string players are so cool!

last night i finished the japanese drama nodame cantabile. i have had some bad experiences in the past with japanese dramas. i watched itazura na kiss recently, the japanese version of iswak. (well itazura na kiss was made first and iswak was based on the japanese manga itazura na kiss.) my problem with japanese dramas is the amount of screaming (baka! baka!) and a very literal interpretation of the manga. is it really necessary that when the heroine is slapped, she is thrown across the room, or into a tree? there is also an abundance of ridiculous/ugly/gross characters/storylines. and nodame cantabile is no exception. despite being leery of japanese dramas, i decided to watch nodame cantabile because it won best mini series at the the most recent seoul drama awards (a very new, international, but korean award ceremony).

turns out i thoroughly enjoyed the drama! it is basically about two piano students at a music academy. the girl (nodame) is a sloppy player, but very expressive/talented. the guy (chiaki) is a perfectionist and has a dream of being an orchestra conductor. the storyline is nothing more than a very typical asian drama story--sloppy/poor girl likes perfect/rich guy, who eventually also falls for sloppy/poor girl--but executed very well. the standout element of the drama is its score. (nodame cantabile also won best director and best music director!) the music is amazing and refreshing after watching an abundance of dramas with the same old pop music. there is a wide variety of classical pieces: piano, piano duets, orchestral, piano concerto, even an oboe concerto! i have never liked the oboe, but i appreciate it a bit more now. the romance (of course very important) is very convincing. unlike many dramas in which it does not make sense that the awesome guy falls for the weird girl, chiaki is at first moved by nodame's expressive piano playing, if not attracted to the girl herself. it's natural that chiaki, a guy who LOVES music, grows to appreciate nodame, a girl who makes exquisite music. their relationship develops at a very natural and convincing pace, and is a classic example of two very different people learning from each other (popular drama theme). at 11 episodes long, the drama was neither rushed nor did it drag. despite the exaggerated nature of japanese dramas, i grew to love both leading characters. as i was watching a scene where nodame is feeding chiaki a bite of pudding, i suddenly realized, there is a level of cuteness that only japanese people can reach. i don't know how to describe this drama other than enjoyable and it made me smile.

also, there is a really cute violin player in nodame cantabile. string players who carry their instruments on their back like a backpack are so cool!

btw, mysoju.com is one of my favorite sites to stream kr, jp, or tw dramas! they have an extensive library of english subbed dramas. they don't host the videos directly on their site, but gather all the different episodes and parts together for each drama so that you just have to click on their links to watch an entire show. you can watch the videos embedded on their site or go to the hosting site (youtube, veoh, dailymotion, gofish, etc.). they are constantly linking to different sites as different parts of dramas get taken down from sites like youtube and veoh due to copyright issues. props to mysoju!!