Your Lie in April

"Did I reach you? I hope I did." I nearly skipped this gem just because of the music tag. Not really big into music anime but somehow the art dragged me into watching the first few episodes. First episode was an average episode with few interesting plot lines. But the second episode was the hook. Irony. The tag that made me nearly skip this anime was the one that kept me in it. The music, the music... THE MUSIC.. what can I say? It was just right down my taste. Never in my life did I thought of "oh hey let's listen to some classicalmusic" but this anime opened a new taste in music in me. And I'm grateful for that. The first half and second half have clear differences with a very smooth pacing and objectives in mind. Some may say the pacing was slow and sometimes it felt that a point is being dragged out for long. As much as I understand where they are coming from, I feel that this series took the right amount of time to build up for the many impact full moments that is present. The inner monologues that the series loves to do felt right to display the conflicts that our characters are fighting with. Also, the conflicts dealt with are very realistic and people can very much relate to them. I happen to be one of them being able to relate to our main male protagonist. The cast of characters in this show is pretty high. As a 22 episode anime, I think it did an excellent job portraying those characters. As most animes, not all the characters were fully fleshed out, and I didn't expect it to do so. The ones that mattered most were developed beautifully. Besides, nearly everyone's thought process were clear, motivations/purpose in tact and passion which shone through. Sound is something that I will not even talk about since it is subjective. The main reason, however, that I will not dive deeper is because for me, it was perfect. I couldn't have asked for anything more. Animation wise. Throughout the whole series, it was standard stuff from A-1 Pictures. It did have some drop from time to time, especially during the comedy segments, which I didn't find distracting but it wasn't great to say the least. Animation stood out where it counts. Those performances. I would have been really been disappointed if the animation was average in those moments, because of how beautiful the soundtracks are. But A-1 delivered, and they both complimented each other outstandingly. By the end of the series, I was just left in awe, and honestly a bit (extremely) emotional. To compare, the 'feels' in this series (my opinion) surpasses the highly praised Clannad: After Story for one simple reason. I was just slightly more attached to the relationship our main characters shared than I was with Clannad. But the story is not about tragedy. It's about inspiration, passion, moving forward, family, friendship, helping each other (many more). It is about life and how hard it can be to carry on, but you still gotta do it. You still gotta live your life to your fullest. "If you can't move with your hands then play with your feet! If you don't have enough fingers, then use your nose as well! Whether you're sad, you're a mess, or you've hit rock bottom, you still have to play! That's how people like us survive." - Kaori Miyazono. Overall 9.4/10.

My Thursdays won't be the same after finishing this anime. Shigatsu has taken me to a world of music that I will never forget. Even though the story isn't anything new, the way it was written and directed make it feel like one. It is a story that revolves around music and how it connects people and how it affects them. It does not only affect them in a good way, but in a bad way too. And with that premise, a beautiful story about tennagers started. Although there were some characters that didn't get a proper development to know and understand their own problems, motivations, anddreams, they didn't feel empty and meaningless. They all had a purpose and most of them where helpful to our main characters. They didn't feel cliché neither, even when we got some of them like the childhood friend and the dandy best-friend. And the best part, at least to me, is that there was no fan-service. I didn't get to see a flaw in the animation in the 22 episodes aired. The palette of colours used, especially the blue ones, were gorgeous, while the performance moments were dynamic and realistic. Not to mention the opening and ending sequences, which are to date some of my favourites of all time. Add to this a beautiful ost and amazing songs for the openings and endings and you'll feel in heaven. The opening songs were upbeat and represented a good tonal contrast to the story, while the ending songs complemented it, especially the second one, which can make you cry (if you were not crying already) after the emotional final episodes. Overall, this anime has been one of the bests I've ever seen. It hooked me since the first teaser, and never let me go until the last episode. It is not a hard story, so everyone can enjoy it as much as I did. With loveable and relatable characters with deep stories, a gorgeous animation and an amazing score, I'm pretty sure that this is one of the best anime from the past few years, and the best (TO ME) of this season. I can recommend this show to anyone who want to watch and experience a good, heart-warming romance anime.

