KBS wisely decided enough with the picture teasers and upped the ante yesterday with the release of the first video preview for Tomorrow’s Cantabile. I wonder if anyone who hasn’t seen the original J-dorama adaptation of Nodame Cantabile is staying away from it to go into TC with fresh eyes? It’s been so many years since I watched Nodame, and it wasn’t a fave of mine that I’ve since rewatched, I actually don’t remember all the characters and story lines very clearly anymore. There’s a set of the manga at my sister’s place but every time I raid her stash it never beckons me to pick it up either. I guess that makes TC both fresh for me and likely to stir up some nostalgia without being overwhelming tied to the original and nitpicking details. Hard to do that when I don’t actually remember too many details. The first video teaser arrived at the same time the production released the first official drama poster.
Not surprising that it features only the two leads Joo Won and Shim Eun Kyung, and the same is true for the video teaser that only shows the OTP. Nothing wrong with that and it doesn’t hurt that the two leads are looking very dashing and adorable, respectively. The drama poster still looks overly glossy in the same way the first character stills for the two leads gave off an overly airbrushed vibe. At least the leads have animated and solid expressive connection with the camera otherwise they could pass for mannequins. The video teaser has Joo Won’s character explaining his connection with music and meeting Shim Eun Kyung’s Nae Il at the place where music begins. I’m thrilled to see her carrying her piano keys bag, yay for the little touches. She also has the most enchanting dimples along with looking real from top to bottom, it’s going to be such a treat to watch her first well deserved headlining role.
First teaser for Tomorrow’s Cantabile:
This year 2024 has been a slow year for K-actress Suzy in terms of her…
There are weird casting choices and this one is weird from both the leads itself…
Well this is an interesting pairing, setting aside the age difference at least I can…
I swear I just wrote about Song Joong Ki having his first baby and then…
At the end of the day, the core of any good drama remains the Story,…
If I didn't know this drama was a romance set in space and done K-drama…
This website uses cookies.
View Comments
I Can't Wait!
I only watched the first two episodes of the original. I dug it up from my to watch pile again a few weeks ago, but then casting news for this started coming out. Definitely watching this first now, just in case I end up liking the j-drama better.
Shim Eun Kyung is adorable, even if she doesn't seem messy enough right now.
Wow! They even went to one of my favorite place in the world - Salzburg, Austria!
Looking forward to the show. I'm sure the whole cast will do it justice.
I cringed when watching the teaser. Then I facepalmed. I don't know why she's got to be in little pigtails (the stills) and carry TWO bags. Her little piano keys bag is frankly ugly. His jacket screams flashy, the hair is meh, and the narration pretentious. What does he mean when he says he met her "At the place where the melodies of classical music stop at our ears"??? Her trash-filled room??
Then, just to get a more objective opinion, I got a colleague who'd watched Nodame Cantabile but who is generally neutral about the series and remake, to watch the teaser and look at the stills released so far. She said the k-Nodame seems fine, but the k-Chiaki is a problem and comes across as wrong and frowny.
The poster is nice, but that's about it. I think it'd have been so much better if they'd just filmed this as a normal drama about music students (a la Beethoven Virus or Heartstrings), rather than a remake of Nodame Cantabile.
I think the pigtails and the bags (including two) are quite suited to Nodame.
The teaser makes me feel nothing. It could be any rom-com drama with a musical setting, with what seems like a 'fated' meeting (please prove me wrong on this one!).
Some of the pictures are better, esp. some of Nodame (Nae-il). I don't think Joo Woo should be smiling at Nodame in that poster, come on, we're just getting started... he needs to be distant, cold, superior to everyone, not already taken in by her charms! I'm missing the collared shirts too, he's presented as more mainstream cool & fashionable here with his white sweater and white T-shirt.
Hm. I thought it made Nae-il look like a five-year-old. Her outfits are otherwise okay.
Joo Won's styling is just plain wrong. Chiaki, as far as I remember (from the live-action and parts of the anime I'd seen), was never much of a fashion trendsetter. He sticks to very basic colours, the dominant two being black and white. If he wears any sweater, it's usually black or the occasional grey or blue. Chiaki's dressing reflects how no-nonsense he is. He ain't the flashy, trendy sort.
The teaser setting, as people have mentioned below, is also wrong. Chiaki doesn't go overseas as an adult until the Paris arc. No way could he already meet Nodame in Austria. Unless this is some sort of psychic dream sequence, which, wtf. Agree that the teaser looks like just any rom-com drama - same deal with the poster.
But maybe I should feel relief at the obvious differences.
I think 'music stops at our ears' means 'it doesn't go further inside to reach the heart.'
i'll wait until this airing XD, everything looks okay in a K-drama way for me. Jdorama and Kdrama is different in every aspect, if we keep comparing the list will be very long.
well since the original work is a manga, i would give credit to j-version cuz japanese doramas are very good making manga into a live action. the j-dorama didnt eliminate the manga sense when making it into live. BUt k-dramas are more realistic and more k-dramatistic , i mean they didnt omit any k-drama cliche from any type of drama :D for example in j-version, (for me) nodame never feels like a reasonable adult person with her quirky and weird nature, maybe her childhood experience made her that way but her simple and naive mind also ignores that there is a problem and she feels like a character that doesnt even aware that she has a problem and she has to solve it. (thats my perception of nodame from the dorama&anime. i didnt finish the manga but i dont know if they leave the story there or not).
