Anime Profile: Piano

Miu Nomura is your typical shy, junior high school girl. And this time, I really mean it. Really! She does not fight aliens that show up unexpectedly who are bent on destroying the planet. She does not find that she has some kind of latent supernatural powers that she must use to stop demons from taking over Earth. She doesn't end up in an alternate universe, she doesn't have a talking cat, she doesn't fight off lecherous boys, she doesn't have split personalities, and she doesn't train to become the best fighter in the world. Miu Nomura is, absolutely, one hundred percent, your average junior high school student. And that's what makes this anime so refreshing.

So far, Miu free time has been spent at the piano (no, really, I thought it was the accordion and they just called the show "Piano" for no reason). She loved playing the piano ever since she was a little girl. Lately, though, she has been getting distracted, and isn't able to express her feelings through her music as she once did. For the first time in six years, Miu forgot to bring her sheet music for her after school lesson. Her best friend, Yuuki, tried to convince Miu to just skip it for today, since it was raining out thus canceling Yuuki's track practice. So they both head over to the music store where Yuuki wants to pick up a CD, but then the rain lets up, and Miu decides to go to practice anyway, even without her music.

Well, she's late to her lesson, and her instructor, Mr. Shirakawa, doesn't seem to thrilled. She still doesn't have her sheet music, and can't remember the whole song, so he tells her to play anything. So she improvises. Unfortunately, she doesn't get to find out what he was about to say about it, because times up and there are other people waiting to use the room. Anyway, this also causes her to be late getting home, and wouldn't you know it, but the rain picked up again and she left her umbrella somewhere, and then when she tries to call home from the subway station she discovers there's nothing left on her phone card. Just as she feels her day couldn't get any worse, she bumps into her father, who suggests taking a taxi home, and her bad day no longer seems so bad after all.

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