It feels like yesterday that the K-version of Nodame Cantabile was announced and everyone threw an understandable collective “NO” fit. Now it’s mere weeks away from airing and maybe the magic sauce really was landing Shim Eun Kyung as the leading lady and calming everyone down. Now everything I see from the previews for Tomorrow’s Cantabile sells me on whatever take KBS is cooking up on the very famous manga story of a oddball piano playing prodigy and an arrogant musical genius with a major fear of flying. KBS has been airbrushing Shim Eun Kyung’s Nae Il to the point she seems like the country girl leading lady in a sweet ballet drama, but I trust Shim Eun Kyung can imbue the character with all the wacky touches that it won’t matter if she looks a tad too put together. This week started off with more official stills from TC and the ones that show leading man Joo Won taking intense music lessons immediately brings to mind the immersion that Yoo Ah In did to master the piano for Secret Love Affair.
Does he look convincing to you guys? I’m not a classical music enthusiast so I don’t have much insight into the minutiae of being a orchestral conductor but everyone thinks Tamaki Hiroshi nailed it. Whatever Joo Won has up his sleeve he will definitely be held to be very high bar already set but at least Joo Won is working hard to acquire some musical background to help his performance look convincing. Even with the central plot focused on the two leads, the original manga was also a college ensemble piece with plenty of memorable and quirky supporting characters to liven up the joint. Below are the first stills for the K-version of the four main supporting leads: Go Kyung Pyo sporting blond hair as Yoon Il Rak (rocking out on the violin), Jang Se Hyun with the trademark ‘fro as Ma Soo Min (timpani), Dohee of Tiny G as Choi Min Hee (with a contrabass bigger than she is), and charming relative newbie actor Park Bo Gum as Na Yoon Ho (with the cello slung over his shoulder). The supporting cast look great and deserves a thumbs up.
I’ve definitely seen worse portrayals of musicians, but the true test is seeing them in action. I just can’t ignore it when the movements of the bow don’t match up with the music being played (~cough~KHJ in BBF~cough~).
I agree. bow movement is a dead give away, I think piano is easier to act cause they can cut away easier and have it be convincing. It is harder for violin – but not impossible. Where there is a will, there is a way. 🙂 my little one is taking violin now and it is not easy. So a 5 month crash course in all of these is quite difficult. Good for him!!! I have no particular love for JW but I always can appreciate hard work.
Just remember the hand that’s holding the violin needs to be more at 90* than 180*… That’s my pet peeve… Go Kyung Pyo has nailed it…
I’m still on the fence about it and Miaki’s subdued hair hopefully isn’t a sign of how the rest of the drama will be the same. Also in some of those stills it looks like “The Good Doctor” started taking conductor lessons, I can’t unsee it! I’m watching either way out of curiosity, the show could surprise us all!
Still don’t get why they had to insert an extra cello player – does that mean there’s no Kuroki in the k-version? Wonder what happened to Kiyora too…
Tamaki was a bit shaky on the piano when the drama first began (re the Mozart duet with Nodame), but as the series progressed, he grew more confident and assured and you could tell in his portrayal. He definitely nailed the conducting bit (he really worked his socks off on that one), and he was pretty sexy at the piano too (Rachmaninoff and Bach scenes).
Maybe they changed Kuroki into the extra cellist. I’m guessing there might not be a Kiyora so they can amp up a triangle drama between Mine, Chiaki and Nodame. Also as they’ve made Chiaki’s ex gf (the opera singer) into a more central character. Sigh
Possible triangle between Mine, Chiaki and Nodame? Hahaha, this is just… I can’t even…
Saiko wasn’t even a big role in the original, and wasn’t a meddling second lead either. Don’t know why her role needed to be expanded.
And if there’s no Kuroki/oboe, does that mean they’re going to change the Mozart oboe concerto Kuroki plays? How many levels of wrong is that? Sigh.
No Kiyora?! And Mine in a love triangle? I don’t like this 🙁
Still excited to see Shim Eun Kyung as Nodame and hear the music, but I’ll keep my expectations low.
I’m wondering the same thing. He’s not that important in the first season, but he gets a lot more important later…but they probably won’t do more than ending it when they leave for Paris.
Kiyora is a must though. Not sure how they can do it without her. I wonder about Dohee’s character though since she was really minor. Now she’s one of the main supporting leads?
I agree with estel, it is easier to carry off in stills than in motion. That being said, I had to LOL at the fact that Joo Won’s violin has tape across the fingerboard to mark the finger positions – they will definitely have to strip those off for the real thing! His conductor stance looked a little stiff, but that ‘at rest’ shot – where he has the baton pointed at his armpit – is actually spot on, I have seen so many conductors do that when they are stopped and working on something.
