Spring Sings Sweet “Lies”. Your Lie In April Review.
I just finished the anime Your Lie In April and felt compelled to write about it. So here's my first review for this blog and it will be for Your Lie In April.
Emotion is a powerful thing. It can dictate action or cement relationships. It can be as destructive as it is gentle. It can be tender or burn you like fire. Each of us, through living life, will experience different emotions. Each of us will need to learn to deal with our emotions.
Your Lie In April is a story about emotion and how to persevere through the thick and thin of it. It's a story about how when we let emotion control us we can lose who we are. It's also about how love, one of the greatest emotions of all, can help us find who we are again.
Kosei Arima, our main protagonist, is a piano prodigy. Taught to play piano by his mother at a young age, his natural talent and hard work promised a bright future as musician. However his mother became ill and tragically passed away while he was still young. The trauma of her death left Kosei petrified of playing the piano. He could not hear the notes anymore, even though there was nothing wrong with his hearing. He slow faded away into the shadows and began to live a life in grey. His life became a monotone, colorless world where happiness is always trumped by tragedy. One fateful day, in a park, would change everything. On that day he met Kaori Miyazono, a girl bursting with vivid color and beauty, and she would change Kosei's world forever.
Normally the synopsis of a story is the first thing that will interest me in series. That wasn't the case with Your Lie In April. It was the art and animation that first caught my eye. I watched one of the PV's for it and instantly knew I needed to watch this series.
A-1 Pictures really hit the nail on the art for this show. It's stunning! Beautiful colors, with clean, flowing motion and a high attention to detail made this into a giant piece of eye candy.
Then with in seconds of the first episode the ear candy started. The 3rd movement of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata made me fall even more in love with the series. The anime is themed around Romantic Era Music and the musical director did a great job choosing music for the series. I love Romantic Era music and the fact that there was so much Chopin made me very happy! I especially loved the last episode's use of Chopin's Ballade No.1. I had chills running down my spine and tears streaming down my face as the visuals and music told a mournful, yet beautiful story.
The story itself was well written. Award winning source material sure is nice huh!? One thing i'd like to say however, is that watching this week to week i feel is not the best way to view this anime. I'd personally rather watch in a more consistent flow with less gaps between episodes. I feel the flow of the story would lend itself better to that format. The ending is gorgeous and ties up the whole story in a neat little bow.
The characters in general were pretty well written and performed. Kosei is easy for me to relate to as I am also a musical performer. I can understand his fear and it was depicted very well. Kaori is a gem. Her character is full of life and color and is brilliant every time she's on screen. My only beef really was that some of the supporting characters seemed very forced. I couldn't really relate to all of them and even though they had a purpose for being there, they seemed unnatural somehow.
Overall Your Lie In April is a beautiful anime with great art, great music, and a touching story. I can safely put it in the top tier of drama and romance anime's. It is worthy of a rewatch for me and if you are a fan of any of the other great dramas and art masterpieces like Clannad, Toradora, Golden Time, Nagi No Asukara or any of the other ones I didn't list you should be adding this your must watch list! An A+ Anime
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