I bet she'd like "Tales of Saiunkoku" - it's a rather fluffy romantic show set in ancient China with a really down-to-earth heroine who dreams of becoming a government official. It's very funny, the characters are lovable and for once I didn't find myself wanting to reach into the anime and strangle the female lead to death like I usually do while watching shoujo. Like pretty much every shoujo heroine, she's a Mary Sue, but at least she's a smart, hardworking Sue who doesn't fawn over the pretty boys (and there are lots of them) or let anyone use her. The only problem is that the company releasing the DVDs just went out of business, so until it gets re-licensed (and it will, because the reviews have been so good) there are only two discs out. If she buys her anime, that is... *laugh*

I personally didn't like "Nodame Cantabile" much, but practically everyone else who's watched it loves it. *laugh* It was too shoujo-y for me (I like anime that include swords, explosions or possibly both) and it had that fluffy j-drama feel to it. And I didn't hate the characters. It's not what I go for, but your friend might like it.