“In my first time listening...it struck me in the depths of my heart. And it instantly, completely, captured my soul.”

I’m sitting here, writing a review for this manga I just so happened to stumble upon (and actually surprised by the quality of it too). Piano No Mori, aka. The Perfect World Of Kai, is like a painting; beautifully raw, and yet, framed by some crude, seriously harsh reality. Looking back on the story, I don’t think it could be explained any other way.

The story is set in a rural town somewhere in the late 90’s. We’ve got this one boy who is, maybe not “rich”, but extremely well off. He looks like the everyday honour student (even though he’s pretty average) probably because he wears such formal clothes to school. Initially bullied and introverted when moving from Tokyo to the country, he is Amamiya Syuhei. He lives in the shadow of his father, a famous pianist in America.

And yet, there’s another boy in this story, Ichinose Kai. And this is where this story shines.

Born at the edge of a forest in the red-light district, Kai is the son of a prostitute. He is beautiful, androgynous, uninhabited, (and as Shuuhei says:) blessed by the god of piano. Kai has a particular style of music. It gives people feelings and emotions, but it’s just not meant for performances. And it's not cantabile style like Nodame (in Nodame Cantabile), rather, it's extremely rustic, earthy, and unrefined. It's clear why his music is raw: it was self-learned from an old piano, abandoned in the middle of a forest. What I find surprising in this manga is how that piano is portrayed in such a supernatural/magical light. It’s almost as if Kai's piano, the Piano of the Forest (lit. “Piano No Mori”) is the personification of the god of piano itself (it refuses to be played by anyone other than Kai), although, it goes on to symbolize Kai’s growth as a piano player. And yet, another surprising factor is how Kai rarely uses the piano to escape from his unfortunate life. He uses it as a tool for his self-expression.

The story continues with it's character-driven plot. The main genre has got to be slice-of-life comedy (a little into the manga, there is a girl known as the “Bathroom Toilet Princess”) but as I mentioned before, the story itself is framed by hopelessness. There are the ideals of both boys, who are young and passionate, but yet, there is the truth of reality which goes on to contrast against it. There's this one part just a few chapters into the manga, where Kai is about to be raped. Of course, his mother (a prostitute) comes in to stop it, but do you know what she says? “Kai is not going to be 'done' by anyone. Kai will be the one 'doing' other people”.

In contrast with the magical, supernatural air the piano brings to this story, there is the actuality of Kai's situation. He is the son of a prostitute, and because of his upbringing, he, too, is expected to become a prostitute too. That is, if he wasn't so blessed by the Piano of the Forest. Contrary to the title, Kai's world is far from perfect, but yet, he still remains so optimistic and happy about who he is and what he has.

But still, it's pretty fun and light-hearted. Syuhei has a one-sided rivalry towards Kai, and his inferiority towards such magical playing is both reasonable and understandable. And I've probably talked about Kai too much in this review but, really, everyone falls in love with him. His personality is so compelling even through the pages. And while I won't say it's the most original story (since we've seen most of this already done in Nodame Cantabile or Sakamichi No Apollon) the story-telling itself centered around Kai and the Piano of the Forest is both mesmerizing and enchanting.

I have nothing bad to say about this series, except for (maybe) the art. The characters are drawn extremely plainly, and yet, things like nature, or the Piano of the Forest is drawn with sketches. I suppose this art-style may show that there is a big contrast between nature and technology, rustic/terrestial and refined (just as Kai's piano playing is contrasting to Syuhei's), but I don't see any necessary point in this. And I never judge a manga based on it's art, but I think I should caution some (younger) readers. There is some nudity in this.

Piano No Mori (The Perfect World Of Kai) was amazing. Rarely do I see a series which, not only does it capture me emotionally, but also has a touching, inspirational story to go along with it. I would love to give it a 9.0, but since there is only 13 volumes out of 22 volumes currently translated, I don't think it would be fair, because I still haven't seen a good amount of the story to come. So instead, I'll give it a 8.5 / 10.0 (and my overall score will just be a 9.0). I must say, the quality of this manga is certainly unexpected. And it's a seinen, so don't expect a lot of conventional cliches found in shoujos or shounens. Rather,don't expect anything, and just read it... just feel.

I, myself, haven't been reading this manga for a long time, but already, I'm completely in love.

★★★★★★★★★☆
RECOMMENDED.