Hands down it’s got to be Nodame Cantabile. It’s pretty much perfect, from the cast to the music, right down to the manga-esque humour. Ueno Juri and Tamaki Hiroshi were fantastic as Nodame and Chiaki, and had such amazing chemistry that many people still ship them together till this day. No other actor could have brought Nodame and Chiaki to life the way Ueno and Tamaki did. The acting was solid throughout and you could feel the camaraderie of the cast shining through in the drama and behind-the-scenes videos. For an 11-episode drama, character development was rich and logical, and every scene meant something in the bigger scheme of things. The music selection was spot-on and delightful, and added much to both plot and characterisation. You don’t have to know your Beethovens or Mozarts to appreciate the drama, but it might just make a classical music fan out of you!
I do have to give a shout-out to Love Revolution, which before Nodame Cantabile was probably my favourite drama, and still ranks very highly on my must-watch list. Japan doesn’t really do rom-coms like these anymore, where adults behaved like adults and weren’t afraid to get intimate with the people they liked. This was an all-round eye-candy cast, with plenty of kisses done right to go round, and the added bonus of these people being able to act (can’t say the same for the supposed eye-candy these days). Esumi Makiko and Fujiki Naohito were so winning in this drama, and their chemistry so pitch-perfect, that I’d shipped them for many years and still hope that they, like Ueno and Tamaki, would reunite on screen for just one more time. Dear Japan, time to give us some proper rom-com goodness!
junny@12.30pm
Yay, panda! 
Omg both my faves! And just the fact you mentioned Love Revolution- bonus points! That one is a classic but somehow little known online (maybe cos it’s categorized more like a 90s Jdrama) so I’m happy you mentioned it with Nodame! 🙂
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Yay, glad you enjoyed Love Revolution too! Suga rocks! Yeah, the late 90s to early 2000s had some awesome J-dramas, especially the rom-coms, and gave us really memorable onscreen pairings.
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Still haven’t watched Nodame. Strange too, because I did like the manga, though I haven’t finished it yet.
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I hope you manage to watch Nodame! If it helps, there is an anime that came after the J-drama, and of course, the two specials and two films.
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*high five* Nodame was not what brought me to Jdramas (that would be Hana Kimi, the Horikita Maki version), but it’s what kept me going (I can remember precisely that it was the 3rd Jdrama I watched, and while Hana kimi got me intrigued, Hana Yori Dango was a turnoff mainly because I can’t stand dramatic love triangles and rich people, and it’s got both). After Nodame I was like wow, that was something else. Like you said it was perfect, from the humor, to casting, to music, to story. I’ve seen so many great Jdramas since then and some objectively I would classify as “better” (like Tiger & Dragon for example), but I think it would always remain my absolute favorite for both objective and sentimental reasons!
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Nodame Cantabile is such a great drama, and holds up well over the years. Now and then, I rewatch bits and the good memories and feels come back. So glad to find another Nodame fan!
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