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An anime, manga, and live-action TV series centered around the two protagonists, Shinichi Chiaki and Megumi Noda (more commonly referred to by the whole cast as Nodame). The show begins at Momogaoka College of Music where both protagonists attend. Chiaki is a talented violinist and pianist, considered one of the top students at the school, who dreams of becoming a conductor. He is extremely handsome and popular, an excellent cook, very neat and stuck-up. Nodame is an extremely talented but wild piano player whose ambition is to become a kindergarten teacher. She is a complete slob, a terrible cook, and generally acts extremely strange. The two first meet when Chiaki is thrown out by his piano teacher after an argument, and winds up being taught under the same teacher as Nodame. They later discover that their apartments are next door to each other.
The show follows the musical careers of both characters as Chiaki eventually decides to follow his dream and pursue conducting. At the same time, the relationship between him and Nodame goes through numerous highs and lows, growing ever stronger in the process. Chiaki eventually puts together his own orchestra under the tutelage of Franz Stresemann, a conductor from abroad.
Nodame Cantabile is a sweet slice of life drama, and both the anime and live action drama have strengths. It has some striking similarities with Honey And Clover, another show produced by J.C. Staff about quirky young people who pursue creative studies at college (art school, in that case). A second season—"Paris Chapter"—has been released in Japan, covering the remaining manga chapters about Nodame and Chiaki's antics in France, with a third season greenlighted.
The show is highlighted by its beautiful performances of classical music.
This show provides examples of:
- Adult Child - Nodame.
- Air In A G-String - almost every female character.
- Beach Episode - The DVD special. Yes, Nodame is wearing a bikini in it.
- Beautiful All Along - Nodame, when she's not making silly faces or dressing like a slob.
- Blank White Eyes - Used pretty frequently, especially for Nodame
- Blue With Shock - Happens a lot to Nodame—and everyone who gets involved with her.
- Book Ends - The first anime season uses these expertly, with the first scene of episode one, a flashback, running alongside a "narration" (words appearing an otherwise blank screen) about memories, and the final scene of the last episode continuing the thought to reflect one of the series' big themes and the development of the characters. Makes an already touching finale so damn-near perfect, that this troper is convinced it is impossible to watch it without feeling happy.
- Clingy Jealous Girl - Nodame. If anyone, male or female, dares to get close to her Chiaki, they're in for it.
- Cloud Cuckoo Lander - Nodame
- Conspicuous CG - Close-ups of musical instruments are clearly computer-rendered.
- Crowning Music Of Awesome - Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" will never be the same again.
- Not to mention episode 11, the entire first half of which consists of Chiaki and the A orchestra playing the hell out of Rachmaninoff.
- Crowning Momentof Heartwarming - so, so many, but the hug from the back at the end of the first anime and live action really takes the cake.
- Dogged Nice Guy - Or, in this case, girl. Guess who...
- Dude Not Funny - Chiaki frequently uses physical violence against Nodame, played for laughs in the manner of a Boke And Tsukkomi Routine. In the live-action version especially, however, it comes across as less slapstick and a bit more disturbing...
- Dojikko - Nodame's clumsiness is often quite over the top.
- Even The Guys Want Him - Okuyama > Chiaki < Nodame. Nuff said.
- Finger Twiddling - Done by Nodame when she asks Chiaki out.
- Flamboyant Gay - Okuyama Masumi, who is the embodiment of most every stereotype of homosexual males.
- Idiosyncratic Episode Naming - In the 1st Season, episodes are numbered "Lesson". On 2nd Season, Paris-Hen, they are numbered "Leçon" (Lesson on French)
- Josei
- Last Minute Hookup
- Les Yay - Nodame and Saiko have an ... interesting encounter in a karaoke-bar. It's rather short-lived though, since Nodame is very drunk and Saiko clearly not interested.
- Lethal Chef - Nodame displays all the usual traits, although she can at least manage rice balls. Chiaki, on the other hand, is a master chef.
- Loads And Loads Of Characters - There's a full orchestra to deal with, so naturally, there are a lot of characters.
- Narm - In the live-action version, the scenes where Chiaki flashes back to his childhood traumas can be extremely Narmy due to the low production values involved.
- Misfit Mobilization Moment - The S Orchestra representation.
- Not What It Looks Like - Nodame encounters Saiko and Chiaki in what appears to be a compromising situation at one point. Somewhat subverted later when Saiko wants to turn it into exactly what it looks like.
- Occidental Otaku: Frank.
- Odd Couple - Ambitious perfectionist Chiaki with the wild and uncontrollable Nodame.
- Ojou - Saiko, especially at the beginning.
- Opposites Attract
- Otaku - Nodame
- Paper Fan Of Doom - Harisen-sensei is named after his paper fan, which was instrumental in causing the rift between him and Chiaki. He later gives it up in order to convince Nodame to take lessons from him.
- Pastel Chalked Freeze Frame - The anime uses these a lot during concerts.
- Pimped Out Dress - Masumi wears one - which he made himself - for the S Orchestra's performance of "Rhapsody in Blue" in episode 10.
- Product Placement - The show is sponsored by Yamaha. Guess what brand every piano is. Yes, also in France, which is not that surprising, a lot of music-school pianos are Yamahas, even in France.
- School Festival - Which leads to an absolutely brilliant performance by Nodame and the "S Orchestra".
- She Is Not My Girlfriend - Even when she is, Chiaki still treats Nodame this way.
- Single Issue Psychology - Chiaki had a bad experience on a plane as a kid and developed a crushing fear of non-land based travel as a result. It only takes one hypnotherapy session with Nodame and he's cured.
- Well, she just makes him completely forget the incident, instead of curing the fear. We see afterwards that he's still comically afraid of non-land based travel, it's just that he can take it when there aren't any other options.
- Slice Of Life
- Tall Dark And Snarky - Chiaki embodies this.
- Ten Minute Retirement - Nodame, after she messes up the piano competition.
- This And That - When Stresemann first meets Nodame, he attempts to seduce her, and refers to this when going to a love hotel. Nodame is oblivious as to his meaning, but Chiaki, still within earshot, gets it and steps in to intervene.
- Through Her Stomach - Little does Chiaki realize what he gets himself into once he starts feeding Nodame.
- Tomokazu Seki - Exercising the full extent of his ability to throw shouty hissyfits as Chiaki.
- Translation Convention - Kai Dunn of the Berlin Philharmonic arrives in one episode, but has only a limited grasp of Japanese. While the episode renders everything in Japanese, handy notes appear whenever the characters are in fact speaking German.
- Trash Of The Titans - Nodame's apartment.
- Trickster Mentor - Stresemann to Chiaki.
- Tsundere - Chiaki is very much this toward Nodame, leaning very toward the tsuntsun (cranky) end, but with frequent, if short-lived, affectionate and sweet moments towards her.
- Verbal Tic - Nodame often uses nonsense exclamations like "Gyabo!" and "Mukya!"
- Will They Or Wont They - Nodame and Chiaki. In the first season of the anime they seem to get together in the end. For the second season this apparently has been reset, since the issue has still not been resolved in the manga it is based on.
- They're together in Paris-Hen, Chiaki's just an ass about it.
- Yandere - Nodame's a relatively mild case; in the Paris Chapter, when Chiaki wanted to break up with her, she beat the crap out of him (on a bridge overlooking the Seine!) until he changed his mind. At least she didn't bring out any sharp implements...
- During the fight, Nodame also makes a valid point—every time she thinks they're getting closer, Chiaki pulls away from her. Chiaki knows she's right, and it's implied that it helps cause him to relent just as much as him wanting the pain to stop does.
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