Life is a concert, a conglomerate of symphonies and pieces that seamlessly transition from one song to the next. Like a concert hall, life has moments of crescendos, the rising areas where we feel accomplished, or pleased with ourselves, but it also has those moments of diminuendo, where our lives dip into sadness, failure, and despair. There are times where we speed up, even flutter by with the trills and flings of life, and there are times where we slow down to take in the small things that we sometimes miss. In the end though, life, much like music, ends just before the time that we finally begin to enjoy it. It is with this, that I bring you a review of Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso, better known as "Your lie in April."
Author's Note: (This is also my 100th review on MAL. YAY! :D )
Story (8.89/10): Arima Kousei was once a brilliant prodigy on the piano. Known throughout the entire music community in his hometown, he has now fallen into despair with the passing of his mother, also known as his music teacher. With the despair of losing one of the most important people in his life, Kousei has fallen into despair, now according to him, unable to hear the notes of the piano, now unable to hear or use his last tie to his now deceased mother. It is here in his despair and sorrow that on one faithful day in spring, underneath the cherry blossom trees, he hears the sound of music playing, and he meets the girl known as Kaori Miyazono, the girl who would change his life forever.
Shigatsu, as I like to call it, follows the story of Kousei as he, his friends Watari and Tsubaki , and most importantly, Kaori, bring Kousei back to the world of music, putting him in front of his trials, and the past the he is so desperately conflicted about. What I think this story excels so much in, is how we as the audience look through what Kousei is experiencing and go along with him as this new life of his takes him on a journey that he has never experienced before. We experience what being a pianist is like, and what kind of trials and tribulations someone of this career path experiences. (You know, without all the methodical practice. It kinda skips over that thankfully.) At the beginning, the show uses this kind of story as its plot. But as it advances, it changes into something more.
Shigatsu utilizes the theme of life as its main focal point in the series. Throughout the series, the show not only focuses on Kousei's story, but also the people that are around him. In life, we have many people around us that help us in different ways. Similar to this, Shigatsu uses this idea by running much shorter stories to our main protagonist, making the anime feel a little bit more real and developed. Within these, other character's ideals make the focal point of the series for just a brief moment and give the series more life.
In addition, Shigatsu has its own unique way of storytelling, a very brilliant way of doing so, I might add. In terms of actual dialogue, the show doesn't really utilize that as much as a normal anime would. Instead, half of the subtitles that you will be reading will be utilized in internal character monologues. Very often, the show will transition from a character interaction to a moment in time that focuses solely on one character thinking to his/herself. With this, the audience gets a very clear picture as to what the certain character is thinking at the moment, and the emotions that they are conveying become very prominent and clear to the viewer. Personally, I think that this is a great way to showcase the expansive amount of character growth in this series solely because of the fact that the internal monologues provide the viewer and easier way of understanding what each individual character is coming to terms with. It perfectly encapsulates what this show is about and it is by far, one of the highest points this show has in terms of storytelling. Sadly though, no show is without its flaws. (Now that would be a lie, if it didn't.)
Pacing is what I feel is one of the biggest flaws in this anime. With the show being 22 episodes long, the show is split up into two equal parts of 11 episodes, each half dealing with something different with progression of time. The biggest flaw I have seen with this show is the fact that both halves are incredibly different in terms of pacing. Bluntly put, the first half is way too drawn out and rather slow, while the second half is slightly rushed, with a good chunk of details missing. In addition, the show while provides little sidestories for a good deal of the cast, doesn't really do it for all. Two very prominent characters, Watari and Emi, don't get any portion of the story really devoted to themselves, as evident of the lack of personal narratives/internal monologues that a lot of characters have. While these flaws don't seem very big, in a show where story progression and character growth, explanation, and development are essential to the themes it was trying to convey, they become very glaring and put a bad chord to this show.
Overall though, Shigatsu's story was executed very well. While missing some details, the anime encapsulated the manga to a near perfect status, and finished the story of this beautiful little tale with a very heartfelt and emotional ending. The show deals with the hardships of loss, the grand thoughts of our own personal dreams and aspirations, the happiness and despair that life brings us, and overall, the idea of no matter how hard we are beaten down, we must keep moving forward. No matter what happens, we must keep on living.
