Karakter & Staf — Nodame Cantabile

Shinichi Chiaki

Utama

Male · Umur 21- · Gol. darah O

Height: 181 cm Chiaki is twenty-one years old and a 3rd-year piano student at Momogaoka Music Academy at the start of the series. He is an accomplished pianist and violinist, but is also known to be a perfectionist and highly critical of himself and others. He comes from a distinguished and well-off family, and is a fairly good cook. He seems to think that most "poor" people (such as Sakura Saku) are like the little match girl. While he dreams of studying abroad and becoming a famous conductor like his mentor, Sebastiano Viella, he must overcome his fear of flying and the sea to do so (he finally did with help of Nodame's hypnosis). He is dismayed to discover that the freakish but talented girl, Nodame, lives in the apartment next door to him. However, he develops a sort of empathy with Nodame as he discovers her hidden potential to be a great pianist, and he begins to transcend his perfectionism and begins to enjoy her music and the music of others. Despite his constant irritation towards Nodame, he eventually develops romantic feelings towards her and he chooses to find a work as a conductor in Paris, where he is going to study. As Chiaki realizes his life's ambition to become a conductor, he also finds that he needs Nodame's support and that he cannot move on without her. He also appears to have fear of being abandoned and surpassed, the former comes from being abandoned by his father as a young boy. Afraid of being abandoned, he often abandons other people instead, especially Nodame. Also he's constantly afraid of being surpassed by Nodame, trying to go even further from her, which leaves her miserable as she is trying to catch up to him. He also can be considered as insensitive.

Tomokazu Seki

Megumi Noda

Utama

Female · Gol. darah B

Height: 162 cm Also known as Nodame, which is a portmanteau of her family name and the first mora of her given name. Noda is, at the start of the series, a twenty-year-old free-spirited second-year music student. She is depicted as a complete slob: her cooking and cleaning skills are atrocious to the point of having mushrooms growing on her clothes and poisoning anyone who dares to eat her food (yet she's never been poisoned). However she is an incredibly talented pianist who primarily plays by ear, in a cantabile style. In love with Chiaki, she follows him around constantly, claiming to be his "wife," and leans on him to help her get through sticky situations. She sometimes compulsively needs to play the piano, neglecting everything in order to do it. As well as that, she seems to enjoy childish manga and movies. She is constantly hungry, and is fed dinners by Chiaki; she also steals many lunches from her fellow friend, Maki. Nodame has a tendency to speak cryptically (sometimes she doesn't even understand herself), often refers to herself in the third person and uses nonsense words like mukya and gyabo. Nodame is initially very dependent on Chiaki in terms of ambition - she has little intention of becoming a professional pianist, despite her remarkable talent, and wants to become a kindergarten teacher, though many feel she is too reckless and lacks the appropriate sensibility to be responsible with teaching children. Her piano style is considered to be completely haphazard, diverting from original intent at both dynamics, rhythms and even themes. Realizing that her current attitude towards music will eventually drive her apart from Chiaki, Nodame gradually develops the necessary drive to pursue music for her own sake. Her attitude towards music is largely due to an incident in the past where she was hurt by a teacher who demanded her to play music "as it's written". Nodame's character is based on a real-life counterpart with same name.

Ayako Kawasumi

Saiko Tagaya

Pendukung

Female

Ex-girlfriend to Shinichi. Her family sells musical instruments.

Hitomi Nabatame

Ryuutarou Mine

Pendukung

Male

4th-year Violin student. His father owns a Chinese restaurant "Uraken" right next to the university. He is something of a prima donna whose violin technique is seen by himself to be deeply personal but by others to be simply sloppy. He sees Chiaki as a rival for attention and tries hard to compete with his "Princely" image of him. He likes Nodame for her free-spirited ways. He is the concertmaster of the S Orchestra conducted by Chiaki, and a violinist in the R☆S Orchestra. He is also the one who thought that performing like Jimi Hendrix, and adding a touch of 'rock' would give quality despite that it looks dumb in an original orchestra (as stated by Chiaki). He is currently dating Kiyora Miki.

Shinji Kawada

Masumi Okuyama

Pendukung

Male

A claustrophobic 4th-year timpanist (percussion), who is an okama. He has the body of a male, but a mind of a female. He developed a crush on Chiaki. Since Nodame starts to hang out with Chiaki, he considers her as a rival and often bullies her and anyone else who tries to get close to Chiaki. Despite his idiosyncrasies, he excels on his percussion skills, earning him the title of "Queen of Percussion" and a place in the S and R☆S orchestras conducted by Chiaki.

Keisuke Oda

Kiyora Miki

Pendukung

Female

A prodigious violinist Chiaki met at the Nina Lutz's seminar, she joins him to form the R-S Orchestra as his concert-mistress. She also becomes Mine's girlfriend.

Sanae Kobayashi

Tomohito Kimura

Pendukung

A member of the Rising Star orchestra.

