Story: 7/10
Let me explain. While great, this series had some serious issues. My main problem was some of Tsubaki's storylines, as well as pacing in the second half. Her story was by far the least substantial out of all the characters yet she probably got the second most time to tell it. As a result I experienced about three points in this series where I questioned whether I could just skip ahead by ten minutes and I wouldn't have missed out on anything. This is coming from someone who wouldn't dare skip the 8 minute long duets and breathtaking Chopin piano solos. I got more out of those than 3-4 episodes of the same thoughts on loop.
All three of these points happened some time in the second half, where the series, with the exception of a few developments from characters like Nagi and Kousei, plunges from a show about rediscovery of self and challenges to a midnight soap opera. The last 9 episodes would've been better condensed into maybe four or five. While I do appreciate the time the writers spent to build atmosphere, if you're not much of a shoujo watcher, there WILL be moments in this anime where you just wish they'd stop trying to tell a story and get back to the music.
Art: 9/10
The art is nothing short of a rollercoaster. When the animators want, they can produce near ufotable levels of animation, and this anime did a great job of determining where to focus that budget. But getting Fate/Stay Night the Musical one moment then seeing Powerpuff Girls Z the Comedy literally the next second can be a bit jarring the first time. Brushing that aside, the art compliments the sound perfectly both in tone and animation.
Sound: 10/10
Let's get the obvious one out of the way. This wouldn't be a revered musical anime without nearly a nearly flawless soundtrack. Half the time, it is less the story or characters but actually the music that draws those infamous tears that everyone hears about getting when watching this series. Unlike Nodame Cantabile, another amazing musical anime, not once will you feel like you're being forced to sit in on an orchestra for the first time and expected to be able to analyze the meaning of the songs yourself. It gives an execution that even non piano players such as myself can connect to more personally. I would recommend this anime to anyone just on music alone.
Characters: 6/10
Keep those pitchforks in check and I'll try to explain this. There are a few characters I would genuinely visit again on dark rainy days in the recesses of my mind; the main leads luckily being those two. Kaori wasn't just the bright chipper girl and Kousei wasn't just the one-dimensional guy every girl goes for who's recovering from trauma. The development of how they met all the way to what anyone can argue as either being an unexpected or predictable conclusion is one of the most beautiful parts of this series. As the main pairing, it's a lot more difficult, to get viewers on board with what is considered canon, than people think. Yet not once did I feel that the mangaka bore that as an ulterior motive. Either character could completely hold up a show on their own. It wasn't so much of a romance as both of them learning to move on with no regrets, and the romance came naturally. THAT'S how a shoujo should be written. Now why such a low score then?
Aside from possibly Aiza, I was disappointed in how little I could sympathize with any other characters. They either follow some troupe so faifthfully it's jarring how unoriginal they are, are diluted to the point that you can't see anything but water, or are simply ignored for the entirety of the series. Watari and Nagi go into the first category in quite a self-explanatory way. Tsubaki, being the lone inhabitant of the second category, has a bad habit of going off into tsundere mode just when you expect her to get any development that does NOT involve being in love with Kousei. Her tirades are such a typical product of unimaginative attempts to create a violent tsundere childhood friend that's not a violent tsundere childhood friend that it brings this god-tier shoujo down a couple notches whenever she appears. Then there're characters like Emi and Hiroko with grand introductions just to spend the rest of the series being...there.
Enjoyment: 8/10
I'd recommend this to anyone who can look past a few troupes and wouldn't mind getting teary eyed nearly every episode. Those who normally can't sit through shoujo's will probably have a more tolerable time with this one than other animes, but don't expect it to be the best thing ever. Your Lie in April is certainly the kind of series that becomes less reverberating the further you get. Luckily it never completely loses its clutch on your heart as it leads into its double-edged blade ending.
Overall: 8/10