Overview:
+ Simple, yet beautiful story
+ Exudes character growth and development
+ Internal monologues help with story-telling
- Pacing varies from episode to episode, creating imbalance
- Lacking growth/importance for some relatively key characters
Characters (8.76/10): In Shigatsu, the characters represent the instruments to a symphony. As they spin the tale of music, each individual character provides their own part to the song "plot", creating their own sound that melds well with the piece known as "Your lie in April."
Arima Kousei is our main protagonist in this series. As a prodigy on the piano, he has since two years prior to the story's beginning not performed in a piano competition, squandering around his miserable life day in and day out of his home as he deals with his mother's loss, forcing himself to play the thing that he hates the most even though he, according to him, "Can't hear the notes." Kousei out of all of the characters in this series gets the most character development, with every character warping around him as some kind of inspiration in order to help sing the tune that is his life. As the series progresses, you can see the progress he makes as a character as he relearns the piano, develop his own personal sound, and get closer to the people around him, especially one special girl.
And then, we have Kaori Miyazono. According to Kousei, Kaori is a selfish girl, a violent brute who forces him to go along with whatever antic she has come up with, making him go along with whatever she wants to do at the time, and punishing him every time he does something that displeases her. Kaori serves as Kousei's main inspiration and focus for why he plays the piano. Throughout the whole series, you can see how Kaori and Kousei grow a bond together, blossoming the aspect of life known as bonds and closeness between people. In the beginning, you don't really learn much about Kaori, but instead, about the influence that she has as you watch Kousei admire this girl's freedom and tenacity for life. As the series goes on though, you learn more about her, understanding more about who Kaori Miyazono is. What I think is a flaw for Kaori is the fact that she really remains a mystery for the show up until the very last episode. With a character that is so essential to the plot, the show doesn't really put much attention towards her past like a lot of other characters. While saving all the facts till the end does work for the show to some degree, I still wished that the series gave a bit more information on Kaori as a person during the span of the show rather than saving everything till the end.
Apart from these two, we have the other two "main" characters, Tsubaki and Watari. These two are an interesting duo of characters primarily because of the fact that rather than serving as main characters, they don't really show up all too often. The amount of screentime they both get doesn't really make them seem like a main character at all. Even less so for Watari's case because he really doesn't serve much of a purpose for the series besides one key point. This is evident because Watari doesn't actually get a single monologue to himself, instead, really just being that dude who likes soccer and girls. As for Tsubaki, the series does flesh her out a little more as a character. While small in comparison to Kousei, it was a nice addition to the story that in the long run, did play out some significance to the overall story.
As for supporting cast, the series does well in developing a good number of its side characters. From Takashi and his little sister's aspirations for piano, to Hiroko's atonement for her past deeds. Apart from them though, the other characters serve rather minimal roles, but are really of no downside to the series. However, like I have mentioned before, the character known as Emi doesn't particularly get much development. I find this odd because she's on the same level of importance as the characters mentioned above, yet she doesn't really get any time devoted to herself. It's this imbalance that leaves the sound of the show slightly off-key because pretty much every other character that has some sort of importance towards Kousei is given a section of the show devoted to them.
Overview:
+ Fantastic character growth
+ Growth for side characters relevant to the story
- Kaori's development came too late/involvement wasn't there
- Several key characters didn't receive same treatment as others
Art and sound (9.09/10): A-1 pictures have done it again. Shigatsu wa kimi no uso is an anime that has very stunning visuals. From the first minute of the series, the show is breathtaking to look at, utilizing a very light and detailed environment and artstyle as its way of conveying the story. Showcasing a lot of symbolism during the piano performance scenes is also what this show excels at doing, utilizing visual imagery to convey the emotions that the pianists playing at the time are conveying, making the pre-recorded concert music sound very stunning.
