous compositions, while also adding a variety of more up-tempo, lighthearted tracks for comedic scenes. It's of particular note that, as the series progresses and introduces orchestras and large scale performances, the staff don't shy away from committing lengthy compositions to the screen. An episode of Nodame Cantabile has a run-time of twenty-two minutes, but during episodes which feature an orchestral performance, often nearly half or a third of that time the backing track will consist solely of a single arrangement. The staffs dedication and reluctance to cut corners with the music is admirable. Allowing the compositions to play for so long offers audiences a beauty and experience a sample would fail to execute. The music is Nodame Cantabile is handled with care and executed to perfection.

One of the series' only let-downs is in the animation. Despite committing to such lengthy compositions that beautifully eat away at a large portion of an episodes run-time, the animation becomes very stagnant and disappointing during the performance sequences. An orchestra is usually extremely lively, the conductor is filled with energy and there are constant bursts of movement, but this is often not depicted in Nodame Cantabile. Instead, audiences are presented with many panning shots of still frames, with only a small number of animated sequences in-between; this sadly sucks much of the life and excitement out of the performances. The rest of the animation is generally very fluid, however, and the sequences that do depict the motions of an instrument are beautifully done. The art style evokes well Niniomiya's manga; it has a very soft tone, pleasing to the eye.

Nodame Cantabile is a sensational, all-around compelling watch, not only for its masterful depictions of love, life and the beauty of music, but also for its comedic aspects. It's at times a lighthearted series, full of laughs and humour with precise comedic timing and intelligent punchlines. The hilarity never overstays its welcome, however, as the drama often takes the reins with full force, creating an abundance of memorable, affecting and emotive television. Nodame Cantabile is an ultimately moving series, with a completely fascinating story and spellbinding characters, depicting romance - in more ways than one - as beautiful as the classics themselves. It's an extremely admirable creation; certainly one of the genres best and an absolutely outstanding anime production.

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Dec 2, 2008

kiriska

Recommended

I've seen my fair share of music anime, but this is the first time the musical genre has been my first love: classical music.

STORY - "Work hard and you'll achieve your dream!" It's a very cliche and often-used storyline, right? Well, yes. Yes, it is, but that hardly means that the subsequent series has to be old and tiresome. I've said before that the best stories take something that's been done a thousand times already and somehow manage to tell it in a way that's better and more interesting. In a genre dominated by high school drama, Nodame Cantabile steps it up and uses college ... students, something I'd love to see happen more often. The storytelling happens in a mostly slice-of-life format, but it doesn't shy away from progressing significantly in time -- weeks pass, months pass, whole seasons and school years pass, and it's great to be able to follow the characters for these longer periods of time, especially since it emphasizes the fact that change and progress take both hard work and time.

Nodame Cantabile is very focused for a slice-of-life series in that almost all of the characters are very serious and motivated by their goals; there are notably few subplots that veer away from the main points. I think this can make it a bit more attractive to people that are generally bored by a wandering plotline, but it's pretty easy to get engaged in this series regardless. Reading summaries for Nodame Cantabile can only bring skepticism and doubt considering the frequency of the main plot, but watching it? I was charmed by episode one.

CHARACTER - Without a doubt, most of Nodame Cantabile's appeal is in its characters. Though it feels a little odd to use the adjective on him, Shinichi Chiaki is definitely gar: all the girls want him, and all the guys want to be him (actually, wait, some of the guys want him too). This most likely includes the members of the audience! He's a genius at what he does and furiously motivated; everywhere he goes, people throw themselves at his feet and do everything in their power to push him forward. You're compelled to cheer for him every step of the way. It's funny sometimes how that much charisma can make it through the screen, but it's there, and it's because despite Chiaki's exceeding excellence at everything, he remains a very accessible character. His weaknesses are just as glaring and significant as his strengths, and they're what balance him out. It's easy to imagine yourself in Chiaki's shoes.

Nodame, strangely enough, is very much the same. She's crazy, quirky, wild, and questionable, but once again, she's very human. Her antics are never so over-the-top that they're utterly unbelievable, and her hopes and dreams are notably muddled alongside her classmates' -- something a lot of people can also relate to. The differences between Nodame and Chiaki made them perfect foils, and it was really fun watching all the drama and interaction between the two. Despite the frequency of Nodame's claims on Chiaki, I really felt like this was one of the least forced-feeling romances I've ever seen. At no point did their relationship feel cheap, contrived, or overly convenient. Because so much time passes during the series, the relationship felt like it progressed at a much more natural place; it was great (and adorable).

