Four musicians on a road trip to Nagano. No concert stakes, no competition pressure, just Chiaki watching Nodame be completely herself while she watches him try not to watch her back. The OVA strips away everything except what makes Nodame Cantabile worth your time: two people who are already in love pretending they aren't, while their friends quietly document the entire disaster. This is the show at its most honest, which means it's also the funniest.
Renowned conductor Franz von Stresemann picks four of his favorite pupils, Shinichi Chiaki, Megumi "Nodame" Noda, Masumi Okuyama and Ryuutarou Mine, and sends them off to Nagano for the Nina Lutz Music Festival, where they will train under other famous masters. On the drive, Chiaki grows annoyed with his friends' antics. He dozes off, and when he wakes he finds they have detoured to a beach in Niigata. Mine soaks up the sun while Nodame and Masumi go swimming, and Chiaki stays inside the beach club, working hard to conceal his fear of the ocean. Then Nodame proposes renting an inflatable boat to paddle out to a small island. Bundled with the seventh DVD volume, the single-episode OVA mixes comedy and romance.
