Piano Forest Anticipation

[Stark700]

NHK's official website announced on Monday that Makoto Isshiki's Piano no Mori (The Piano Forest) manga is getting a television anime adaptation that will air on NHK in April 2018. This year's 48th issue of Kodansha's Morning magazine is revealing more details on Thursday, including the show's official website and Twitter account.

Plot Summary

The manga follows two boys from different walks of life. Kai was born the son of a prostitute and learned to play an abandoned piano in the forest by his home. Shūhei is child of two prestigious pianists. The two boys end up meeting through their one common thread: music.

http://www.animenewsnetwork.cc/news/...l-2018/.123036

I've read this series before and quite excited about this one. Knew it was coming someday ever since the movie premiered years ago. NHK can make this work especially since the series is completed.

[Guardian Enzo]

Wow, a Piano no Mori TV anime? I can honestly say I'm surprised, though the manga was always pretty popular.

[Proto]

Yup. The movie was also pretty good so I'm looking forward to this. This is like Nodame Cantabile if Nodame Cantabile hadn't spent so much time dabbling with quirky characters and focused instead on the music , while keeping a compelling plot and good character development. Sweet.

[moodie]

will this be madhouse again?

[Stark700]

New key visual

[LG-MAX 2.o]

Originally Posted by moodie

will this be madhouse again?

Gainax:http://www6.nhk.or.jp/anime/topics/detail.html?i=4769

[Nachtwandler]

More precisely it is Fukushima Gainax.

[Guardian Enzo]

Exactly. An important distinction.

This is, to say the least, surprising.

[Stark700]

Preview:

[kuromitsu]

Also, apparently each main pianist character in the competition is also going to have their own personal performer:

YouTube

https://youtu.be/ectfeIMuQTg

Sorry; dynamic content not loaded. Reload?

They went out of their way to find pianists who could be real-life versions of the characters: a handsome Chinese pianist, a cute blond Polish pianist, and a beautiful French pianist. Plus real Japanese kid pianists.

Some additional cast:
Ichinose Reiko: Sakamoto Maaya
Pan Wei: Nakamura Yuuichi
Lech Szymanowski: KENN
Sophie Ormesson: Ise Mariya
Karl Adams: Konishi Katsuyuki
Hirata Kousei: Toyonaga Toshiyuki
Saga Takeshi: Yusa Kouji

(I guess the Korean twins will sit this adaptation out...)

Also, for some reason I just realized that this was going to be on NHK. Maybe the two cours of Classicaloid were leading up to this? (I hope it'll be followed up by a 3rd season of Classicaloid, that show is way too much fun to end.)

[Gintokifan22]

Well, the animation looks beautiful I have to say, are musical anime type popular in Japan right now? I've been seeing a lot of them recently.

[kuromitsu]

Well "right now" is a bit misleading when it comes to anime, considering that anime production can and usually does take years... Plus this is an NHK production, and NHK tend to do things in their own pace since they don't really need to concern themselves with ratings and disc sales.

In any case, Piano no mori is a pretty big name franchise so an eventual TV anime was just a question of time. With Classicaloid on NHKe they have a classical music tie-in thing going on right now for a kid/family audience, including album releases and whatnot (I think even tie-in programmes?) so I wouldn't be surprised if they timed Piano no mori to sort of cap it off.

ETA: also, the manga just finished a few years ago, so they probably started production right around that time.

[AnimeFangirl]

A musical instrument in a forest? That still plays? And in tune? What is that piano made of, adamantium?

I'm really tempted to read the manga since it would be faster, but it's not the same reading a musical series versus watching the anime performances.

[AntonKutovoi]

Originally Posted by kuromitsu

Some additional cast:
Ichinose Reiko: Sakamoto Maaya
Pan Wei: Nakamura Yuuichi
Lech Szymanowski: KENN
Sophie Ormesson: Ise Mariya
Karl Adams: Konishi Katsuyuki
Hirata Kousei: Toyonaga Toshiyuki
Saga Takeshi: Yusa Kouji

And in addition to those:
Hiroshi Yanaka as Kōtarō Shiba
Marie Miyake as Namie Amamiya
Ryou Hirohashi as Arisa
Motoko Kumai as Daigaku Kanehira
Hideyuki Tanaka as Yōichirō Amamiya
Bin Shimada as Jean-Jacques Theroux

[kuromitsu]

Originally Posted by AnimeFangirl

A musical instrument in a forest? That still plays? And in tune? What is that piano made of, adamantium?

