I started reading the manga after watching the anime, which sort of ended abruptly (apparently the 2nd season's sole purpose was promo for the game...), but I must say that the series' biggest flaw is the fact that it is based off of an otome game. Surely there are a lot of guys all falling for the same girl, but she can only end up with at most one of them, which undoubtedly will leave the rest heartbroken/depressed and leave many readers, myself included, disappointed. That aside, the music theme is nice, and the aspiring violinist concept will surely inspire more people into learning to playing the violin (already a popular instrument). The story feels similar in nature to contemporary reverse harem shoujo mangas such as Ouran High School Host Club. And the naming of characters...Sun (HIno), Moon (TSUKImori), Saturn (TSUCHIura), Jupiter (yunoKI), Mercury (shiMIZU), Mars (HIhara), Earth (kaJI), Venus (KANAzawa), Uranus (AMAno), Neptune (fuyuUMI), as for Pluto, not sure if Ouzaki counts...kind of interesting but also obvious...

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 paneling 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 remember 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.

... Last updated on June 11th, 2011, 8:44am

I followed the manga for a while. I think it was refreshing read since there aren't a lot of mangas with bishies that are about music. I also play piano myself and could relate with characters in the manga. It was nice to see Kaho having to struggle through realistic conflicts regarding the violin, and ultimately making her a stronger person. I also liked the reverse harem idea because you get to see her interactions with other guys in the manga and you see potential, but in the end Kaho has a clear crush (as someone said elsewhere in the comments). Kaho is a bit dense, weak, and flustered, but in the end she's incredibly upbeat and that's just her personality.

My rating used to be a 10/10, but now that the manga has ended I'm going to have to downgrade it. I felt like the manga needed to be wrapped up, but in the end I didn't feel like the development was spaced out all that well. I'm fine with where the manga decided to cut off at, but it still left me unsatisfied because it felt like it was being concluded in a hurry. Maybe I'll reread the manga again so that the story flows enough to create the feeling of conclusion... In any case, the manga was pretty good.

... Last updated on April 12th, 2011, 4:43pm

I have to say that I really adore this manga even though I was very often flustered.
I liked every character. Especially Azuma, Kazuki and Keiichi.
Kahoko was also very endearing.

I have followed this story since many years and it never have dissapointed me.
The plot is great, also the characters and of course, the wonderful and unique drawing style of Kure-sensei.

Is interesting to follow a story that turns better and better any time and is very different from the popular concept of Reverse Harem that people use to have. In this story the love triangle is more than clear and it is not a story with the typical airheaded heorine who falls for every male around her, she have a clear crush for just one of the guys. In my opinion, the heroine is fantastic, since she is not stupid and don't do things like another shoujo manga's heroines would do and it is very refreshing, since anyone can like her wuthout say in any moment of the story "I would have do another thing istead what she done", because in emotional matters, Kahoko is very smart and is very great to see her in action.

The story is not childish, quite the contrary, it is serious and fun at the same time.
Is so great to see the develop of situations between Len and Ryotaro, since they hate and sympathize to each other at the same time. They're two smart and great guys who will fight to the end for Kahoko's love. I think is great to see cool guys just like they have emerging from a Yaoi manga fighting just like to death.

This is a manga for someone who is looking for a serious story that includes musical culture, romance, comedy, a heroine with a high emotional intelligence and, of course, surrounding guys to entertain our eyes.

This is my favorite shoujo manga and one of the few ones that I like a lot, since most of shoujo manga tends to makes me sick in a certain point because the heorines become idiots or the plot get bored. Kiniro no Corda is different from all them and I will always love it.

i love the bishies...
i love the music things...
but this story lack of depth and it's goes no where
i want her to end up with one of the guys.
i know that the whole of the manga is full of unreallistic, nonsense things.. (i can accept that... but there's one thing i can't accept... all guys fall in love with her with no apparent reason and why the hell she doesn't recognize their feeling at all she's very bold
the longer i read, the more i get frustated... i felt that she trampled all those bishies' feelings

... Last updated on September 9th, 2010, 7:26am

I've been reading this series for a long time now, anticipating the releases whenever it's early or delayed. At first, I was captivated by the Art, and of course, the musical element and the beautiful men, LOL. The heroine, really, and truly was completely outshone by all the other characters, and I believed it to be pretty useless to acknowledge her existence in the manga all through the later chapters. However, for some very odd reason, I started realising I was being drawn in to her character as she really does develop, although slowly, but humanly (besides the fact that every guy is drawn to her for no apparent reason).
But yes, I love this manga maybe because I'm bias, as I appreciate all manga involved with music (and beautiful men ).
So yes, it would be quite enjoyable for the fluff, as it contains an overcrowded amount of that element, the bishies, the appreciation of music.
I like it, probably only one of the many fluffy shoujos out there I'd touch.

As someone who has only somewhat recently joined band despite being a sophomore in high school, I found this series very inspiring and encouraging (Particularly after the 3rd selection). When Kahoko works hard, it makes me want to work even harder to achieve my dream of getting good enough to become a music education major. And when I reach a slump in my practicing, reading a couple chapters of this series pulls me through. So I sincerely thank Kure Yuki for creating this series

When I first started reading this I was thrilled. It was fun and the art is well done. The story line is very passionate in a lot of areas. Now I am finding myself slowly turned off. It appears that this manga will never end and the characters are starting to lose their depth.