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Reviewed by Dan Polley Noda Megumi is able to soothe audience’s ears with the sounds of her piano prowess. To prove her skills on the ivory keyboard, she agrees to compete in a piano competition. And that’s where her challenges begin in the ninth volume of Tomoko Ninomiya’s “Nodame Cantabile.” There’s just not enough time for her to learn all of the required pieces for the competition. So when her turn arrives, she improvises, and the audience sits in quiet eagerness as her music spreads through the auditorium. She plays Mozart, Schumann and Stravinsky. The judges talk about their decision. “That girl,” says one, “is a more unique player than I expected. It’s as if we dug up an unexploded bomb. And I feel like it suddenly exploded on us,” he says. Afterward, Shinichi Chiaki, a graduate student, asks Nodame, as many call her, to go and study in Europe with him. But Nodame’s revelation during her answer is one that throws their relationship into turmoil. “I want to play piano my way and enjoy it. Is that so wrong?” she says. After Nodame reveals her decision, Shinichi starts on a journey during which he learns more about her and meets her family. His journey shows how much Nodame has changed him and how he’s grown. A phone call brings the two together once again. From there, Nodame reveals to Shinichi her plans on what she’d like to see in their future together. Since the series is focused around Nodame’s piano playing, the art needs to convey some sort of sound. And while there are some sequences that convey a bit of Nodame’s melodic sounds, most of them seem to be quite void of any noise. Ninomiya’s art is elegant, upscale, but often devoid of any human feeling. Sometimes it just causes the reader to get disentangled from the plot. The plot itself also doesn’t do much to keep the reader involved. While there are some points in the volume that lend themselves to active reader involvement, there are many more that don’t seem to do much to help keep the reader intrigued. And while Ninomiya does a good job of bringing life to the characters, especially Nodame, it begs the question of why he couldn’t do the same to the entire plot. Nodame is fun and interesting and her character makes the reader want to learn more about her. But beside her, there’s not a whole lot that keeps the reader involved in the plot. The ninth volume of “Nodame Cantabile” shows Nodame growing and being an interesting character. Sorry for her, though, that not much else in the volume is as interesting as she is. Interested in writing for MangaLife? We're always looking for talented reviewers and columnists, so drop us a line! Charles Webb Editor-in-Chief, MangaLife.com |
1 September 2010
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