Why is that the NEG has to butt into other people problems all the time? She never repents, and this is done at the end of the series.

This is a review of an anime that my sister claims to be better than the dead cert Anime of The Year 2007, Nodame Cantabile. Here I will take La Corda D’Oro ~primo passo~ for a spin to see whether her b*llsh*t can be taken seriously or not. This is a 2005 anime, so no competition for the award.

Apparently, depressed people in Japan go to karaoke to relieve tensions. Improvements from doing the harakiri I guess.

Story:-
A red-haired naïve emo girl [NEG] who knows jack sh*t about classical music suddenly founds out that she has to participate in a music competition. A fairy that comes out of nowhere gives the NEG a magic violin to cover for her lack of musical skills. The NEG then has to compete will plenty of very skillful participants who has years of experience behind them, and still managed to kick some ass and takes some notes, especially in SEED berserker mode.

NEG is the kind of characters I really dislike in any anime, and we have one here, a protagonist even. That’s a bad sign imouto-chan. The story is average, but at least better than Umisho and come with a decent ending. The story mainly consists of the shenanigans of the NEG, who becomes emo for about 20 episodes or so over many issues; majority of them trivial.

Honestly speaking, the existence of a NEG is the biggest drawback of this series. I still can tolerate emo characters like that what-his-name in Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, but this one takes the cake. Nodame may be retarded, but at least she is not an emo wreck that I want to strangle.

One of the characters that has dodgy voice acting. The are many ways to portray bishounen + effeminate characters. His is not the way to do it.

Character Design:-
Oh well, not that different really from those 90-s dating simulation games from Japan I used to play. Black hair is out, RGB and CMYK colours are in. So are big eyes, impossible bodies, and effeminate character and so on. Bad thing? Of course not. But not something to be proud about and Nodame Cantabile is better in this aspect.

Voice acting:-
A positive aspect of this series. If the NEG really makes me wants to kill her, it is because of her voice actress doing a good job. Some of the characters has dodgy voices, but the anime has done well here. Nowhere near the quality Nodame Cantabile has though.

Simply the best character in the series, for daring to tell the NEG that she is an annoying b*tch.

Music:-
Only the OP theme is good. The OST and the ED theme are not that good. And unlike Nodame Cantabile, the classical music used are not as well-presented, although it may be more realistic.

Animation/Direction:-
The animation is average, nothing really can be said. No fast-pace scenes like Nodame Cantabile, so no harm done. But the directing is surprisingly good, keeping the story flowing naturally. Probably the only thing that makes me watch the anime to the end.

Conclusion:-
6 out of 10. In the end, my sister is insane for suggesting that this anime is better. Nodame Cantabile is superior in every department, La Corda D’Oro ~primo passo~ will be taken to the cleaners if this is a boxing match, just like Ricky Hatton.

Can you kill yourself now?