A short series, Nodame Cantabile: Encore Opera Chapter, was serialized in the same magazine from December 2009 to August 2010.

The series depicts the relationship between two aspiring classical musicians, Megumi "Nodame" Noda and Shinichi Chiaki, as university students and after graduation.

Two live-action movie sequels to the Japanese television drama, with the same actors, were produced with release dates of 18 December 2009 and April 2010.

Shinichi Chiaki, an arrogant, multilingual perfectionist, is the top student at Momogaoka College of Music and has secret ambitions to become a conductor.

In contrast, Megumi Noda, or "Nodame", is a piano student at Momogaoka, notorious for messiness and eccentric behavior.

Because of Nodame, Chiaki gets the opportunity to lead a student orchestra and begins to have a broader appreciation of people's musical abilities.

[5] Ninomiya also based the character of James DePreist, the musical director of the fictional Roux-Marlet Orchestra in Paris, on a real-life counterpart with the same name.

Serialization went on hiatus starting October 2008 following the birth of her son and Ninomiya's subsequent diagnosis of having carpal tunnel syndrome, but resumed in March 2009 on an irregular schedule depending on her continued recovery.

[8] A short series, titled Nodame Cantabile: Encore Opera Chapter, was serialized in the same magazine from 10 December 2009 to 25 August 2010.

[17][18] Nodame Cantabile has been adapted as a live-action television drama broadcast in 11 hour-long episodes from 16 October – 25 December 2006, on Fuji TV, covering events up to volume 9 of the manga.

These were directed by Hideki Takeuchi from scripts by Rin Etou, and starred Hiroshi Tamaki as Shinichi Chiaki and Juri Ueno as Megumi "Nodame" Noda.

An episode of PuriGorota: Uchū no Yūjō Daibōken (プリごろ太 宇宙の友情大冒険), the fictional anime series that Nodame watches, was created by J.C.Staff for the drama.

[21] A South Korean adaptation titled Naeil's Cantabile starring Joo Won, Shim Eun-kyung and Park Bo-gum aired on KBS2 in 2014.

The opening theme for the second season was "Sky High" by The Gospellers (with melody taken from the Third movement ("Allegro Scherzando") of Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No.

A box set was released in February 2008 with an additional 15-minute original video animation (OVA), taking place between episodes 8 and 9.

[46] According to an Oricon survey men and women aged 10–40, Nodame Cantabile was the second "most interesting" manga series published during 2008.

[51] The English translation of Nodame Cantabile has been praised for its quirky, interesting characters,[52] sense of humor,[53][54] and clean art.

"[55] Reviewers also cite Ninomiya's ability to depict "scenes of people playing music that no one can hear" and her sense of humor as factors in the series' appeal.

[52][53][60][61] Ninomiya has been criticized for not handling transitions between storylines well,[62][63] for sometimes letting the characters derail the story,[61] and for art and backgrounds that are sometimes too plain.

[70] The New Year's Special in Europe received an average household rating of 20.3% and 21.0% for the two nights it was broadcast in Japan, making it them the highest-rated drama episodes of the week.

[75] In 2006, a cafe based on Nodame Cantabile opened in Harajuku, Tokyo, including live music from the live-action drama and sets from the show.