As for the cellist, it is a cute shot, but no cellist in their right mind would actually do that to their instrument. You get too attached to them to treat them so cavalierly.
I actually thought the same thing when I saw that celloist photo. Glad someone else thought it too. I thought they could have done something better than that.
Hmmmm…. I’m not a musician but these comments make me worry. I’d think they’d have multiple music consultants for this one. Or maybe they ignored them…
I don’t get any Mine feels from Go Kyung Po, Eita had crazy hair and looked like more like a guy in a rock band then a violinist. This just looks like someone more preppy then rock.
And don’t they have Kiyora! Seriously Mine’s and her romance was the cutest thing.
And the afro’s too small. Koide Keisuke was hilarious as Timpani.
Where is Kuroki and Kiyora?!? Are they replacing Kuroki with the random cellist? But Kuroki’s Mozart oboe concerto K. 314 was such a central part of the story. I thought the discussion of emotion and tonal quality, and the idea that being in love can transform a performance of Mozart from sounding “silver” to “pink” was brilliant. Every classical musician can relate to that.
My problem with K-dramas in general is that they are pure cocaine and 100% guilty pleasure. I hated Beethoven Virus, and found it embarrassing to watch because it was so inaccurate musically.
The original Nodame is magical because it anchored your basic crack ingredients (cold perfectionist genius hero! warm heroine! the campus hottie is your next door neighbor! he cooks for you!!) against details that are factually and spiritually true to the classical music world. In this sense it treats the source material with respect and care. It also gives the story substance and depth. The final nodame movie ended around Beethoven’s late sonata no. 31, and I remember crying at the time because the music was so moving.
I really hope the Nodame remake won’t go the route of Beethoven Virus.
Nodame Cantabile is such a gem because the actors and actresses display convincing connection to the music qnd their instruments. They music is central in the drama. I’m classical music trained and I can say Tamaki Hiroshi, while nowhere near professional, did an impressive portrayal of a talented conductor. He must have trained seriuosly for the role. Ueno Juri had piano training when she was upung so she does plays convincingly but it’s really her facial expressions and body movements that showed the connection with the piano. All other supporting casts in the drama handled the instrumrnts very well, partcularly the actress who played Kiyora. I’m disappointed that the K version has no Kiyora or Kurioki!
At first I’m really hesistant about this K-version but as the stlls are released, I’m starting to get excited. I love drama that focuses on classical music and thefe aren’t many, last ine I watched was Beethovwn Virus and that drama disappoints.
Yes, Tamaki trained with a professional conductor and in his free time also listened extensively to the pieces he had to conduct, to get a feel of the music. I have been very impressed with the amount of effort he put in for his role. The Tchaikovsky 1812 performance in the first movie is one of my favourite Chiaki conducting scenes – Tamaki’s left hand was so sexy! (I think you’d understand, since you’re classical music trained XD)
Mizukawa Asami, the actress who played Kiyora, also mentioned once that she had practised very hard for three years to perfect that violin performance in the movies. I don’t remember if she had previous violin experience, but I really liked how she played Kiyora. Very classy, and so adorable when she’s with Mine.
Her violin scenes were so convincing. I even googled her to see if she was a violinist-turned-actress.
when beethoven virus came out, i think some people said it was very similar to nodame, i think soo too – but the tone was very different. the bow movements though were very convincing and i think they also practiced a lot for that drama.
Not everyone thinks Tamaki nailed it. Ueno portrayed her part better. When she played the piano, she really looked like a piano prodigy and genius. Tamaki did get better as the show progressed but I think they should have found a younger looking Chiaki. If you read the manga or watch the anime, Chiaki looks the same age as Nodame and the rest because well, they are students. Tamaki Hiroshi was good looking but he looked out of place and too old.
Mmm… but that’s cuz Ueno does play the piano for real (I do agree she did wonderfully). Tamaki had zero experience on any on the instruments. So I think that comparison is a bit unfair. He did nail the conducting bit, for sure. He received a lot of praise for it.
I guess it’s just me, but I don’t think he looked old as Chiaki. I thought he looked perfectly fine and hot, and did the role justice. He was thin in the movies, but he had lost weight for a role in between the specials and movies, so that couldn’t be helped.
I watched parts of the anime. Again, I’m probably in the minority here, but I found it rather flat.
But Tamaki Hiroshi in the jdrama was actually younger than Joo Won is now. I don’t think he looked old either, he just had naturally pronounced and mature features.
The first teaser… OMG https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZxwtCkIfC0&feature=youtu.be