Shigatsu Wa Kimi No Uso / Your Lie In April

"If music be the food of love, play on;
Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting,
The appetite may sicken, and so die." 

- Duke Orsino, Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare

Shigatsu Wa Kimi No Uso 

English Title: Your Lie In April
(2014)

Studio: A-1 Pictures

Licensed by: Aniplex USA (NA)

Director: Kyohei Ishiguro

Genres: Slice of Life, Romance, Drama

Based on the manga by Naoshi Arakawa

Main Characters:

Kousei Arima - Voiced by Natsuki Hanae (JP)

Kaori Miyazono - Voiced by Risa Taneda (JP)

Tsubaki Sawabe - Voiced by Ayane Sakura (JP)

Ryota Watari - voiced by Ryota Osaka (JP)

Piano and Violin performances by Tomoki Sakata and Yuna Shinohara, respectively.

Buckle up, kids... We're going on a feels trip.

Kousei Arima is a piano playing prodigy who has the uncanny ability to play any score exactly as it's written on sheet music. This ability has earned him a measure of derision, a lot of notoriety, and the nickname "The Human Metronome"* from many in Japan's classical music community. By age eleven, Kousei had already won several national piano competitions and even started to garner attention from schools and teachers outside Japan. His secret to success, you ask? That's simple: a love for music and copious hours of piano lessons, of course. Also, having a bitter, abusive, and terminally ill mother who demands nothing less of her son than perfection can help with that too, albeit at great cost.

Here's the kicker: this happened after Kousei WON a competition.

The unnamed disease eventually takes its toll on Kousei's mother and she soon passes away, leaving young Kousei beyond distraught. Kousei's trauma is so severe that he can no longer hear the very notes he plays on the piano. In his mind, he believes that SPOILER! HIGHLIGHT TO READ: his inability to hear is punishment for telling his mother, and I quote: "I wish you would just die." To be fair, she did just beat him bloody with her cane for missing a few notes during a recital, but DAMN, homeboy has issues... The full measure of the trauma is felt in a scene early on in the series in which an 11 year old Kousei simply freezes in the middle of a competition performance, gives the piano keys a thousand yard stare, then cries while running off of the stage to the hushed, snide remarks of the audience. 

 Depressing as hell, I know. Here; have a pic of the girls of Kofuku Graffiti being cute and silly. You earned it.

Fast forward several years, and we find Kousei in his final year of middle school alongside his childhood friends: the comically lecherous soccer club superstar Watari and the tsundere tomboy "she-gorilla" Tsubaki. Kousei is still in a bad way; wading listlessly through the days of his youth, constantly in the dumps. However, his world is turned upside down and inside out when his friends introduce him to the beautiful Kaori: a vivacious violinist whose passion for music and life in general. Of course, like many first meetings between young people in that phase of life, somethings the wrong impression is given and things can get... Awkward.

The fateful meeting of the two budding musicians spark a chain of events that re-ignites the fire in Kousei and kick off a heart string yanking tale of love, loss, enduring friendships, and the rigors of growing up; all underscored by some of the most beautiful piano and violin playing you may have the good fortune to hear in an anime.

Shigatsu Wa Kimi No Uso, AKA Mood Swings: The Anime, often goes from comically surreal and absurd...

...To tragic and downright depressing; seemingly at the drop of a hat.

These mood swings from the plot twists hit so often that one could argue that they happen a little too often. Nevertheless, I'm of the opinion that every cheerful and every tragic turn of events finds a role in the development of both plot and characters quite nicely. Also, take note anime studios; this is how adapting a manga should be done. The faithfulness to the source material is a definite merit to Director Ishiguro and his writing staff.

As I've said, the various events of the plot help shape each character nicely. The reason I give a 10 here is that every character in this rather large cast is shown to develop well enough in a way that doesn't slow down the plot pacing. We see Kousei grappling with the demons of his past and Kaori struggling with her present circumstances at the forefront of the story, but their struggles goes on to inspire, or at least catalyze development in the rest of the main characters and a majority of the supporting ones. These characters seem to generate the kind of raw human interest that you don't often find in anime outside of a Studio Ghibli film. When they laugh, you laugh. When they hurt, you hurt. A cast that is so relatable, realistic, believable, and likable deserves nothing less than a 10 from me.

Apart from its compelling story and cast of characters, this is also a technical marvel of animation from A-1 Pictures. That says a lot, considering that these are the guys who made Working!!, Ao no Exorcist, Black Butler, and Sword Art Online; all very nicely animated in their own way. But rather than just sing their praises, lest the animators at A-1 get the bright idea to rest on their laurels, (as if they'd read this) why don't I let the animation speak for itself?

I rest my case.

On the voice acting front it was solid casting all around, but I particularly found Natsuki Hanae's and Ryota Osaka's "tweenage" portrayals of Kousei and Watari respectively impressive. Trust me when I say that recreating the male pubescent voice as a grown man is HARD, but these two do it quite well. 

Naturally; being an anime about music, you know right off the bat that the soundtrack is going to sound awesome. However, pianist Tomoki Sakata was given the monumental task of not only cranking out masterful renditions of complex classical piano works, but playing them in ways that matches the personality and current mood of the character playing it. That's right, he does EVERY piano part in the series, AND has to take direction for his playing like a voice actor does. The thing is, he does it VERY well. Being well qualified for the job helps; here's a video of the man himself in his recital at the 2013 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. Think of it as the Olympic Games of piano playing. 

Note how much Tomoki actually looks like Kousei when you're not busy trying to figure out how his fingers move so fast. 

As for opening and closing theme songs, this series has two gems. The first opening: Hikaru Nara by Goose House, and the second ending: Orange by 7!! (Pronounced Seven Oops, because gratuitous Engrish...) may be two of the best songs, let alone anime theme songs, I've heard in a very long time. 

The only reason this isn't a 10 is that anime which take me on major feels trips tend to suck the joy right out of me and this series sucker punched me on a routine basis. The reason it's not below a 9 is my belief that any lower would be an abhorrent insult to such a moving work. Your emotions will have been swayed, tugged, and abruptly yanked in every conceivable direction by the midway point of the series, let alone the end.


What other Anime Revue writers said:

The Jake: "This is one of the best anime I've ever seen... EVER. It is not often that ANY work can affect me emotionally as Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso has. The writing was absolutely perfect for me. The characters don't just seem believable, they seem real. Even the characters that received little to no development, like Watari. Despite not getting very much time or development, his character is at the very least hinted at having hidden depths. Couple the great writing, characters, audio, and A-1's stunning artwork, Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso truly deserves a high rating."

The Final Word

This is an animated journey through the human condition par excellence. I'm confident that if Hollywood adapted this anime, it would win at least a couple of Oscars. Laugh with it, cry with it, live with it; because something which carries such raw human emotions isn't just something you watch passively. This is a story you absorb right into your heart and soul; much like good music.










*This could be either the best or worst porn star name in history.