Spoiler ahead. If you prefer the suspense, click here.
Nodame is his complete anti-thesis. Given a choice, she would be the last woman Chiaki would ever talk to, much less date. But since she "picked him up" in front of her apartment where he passed out in a drunken stupor, she became irrevocably forged on to his person. In particular, after Chiaki was demoted from being the student of Momogaoka College's Kouzo Etoh, a.k.a. Harisen (Paper Fan), he found himself sharing another piano professor with Nodame.Chiaki is also fast discovering that while she is great with her piano and able to play by ear, Nodame is too lazy to study classical music as it should be played. He is also learning that Nodame can be a sloth, her messy, mold-cultivating apartment bearing testimony to the fact.
To Chiaki's horror, Nodame begins to develop feelings for him, which he would later, though unwillingly, reciprocate, as he realizes that she starts to open more opportunities for him. This begins with his meeting with Franz von Stresemann,a famous but perverted European conductor who initially rejects Chiaki's request for transfer to his conducting class if not for the intervention of Nodame, with whom Stressemann is fond of. This is then followed by a chance for Chiaki to conduct a full scale student orchestra when a jealous Stressemann thrusts to him the S-Oke, after the hostesses in Stressemann's favorite night club ignored him in favor of Chiaki. Following the success of the S-Oke, Chiaki is able to build, along with Kiyora Miki,the Rising Star Orchestra. All the while, Nodame serves as his inspiration, from her haphazard piano version of Beethoven's Symphony No. 7, to her love of the cheesy but motivational Puri Gorota anime. Too, Nodame will be the one to cure Chiaki of his dreaded aviatophobia, although Chiaki's reasons for being attracted to Nodame (which he continuously denies until the 11th episode of the drama) are not out of gratefulness, but out of genuine liking for Nodame, in all her filthy, impulsive glory.
In retrospect, I put off downloading this drama even though SARS subbed it. I was turned off by the teaser picture, that of Chiaki hitting Nodame with a rolled up music sheet, and tears leaking out of Nodame's eyes. I thought what sane man would hit a woman? It was only after my disappointment with First Kiss (or was it the Honey and Clover Jdorama?) that I finally decided to watch an episode. And I discovered that Chiaki is hardly sane with his obsession for perfection, a criteria that love-struck Nodame is lacking. And this alone makes for a much interesting storyline. The allure of the music world is a bonus. Rarely is a story set on as glamorous a stage as a conservatory academy. My appreciation for classical music definitely increased after I finished watching this Jdorama.
My rating: 9.5/10, simply because the story is not finished yet. Thank goodness the people behind this Jdorama realized that too, and so they released the Nodame Cantabile Special two years after, which I will review in a separate section.
Related links:
The complete 11 episodes of the Nodame Cantabile Jdorama, as subbed by SARS, in torrents.
Memorable scenes: As this is one Jdorama that is high in my favorites list, side by side with Kamisama Mou Suoshi Dake, almost all scenes starting from episode 4 (which is the episode when things start getting interesting) are memorable. Among them:
> Chiaki hears Nodame play her own piano rendition of Beethoven's Symphony No. 7.
> The S-Oke debuts.
> Nodame gives Chiaki her first kiss, while he pretends to sleep on a bench (this scene showcases much of Chiaki's glamorous "bishieness".
> The Rising Star debuts.
> Chiaki travels to Nodame's hometown and sees her walking along the riverbank, where he finally gives her an embrace.
> The final Rising Star concert.