Your Lie in April (四月は君の嘘)
is a 22 episode slice of life romance series based on the manga of the same
name by Arakawa Naoshi. The series aired on TV in Japan between the Fall
of 2014 and Spring of 2015.
Arima Kosei was a piano prodigy when he was younger. He has since abandoned the world of recitals and competition following the death of his mother. His guilt and regret regarding her death has caused him to develop psychological issues blocking his ability to play the piano. Considering his life meaningless he accepts his fate and continues living with little purpose. His childhood friend and neighbor, Tsubaki, is determined to return Kosei to a world of color and hope. Tsubaki convinces Arima to come with her and their friend Watari to see a violin recital. He arrives earlier than his friends and stumbles upon a girl who changes his world. The girl is a violinist who is competing in the event and the main reason Tsubaki is dragging her friends with. Tsubaki is working on hooking up Watari and the girl, Miyazano Kaori. Kaori confided in Tusbaki that she was interested in Watari. Kosei is the first one to see her though and his reawakened emotions stir with conflict. Kaori hits it off with all 3 of them but is technically inclined towards Watari. She plays with the attention she sense from Kosei and begins to refer to him as 'Friend A', using him as a companion and sounding board. She pushes him though and forces him to accompany her at a piano/violin recital. The more time they spend together preparing for the performance the more feelings Kosei develops. But his status of friend of possible boyfriend holds him back and he struggles to understand the level of attention she is giving him. Kaori forces him into the role of pianist once more but half way through the recital it breaks down as the old trauma's return. The performance is a failure but surprisingly Kaori couldn't be happier. She demands that Kosei continue with his efforts to return to his former glory so that they can play together again on a stage.
Kosei must battle the demons that haunt him before he can meet Kaori's expectations. She forces him out of his shell and he begins to find reason and focus to heal his wounds. Old rivals welcome his return to the competition circuit. At the same time Watari continues as normal with Kaori being his almost girlfriend. This brings unneeded stress on Kosei and Tsubaki alike. Tsubaki harbors deep and hidden feelings for her childhood friend but she wants to help him recover as much as possible. As Kosei progresses with returning to the world of joy he knew the horrors of his mother continue to haunt him. Those horrors and feelings of loss intensify when he discovers that Kaori is sick, possibly terminally ill. Regrets, conflicts of emotion and a strong desire to shut out the world for fear of more pain impede Kosei's progress. He has to figure out if he will ever be able to overcome his regrets, childhood traumas and the fear of deep loss once again.
Story-wise Kimi Uso is drenched in self hate, self affirmation and self esteem issues. The main characters are tragic hero's who would just as easily commit suicide than continue their existence. At one point the phrase, 'Will you commit double suicide with me' is uttered. Kosei had a horribly abusive childhood and then had to deal with that never being accounted for on top of parental abandonment following his mother’s death. His father works overseas, by the way. Kaori comes from a loving and caring family with the entire world in front of her, but is being held back by an unknown and debilitating illness. Kosei is an empty shell who decides to try and live once he meets Kaori. Kaori plays hard to get and teases him the entire time, swinging through moods and emotions with some alarming frequency. The side characters, particularly Tusbaki grumble in the wings about everyone’s lack of ability to communicate freely. Tsubaki herself enters a vanilla self destructive mode when she tries to deny her feelings for Kosei. Her eventual acceptance brings a well done breakdown confession. Watari...well he's not much more than a puppet that is offered up as a roadblock to the stories completion. Other peripheral characters come and go, mostly staying and popping up from time to time to change direction of the Kosei's dialog, but don't really offer much more than that. There are a few moments of over the top shonen style competition between Kosei and a few other piano students, but those theatrics flatten out when Kosei ultimately doesn't care about everyone else's level of competitiveness with him. Over all it was a bland and predictable story that did deliver some merit worthy emotional moments. There did end up being too many distractions that seemed to be filler more than anything, even if they were used to show the main characters mental development process.
Art-wise parts of the character designs were bothersome. Overbites and large glassy eyes. The animation was smooth and vivid in its color pallet. This series really utilized the current trend of erasing portions of characters glasses when restricting the viewer’s ability to see their eyes. Particularly since Kosei wears glasses. I want to figure out when this trend really started to take place but I can guess it has something to do with the social issues in Japan with eye contact. (It's extremely rude to talk to someone in person when they can’t see your eyes) One thing that stands out is the show tries to break the tension by reverting to some comical art styles. The young children in the show are shown in absurd and comical ways as well. Over all the artwork is stronger than the story. Some of the CG is clunky, particularly when showing the piano being played by a variety of characters. It was nowhere as smooth or accurate as that from Nodame Cantabile
Regardless of its flaws I did enjoy my time with Kimi Uso and wouldn't mind reading the manga to see what was left out of the anime. It ended in a way I enjoyed and was handled beautifully. It’s not full of fan service, the characters body types are realistic, if their hair isn't. Little things like that make it more enjoyable. There are plenty of segments of the story that could have been cut out and seemed to do little more than serve as filler and cheap plot tricks. The parts dealing with Kosei, Kaori and Tsubaki's feelings for each other are the meat of the show and the best parts. With its flaws this is still a good series in the ever growing romance anime list. Worth the time. This however, is not relatable to the highly enjoyable Nodame Cantabile.
