More than a Musical Romance- Your Lie in April

 

I’ll be honest; it is by pure coincidence that I am following up my most recent review of “Sound! Euphonium Season 2” with another music centric anime.  Now, I had heard about “Your Lie in April” only briefly in passing several years ago and was told of how good the series was, but never really looked into it any further.  It was only when I saw a picture of the show itself and a brief description of plotline did my interest significantly increase.  So, was the recommendation from several years ago truly warranted?

 

 

Now, the plotline of “Your Lie in April” is perhaps one of the simplest in almost all standard-length anime:  Arima Kousei is a washed-up former champion pianist who aimlessly moves through his colorless with his two friends Tsubaki Sawabe and Ryouta Watari.  All of this changes after Arima awkwardly meets the outgoing and free-spirited Kaori Miyazono, a violinist whose style of personality and outlook on life are the polar opposite of Arima’s.  At this point, the anime could have just turned into a simplistic romantic love story between the two polar-opposite musicians, a cross between “Nodame Cantabile” and “Clannad.”  However, while love is a central theme in this anime, the romance in this series is anything but simplistic.  It’s raw but refined, genuine but muffled, heartfelt but heartache, planned out but somehow managing to feel natural.  In short, it is marvelous, and permeates throughout the entire series from start to finish.  The contrasting personalities and musical styles between Arima and Kaori are like oil and water, but this combination somehow works, lending a certain textured grittiness and edge, both individuals struggling for dominance over the other and bringing out the best in each other.  Just looking at the times when both are on stage and performing for an audience- their behavior will leave you breathless.  But then there’s also the elephants in the room in the forms of Tsubaki and Ryouta, whose existing friendships with Arima complicate matters…  and that’s before bringing up the source of Arima’s insecurity and lack of self-confidence as a pianist: his abusive late mother.

 

 

That intense romantic passion and friendship amongst the four aforementioned characters also bleeds over into the drawings as well, with very saturated colors at times contrasting with scenes drawn in greyscale, perfectly complimenting the series’ mood.  Thankfully, it’s mostly vibrant midtones that punctuates the scenes rather than overly vivid “tastes like diabetes”- style coloring that bleeds the viewer’s eyes out, with brilliant lighting the main source of many scenes’ vivacity.  It also takes but one scene of detailing to know that immense time and effort was spent on the drawing and screenwork, whether that may come from flower petals blowing in the wind or drops of sweat coming off someone’s face.  It’s these little tiny details that give the mood in the anime an extra-sharp edge, and combined with the smooth animation and sharp, brash-but-refined actions of the characters, makes for powerful statements that leave lasting impressions of each character.  Another element that is noticeable is the expert camerawork and scenery.  There are many long, panning shots both of instruments and characters, increasing the sense of depth in the objects and characters in the series, which is further backed up in the various angles that the scenery is captured in:  above the piano, under a character’s face, over the characters’ heads, and many more in between.  Mix that in with an expert usage of sound and volume for another level of complexity, again when Arima and Kaori are playing together, but also when Arima performs solo and trying to move away from his former nickname, “The Human Metronome.”

 

 

Now, both the main characters and the side characters of “Your Lie in April” are able to each come into their own, with very well-defined, complex personalities that expand outward.  When these characters expand outward and come into contact with another character, the resulting interaction is very natural, even if the relationship may be tense and adversarial.  Backstories are used to excellent effect here, giving definition and complexity to each character, and again, the treatment is equal here; side characters do not get short-changed here nor does only one specific character get a generic backstory stapled on to create a cheap Freudian excuse.  Showing the characters face their backstory fears and paths chosen to try and overcome them, even after failing and crashing multiple times, provide inspiration that just leads you to want to see more and more of the series.  Thankfully, the pacing of the series is steady and stable, moving along at a natural pace all the way through.  Each character has their own natural storyline, with each one creating drama at certain points in time to make the viewer’s heart skip beats or cringe after every happy moment.  The story doesn’t run on twists and turns, it’s more “navigate through a hurricane at sea,” and the drama here is genuine, deep, and searing.  Again, backstories provide immense context, but also rooting, echoing, and deep history.  The fact that the backstories encompass a long length of time, are frequently used, and encompass multiple perspectives and situations give the series an immense depth of flavor that is difficult to replicate.  Combine that with the play on imagery of reality versus character impression and the various scenes done in greyscale, and the viewer is just not walking in the character’s shoes but instead also drowning in their angst and sorrow.

 

 

And there are many moments of sorrow in this melancholy, heartfelt anime, right up to the very end.  The ending is very conclusive, with a long-lasting finish, and all loose ends tied up.  When it is over, there’s a feeling that you don’t want any more, because it would just ruin what already been created.  Is there even anything to complain about with “Your Lie in April?”  In all honesty, maybe a certain character doesn’t suit your fancy, but what I say to that is “Well, that’s all part of [that character]’s charm” since there’s no overdose of a particular personality trait on any character.  I could complain about the high price of the discs ($125 for each of the two boxsets) but then again the series is on Crunchyroll to consume.  For a 22-episode series, you can’t do much better but a whole lot worse.  Do not pass this one up.