Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso Review
Watch Links: Crunchyroll | Hulu
Synopsis: Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso, or Your Lie in April as it’s better known in the US, is a melodrama about teenage musicians, in particular Kousei and Kaori, who possess exceptional talent, but tragic circumstances.
Score: 6.2/10
Review:
All in all, Your Lie in April was a pretty good show. There aren’t many massive flaws I feel like I can point to, and there are even some elements that impressed me, in particular with regards to how the show was made. The humor largely fell flat for me, unfortunately, so that kind of contributed negatively to my enjoyment, because, instead of levity as a reprieve from the heavy melodrama, I ended up mildly bored while the show's oppressive tone took a break. The narrative is what’s overall carrying it, and while I didn't find it amazing, I did end up appreciating its strengths in its characters and their stories. I do think I would have loved this if I'd watched it during my 2nd year with anime, and regret not watching it sooner, before I got spoiled on things.
Production:
In general, the creative imagery was very solid. There’re some very persistent (albeit blatant) metaphors for a bunch of the show's theming. There were also some shots which I was surprised flowed as well as they did. In particular, the scene where they ride bikes down a hill at the start comes to mind.
The music was, of course, important to nail with a show about music. I am not a classically trained musician, I do not know these pieces, or what they are supposed to sound like. That said, I did feel like most of the performances they said were good sounded better than the pieces they said were bad and when they explained why something sounded bad it did sound like they were right, so even for a person who knows nothing (like me), it worked pretty well I think.
Narrative: [INCLUDES SPOILERS]
Kousei as a main character is one I have a few problems with, especially early on, but came to appreciate more in the later parts of the show. His conflicted feelings about his mother make sense, but I didn't like the presentation here. It felt way too back and forth, and it was super fucking heavy. I will never feel any sympathy for his mother, and the show resolving this in the way it did just doesn't feel right. I also found Kousei's "condition" he got from his trauma to be really fucking weird and not super well presented, and the way they present it as a punishment and then a gift as he's working through his mommy issues felt really hamfisted. I think this made it hard for me to connect with or care about Kousei for a large chunk of the show.
Probably my favorite story element was how the musicians interacted. There was a real pulse there, and it worked quite well alongside the show's ideas on artistic expression, the goal to connect and reach people. I wasn't expecting to like Takeshi and Emi much, but they played a larger role than I expected. I appreciated scenes like where they connected with Kousei over egg sandwiches, although I do have a caveat with that scene I'll get into later. Probably my favorite dynamic in the show was Kousei and Nagi. Their performance was, I felt, the first real moment where things felt like they were working out for our characters. Shame that it's so deep into the show, but then again, we’ve gotta maintain the melodrama, I guess. Nagi was also just a really fun character and developed in a way I liked and fit super well with the themes. She's a really good tool for Kousei's growth, as it gives Kousei space to grow in a different direction and have someone else to bounce off of, plus she's someone who doesn't just let him have his pity party. She connects with him over certain similarities and they are able to help each other as they both grapple with a similar pain.
Tsubaki was handled pretty well. Change the ending and I'd probably just say she's a really good character. As a love interest, she’s a lot better at expressing her feelings and more natural in how her feelings are presented. Watari is a tool, in multiple senses of the word. He's a somewhat ok supporting character in terms of doing things for friends, and he has goals and ambitions, but he never felt like he ever acted for himself at any point. Takeshi and Emi I liked. Emi kind of gets shafted in this duo, since her part is over for the most part after Kousei's return, while Takeshi gets more time to resolve his feelings about Kousei, as well as a little boost from his sister. I find the superhero motif worked well alongside the theming of childhood and adolescence and how that tied into how they pushed each other to grow. Just all around solid, and these parts of the show were when I most connected to Kousei, outside of his dynamic with Nagi. My 1 gripe I didn't mention before with the egg sandwich scene is the weird selective memory the show has. Like, it forgets things about dynamics at weird times, and this affects the Kousei and his mother dynamic too. It leads to some very wishy washy presentation and things don't make sense as well if you look at the big picture. Seto was a good parental figure for Kousei, but didn't feel like she existed outside of that really.
Kaori I think suffered a bit from me having spoilers coming into this. I've known Kaori dies at the end for years, and so most of the show is me waiting for the other shoe to drop with her. That said, it's not like the show didn't heavily imply that was gonna be the outcome with everything leading up to that point. That said, Kaori was fun overall. I liked when she was living life to the fullest (although I would have liked it a lot more if she and Kousei were a couple). I definitely cared that she was struggling, and her struggles felt a lot more in line with the theming of the show. I just expected to like her more, and I think the main issue is that she isn’t ever honest with the audience or the rest of the cast until it's too late. I was shocked and disappointed she didn't get more screentime and focus. This show is really about Kousei, and unfortunately that ends up taking away from everyone else. If the show were more about the both of them, I think I would have cared more, but she ends up a sacrificial lamb for Kousei to grow.
I have mixed feelings about the romance in the show. I don't think it's handled particularly poorly. If anything, I think it plays out pretty fine. I thought the reason Kaori introduced herself as interested in Watari made enough sense. She wanted an in to talk to Kousei and couldn't just approach him or tell Tsubaki that she was after Kousei, so it made sense she would be indirect with this. That said, waiting until the very end to be honest with Kousei and letting Kousei very obviously agonize as he crushes on her was dumb and annoying. I get that she's a middle schooler and confessing isn't easy, but her whole outlook is a live-in-the-moment, take every shot outlook by the time she meets him, and the scenes where they spend time together would have been so much more fulfilling and the other shoe dropping where she reveals to Kousei that she's dying would have been so much more impactful if she'd gotten to spend any time outside of the hospital as a real couple with him, at least for me. She spends the whole show letting him believe she loves Watari, and then she dies, and it felt baffling to me that she would do that. Tsubaki's a lot better in this regard. She feels a lot more natural in how her feelings become realized and then expressed, maybe in part because she doesn't have to say everything through music. The ending also kind of sucks because of this. Tsubaki will have to live her whole life in love with a man chasing the ghost of Kaori, wondering if she only got the happy ending because Kaori died, and honestly, the answer to that question is yes.
An Alternate Ending:
There are several elements introduced to the narrative which the show never quite delivers on that could potentially make for a better ending if the ending were changed in a few key ways. In particular, they introduce the idea that the competitive music scene doesn’t value emotional performances as much as technically perfect performances, and that Kousei is happier giving the more emotional and expressive performances. The stakes for Kousei in the performance near the end of the show are whether he goes to school abroad in America or if he goes to school at a competitive school within Japan, a school which Tsubaki is also applying to and trying really hard to get into.
My ideal ending for YLiA is having Kousei perform the way he wants at the final competition, but that's not accepted by the music world, and he has to study abroad. Tsubaki gets into her competitive school, but has to live life away from Kousei while they both settle their feelings left in Kaori's wake and Kousei’s departure. Maybe you can have a cheesey flash forward at the very end, showing them get together romantically after having resolved their feelings and falling for each other again after not having seen one another for so long, but having them get together right after Kaori dies feels like it's far too convenient for Kousei and not satisfying for Tsubaki.