The series was simulcast on Crunchyroll in North America and is being distributed by Aniplex. The manga is being released by Kodansha in North America.
Arima Kosei was a piano prodigy when he was younger. He has since abandoned the world of recitals and competition following the death of his mother. His guilt and regret regarding her death has caused him to develop psychological issues blocking his ability to play the piano. Considering his life meaningless he accepts his fate and continues living with little purpose. His childhood friend and neighbor, Tsubaki, is determined to return Kosei to a world of color and hope. Tsubaki convinces Arima to come with her and their friend Watari to see a violin recital. He arrives earlier than his friends and stumbles upon a girl who changes his world. The girl is a violinist who is competing in the event and the main reason Tsubaki is dragging her friends with. Tsubaki is working on hooking up Watari and the girl, Miyazano Kaori. Kaori confided in Tusbaki that she was interested in Watari. Kosei is the first one to see her though and his reawakened emotions stir with conflict. Kaori hits it off with all 3 of them but is technically inclined towards Watari. She plays with the attention she sense from Kosei and begins to refer to him as 'Friend A', using him as a companion and sounding board. She pushes him though and forces him to accompany her at a piano/violin recital. The more time they spend together preparing for the performance the more feelings Kosei develops. But his status of friend of possible boyfriend holds him back and he struggles to understand the level of attention she is giving him. Kaori forces him into the role of pianist once more but half way through the recital it breaks down as the old trauma's return. The performance is a failure but surprisingly Kaori couldn't be happier. She demands that Kosei continue with his efforts to return to his former glory so that they can play together again on a stage.
Kosei must battle the demons that haunt him before he can meet Kaori's expectations. She forces him out of his shell and he begins to find reason and focus to heal his wounds. Old rivals welcome his return to the competition circuit. At the same time Watari continues as normal with Kaori being his almost girlfriend. This brings unneeded stress on Kosei and Tsubaki alike. Tsubaki harbors deep and hidden feelings for her childhood friend but she wants to help him recover as much as possible. As Kosei progresses with returning to the world of joy he knew the horrors of his mother continue to haunt him. Those horrors and feelings of loss intensify when he discovers that Kaori is sick, possibly terminally ill. Regrets, conflicts of emotion and a strong desire to shut out the world for fear of more pain impede Kosei's progress. He has to figure out if he will ever be able to overcome his regrets, childhood traumas and the fear of deep loss once again.
Story-wise Kimi Uso is drenched in self hate, self affirmation and self esteem issues. The main characters are tragic hero's who would just as easily commit suicide than continue their existence. At one point the phrase, 'Will you commit double suicide with me' is uttered. Kosei had a horribly abusive childhood and then had to deal with that never being accounted for on top of parental abandonment following his mother’s death. His father works overseas, by the way. Kaori comes from a loving and caring family with the entire world in front of her, but is being held back by an unknown and debilitating illness. Kosei is an empty shell who decides to try and live once he meets Kaori. Kaori plays hard to get and teases him the entire time, swinging through moods and emotions with some alarming frequency. The side characters, particularly Tusbaki grumble in the wings about everyone’s lack of ability to communicate freely. Tsubaki herself enters a vanilla self destructive mode when she tries to deny her feelings for Kosei. Her eventual acceptance brings a well done breakdown confession. Watari...well he's not much more than a puppet that is offered up as a roadblock to the stories completion. Other peripheral characters come and go, mostly staying and popping up from time to time to change direction of the Kosei's dialog, but don't really offer much more than that. There are a few moments of over the top shonen style competition between Kosei and a few other piano students, but those theatrics flatten out when Kosei ultimately doesn't care about everyone else's level of competitiveness with him. Over all it was a bland and predictable story that did deliver some merit worthy emotional moments. There did end up being too many distractions that seemed to be filler more than anything, even if they were used to show the main characters mental development process.
Art-wise parts of the character designs were bothersome. Overbites and large glassy eyes. The animation was smooth and vivid in its color pallet. This series really utilized the current trend of erasing portions of characters glasses when restricting the viewer’s ability to see their eyes. Particularly since Kosei wears glasses. I want to figure out when this trend really started to take place but I can guess it has something to do with the social issues in Japan with eye contact. (It's extremely rude to talk to someone in person when they can’t see your eyes) One thing that stands out is the show tries to break the tension by reverting to some comical art styles. The young children in the show are shown in absurd and comical ways as well. Over all the artwork is stronger than the story. Some of the CG is clunky, particularly when showing the piano being played by a variety of characters. It was nowhere as smooth or accurate as that from Nodame Cantabile
Regardless of its flaws I did enjoy my time with Kimi Uso and wouldn't mind reading the manga to see what was left out of the anime. It ended in a way I enjoyed and was handled beautifully. It’s not full of fan service, the characters body types are realistic, if their hair isn't. Little things like that make it more enjoyable. There are plenty of segments of the story that could have been cut out and seemed to do little more than serve as filler and cheap plot tricks. The parts dealing with Kosei, Kaori and Tsubaki's feelings for each other are the meat of the show and the best parts. With its flaws this is still a good series in the ever growing romance anime list. Worth the time. This however, is not relatable to the highly enjoyable Nodame Cantabile.
The series was simulcast on Crunchyroll in North America and is being distributed by Aniplex. The manga is being released by Kodansha in North America.
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