Although I'm a fan of Nodame Cantabile, I wasn't particularly thrilled to hear news about the drama adaptation. The most worrying thing is the selection of Tamaki Hiroshi to play Chiaki Shinichi which I object to vehemently. Of course, my views mean nothing and the decision has been made. I have never been convinced that Tamaki can act well as he usually plays roles which seem so silly and never fail to make an impression on me. I am not confident of him playing Chiaki-sama at all.On the other hand, we have Ueno Juri playing Nodame. Well, Ueno has been billed as one of the uprising young actresses these days but I've never really felt that she acts very well. As compared to Tamaki, I have slightly more faith in her that she can make Nodame a success but it's easy to go overboard and make a nuisance of herself.
If the rumours are true, Okada Junichi was the initial choice to play Chiaki-sama and the drama was supposed to be produced by TBS. However, due to some problems between Okada's agency i.e. Johnny's Jimusho and TBS, the plans were shelved and Hana Yori Dango was made at the last minute during autumn 2005.
Personally, I feel that Okada would fit Chiaki-sama's image closer in terms of his brooding looks and his strong acting skills. Coupled with the fact that Okada has some music background and knows how to play the piano (his mother is a piano teacher), I think he is more suitable to play Chiaki-sama. The only thing which he differs from Chiaki-sama would probably be his height. Okada is not short though but he has never been thought of as someone who's tall. And Ueno Juri looks quite tall on screen so I think by placing them together, it doesn't fit the impression we get from the manga since Chiaki-sama is 181cm tall while Nodame's height is 162cm.
Contrary to the lack of confidence in the leads, I think the selection of the supporting cast gives the impression that more thought has been put into this aspect. Takenaka Naoto is a good choice to play Stresseman a.k.a. Milch and I'm sure he would be a joy to watch.
Eita, Mizukawa Asami and Uehara Misa bear striking resemblances to their respective characters i.e. Mine, Kiyora and Saiko. However, Koike Keisuke to play Masumi was a surprise to me. It will be hard to imagine him with an afro and having the hots for Chiaki-sama but this could be a chance for Koike to seek a breakthrough in his career. Another issue which bugs me would be the change of setting for Kiyora who is one of the founders for Rising*Star Orchestra and wasn't in Momogaoka Music University nor the S-orchestra in the first place. I don't see the rationale for doing that but I guess they had to include her relationship with Mine so there was no way to delay her appearance if Rising*Star wasn't going to be mentioned in the drama.
FujiTV is putting a lot of effort in this production and even had an audition to find members to be part of the S-orchestra. That means the drama will probably cover up to the S-orchestra section although I was looking forward more to seeing Rising*Star Orchestra.
I will be watching this drama but I have a hunch that I might drop this well before the end of the season if the perfomances of the leads irk me to a major extent. Of course, I hope that there won't be any amendments to the storyline too. It's best to take the conservative approach of sticking to the manga instead of trying anything funny to incur the wrath of the manga lovers.
The good thing is that the anime version will begin in January 2007 via the Noitamina slot on FujiTV and I feel that this would probably turn out to be much better than the drama...We'll see when the time comes.
