There’s only a few anime that ever surpass the greatness of the original manga. Nodame Cantabile, no doubt has done it.
Mine and Kimura -- students at Momogaoka Music Academy and later on, members of R☆S (Rising Star) Orchestra
It invites the audience to enter the world of classical musicians, and it does so convincingly, without losing the comical touch of Japanese manga and its quirky characters.
It's normal to see them dreary like this...
It had always been too easy to fall in love with its story - not too sentimental or never melodramatic (typical of shojo manga), nor slapstick - just the pleasantly average - won’t bring emotions too high or low.
Chiaki is teary-eyed listening to Nodame play Beethoven
Talking about the story…
Nodame and Chiaki playing Mozart
Listening to the music is a totally different case. The anime will induce you into shedding buckets of tears, listening to the beautiful and grand orchestral sound…
In the end, it still appeals to emotions, but in a very different way.
Admit it, the first time you saw Soul Eater, you fell in love with it and you promised there won’t be swear words coming out of your filthy elite otaku mouth. It was so cool, exciting, funny and kick-ass that you found the new king/queen of pop anime that shall replace Bleach in your heart. C’mon the Shinigami Academy’s Maka, Black Star and Death the Kid are waaay cuter than Renji or Rukia or whoever captain from that show.
