Nodame Cantabile - Reception

Reception

The manga of Nodame Cantabile received the 2004 Kodansha Manga Award for shōjo manga, and was a jury recommendation at both the 2005 and 2008 Japan Media Arts Festivals. It was a finalist for the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize in 2005 and 2006, but did not win. In 2006, the English translation was named by the New York Public Library as one of the Books for the Teen Age. The series is a perennial best-seller in Japan: the first 16 volumes sold over 19 million copies as of January 2007, and the series sold 2.8 million copies in 2008, making it the 8th best-selling manga series in Japan that year. Volume 17 was the third best-selling manga on the Oricon charts for 2007, and volumes 20 and 21 were the 6th and 7th best-selling manga on the Oricon charts for 2008, respectively, selling 1.2 million copies each. According to an Oricon survey men and women aged 10–40, Nodame Cantabile was the second "most interesting" manga series published during 2008. The series and its associated music albums are credited with increasing sales of classical music in Japan.

The English translation of Nodame Cantabile has been praised for its quirky, interesting characters, sense of humor, and clean art. Dirk Deppey in The Comics Journal praised Ninomiya's storytelling, saying she "has a solid sense of when to accentuate the highs and lows with just the right note, and understands that one can only do this by not hitting such notes very often", resulting in "an understated soap opera" that is "a seamless and enjoyable storytelling experience." Reviewers have called Ninomiya's character development subtle, while noting it is the character interactions that drive the story, and that "each character has a real and lasting effect on others." Reviewers also cite Ninomiya's ability to depict "scenes of people playing music that no one can hear" and her sense of humor as factors in the series' appeal. Ninomiya has been criticized for not handling transitions between storylines well, for sometimes letting the characters derail the story, and for art and backgrounds that are sometimes too plain. Matt Thorn criticized the English translation for inaccuracies of tone.

The live-action drama received the 2007 Japanese Drama Academy Awards for Best Drama, Best Lead Actress (Juri Ueno), Best Direction (Hideki Takeuchi), Best Music (Takayuki Hattori), and Best Title Song; the show was also recognized overseas as Best Miniseries at the 2nd Seoul Drama Festival. Juri Ueno also was named Best Newcomer at the Élan d'or Awards for her performance, and the next year was named Best Actress at the International Drama Festival in Tokyo Awards for reprising her role as Nodame in the television special. The New Year's Special in Europe received an average household rating of 20.3% and 21.0% for the two nights it was broadcast in Japan, making it them the highest-rated drama episodes of the week. The first soundtrack album for the drama, Nodame Orchestra LIVE!, reached number seven on the Oricon album chart, breaking the record for highest ranked classical music album.

The drama has been praised by reviewers, especially for the acting.

The opening episode of the anime series broke the record for audience share for its time-slot. The first DVD volume debuted at number 3 on the Oricon chart for anime the week it went on sale.

Although the anime has not been licensed in English, it has still received notice from English reviewers, who praised the character development and chemistry, the balance between drama and comedy, voice acting, and especially the music—both the performances and how it was presented. Reviewers did complain that the visual design of some secondary characters were too similar.

In 2006, a cafe based on Nodame Cantabile opened in Harajuku, Tokyo, including live music from the live-action drama and sets from the show.