K-nodame probably be more realistic and maybe she will be a person who will notice and cure her problem here. my feelings for k-chiaki is neutral. but probably i will not watch it :D LOL i like more animatic j-version better. and also although i say k-dramas were more realistic, but they dont feel natural for me. j-version gives a more natural feeling in that sense.
also from the teaser i get that in this version they meet each other in austria not in korea? or he was talking about his conductor idol maybe (but they were showing niel the cantabile) :D LOL
I don't understand why they decided to show both of them in Vienna because that won't happen for a long time and in fact one of the great obstacles that Chiaki will face is that he (as an adult) can't fly on an airplane thus crashing his dreams to learn overseas. So I was thinking "wtf?" all along while I watched the teaser. I know these scenes won't be shown in the actual drama but this is one important detail IMO.
Honestly, I was wondering if they were trying to suggest "fate".
I truly hope not.
I don't think that's Vienna though. Vienna doesn't have any mountains, it's in a very flat area.
It might be Salzburg though, that looks about right.
I don't think he'll meet Nodame in Salzburg at all. I think they just did that for the trailer for cinematography and tonal purposes. Because if they do, it's such a huge deviation from the manga and jdrama.
The teaser looks nice but I wish we had a trailer to get a real feel of the tone and story. Somebody mentioned that it feels like just a regular rom-com but I think that's just because this is only a teaser. I'm sure it'll get quirkier with everybody together under one orchestra.
But I've resigned myself to the idea that the kdrama is going to feel very different from the original. The over the top whacky was what got me into the jdrama in the first place but that's because I can see the Japanese pulling that off. I doubt we'll see much of the tossing, the flies, the crazy hair etc with the korean version. Just don't think it'll click with the audience in Korea. I'm expecting this show to be airy, lighthearted, comedic and a little more angsty than the original, which is fine. As long as I connect with it, that's okay.
And I get the feeling they're gonna play up the Nodame/Chiaki romance a little bit more here. Yay?
Big fat Nay. That would devalue the Nodame-Chiaki romance, I feel. Part of why it is so precious is because we don't get a lot of it (not a la the usual rom-coms), and that the bulk of their relationship angst is internal and with each other. "Third parties" like Kuroki, Saiko and even Rui aren't really much of a threat. Nodame does get a bit jealous over Rui but that's cuz Rui keeps getting to play in these piano concertos with Chiaki, which is Nodame's biggest goal.
To add new relationship rivals or even up the size of these small "third party" roles is, I feel, not understanding the essence of the Nodame-Chiaki relationship. The greatest musical angst for them is the piano (Chiaki's conducting trials notwithstanding), and Nodame's desire to perform on the same stage as Chiaki (and be of a level to connect with him musically). Chiaki almost never feels a threat musically from anyone else, what drives him is his own desire to constantly improve, which is why he's always studying. That's also one of Nodame's biggest issues and she says as much in the SP - he keeps pulling away whenever she feels she's getting closer, both relationship and music-wise. She keeps despairing she'll never be good enough to perform with him, since he keeps unintentionally one-upping her on that score. They have to overcome the music hurdle, and what they really mean to each other (this is more Chiaki). This is what I find intriguing and refreshing about their relationship, and how it almost suffers no third-party interference (not even from the parental units).
If the k-version ups the romantic quotient, then it just becomes another run-of-the-mill k-rom-com.
It makes no sense to film in an overseas location just for a teaser/trailer and promo.
I also think it's not a good idea to have teasers that feel like "any rom-com", the purpose of promo material is to get people interested, but they'll be losing some Nodame Cantabile fans with bland promo materials. It's not that hard to give it at least a bit of a Nodame feel... unless they have changed it so radically, that this is really what the drama will be like.
I'm not on board of playing up the romance, especially if it involves a love triangle. Other than being a significant change from the original, love triangles are the bane of so many kdramas. Plus, for it would be demonstrating a failure to understand the source material. I do think adaptations can make changes, but the "essence" of the original should not be lost. (This is what happened with the film adaptation of You're My Pet – they had zero understanding of what made the original great and just transferred "romance" and ended up with a clichéd film).
I don't get a Chiaki vibe at att from Joo Won, where is the arrogance, confidence and not to mention his look.
If they are hinting at a whole meeting her was my fate then blargh! It does look like they are strongly hinting at that. It does seem that they've toned down Nodame's quirkyness in the kdrama version.
Can't comment about Nodame's style here, Juri wore adorable outfits that really fitted Nodame's personality.
I hope they never try to adapt Nobuta wo produce, I can just imagine the angst they would create between the 3 characters. (even though in the original novel Nobuta is a boy but the I love the dorama version of Nobuta)
If they can adapt the crazy, whacky, over-the-top Nodame into a kdrama, I suspect Nobuta wo Produce isn't too far around the corner.
But that's a whole other can of worms right there...
Chiaki was first enchanted by Nodame's version of Beethoven's "Pathetique" and then he first met her by waking up in her trash filled room. And this k-version is saying that the their first meeting was in Salzburg???
I'm starting to think that the storyline might be re-written, with the Kiyora and Kuroki characters missing in the drama as well.
Might not be a bad thing... at least the k-version is not trying to live up to apple to apple duplication.