The best thing about La Corda is that it has something central to the story besides empty romance: Music. This sets the foundation for it to become one of the better shoujo mangas out there. I personally never found the romance to be too slow, because I prefer it subtle and drawn out a bit, but some may find it tedious to keep waiting for any action.
What I also love about this manga is the laid back and comfortable feeling the story gives off. It’s not fully plot oriented, but there’s always something they’re working towards. It’s not like most series where there’s a bunch of needless comedy or drama that just goes on and on without much substance. Furthermore, the art in La Corda is very good. Not the absolute best, but up there. I also adore Kure’s ing style. It’s really simple but totally gets the job done with minimal shoujo sparkles and/or dusty flowers.
The whole magic fairy thing was kind of ridiculous at first but it never really became important in the series. I know this was a major turn off to many folks who wanted to try the series. I assure you the “fairy” is barely a part of the story. It was just an excuse to give Kahoko a magic violin that kind of ends up seeming more like a normal one, to be honest.
In any case, this is obviously a reverse harem manga with pretty eyecandy bishounen and a girl that doesn’t really notice how unrealistically popular she is. The guys are all relatively well developed and each have their own character type that sets them all clearly apart. The only thing I have to complain about is the heroine. Kahoko’s not horrible by any means, but she certainly was the weakest item in this series. She attempts to have a backbone multiple times but fails at all of them. Though she doesn’t gawk over the bishonen that surround her, and is honestly dedicated to music and exceptionally hard working, she still is far from what she has the potential to be. Kahoko is considerate, well-mannered, and generally simple. She’s not super genki, but not tomboy either. She never does anything wrong and is pretty much always selfless. A bit too goody-goody for my taste. I suppose all this is just a really sugar-coated way of saying she has absolutely no personality whatsoever. I can describe the rest of the cast with one word but for her, all I can muster is ‘bland’. In fact, I distinctly her for her blandness (which is actually more sad than it is ironic).
She would have been more likeable had it not been for the fact that she gets depressed and mopey roughly every third chapter because she feels guilty for being a “liar” and using a magic violin. That and the fact that she continuously compares herself to Tsukimori and thus feels completely inferior all the time. Maybe it would have been more helpful to her situation if she spent that time honing her skills and actually using what she had wisely, working towards a positive direction. Then again maybe I’m the only one who believes that whining or lying to yourself about not loving music will seriously not get you very far in life. It really irks me when I see descriptions of Kahoko on websites that describe her as being honest and straight-forward. She may be honest, but trust me, she’s about as labyrinthy as they come, with no ill-intention of course (why, that would be unfathomable!). She also possesses this distinct talent for being unable to straighten up her backbone and say anything even remotely aggressive or that could possibly offend anyone, even if she knows it’s the truth (I believe doormat is the right term). In short, she lacks confidence and it’s painful to read. I really have a problem with characters forcing smiles to cover up sadness in front of people, especially when said people are trying to help them open up.
But as much as I have ranted about Kahoko, she’s not unbearable to the point that I had to drop the story (like with Fruits Basket). I rather enjoyed the entire La Corda series and the other characters were interesting enough to keep me going. It was a little predictable in nature, since you could roughly tell who she would pick from the beginning, but this is one series where that actually doesn’t affect the quality of the work as a whole. Though, the ending itself was rather abrupt and there were many things left unaddressed but it was still an incredibly fun series. I would definitely recommend La Corda to anyone who likes shoujo and doesn’t mind better developed but slower romance.