Piano no Mori: The Perfect World of Kai (ãƒ"アノã®æ£® â€" The perfect world of KAI, lit. "Piano's Forest") is a manga by Makoto Isshiki.
The series ended after 26 bound volumes.
The series was adapted into a 2007 Japanese animated feature film by director Masayuki Kojima and production company Madhouse. The film featured performances by the renowned pianist Vladimir Ashkenazy.
An anime television series adaptation produced by Gainax's Fukushima branch will premiere in April 2018 on NHK.
Plot
Piano no Mori (Piano forest) Ost - Track 01 - Theme - - Piano no Mori (Piano forest) Ost - Track 01 - La forêt du piano (version avancée) Thème principal Music by Keisuke Shinohara.
Piano no Mori is a story that follows Kai Ichinose, a boy who lives in the red light district but escapes at night to play the piano in the forest. Shuhei Amamiya, the grade-school son of a professional pianist, transfers to Moriwaki Elementary, Kai's elementary school. But it doesn't take long before Shuhei is picked on by the class bullies, and gets involved in a dare to play the mysterious piano in the forest, leading to his meeting with Kai, who seems to be the only one capable of getting sound out of the thought-to-be broken piano. Kai's ability earns him the respect of Shuhei and his music teacher, former master pianist Sosuke Ajino. Both Shuhei and Ajino try to get Kai to take proper piano lessons, but Kai is at first resistant to refining his piano-playing technique. However, after hearing Sosuke play a Chopin piece he just can't seem to play himself, he relents.
Characters
- Kai Ichinose (一ノ瀬 海, Ichinose Kai)
- Voiced by: Aya Ueto (film), SÅma SaitÅ, Ryoko Shiraishi (young) (TV Series)
- Shūhei Amamiya (雨宮修平, Amamiya Shūhei)
- Voiced by: Ryunosuke Kamiki (film), Natsuki Hanae, YÅ Taichi (young) (TV Series)
- SÅsuke Ajino (阿å—野壮介, Ajino SÅsuke)
- Voiced by: Hiroyuki Miyasako (film), Junichi Suwabe (TV Series)
Development
Makoto Isshiki was inspired to write Piano no Mori when she watched a documentary showing Stanislav Bunin winning the International Frédéric Chopin Piano Competition in 1985.
Media
The series is licensed by Sharp Point Press in Taiwan.
Manga
Reception
Piano no Mori received the Grand Prize for best manga at the 12th Japan Media Arts Festival in 2008.
The movie adaptation debuted in 9th place at the Japanese box office the week it came out, unusually high for a non-franchise animated film. By the end of the year, it had grossed the equivalent of $1,555,297, ranking 119 on the overall yearly box office chart for Japan. In South Korea, the film played for 50 weeks and grossed the equivalent of $182,884. The film was nominated for the 2008 Japan Academy Prize for Animation of the Year.
References
External links
- Official website (in Japanese)
- Piano no Mori (manga) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
- Piano no Mori on IMDb