Sssh. Don't think too deeply about it.

Originally Posted by AnimeFangirl

I'm really tempted to read the manga since it would be faster, but it's not the same reading a musical series versus watching the anime performances.

I really suggest reading the manga, nevertheless. This is a human drama, first and foremost, so while good musical performances are nice the story can be enjoyed without hearing them or seeing them in animation. (Actually, I hope the anime is not going to have the musical performances overshadow the story and characters.)

[BPD Renegade]

Originally Posted by kuromitsu

Also, apparently each main pianist character in the competition is also going to have their own personal performer:

They went out of their way to find pianists who could be real-life versions of the characters: a handsome Chinese pianist, a cute blond Polish pianist, and a beautiful French pianist. Plus real Japanese kid pianists.

Ooooh, how unexpected. And the PV + cast means they plan on adapting the entire manga. I wasn't expecting much from this adaptation, but this makes things a little interesting.

(I guess the Korean twins will sit this adaptation out...)

They're probably minor enough to be excluded from the main cast list (if they do end up appearing). Mukai hasn't been cast, nor have Granada or Theiss (or Hunt, ), so if they're cut, it's likely the twins will be too. Understandable if they leave a lot out (no Sae-chan so far either) if they're planning on cramming 200+ chapters into as few episodes as possible.

Originally Posted by AnimeFangirl

I'm really tempted to read the manga since it would be faster, but it's not the same reading a musical series versus watching the anime performances.

Like kuromitsu, I recommend reading it as well. It's not the type of series where reading it ahead of time will ruin the enjoyment, unless the anime badly butchers the content, and it's descriptive enough that just imagining the sound from the words and imagery can leave one thrilled. I'm actually hesitant to watch this in case the music ends up underwhelming compared to the expectations set by the manga. Plus, there's a lot of fun moments from the side characters that will likely be left out since they're not that necessary for the sake of the story.

[kuromitsu]

Originally Posted by BPD Renegade

Ooooh, how unexpected. And the PV + cast means they plan on adapting the entire manga. I wasn't expecting much from this adaptation, but this makes things a little interesting.

From the video and the pianists' comments (the foreigners are speaking in English btw) it seems they put a lot of effort into the music, and the performance snippets sound pretty good, so if nothing else, the Chopin in the show will be on point.

Originally Posted by BPD Renegade

I'm actually hesitant to watch this in case the music ends up underwhelming compared to the expectations set by the manga.

Me, I'm actually more worried about this going the way of Sakamichi no Apollon, with the director wanting to show off great visuals with the music playing scenes, and having them overwhelm the rest of the show. I hope they'll manage a good balance.

[Guardian Enzo]

I would argue that the biggest problem with Sakamichi wasn't so much Watanabe overemphasizing the music, but being forced to try and adapt two cours worth of material into 12 episodes.

I never read the manga here so I didn't even know there was a timeskip until the first preview here. I was like, who are those old dudes?

[BPD Renegade]

Originally Posted by kuromitsu

Me, I'm actually more worried about this going the way of Sakamichi no Apollon, with the director wanting to show off great visuals with the music playing scenes, and having them overwhelm the rest of the show. I hope they'll manage a good balance.

My concern is having to listen to long stretches of a piano that doesn't match the tone set by the exposition, since the music is such a big part of the story and characterizations. There's so much imagery involved that it will seem awkward if the music doesn't emit what the narration is describing. I got the chance to listen to the second video just now, and it has settled some of my misgivings, but like you said, a good balance would be best.

Originally Posted by Guardian Enzo

I would argue that the biggest problem with Sakamichi wasn't so much Watanabe overemphasizing the music, but being forced to try and adapt two cours worth of material into 12 episodes.

That's also a big concern. Fukushima Gainax doesn't seem to have any long projects. This manga is 241 chapters, so how much development will be cut out?

[Stark700]

Well, my hype just died a bit with this news...

https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/dai...isodes/.129839

12 episodes.