Nodame Cantabile

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Recently, I've become addicted to the Nodame Cantabile drama series. There's a manga and anime series too but what I love about the drama is the way the story sometimes strays from the original, which creates lots of surprises!

Now whilst everyone says Nodame, a piano student who lives in a room full of trash, is the heroine of the story, personally I think the real hero is Chiaki, Nodame's neighbour and sometimes cook.

Due to a fear of flying he is stranded in Japan away from his favourite teacher who lives in Europe. Disillusioned with music, Chiaki has an arrogant personality and thinks all the other students at the Music Academy are rubbish. But the girls and boys at the school let him get away with it because, well... he's rather hot!

Whilst he learns to play piano, his real dream is to become a conductor and he is put in charge of the student orchestra, which basically comprises of all the worst students in the school, where he learns how to get on with others and the true meaning of how to play music from the heart.

Add to the drama, a suspicious teacher who plays truant so that he can go to host clubs, a timpanist with the biggest Afro you've ever seen and a flashy violin player who wants to rock the orchestra and you have the most charming drama I've seen in a long time.

Then there's the strangely odd Nodame herself who never plays the piano properly, but is a big fan of a fictional anime series, so how could I not warm to someone like that?

It's about hopes, dreams and friendships and watching them grasp the possibilities and fears of youth is both endearing and compelling. I've never been a classical music fan but if music is food for the soul, then Nodame Cantabile will most certainly be an enjoyable feast.