Sonata Pathétique: An Ode to ‘Nodame Cantabile’

A pitch-black stage, the sound of the orchestra tuning including the pianicas. Suddenly there’s a spotlight and a lone figure, a mongoose, rather a person dressed as a mongoose is illuminated. The mongoose takes a deep breath, raises the pianica to its lips and plays the glissando that is the beginning of Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue.”  

Tomoko Ninomiya’s Nodame Cantabile did the impossible. It got me to appreciate classical music, a genre that I thought too rigid, too strict, a genre that in my perception back then took the fun out of music. I would never have imagined that I would enjoy listening, let alone playing classical piano, albeit very occasionally. Though, playing like Nodame (the girl in the mongoose costume) would probably not work out while playing classical pieces but it definitely will, if you play jazz or like improvisation.  

Nodame Cantabile revolves around the life of two students at the Momogaoka College of Music. Shinichi Chiaki, a perfectionist gifted at both the piano and violin, nurses a secret ambition of becoming a conductor and would probably be back in Europe if not for his crippling fear of flying. Megumi Noda aka Nodame on the other hand is Chiaki’s polar opposite, is a piano prodigy preferring to play by ear rather than sight read. She’s messy, eccentric, childish and all over the place.  

Being the antithesis of what the other is, together they complete the missing notes in the other’s symphony. 

Nodame is actually based on a real-life Megumi Noda. The author Tomoko Ninomiya had come across a picture posted by a music student of her messy room, which inspired her to write Nodame Cantabile. Ninomiya consulted Noda for all the theory and nuances of the pieces that we come across in Nodame Cantabile (the author thanks her in every volume of the manga).    

While Chiaki and Nodame are the protagonists, the series has an equally well fleshed out and strong supporting cast: Ryutaro Mine is a violinist whose strange way of playing is more suited to rock and roll than classical music. There’s Masumi Okuyama — ‘Queen of Percussion’ — who has a massive crush on Chiaki, (he’s an acutely claustrophobic timpanist). Sakura Saku is the penurious contrabassist and Kiyora Miki, is the talented concertmistress. The peculiar Maestro Franz Von Stresemann, a distinguished conductor from Germany is a guest instructor at the Momogakoa College of music, among other characters.  

Everyone has their quirks and sometimes you really feel for Chiaki — the sole voice of reason — when he’s caught in the thick of things. Despite their eccentricities, they are all very grounded.  

At no point do you ever feel like this isn’t something that happens in real life, that it’s too romantic and unrealistic. It isn’t. Despite belonging to the romance category, it is very understated and subtle. Never once feeling forced and most often platonic, the romance takes a backseat in terms of what goes on in their hectic lives. It’s a long series, spanning years, which backs up the idea that making a breakthrough comes with hard work, dedication to your craft and time. Just because they’re exceptionally talented musicians, doesn’t mean that they don’t put in the work required to get to where they are. The writing in Nodame Cantabile is as solid and powerful as the keys of a grand piano. 

While most often manga or anime featuring music students or musicians are set in high school with teenage protagonists, Nodame Cantabile does a more mature take on things with adult protagonists studying at university. It paints a very realistic, serious picture — even though it’s a comedy — of what a life of a music student training professionally is; The trials and tribulations one has to go through, to really make it in the industry while not losing passion for music.    

A competitive environment with as rigid a medium as classical music is well suited for those like Chiaki who are precise, meticulous and methodical in their playing, but it isn’t for everyone. Nodame, who is free-spirited in her approach to music, is often disillusioned and not inclined to play at all if she were to approach things the same way (as she often is).  

It’s easy for something you used to love doing to turn into a chore, but it shouldn’t have to. That’s what Nodame Cantabile conveys so well, that no matter what, you should never give up on what you enjoy doing.  

It’s about perseverance and finding what exactly fits your groove, whether it’s playing the violin in the style of Jimi Hendrix or performing a concert dressed as a mongoose.  

Naturally, being centered around music, Nodame Cantabile boasts an impressive score. From Beethoven, Bach, Chopin, Mozart to Liszt, Rachmaninoff, Schubert and Debussy. There are original compositions by the characters as well, like “Chiaki’s composition” and the “Moja Moja Suite.”  

There is a lot of musical theory that is discussed, especially when the pieces are being performed. It’s just the right amount of technical for a musician to pick up tips while simultaneously functioning as an introduction to the world of classical music. If you play an instrument, it’s actually quite fun to attempt playing the pieces yourself, it works as another layer of immersion as well as improvement for your own skill.  

While the piano is the primary instrument in focus, there is nearly an equal amount of attention given to all the other instruments in the orchestra. We have oboes, violins, the contrabass, timpani, pianicas and of course, the conductor to lead them all. The manga has beautiful illustrations of all of these instruments as well as overlays of the musical score carefully put together so that the reader gets the feel of the orchestra playing as they read.  

It’s probably a better idea to watch Nodame Cantabile (the anime or the live-action) than read Nodame Cantabile, as one can actually hear how the piece is played and experience it as the characters do.  

The art style is simple; there’s no exaggeration and none of the characters suffer from same-face syndrome, they are all visually distinct. The color palette is also light and pleasant to look at, it’s a relaxing and cute aesthetic befitting of a slice-of-life series. The anime really brings Ninomiya’s soft art style to life.  

The only shortcoming in the anime would be the orchestra performance scenes where most of the time you have a lot of stills rather than moving images. It is understandable that animating an entire orchestra was a mammoth task, especially back in 2007 (and probably still is today). However, the sequences when the instrument is in focus, like Mongoose Nodame playing her pianica, are animated very fluidly and accurately. The renditions of the instruments are also a treat, stills though they might be, the glint of the oboe or the cello or the French horn, are impeccable.  

The second movement to Nodame Cantabile takes place in Paris. Aside from Chiaki and Nodame, most of the cast from the first act remain behind in Japan. There’s a brand-new set of characters introduced but they don’t feel out of place at all and fall in line as naturally as notes do in a measure.  

The animation in the Paris chapter is more fluid, you can see the orchestra play instead of the still frames with the bursts of animation. Of course, we’re here for the music, and as you hear the orchestra play, it doesn’t really matter whether or not the image moves. Your ears are blessed.  

The live-action/drama series resolves the matters that arise on the animation front. While live-action adaptations aren’t something that generally work out well, Nodame Cantabile actually manages to pull it off. So, one can enjoy it in any medium of preference.  

The coda, that is the actual resolution of Nodame Cantabile, however can only be read in the manga. Not to say there isn’t a resolution in both the anime and the drama series — the manga has a little more continuity as well, as closure is provided. Regardless, the result is the same — the opus has to end.  

You don’t have to necessarily be a musician to enjoy Nodame Cantabile. It’s relatable to anyone passionate about their subject. It has precise comedic timing, but never goes over the top. It’s lighthearted but serious at the same time. There’s something incredibly inspiring yet nostalgic about Nodame Cantabile. Perhaps it’s the relatability of the characters themselves or what they go through to utilize their maximum potential. As someone who prefers to play by ear rather than sight read, Nodame’s character resonated with me, especially since I watched this at a time when I myself was so disillusioned with the piano. Watching her gave me the motivation to put grab my sheet music of “Rhapsody in Blue” and recall why I bothered to learn the piano in the first place — to enjoy music.  

To put it simply, Ninomiya conducts her symphony as masterfully as Chiaki conducts his orchestra.