After years of mental and physical abuse, “human metronome” Kousei Arima is left with a piano that he cannot hear or play after the tragic death of his mother. Two years later, Kousei resultantly acknowledges the piano, despite the numerous rivals and friends made with it. That is not to say that he is on the road to fully breaking out of his “sullen” shell-not without help from eccentric musician Kaori Miyazono, pulls the monotone Arima into her technicolor world with the powerful medium of music.
Shigatsu no Kimi no Uso is, at its core, a story about the power of inspiration and change, as well as the people who bring it; it’s no surprise that with the right people in our lives they force to realize a part of ourselves that we have forgotten or repressed. It’s also a story about the power of music, which, I think, is self-explanatory. This is a basis for a very heartwarming drama as well as a very compelling romance, but the execution of this plot is very poor.
Despite of all this loquacious criticism, why do people like this anime? Well, A-1 has really pulled out all the stops; the palette proudly shows the anime’s parading optimism; Kaori doesn’t just jump into a lake, she jumps into a pool of sky looked upon by an iridescent sun, characters are constantly placed against an ever blooming and fruitful spring, shown with blushing pinks and blazing oranges. It’s a wonderful feeling to be sucked into free spirited nature of the color palette… that’s what sells people on the anime-feeling.
It’s the feeling of love, of loss, of determination, of death-all wrapped up in an incessant and beautiful spring. You watch this this anime because it is one giant feeling.
Story
It would seem that Shigatsu no Kimi no Uso is spinning a tale much more complex than one world believe. Step back and you will see that this is not the case.
You’re probably still on the last lines of my introduction, these lines where I say the anime “unspools truths”? What does that even mean? Such whimsical romantic stories give life a much more fantastical view (since love and life itself can be a magical thing), so “the world” that the anime presents will be very fantastical and magical, almost making the world seem like a fantasy. Therefore, the world that people will see will be very idealistic to keep any cynics at bay, as it unspools the fantastical look, as well as any emotional impact the story can have. In exploring and supporting those ideals, this makes the characters and story can seem a little far-fetched, and heard to empathize with. (For example, this anime goes on to prove to music is beautiful, but for Kousei, music is associated with pain and grief, why should he even acknowledge music? But I guess that’s just cynicism.)
Without acknowledging darker shades, you can’t have any light. However, with too much light there is no dark. In Shigatsu, there is no different perspective that make this show more realistic, and therefore it makes Shigatsu no Kimi no Uso very narrow minded and biased; instead of providing a little ambiguity that would challenge the viewer to understand the characters and themes better, Shigatsu just spells out what it wants you to believe, and I didn’t like or buy what they are selling.
Simply nod if you heard this story before (and you will). There’s a (young) man in the story, and he’s feeling a little down because something has affected his life either emotionally or mentally, (or even spiritually) and therefore it numbs or weakens his value of life. Until, one day, he meets the girl that will change his life. She’s witty, cute, and will show you how life is to be lived.
Of the abundancy of characters in this anime, the characters that really matter are Kousei and Kaori. Kousei is the melancholic pupil and Kaori the eccentric teacher. In romantic media, the trope most employed here is the Manic Pixie Dream Girl trope, and there more problems with the trope than you think. Of the trope reflects how people and the right moment and time, have the power to change lives. However, this also comes with many negative connotations; one waits around for the one that will change his life, or the one that enacts change is bound to come, plus, it makes it seem the way that you live is wrong, or the way that life treats is wrong, and therefore life owes you the one that will solve all your problems? You should know that life does not work that way, so if Kaori is the designated manic Pixie Dream Girl, is this what we can infer from her presence in the story? Much more about her role in the story later.
You could contradict me here in saying that Shigatsu is much more simple than that, that the story is just saying that people have the power to change and influence, nothing more, nothing less. But if you really want change to happen, there’s no point in waiting around for it to happen to you or for you, you must make it happen yourself. If you are depressed or in a mental rut, you do not need to depend on other people to fix that. Yes, you can depend on people to give you a push in the right direction, but you cannot let them drive you down the path that you want to create for yourself.
