Although this project has been floating in the buzz world from many months (February to be specific), I only now decided to write on Korean remake of Nodame Cantabile as it had many off screen twists and turns associated with it. I was waiting for the waves to settle down before commenting on it. I’m not at all acquainted with the original anime/ J-drama/ manga but have heard a lot about its awesomeness and popularity and also that many viewers have this close to their heart. Leading man Joo Won already confirmed the drama long time back but the show was unfortunate in finding his heroine and went from Shim Eun Kyung to Yoona and then again to Shim Eun Kyung who finally gave her confirmation. She initially declined the drama due to her dates given to film her movie Waiting For You but then it got pushed back and now here she is as the leading lady. This will be her first drama in 4 years with Bad Guy as her last drama which came in 2010. She has been successfully starring in movies since then with acclaimed works like Sunny and Miss Granny — for the latter, she also bagged a best actress Baeksang Arts Award.

Nodame Cantabile is a university campus drama about classical music, with classic love story characters — hero is an arrogant perfectionist and genius pianist who secretly has an ambition to become a conductor. Our heroine is a pianist who has eccentricity and messiness as her character tropes and has this talent where she can replicate after hearing a musical piece but can’t read the musical score. Why do I have the feeling that I won’t like this female lead because I can’t really bear a heroine who has cleanliness issues. Add her queer behaviour and that totally doesn’t sound like my kind of girl. Anyway, I have trust in so many fans who adore this story and hopefully I’ll also become one of them, if only the K-version lives up to the expectations.

The supporting cast includes Baek Yoon Shik (Gu Am Heo Joon) , Go Kyung Pyo (Flower Boy Next Door) and Do Hee (Answer Me 1994)— a good cast indeed. Nodame Cantabile is also going by the title of Cantabile Romance and is being produced by the makers of shows like Boys Before Flowers, Goong and Pretty Man, which are all remakes of manga and animes. It is slated for October premiere after Eric and Jung Yumi‘s Discovery Of Romance wraps up on KBS.