La Corda d’Oro is another manga series I studied for my own writing to help ensure I got the tone right. In this series, a young woman with zero magical talent is gifted a magic violin to participate in a prestigious competition held at her school. This competition, unsurprisingly, includes several handsome young men. This series wasn’t as fun as some of the others I studied, but I did still enjoy it enough that it was fun to reread it for my research. And I admit, I would love to be gifted with a magical instrument that allowed me to play beautifully without putting in the time and effort to practice 🙂
La Corda
Also, fun fact, the pictures above don’t contain the complete series, since I got impatient over the whole thing not being completed and dropped the series for several years. When I picked it back up for my research, physical copies of the rest of the series were no longer available. Thankfully, I could buy the rest electronically, though it does drive me a little crazy that I have the series half in one format and half in another.
Some of the plot elements I wrote down for my La Corda d’Oro research ended up in The Genie Whisperer . . . though some are so general that I’m sure they really count as coming from there, lol.
| Plot Element: | La Corda d’Oro | Genie Whisperer |
| Main character is the “chosen one” | The main character is specifically chosen for the magic violin because she has no musical talent. The point was to show that anyone could develop a love of and talent for music. | Ali, while not exactly chosen by anyone, is the only genie whisperer the genies have ever met, which means she’s potentially their only hope for freedom. |
| People are being changed in part because of the main character’s example | Some of the competition participants have gotten so caught up in being the best or impressing others that they they’ve forgotten their love of music. The main character’s joy as she figures out her violin helps remind them of that. | Ali’s genies, understandably, have a fair bit of trauma and distrust regarding humans, but the more time they spend with her, the more their feelings for her and trust in her changes. |
| The guys start out not believing in the main character and want her to give up/go away. | Some of the music participants have dedicated their lives to music and it’s apparent to them that the main character is simply not on their level, and they don’t consider her worthy competition. Of course, most of them change their opinion as they get to know her better. | Some of the genies take to Ali very quickly while others . . . not so much. But it wouldn’t be fun if they all fell quickly! Gotta have some challenging ones in there. It makes it all the more satisfying when they do fall for her 😉 |
One of the smaller things I took note of from La Corda d’Oro got applied to The Genie Whisperer in a way I just adore. My note was: the guy is ornery when asked to do something for the main character, saying she has nothing to do with him, then he shows up to help anyway, because he can’t help it. I incorporated this in book three when it’s Christmas and Tavor keeps telling the other genies not to worry over Ali’s depressed mood and the upcoming holiday . . . then he does more than anyone else to celebrate, decorating the house extensively and even getting Ali presents.
I think the trope of a guy resisting helping the main character, and then being there for her anyway is a lot of fun, so expect to see more of that in future series from me!