Characters
Kousei Arima is an introverted, shy, and cynical boy. He is also very awkward and dense, and these traits are played for comedy and laughs-which is precisely why I don’t like his character. He doesn’t feel real- because his nerdy and awkward personality fits well for comedy, I feel that that’s the extent of his personality on the story. Did the writers think making him a victim of abuse first and foremost shape his personality would him seem too harsh to emphasize with? The only thing that the abuse shapes is a laser guided deterrent so the number of episodes goes up.
The impact of his abuse is mental and emotional, but not three dimensional. Sure he’ll stop hearing the piano notes, his mother’s face will haunt him, he’ll get anxiety, but only when the plot allows it. In the 2nd episode, he gets a little anxious for entering Towa hall, but then he grabs Kaori’s hand, so it’s okay. And then he gets mad and Tsubaki for bringing him out because it triggers his anxiety, but it’s okay because he sits perfectly still for the performance. So you want to give the boy mental illness and then take it away next scene, or only when its convenient?
Let’s take a step back here, Kousei is 14 years old, and his mother died when he was 12. Give or take, there is a substantial number of years of abuse that really does not show in the anime, despite the two years of grieving that comes after. Given what he has experienced, Kousei should have a little more to show besides being a shy, obedient child.
For example, You don’t see any bags under his eyes, despite people trying to help him he doesn’t push people away (because victims of abuse have trust issues), he doesn’t try to isolate himself, he’s not showing signs of depression… and if you catch my drift, we don’t need to take Arima to extremely edgy and harsh level, I’m saying that Kousei’s saying that his truthful cynicism about the influence of other people, as well as the power of music could balance out Kaori’s, since she carries the whole show’s tone of optimism on her shoulders Im not saying that we Even though the piano is the number one cause of stress, he does not fight against the people to ask him to play the piano.
Victims of abuse are more than shy, awkward children. In the case of Arima, he really could have been a much more developed a much well-rounded character; he was exploited, used, and then abandoned; he could really provide a darker point of view that could balance out this shows overzealously cheery and optimistic show.
Overall, I feel that the execution of Kousei’s character is bland, just because you add a tragic backstory and make him cry in a couple scenes doesn’t mean you have a character that have a complete character, more like a plot device.
Point is, Kaori is not really a character, but a plot device. She serves as the shows message theme and ideology, aesthetically through bright colored hair, contacts, and personality. But because she’s dying from an unknown disease she automatically special; she covers up her death from her friends, therefore making the Lie in April (and now you realize that you’ve come full circle). Her character is only her death, and because she’s dying she decides to live life to the “fullest”.
I’m not a fan of this trope either. This trope is called Live like Your Dying, it supports an ideology that you should grade life by the horns and live it. This trope sounds nice, but is also very problematic; first off, because you have a terminal illness, why does this put you in charge of showing other people how to live?
Just because Kaori’s dying, why does that require her to become Kousei’s teacher on how to live 101? When ones die of a terminal illness, does one get some external enlightenment saying “Oh, no. That’s all wrong? Here’s how you actually live life!” No! That’s stupid, and could never happen!
For example, there’s an episode where Kaori says “You’re 14, you should be living life to the fullest!” and to illustrate this, she jumps off a ledge into a pool of water. I get the writers are trying to illustrate that we should take risks or leaps, but isn’t she described as frail and skinny? Wouldn’t she then die? This reminds me of a quote I read once: “The risk I took was calculated, but man, I am bad at math.” Second, why do you have to wait to die to start living? You could contract me by saying that death was the push to finally give her the courage to do the things she wanted, but all she did was put blue contacts in and include herself in waffles. Are you telling me you couldn’t do that if you didn’t have a death sentence?
Kaori is every Manic Pixie Dream Girl ever. Kaori is every main character’s mother or guardian that dies to so the audience can sympathize quicker with the main character (therefore negating the need for any further character development for the main character or their supporter).
The rest of the characters are flatter than cardboard.
Did I enjoy this? No. The characters and flat, the story is basic, and not really executed properly. Really, this anime just tells me that A-1 knows good stories, but not good execution.
If there is one great thing about the anime, it’s the OST, uploaded on YouTube for the enlightenment of your ears.
