Nodame Cantabile
I was pretty surprised when reading this manga for romance week because to me, it didn't really feel like a romance manga (for good reasons, but I'll get to that). Taking on a slice of life tone, Nodame Cantabile by Tomoko Ninimiya follows the journey of Megumi Noda, or Nodame as she calls herself, and Chiaki Shunichi. While the two are both enrolled in the same music college studying piano, Nodame messily wanders through life without a care in the world while Chiaki aims to be a world renowned conductor with talent and money already in his pocket. Worlds apart, the two surprisingly discover they live right next door to each other and thus begins the strange daily adventures of Nodame and Chiaki.
When I said that this manga didn't feel like a romance manga, it doesn't mean that the two main characters don't have any chemistry, it's that the romance plays a secondary role to the overall story in my opinion. I believe that the main story of the manga is watching the growth and maturity of the titular character, Nodame. In the beginning, she starts as a carefree student only playing silly songs like the "Clean-up Song" and "MojaMoja Suite" she wrote herself. However, underneath her strange (and I mean really, really strange) characteristics lies an incredible talent for piano playing. It's not until she meets Chiaki does she begin to express her own drive to become a great piano player so that one day she may be able to perform a piano concerto with him as the conductor. However, Chiaki simply acts as the catalyst for her goal while her efforts are always portrayed as hers and hers alone, driven mad by her own passion and perseverance. It's these kinds of stories that I'm always happy to read, two people mutually lifting each other up to reach their best potential. So while I was glad when I reached the point in the story when the two become an official couple, I was much more interested in seeing the growth in both of their characters, especially in Nodame who grew to be a very independent individual striving to better herself.
The art is simple, but it never really feels like it is lacking. It's a charming match to the daily life events and light hearted attitude. Ninomiya does a great job of conveying the mood and movement of the music in a visual medium, making me itch to check out the anime version and hear the actual songs themselves.
While I have positive things to say about the manga, that doesn't mean it's free of any downfalls. One of the prominent characters plays into the "old pervert" trope. Which. Is. Never. Necessary. The continued use of the character's sexual harassment of women as a joke leaves an awfully sour taste and the fact that the author is a woman makes it even more baffling as to why she would choose to write this character trait in. Ninomiya also frequently feeds into the negatives of body image and fat-shaming. On multiple occasions, the female characters relate their beauty solely on their body size and idealize weight loss even if its caused by illness or starvation. Fat characters are rarely referred to by their proper names, instead they are derided with insulting nicknames. First serialized in 2001, Nodame Cantabile is definitely dated, especially when characters take out their Nokia phones and fax letters to each other. It's just a shame when I'm happily reading and have to see these things happen all too frequently in the story.
My face when Ninomiya is back on her bullshit again
I rate Nodame Cantabile with a piano duet played in mongoose costumes.
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