The show uses a dual artstyle in order to convey what it wants to show. In addition to the already stunning visuals that the show normally provides, Shigatsu also has a comedic style of animation to it, essentially reverting the characters to become little demonic sprites of themselves rather than their ordinary, beautifully looking representations. While this is quite niche, the show does suffer a little bit from this. The reason being is that sometimes, the comedic artstyle doesn't really fit really well with scene that it's placed in, (sometimes putting it in a scene with its standard animation), which can really leave an ugly sound. Sometimes, the comedic style can look downright bad because it's so unfitting of the moment it's being used in.
As for music, there is no denying that an anime about music would express such a beautiful set of tracks. Because the series is split into two parts, each part features their own OP and ED. For openings, we have "Hikaru Nara" and "Nanairo Symphony". Both of these tracks are beautiful to listen to. Hikaru Nara has a very big band feel to it, with a group of 6 people known as Goose House singing a six part harmony to the song, while Nanairo Symphony uses a single singer in a small band. Both of these openings are beautiful and stunning in their own way, giving off their own individual feels that can drive one to not only sing to the lyrics (given they've heard it long enough), but dance and move along to the beat.
As for endings, we have "Kirameki" for the first half, and "Orange" for the second half. Compared to their opening counterparts, these two have very different emotions for each of them. While they both utilize one singer, Kirameki gives off the hopeful and bright feel that corresponds to the pleasant feelings that life can give us, while Orange sings a sorrow filled and regretful tone responding to the sadness that life can deal us. All four of these tracks I feel are very memorable pieces that deserve credit where credit is due because when anime music is exceptionally memorable, I feel it should be considered a masterpiece.
In addition, Shigatsu's OST is fantastic to listen to. While the entire OST is more or less filled with tracks that sound rather similar, with only slight variations of instruments being used to play the tracks, practically every track is beautiful in their own way, and each are memorable in their own way. Each piece is used at the right moments in the anime and help exemplify the power that each scene has, thus, making the "feels train" hit just a little bit harder.
Overview:
+ Stunning animation
+ Fantastic soundtrack
+/- Comedic art style is hit/miss
+/- Good chunk of the OST sounds rather similar
Personal Enjoyment (9.78/10): When I first saw this show on Anichart, my first thought was "Cool! A music anime that's actually about music!" (Sorry, the memories of K-on being a "music anime" flooded in) When I first started this series, I knew that this was going to be good the moment I started. I expected myself to be completely blown away by what I was about to witness. In the end though, I was sorta right.
Did I like this anime?
Absolutely. As a music player myself, it was easy to engross myself in the beautiful soundtrack and the concert pieces that this anime featured during its runtime. Not only were the aesthetics amazing, but I found myself engrossed with the story, feeling depressed and sad after every episode. The characters for the most part drew me in, and I was glad that this series didn't disappoint me.
What didn't I like about this anime?
As I have stated before, with a show that tries its best to stay true to what it wants to do, any messups become clear as day. For Shigatsu, the flaws existed partially in every genre I have analyzed. The pacing of the series is unbalanced and many times, jump over things and sometimes don't let certain events/moments sink in fully, skipping to the next part without a moment's notice. In addition, the comedic visual style clashes heavily with the standard animation, leaving the viewer to view the scene as weird, and the character growth/explanation for certain characters (especially Kaori) were not brought to its fullest extent, and docked the series down a bit.
Would I recommend this anime?
Yes. Personally, I feel like Shigatsu is a great example and representation of life in animated form. It begins slow like the beginning of a piece, rising up and up with every note being played, before ending on a soft major chord before you even realize that the series is over. It represents the beauty and terrifying nature that our own futures have, and that no matter what, we have to look forward. Drama isn't everyone's favorite genre, and it's understandable if music isn't either. But, from what I've seen, Shigatsu is a beautiful show, stunning in almost every aspect, and is a prime example of what a good anime can be. Saying that it's perfect, well it's a bit much. Saying it's a touching and well-written story, well, it'd be a lie if I said it wasn't.
Overall Score: 8.95/10