**SPOILER FREE REVIEW** The latest romantic-comedy/drama to take the anime world by storm is a little project known as Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso, or as many people know it, “Your Lie in April”. YLA has been the talk of the last two seasons as it has managed to captivate audiences around the world with its unbelievably bright colors and fantastic musical score complete with both famous classical pieces and original hits. However, if there is one thing about this show that people can’t help but gorge themselves on, it’s the melodrama. That’s right folks: a romantic show contains MELODRAMA! Try to contain your surprise! Sinceintense over-exaggeration is virtually the only way to make shows like this interesting, know that I’m willing to overlook melodrama to a certain degree… But not to THIS degree. Ladies and gentlemen: Do you think you know monologuing? Oh ho ho, you’re about to. Synopsis: Kousei Arima is a former piano-playing prodigy; he was the best player alive for his young age until some serious mental trauma forced him to quit. He has refused to touch a musical instrument ever again, until he meets an eccentric girl named Kaori Miyazano; the girl who would change his life forever. YLA got off to a charming start with a great comedic focus while still hinting at a sufficiently dramatic backstory. In combination with the previously mentioned art and music, this anime showed promise. By the time the breathtaking violin performance in episode 2 had finished, pretty much everyone was hooked on this show, and understandably so. However, it didn’t take long for it to divulge into one of the most laughable and overly drawn-out excuses for a narrative I’ve ever seen. This show is about 10% original content and about 90% REPEATING THAT SAME CONTENT. Over and over and over and over and over and over again! You’d think it was a parody of an anime drama rather than an actual iteration into the genre if you didn’t know any better. This anime should have been 12 episodes TOPS, especially considering all the pointless side characters that serve no purpose. Instead, we get an anime that is just monologuing on top of monologuing episode after episode. You REALLY have to slog to get through all of it. I find it hard to pay attention to a show that’s just going to spell everything out for me a million times; ever hear of subtlety? SHOW. Don’t tell. That’s not to say that the drama is all that bad when they actually decide to advance the plot though. There are several instances of legitimately investing and interesting storytelling in this anime, but it’s too few and far between be worthy of any real praise. Not to mention that it is constantly interrupted by inopportune comedy during or immediately following a dramatic moment. The strange thing is that the comedy can be pretty good too; this show has gotten more than one chuckle out of me. The problem lies in the directing, which is causing these elements to work against each other rather than cooperatively. Instead of adding another dimension to the show, the comedy merely dulls the edge of the more important dimension, and that’s obviously a major problem. The characters aren’t necessarily bad, but I found them to be pretty poorly handled overall. Kousei, for example, is inconsistent. He will tell the audience how he feels about the SAME thing in SAME way over and over and over again, but there are also times when we should know what he is thinking and simply don’t. For example, it’s nonsensical how the most minor of exchanges will stick with him throughout the entire show and be monologued about dozens of times, but then major interactions between him and anybody not named Kaori are instantly forgotten even when they should be having a major impact on him. Kousei is an okay character, but his backstory is really the only thing that defines him. I was personally more partial to his best friend, Tsubaki, whose alternate perspective of having to deal with a struggling friend is often more interesting than the person who is actually suffering. Kaori, on the other hand, really held the show back in my opinion. Yes she’s cute, yes her violin performance was the best scene of the show, and yes she is the source of lots of drama. The problem is that she is treated a lot more like a plot device and a lot less like a character. With all the monologuing that goes on in this show, can someone explain to me why we never find out Kaori’s true feelings in regards to so many events? Where exactly does her love of music come from? How does it motivate her? What are her specific feelings on Kousei at various intervals in the show? What about Watari? We don’t know until the final episode of the show so we can pretend that all this vital information which we desperately need to get invested in her is some sort of Shyamalan twist; it's completely immature and ineffective. Kaori simply shows up, does whatever she needs to do to create drama, then leaves. She is the weakest character in the show and a big reason why I found the romance to be poorly executed and completely one-sided. I never felt like I knew this person. In conclusion, Your Lie in April is a cheesy drama loaded with inopportune comedy and cringe-worthy dialogue. It has its moments and the musical score/animation are wonderful, but bad directing and the lack of so much as an ounce of subtlety killed it. If you’re one of those mushy-gushy drama lovers, I really can’t recommend against this show since its flaws aren’t too much more egregious than what you would normally see, but if not, I don’t think you need to go out of your way to watch it by any means.

