D
Demelza
Guest
“Just like you said, we might not be able to turn in a performance that we can live with. But we’re going to play. So long as we have a chance to play, and an audience that will listen, I’m going to play with everything I’ve got. So that the people who’ve heard me will never forget me. So that I can live in their hearts forever. That’s my reason for existing. I’m a musician, just like you.” – Kaori Miyazono
I always find it difficult to work out how to open my reviews, and this is especially true for a series like Your Lie in April that I’m extremely fond of. It was two years ago now that I watched the first episode on Crunchyroll and instantly fell in love with it. After completing the anime, I quickly decided that the series deserved to be hailed as one of my all time favourite shows. It’s a title that I regard highly for various reasons, which I hope to convey to you throughout the course of this review.
I always find it difficult to work out how to open my reviews, and this is especially true for a series like Your Lie in April that I’m extremely fond of. It was two years ago now that I watched the first episode on Crunchyroll and instantly fell in love with it. After completing the anime, I quickly decided that the series deserved to be hailed as one of my all time favourite shows. It’s a title that I regard highly for various reasons, which I hope to convey to you throughout the course of this review.
Your Lie in April tells the story of Kosei Arima, a former child piano prodigy who, following the death of his mother, retired as a pianist due to becoming unable to hear the piano notes he was playing. It’s worth noting that this isn’t a physiological disability, it’s just limited to his own music. Since leaving the world of music, Kosei has resigned himself to a quiet and almost bleak outlook on life. He feels like he’s drifting through his existence without a real purpose in the world.
On the day that Kosei meets Kaori, he discovers that she’s about to perform in a violin competition! While he’s reluctant to attend the recital due to having not set foot inside a concert hall in over two years, he’s reluctantly dragged along to the show by Tsubaki and Watari. As Kosei watches Kaori’s wild and free-spirited performance he begins to feel inspired by her music. Maybe, just maybe he’ll finally try to play the piano once more.
Music is a powerful way of conveying stories and emotions. How a song is played comes down to the individual: it can be slowed down, speeded up, or the rhythm and timing can be altered. Even just what that track means to the musician can influence its sound. This is a concept that Your Lie in April explores incredibly well. Kosei was taught by his mother to play a score note for note, never deviating from the original piece. Meanwhile, Kaori has little regard for playing something precisely and would much rather inject her own personality into the score. This makes Kosei question how he was taught and how he himself wants to play music. Musicians are ever evolving, ever improving, and Kaori constantly challenging Kosei’s way of playing is very important for his development as a pianist.
I haven’t said much about Watari and Tsubaki but don’t worry, these two are full of interesting insights and play supportive roles in Kosei’s life. The biggest problem with talking about them is that they don’t really come into their own until later in the story. They’re both ever-present but don’t make a notable impact until nearer the end of this set, when Kaori’s presence has begun to infect their lives. Watari and Tsubaki might not play music but that doesn’t stop them from being inspired by Kaori and wishing to do their best in life, which just feeds back into my earlier point about how important music truly is.
Where music is concerned, the soundtrack has been handled by Masaru Yokoyama, who also provided music for Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches, Plastic Memories, and Rolling Girls. Many of the tracks on offer here are performances of classic Beethoven and Chopin but there is also a hefty amount of original music thrown in too. It has to be said that Yokoyama has worked wonders here and every little note enchanted me while also adding an incredible amount of emotion to every scene. The soundtrack is beautiful and often my first stop when I’m in need of some inspiration! The opening for the series is ‘Hikaru Nara’ by Goose house, which acts as a very pop-y and upbeat track, while the ending ‘Kirameki’ by wacci is more reserved but still a very uplifting song. Unfortunately neither tracks had Japanese or translated lyrics on offer in this release, so I’m left in the dark as to what the two songs are about.
This release also has an English dub on offer and I wish I had as many nice things to say about it as I do about the Japanese language track, but sadly I don’t. The best of the cast is Erica Lindbeck (Yuki Kaizuka in Aldnoah.Zero, Jericho in The Seven Deadly Sins), who plays Kaori, because she voices her character very well. On the other hand, Matt Mittelman (Hikari Sakishima in A Lull in the Sea, Saitama in One-Punch Man), who plays Kosei, just sounds incredibly bored and his voice doesn’t fit a 14-year-old character. Because there was no emotion in his performance I didn’t feel anything for Kosei as a character and that brought the whole thing down.
When everything’s said and done all I can really say is that, to me, Your Lie in April is a masterpiece when it comes to telling a story about music. It inspires, captivates, and truly captures what it means to be a musician. I simply can’t wait to get my hands on the second set and finish off my rewatch of this series because, as it stands, Your Lie in April is still one of my all-time favourite anime.
Quick Information
Title: Your Lie in April Part 1
Publisher: Anime Limited
Genre: Drama, Music, Romance, School, Shonen
Studio: A-1 Pictures
Type: TV Series
Original vintage: 2014
Format: Blu-Ray and DVD (Blu-Ray version reviewed)
Language options: Japanese audio with English subtitles and English dub audio
Age rating: 15
Running time in minutes: 264
Score (out of 10): 10
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