[Rating]
Story: 6
Art: 8
Sound: 9
Character: 7
Enjoyment: 7
Overall: 7
[Story: 6]
Depressed piano player tries to bounce back and start competing again due to his introduction to a positive, enchanting girl.
The story at least has a real sense of structure and pretty decent forward momentum where nothing seems random or trivial. The problems lie in how the story is lacking a common thread and sacrifices so much to develop Kousei inadequately.
Story runs into many of the same issues that the characters run into. Story seems to flop around just in order to make Kousei do things that would develop him. For instance, the whole thing with Nagi's talent show seems forced and outside the scope of what the series should have been. You run into little sense of accomplishment from Kousei, beyond his music sounding good, because the mechanisms of the plot just don't allow it. In the grander scale, the story is pretty predictable once you are aware of Kaori's place in the world, which is early. There are a few episodes focusing just on Takeshi and Emi, and they just never pan out as characters.
The story just doesn't seem to invest its time well and doesn't know what it wants to be. Does it want to be a piano battle shounen? No, but it shows signs of it. Does the story want to develop all of its characters and do episodic character vignettes? No, but it shows signs of it. Does the story want to be a love quadrangle romance? No, but it shows signs of it. The only thing it commits to is developing Kousei in strange, unrelatable , heavy-handed ways and sacrificing all sorts of production aspects, characters, and plot points to do so.
[Art: 8]
Episode 1 looks gorgeous! Your lie in April does it's best when outdoors, using pinks and greens in highlights and outlines. When focusing on the character art so it doesn't falter. When using light in inventive and dynamic ways. Unfortunately, the series can't seem to keep this up.
Character art suffers pretty regularly. The designs are generally quite good, outside of Takeshi (that hair bothers me), but they are often drawn poorly when away from the shot. Series seems to go after more stranded, realistic hair for characters, but that is exactly what can cause the art to suffer. When unrefined, poor linework, the hair just looks like a mess. Beyond the hair and distinctive nose style, I don't think there is anything really putting this character art above other pretty good character art, objectively.
The setting is a huge drain on the art. So much of the series takes place in the piano hall, piano hall backstage, hospital, etc. Much of the series just lives in dull color palettes where the colorful cast doesn't belong and the series' highs just can't be achieved. The outdoor scenes can be gorgeous, especially when the series invests in it.
The background art is generally exceptional, and 3DCG is used well.
[Sound: 9]
Not much to say here. The sound is quite good. The voice acting and piano recordings are superb, and the sound is carefully mixed. High fidelity. I would say the actual score, beyond the piano sections, is pretty drab. I feel like there's only one track. I'm not sure, but that's what it feels like. It doesn't get in the way of anything, but... it's one track.
[Character: 7]
The characters are OK and enjoyable when you're watching them interact. That's about all the credit I can give.
There are so few fully developed characters. Even those with full development don't feel like they have been moved in the best way. Kousei is developed but just doesn't feel like a relatable character, since his mother and Kaori, the driving forces in his transformation, exist as 'unshakables' rather than humans. Also, most of his development happens through music. It is difficult to convince the audience of this, because there isn't much to feel beyond the music sounding 'good' or 'not good'. Kaori doesn't really develop at all, just has a highlight at the end which makes her more admirable. Tsubaki develops in her brain and has great potential as a character. However, her relationship with Kousei has only barely changed since the beginning of the series, and her relationship with Kousei is really the foundation of her character.
There many characters that are just completely left by the wayside when they don't feel like they should be. The problems with the characters overlap with the problems with the story, and that's because the characters are often just used as plot devices. For instance, Nagi exists solely so that her relationship with Kousei can be used as a foil for Kousei's relationship with Kaori. Takeshi and Emi are largely irrelevant, even though when they are introduced you get the feeling that they're going to be big players. Some characters are just totally dropped off, like Kousei's mom and Watari, even when, by all expectations, they should be big in development/plot.
[Enjoyment: 7]
'Heavy-handed' is what sums up this show. It is a little slow and can linger on points for quite a while, but it knows how to hit beats well. But there is just so much poor, heavy-handed production and storytelling.
Production. The way how, before the commercial break, the sound drops off and they three words are whispered incredibly loudly over a commercial panel. The way how, after a performance which was supposed to be considered 'good', the crowd goes dead silent for a few seconds and then erupts into cheers. These aren't the only things that make production heavy-handed, but these sort of epitomize the problems that Your lie in April runs into.
Themes. Extremely heavy-handed use of trains, cats, being underwater, and stars. People like themes and metaphor. People don't like it when you shout things in their face. People don't like it when metaphors do that either. It's ~heavy-handed~.
Drama, interactions between characters, and comedy sections are still quite enjoyable. This takes up the meat of the show.
[Overall: 7]
This show is overrated. I think that it is mostly due to the musical involvement, movie-like visuals, and all the ladies liking the shy, depressed MC. It's not a bad show. It's just overrated.