'Your Lie in April' is quite possibly the most disappointing anime that I have ever seen. This is because the series pulls you in with gorgeous visuals, fantastic sound work, an interesting concept and elements of delicious suspense... and then lets you down with horrible story execution, insufferable characters, and an ending which makes you want to go into "Kyle mode" and punch a hole through the fucking screen. I really, REALLY wanted to like this series... but it just wouldn't let me. To get it out of the way, here is how I rated the show (out of 10): Story: 3 Art: 10 Sound: 10 Characters: 2 Enjoyment: 2 Overall: *3/10* ***SPOILERWARNING: PLOT ELEMENTS & ENDING REVEALED*** I thought about delving into detail on everything wrong, and right, about the series, but I think it would be better if I focused on the two aspects which drag this series down into the pits: Kaori, the female lead; and the "twist" ending. Let us begin with Kaori, who is lowkey one of the most terrible FMCs I have ever seen. She is selfish, dishonest, manipulative, abusive, self-righteous and histrionic; far more resemblant of a spoiled ditzy cheerleader than a well-accomplished music prodigy. She spends the entire series forcing Kousei to relive traumatic experiences just so she can get him to play the piano, either as her accompaniment on-stage or simply for her own amusement, all the while leading him on with mixed signals as she is dating his best friend, a popular jock-type who is almost his exact opposite. She constantly belittles him for doing any little thing she doesn't like, hitting him excessively and/or talking down to him like a misbehaving child. On occasion, she will be incredibly sweet & endearing towards him while they're hanging out... before eventually ditching him abruptly to hang out with her boyfriend. Throw all this shit into a blender, and you will have yourself a smoothie made out of male tears & textbook psychological abuse. Such behavior by itself doesn't necessarily mean the character is poorly-written, but what makes it particularly unpleasant is that her stupid bullshit is presented as though it were a good thing for all parties involved! She is framed as some quasi-tsundere goddess with a heart of gold when she is actually just a sick, twisted, manipulative teenage bitch with a superiority complex. Talk about cognitive dissonance! Had she been portrayed as more damaged and/or morally-ambiguous, which is far more suited to her actions, the entire series would have been drastically improved as a result, and she would have been, in the end, a far more compelling and even likable character... but alas, that is not what happened. Which brings us to the abysmal "twist" ending, and the biggest "fuck yo couch" moment this series could have possibly given. Are you ready for this shit? *drumroll* And, behold: It turns out that Kaori was in love with Kousei all along, and only dated his best friend to get close to him - the titular lie in April: "I like Watari" - claiming that she didn't have the confidence to approach him; however, Kousei doesn't find out about this until he reads it in a note, which she arranged to have delivered to him only after she was already dead. What. The. Fuck. So let me get this straight: She spent how many months belittling this poor kid over the agonizing pain he experienced due to the death of his abusive & overbearing mother by being incredibly abusive herself, playing with his emotions and leading him on the entire time, all while dating a guy she secretly doesn't even like just to subject him to this disgusting behavior... because she was in love with him?! How fucking pathetic! Seriously, it's like watching an eight year-old boy go bully his crush on the school playground because he doesn't want the other kids to make fun of him. Oh, and let's not overlook her lame bullshit excuse about not having the confidence - yeah, as if I am going to believe that a bubbly & outgoing teenaged girl doesn't have the guts to start up a conversation with a shy loner, especially since she had no issue with beating & scolding him throughout the entire fucking show. This plot twist, and how it was executed, instantly made Kaori one of the most unlikable characters imaginable, and further ruined what little enjoyment the series could have brought to the table. Again, had they presented Kaori and/or the revelation differently, this twist could have instantly made her more compelling, sympathetic & endearing, and had you looking at her actions in an entirely different light, especially since harboring such love for Kousei would have seemed more antithetical to her personality. Instead, we get a boring-yet-infuriating resolution to a mediocre story that leaves you feeling anything but satisfied. _______________ IN SUMMATION: As I said before, this show had a world of potential, and I really did want to like it. I honestly thought it would have everything I wanted in a story like this, and it started out strong enough to make me anticipate the rest of the series... but then it took a watery shit all over my expectations, leaving me annoyed & dissatisfied in the end. Fucking blah.