All of the support characters are nice in their own way, and I don't think there was a single one I disliked. One of the reasons I loved that this series features college-aged students is the fact that they can all drink, smoke, and have sex and it isn't shocking or scandalous! It also added a nice bit of insight into the lives of Japanese college students and their hilarious nightlifes (clubs, arcades, and karaoke!) when they aren't busy studying.

ARTSTYLE & ANIMATION - Nodame Cantabile has a pretty damn simple and generic art style, but in that simplicity, it's hard to find anything to pick at. The only thing that stands out for me in the character design is that many characters look like they're perpetually blushing, which is a little confusing at times -- once I got used to it though, it really wasn't that big of a deal.

The most obvious critique of the animation in this series comes from the numerous still-frames used in the dozens of playing and concert montages. As an anime about music, there's obviously a lot of music-playing involved. Especially in scenes involving entire orchestras, the animation is minimal to none -- nine out of ten times you see a flute, a clarinet, an oboe, a french horn, or a cello, the players' arms and fingers aren't moving. The ratio is slightly improved for violin, and the piano gets the most attention with moving fingers maybe 40% of the time. It's understandable though; after all, animating individual fingers playing instruments with many keys is incredibly difficult, especially for the piano, when they make a huge effort to animate the actual notes that are being played.

Aside from piano, where we're sometimes lucky enough to get ten to twenty measures of music at a time, most instruments are only shown being played for seconds at a time, and it's often CG. This makes the rendering of the instrument perfectly accurate and shiny (especially the clarinets and oboes), and I loved catching those sniplets of action in between the panning shots. There are a lot of still shots, but I do think what they do show us is worth it. There is one concert near the beginning of the series that's about half an episode's worth of still montages, but that's the worst of it -- as the series progresses, there's gradually more and more actual playing. :3

MUSIC - Ah, classical music! And of such a nice variety too! I was happy to see that the selection of music in Nodame Cantabile represented more than just the select few scores and piano pieces known by the general public. Most of the composers are still familiar, but there are also lesser-known names such as Debussy, Ravel and Sarasate. Unfortunately, as much as I do love classical music, I don't have a trained enough ear to be able to tell whether or not the music played in the series was tailored specifically for it -- for example, when characters supposedly play a piece poorly, I really can't tell. When characters supposedly improvise and don't play exactly what the piece dictates, I can't tell.

I would think that a vast majority of the pieces would be professionally recorded pieces borrowed for the series though, and that they're all free of glaring errors. (I just can't imagine that they'd budget the money required to hire an entire orchestra to mess up.) Still, at least some of the piano solos (the Moja Moja Suite? The improvised piano version of some made-up show?) had to have been recorded for the show. Overall, all of the music is very pleasing to listen to and well-performed. Maybe you don't be moved to tears like the characters are, but if you're even a mild fan of classical music, you'll be fine. :)

VOICE ACTING - Seki Tomokazu and Ayako Kawasumi both do a great job with their leads. As both characters go through a full range of emotions, their voices had to match up appropriately, and they did! Especially for a character like Nodame, who habitually puts up one front while fostering other thoughts and feelings inside, it was really important that she have a good voice. The rest of the characters all had pretty nice voices as well, though no others really stood out to me as being particularly notable.

OVERALL - As a longtime fan of classical music, an amateur pianist, and a former clarinetist, Nodame Cantabile was both inspiring and nostalgic. It made me want to play more piano, and it made me really miss playing the school band or orchestra. It was educational, giving insight into the world and careers of classical musicians, and it was touching, allowing for a window in the lives of some very believable characters. It was hilarious and very silly at times, but I don't think it ever crossed the line into over-the-top territory. Even for those who aren't huge, huge fans of classical music, I think this series has enough merit to warrant a taste, and for those who are fans, you definitely don't want to miss this series. I already can't wait to move onto the sequel. :3

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Noda, Megumi

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von Stresemann, Franz

Kuroki, Yasunori

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