Hiroshi Kamiya

Noriyuki Takahashi

Pendukung

Male

Akira Ishida

Yasunori Kuroki

Pendukung

Male

A talented oboe player who falls for Nodame at first sight (oblivious to her true nature) and performs the inaugural solo of the R☆S orchestra. Because he tends to be phlegmatic and quiet, many members of the R☆S orchestra think of him as "samurai-like". Though he is crushed and distracted after learning about Nodame's actual nature, Kuroki becomes a good friend to both Nodame and Chiaki and goes on to study abroad in France with them. Once there, he has much difficulty adjusting to the language, people, and culture, making it hard for him to socialize and make friends. His awkward and quiet demeanor earned him the scorn and nickname "Glauque" from Tanya (meaning dark and depressing, also means green/blue-ish). However they do seem to warm up to each other later. Kuroki later becomes a member of the Roux-Marlet Orchestra conducted by Chiaki.

Masaya Matsukaze

Tooru Kikuchi

Pendukung

Male

A womanizing cello player and one of the founders of the R☆S Orchestra along Chiaki, Kiyora, and Kuroki. Easily recognizable by his crew cut and small glasses. He had been studying in Boston prior to the creation of the R☆S Orchestra, and at the end of that year, had returned to Boston.

Junichi Suwabe

Manabu Sakuma

Pendukung

Male

Music critic given to overly poetic turns of phrase. He becomes avid supporter of Chiaki's endeavors after hearing the performance of a Rachmaninoff concerto with Orchestra A. Lends his support to the Rising Stars orchestra. When asked why he went to such lengths to further Chiaki's career replied that famous musician have always had friends who fostered their talents and that this is the role he wishes to play.

Keiji Fujiwara

Franz von Stresemann

Pendukung

Male

Stresemann is a highly-respected internationally famous conductor who comes to Momogaoka Music Academy as a guest instructor. In love with the Academy's Director, he comes as a favor and immediately is pegged as an oddball lecher. Perverted, demanding, and not at all dignified, Stresemann seems to be opposite of what his reputation makes him. Stresemann, however, immediately takes to Nodame, and even accepts Chiaki as his one and only apprentice after repeatedly rejecting his application to enroll in his conducting classes. His wild behavior constantly gets Chiaki in trouble, but he also teaches him how to feel and express music in a way that only he can. He often takes his orchestra out for mixers or group dates, and goes to night clubs and host clubs (especially a place called One More Kiss) instead of attending the rehearsals he is supposed to conduct. He also gets drunk easily, forcing Chiaki to take over for him as vice-conductor. Stresemann is eventually forcibly taken back to Europe to continue his professional life by his hardnosed assistant, Elise. He later develops a fatherly-like affection towards both Nodame and Chiaki.

Shinji Ogawa

Kouzou Etou

Pendukung

Male

A piano teacher, also known as the "Harisen teacher", because he always carries one during his class which uses to punish his students for their mistakes. He was Chiaki's teacher at the start of the story, until he was abandoned by him. One day he listened one of Nodame's performances and decided to become her teacher, even if refused by her. He eventually gives up his harisen in order to convince Nodame to take lessons from him.

Kazuya Nakai

Sakura Saku

Pendukung

Female

A double bass player whose family was in trouble because despite her father's business is about to bankrupt, however: he did not want to part with his collection of rare violins, until he got some "persuasion" from Chiaki. A student of very short height, Sakura was mistaken as an elementary student, when she first came into the orchestra, and as her instrument is too much larger than herself, people usually do not see her when she is carrying it on her back, thinking it is moving by itself.

Mamiko Noto

Saya Suganuma

Pendukung

Satomi Arai

Seiko Miyoshi

Pendukung

Female

Chiaki's mother, who retained custody of Chiaki after her divorce. She and Chiaki lived in Europe for several years during Chiaki's childhood, during Chiaki became Vieira's student, before they returned to Japan. She is frequently away from home on business and does work involving culture and music. (Source: Wikipedia)

Kotono Mitsuishi

Elise

Pendukung

Elise is Stresemann's hard-nosed agent and business manager. Aided by her bodyguard Oliver she kidnapped Chiaki in volume 11 and forced him to sign with her agency too. (Source: Wikipedia)

Tomoko Kawakami

Sebastiano Viella

Pendukung

Male

World renowned conductor and Chiaki's mentor. Stresemann is rather adverse towards Vieira and initially extended his dislike of the conductor to Chiaki. Vieira has considered Chiaki as his apprentice since the boy was twelve and is a surrogate father figure to Chiaki. (Source: Wikipedia)

Masashi Ebara

Yukihisa Matsuda

Pendukung

Hiroki Touchi

Charles Auclair

Pendukung

Male

An esteemed and well-known professor of piano at the Conservatory where Nodame studies. During Nodame's piano competition in Japan, he is one of the judges and is captivated by her performance, but soon detects her immaturity in attitude towards music, referring her as "still a baby" (later on "Bebe-chan"). Auclair offers Nodame (through Etoh) an opportunity to study in Paris and selects her to become one of his students, much to Franck's envy. He refers to Nodame as "Bebe-chan" and sees that she has tremendous potential, but limited time to hone her skill and recognizes Nodame's reluctance to become a professional pianist. Trivia: he gets a lot fatter from his debut to current chapter (if not younger as well).

Motomu Kiyokawa

Masayuki Chiaki

Pendukung

Chiaki's father and a famous pianist. He left Chiaki's mother when Chiaki was still a young boy. Chiaki claims to hate him but Nodame feels that it is Chiaki's dream to perform with his father.