Your Lie in April is a 22 episode anime plus an OVA that is based on manga series. It has a music theme but is loosely a romantic comedy. It follows Kousei, who we quickly learn was a piano prodigy when he was younger. However, this has left him traumatized given he was given extreme pressure to do well from his mother, who eventually passed away. Nowadays, Kousei cannot stand listening or playing the piano, as it brings back the painful memories, yet he cannot fully step away from the work of music.
Tsubaki and Ryota are Kousei’s friends and fellow students at the same middle school. On a double date, Kousei meets Kaori, and the way that the pair met are unforgettable. Kousei is instantly interested in Kaori, not romantically, but rather that Kaori plays the violin in an extraordinary way. Their personalities aren’t a great match at first either, since Kaori is a lot cheekier and playful than Kousei would like (who himself is flatter).
It doesn’t take too long before you’re invested into the characters. While Kousei seems like a stereotypical character that had buckled under the pressure of overbearing parents, you can’t help but watch his plight. He doesn’t get better overnight and that’s what makes it so interesting. One of the characters summed it up perfectly, whereas Kousei is more rigid and traditional, Kaori is very much spontaneous. Therefore, their interactions are always vibrant, especially when Kaori doesn’t get her way.
The story has two story threads which feel oddly distinct whenever they switch between them. Instead of meshing them up, each part takes a lot of focus at the exclusion of the other. There is the romance aspect, where the four characters are mixed up in a love triangle of sorts, this builds up over time. The other is Kousei’s return to being a professional / competitive pianist. As we learn more and more about Kousei, we realize that he had a horrible childhood, even more so than what was initially let on. You can’t help but feel pity for him and that even after he’s been through all that, he still managed to be a half normal middle school teenager.
Despite story making us feel like that Kousei had given up piano for a long time, it’s only been two years. All the flashbacks point to him being a very young child, so that creates a dissonance between what you see and what you are told. The music aspect is quite interesting; it plays well with the tension that one would feel before an important performance. Furthermore, the anime emphasizes the music so it is easy to tell when Kousei is playing badly, and when he’s playing at an amazing level.
The story drags on with Kousei constantly flashing back to the reasons why he quit, although it packs a strong emotional punch as a payoff. Each time Kousei flashes back, it reveals a tiny bit more on what actually happened and your interpretation of the events continually evolve. This can get tiring, although the payout ultimately is worthwhile. That, and it does dramatically increase the tension in the atmosphere, to the point where you’re as anxious about Kousei’s performance as his friends are.
There is a lot of slapstick humor, particularly with the over the top reactions from characters. This is not a bad thing since they are funny, although sometimes it happens when you don’t expect it. Surprisingly, most of the time when this happens, it doesn’t ruin the tone of the current scene, at other times, it is jarring and out of place. It plays strongly with themes of relationships, whether that is the bond between mother and child, or romantically between a pair. It also strongly hints, perhaps too strongly, of the issues that Kaori is hiding.
Around the middle of the season, there is a feeling of dread. While not everything has been going perfectly, you can start to get a sense that things are about to go bad. The happy times never last, time moves on whether the characters want it or not. You start seeing their content lives beginning to unravel. It’s a sad and painful thing to watch, and pretty much the only person that’s immune is Ryota, more due to being oblivious than anything. And since you’re the viewer who sees all sides of the events, it’s even more agonizing to sit through.
It inserts another subplot in the middle of the season, which can be distracting compared to the primary drama. It is yet another opportunity for the anime to throw its emotional weight around. It does a good job at reflecting the satisfaction of your hard work being paid off after a performance. However, while it tries to show character growth through their experiences, it can feel like it jumps several steps in one go, such that their actions don’t immediately make sense.
The ending seems to want to make a point. Instead of the happy route, it introduces a lot of complications. The end result is an ending that’s filled with tension. You have the same feeling of being overwhelmed as Kousei, who just can’t catch a break. It’s so much to pile onto a young teenager. While it can be annoying to see Kousei succumb back to the depths of his shell time and again just when you thought he had overcame it, at the same time, you can’t blame him for doing so. As you near the final episode, the story doesn’t feel like it was going to taper off. This is not a negative thing, but only because there was so many events that just keep coming, it didn’t have the atmosphere of a story that was nearing its conclusion.
Nevertheless, the final episode is one hell of an emotional roller-coaster. The performance was so enthralling that time melted away. You’ll watch in disbelief as the characters grapple with what has happened, you don’t believe it yourself either. Yet, it gives meaning to the themes that the anime is covering and it is such a strong ending. It really helps pull you away from the importance of some things, and highlights the importance of others. The OVA takes place before the events of the season, and shows off all the interactions that the characters had when they were kids. It’s a bit coincidental at times, and it reuses a lot of the scenes we had already seen, but adds some clearer glimpses on what motivated the characters.
Overall, while there was some uneven pacing throughout the season, Your Lie in April manages to have an extremely strong finale. At times, you wonder whether the focus is on Kousei’s professional career as a pianist or his personal relationships. The fact is that both are intertwined, and that he is walking a tough road. Kousei and Kaori’s relationship and their chemistry works well as a build up to the grand finale, in which it just blows you out of the water with its execution. It’s not a perfect story, but it’s a very good one.
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