Shigatsu is that kid at the back of the room, whom on first glance looks a bit weird. You steer clear of them until you're forced into a situation where you have to interact with them, and once you do, you realise there is nobody you would rather spend more time with than them.
Buckles up Ladies and Gentlemen and strap yourselves in for my review of Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso.
Story- 9
Shigatsu's story is somewhat predictable yet also beautiful in its simplicity. Arima Kousei, a young piano prodigy who has lost his zest for life meets a girl in the park who radiates a joyous aura and is immediately captivated by her. Sound simplistic? Well that's because I don't want to spoil anything for you. Needless to say these two people bond over their shared interest in music and soon become close friends. The story can take you from a warm fuzzy feeling to crying your eyes out (to this date Shigatsu is one of the only shows I have ever cried at.) using a combination of a good plot, combined with it's clever characters, emotive visuals and downright stunning soundtrack.
Art- 8
The art is beautiful. I really like it. The character's faces look a little... Different to the standard copy paste style you see most of the time now, but they don't look any worse. Indeed it gives the show its own unique style and helps it stand out as not just another generic slice of life romance with comedy undertones. So why only an 8? Well there's one thing that annoys me about the art.
During the show there are several flashback sequences that talk about the character's time during their childhood, and when I say childhood I mean they're between 5-10years old. The show draws them with weird heads (imo) and they don't represent the age they're supposed to be. They also look too old normally as well, but I can forgive that as a lot of manga/anime draw their characters looking slightly older than they are.
It impresses me to no end that the studio actually employed professional musicians to play the pieces the characters were to play, so they could model their hands so we could actually see the characters play the piano properly, and not just clunk their hands up and down like every other anime does.
Sound- 10
Now. This is the one bit I won't have anyone argue with me over. If you thought the story was bland, or don't like romance, or thought the art looked off. That's fine. I accept that, whilst I think this is one of the best anime I've ever seen not everybody will and that's fine. But this soundtrack. There's no way you can't like it. This is a musical show done right. A gorgeous originally composed soundtrack combined with uniquely played popular classical music really evokes a lot of emotions. Shigatsu's soundtrack truly can't be beat. I'm not usually one to like anime that focus on characters playing musical instruments/singing, but this show really gets a good balance between (actually useful and insightful) internal monolouges and actually playing the music in the musical scenes. The music played also does actually sound like it's brimming with emotion, and is something I'd definitely recommend people watch.
Character- 9
The character building is brilliant. The cast actually have likeable personalities and develop said personality's a tonne. Kousei starts of dark and brooding and we watch as Kaori (Our main heroine), drags him into the light kicking and screaming and we watch his slow transformation into a happy and vibrant person. Kaori also develops her character significantly as well and isn't just a plot device for our MC, but is in herself a dynamic human being. It truly feels like most of the cast and crew are genuine people, and not characters in a show.
There is one reason this section doesn't get a 10 and that's Tsubaki.
To put it simply Tsubaki is a ****. I'm not a fan of the secondary girl who cares for the MC at the best of times. At best, if they are done really well (which would generally mean spending more time on them than the main heroine), it makes me feel bad for them. At worst, as in the case of a show like this, where their personality is very annoying, it makes me hate them. Tsubaki is the typical tomboy character. She is the only person in the show who to me feels like a direct cut and paste with no personality, and most of the time she is on screen she ends up hitting Kousei or telling him he is stupid, followed by her running off and feeling sad about it by herself. Indeed during the climactic and emotional final scene (which had me in tears), she comes along and drops her generic dumb****ery as per usual and I wished to no end that the train that came past would have hit her.
Enjoyment- 10
Incase you couldn't tell by now I enjoyed this to no end. I don't think there's really much to say for this section other than how all the other sections have not only been executed either perfectly or near perfectly, but that they are all blended together superbly as well to create one emotional and though provoking show.
Overall- 10
I don't often give 10's. I currently have three shows at 10's out of all the shows I've ever watched (and I've only submitted a fraction of those on this site.). As of right now Yojouhan shinwa taikei, Jojo, and Shigatsu are the only things I deem worthy of 10's, and even then Yojouhan and Shigatsu are the only two I would consider masterpieces.
Do I recommend Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso?
Yes. Yes. God yes.
