I’m a computer scientist, but I have always craved to be a violinist/musician since I was young. Despite the fact that I’m untalented in playing musical instruments, watching anime that features classical music elements, stories that depict characters grappling with their inner struggles to pursue their music dream — they have always instilled me with the passion to practise my pieces too.
La Corda d’Oro (Kiniro no Corda, 金色のコルダ)
This was the first show that introduced me to the world of classical music in anime. The 11-year-old me was profoundly attracted by the selection of music in the anime. Pachelbel’s Canon in D, Scott Joplin’s The Entertainer, Schubert’s Ave Maria, Liszt’s Liebestraum— they are mostly very famous pieces that you’ve heard of but never knew their names. Yet, this was definitely a good start.
Hino Kahoko, the protagonist of this show is a high-school girl studying at a music academy but has no knowledge in classical music at all. (= the typical “ordinary school girl”) Under some unexpected circumstances, she has been selected to be a participant in the school’s music competition (in the anime this is mentioned as “コンクール”, which means “concour” in French). With the help of a fairy, she is granted a “magic violin” that allows her to play solely relying on her imagination. And the story mainly revolves around her interactions with other competition participants, as well as the self-discovery of her own passion in classical music.
As this is a reverse-harem (adaptation of the original visual novel), it certainly has some romantic clichés that might annoy people (though as a fan of the Shoujo genre I find them perfectly fine), but the overall plot and character development are pretty good and sensible. You’ll get to see characters each having different attitudes towards classical music — some hated music contests since the adjudicators could never judge participants fairly; some are prodigies who have decided on pursuing their soloist dream in Vienna at an early stage; some are talented in music but would choose to proceed on with a non-music career due to family pressure; and some are purely enjoying the fun of playing a part in an orchestra. You’ll also get to listen to different musical instrument’s famous pieces (Yes, the participants don’t only play the violin/piano), including the trumpet, clarinet, flute and so on. Although the animation style might not be of high quality, since it’s a show from more than 10 years ago (I’m feeling old…), as a classical music fan, I’ll proudly say it’s still very enjoyable.
If you’re interested in exploring more about this show, I’ll strongly recommend you to read the official manga (it’s ended already, but the sequel college arc , “daigaku-sei hen” has just started releasing again!). While the early part of the story still consists of some unrealistic elements (with the magic violin), the manga later proceeds on to focus on Kahoko’s journey in picking up the violin as a beginner after the concour.
The original game (my favourite one is “La Corda d’Oro 2 encore” on PSP) is pretty nice too, you’ll be walking around the campus as Kahoko and choose to practise ensemble pieces with different characters. I really love the original soundtracks of the game, as they are all edited versions of classical music pieces, e.g. Beethoven — Symphony №6 (when you’re walking in the academy’s hall), Erik Satie — Gymnopédie №1 (the weekend music).
I’ll write more about the game mechanics in La Corda in my next post and explain how the developer has intelligently gamified classical music.
Thank you for reading!
