Shōjo Sensei: Senpai and Kōhai

If you've watched anime or read manga long enough you've undoubtedly come across the term senpai. Even without a dictionary it was pretty easy to figure out that a senpai was someone with more experience and was looked up to. In shōjo manga it is most commonly seen in a school setting, when an underclassman refers to an upperclassman, however it can also be seen in work settings when a new hire refers to a co-worker with more experience. Senpai and kōhai have a reciprocal relationship in that the senpai are obligated to lead and train the kōhai, while the kōhai help the senpai with their tasks in order to learn from them.

For a long time I knew the honorific of senpai, but didn't realize that the "underclassman" also has the honorific of kōhai. There's only been one instance in which I've seen kōhai used, and it was in a scanlation. This made me wonder why the English publishing companies don't keep ALL the honorifics. You see senpai commonly enough, so why not kōhai? Usually it's replaced with the term freshman or first year.

Senpai and kōhai relationships are very common in shōjo manga since many are in a school setting. Some examples are Haruna and Yoh from High School Debut, Chiaki and Nodame in Nodame Cantabile, Ren and Kyoko from Skip Beat, and Mayama and Takemoto in Honey and Clover.

If you want to add any more senpai-kōhai relationships to the list, please feel free to comment.

Until next time - Arigatō!

First Impressions - Nodame Cantabile

Nodame Cantabile won the 2004 Kodansha Manga Award for best shojo manga. It is currently serialized in Japan's Kiss publication and has been running since 2001. Considered a josei manga aimed at young adult women, the story is centered around a group of college students at Momogaoka Music College. Megumi Noda, known as Nodame throughout the series, is an eccentric piano student who wants to be a kindergarten teacher. Although she plays with great passion by ear, Nodame lacks technical skills such as site reading a score, playing a piece exactly as written, or basic music theory. She lives next door to music student Shinichi Chiaki, a pianist/violinist who desires to become a conductor. His father being a famous musician, Chiaki has spent most of his life in the music world, even growing up in Prague. The two students meet by accident, but slowly become acquainted through the piano department. Nodame falls for Chiaki in short time, seeing as he often cooks her dinner and helps her practice. Chiaki slowly develops an appreciation for Nodame's musical passion and accepts her little quirks. A visiting professor at the school, Stresemann, decides to challenge Chiaki by having him conduct a student orchestra. Because of Nodame, Chiaki learns how to work with the struggling musicians and is able to make a name for the student orchestra. In hopes of one day playing for Chiaki as a conductor, Nodame begins to develop her musical skills and challenges herself to play better. With the help of Nodame, Chiaki overcomes a phobia and is able to leave Japan, where he becomes the conductor of a more well known orchestra in Paris.

The strong point of this series is Tomoko Ninomiya's brilliant ability to create unusual, unique characters. Her main protagonists are far from any stereotypes. The depth of development of Nodame and Chiaki, from their backgrounds to their quirks and phobias, really ground this series to a more realistic, believable experience. The two seem far from a compatible couple, with Nodame's immaturity and Chiaki's arrogance. Yet, the mangaka uses these weaknesses as the growth point of her characters; something they each must overcome with the other's help. The story seems slow at first, but picks up quickly after Ninomiya's exposition of Nodame and Chiaki. As for the artwork, Ninomiya has a definite style. She has a good sense of anatomy and perspective, and is very detailed in drawing the instruments - even the sheet music. The toning is simple and fits the mood of the event. I find it interesting that she doesn't go for the "hot and sexy" or "gorgeous babe" character designs that a lot of artists incorporate. Nodame can be characterized as maybe cute, and Chiaki is attractive, but not a hunk. A refreshing change that leaves the characters standing on their personalities, and not necessarily their looks. As for romance, this series has some sweet moments. There are kisses exchanged, but more than the physicality of the relationship, the mangaka focuses on the emotions.

My first impression of this series - fantastic! It well deserved the award. Especially if you have any kind of musical background, I highly recommend it.

Nodame Cantabile is currently being released by Del Ray publishing here in the states, and is on volume 15, with volume 16 due to be released in July. There has already been an anime, a video game, and a live action production in Japan. Also released were CDs that contain all the music that is played in the manga. It will be interesting to see if Nodame Cantabile gets a dubbed anime here in the states.