Kosei, you are outstanding.
It has been about a year since I saw the anime and about three months since I finished this book; so to start, I reread parts of it but there has been a chapter that has remained in my mind forever so.
While not polished as an immediate reaction, I write this review with the passage of time having settled in. Some slight spoilers follow as I describe the chapters but I do my best to avoid any big ones.
Now where to begin?
"Your Lie in April A Six-Person Etude" is more or less some backstory and side content to the main anime and manga. By using this format, one can be fine not reading this if they weren't entirely inclined to do so. However, I do think parts of this would be nice to be known about.
The story follows five of the show's characters (one per chapter) as they "share" their thoughts and feelings about Kosei Arima (a sixth character which gives us the reason for the novel's title). In particular, each chapter's title heading does this.
The prologue is titled "You're a Wimp" and it is headed by Kaori Miyazono. If you have knowledge of the main material, then you understand how lively and direct she is so it's no surprise that her part is titled this. The epilogue is titled "You're Amazing" and that one involves Kaori too. In both of these, she is talking to Kosei but with words that indicate it as if you are Kosei in these scenarios. You can also notice how Kaori's opinion of Kosei has changed over time by title alone even, as these chapters take place at different intervals. Nothing truly happens in these two parts though as both Kosei and Kaori only practice in the music room here. The only thing to note really is the first indication of playing Love's Sorrow in the epilogue which is going to be the start of Kosei's growth to escape his inner hiding place, the heavy theme occuring in the main show.
The first chapter is titled "Kosei's My Hero" and it is the perspective of musical rival Takeshi Aiza. Aiza has always come in second to Kosei competitively and at some point acknowledged this constant losing result as motivation. This chapter shows us Takeshi's introduction to competitive piano and how he took it upon himself to catch up to Kosei by sacrificing everything else. However he is doing so under the misinformed assumption that all Kosei does is practice. Practice, practice, practice. A moment occurs though where Aiza realizes how very wrong he was and for the chapter's end, he recognizes Kosei as his inspiration. His hero of sorts. I thought this did a good enough job to get us to understand Kosei's "rival" who wasn't too spotlighted in the original.
The second chapter follows other self professed rival Emi Igawa and is titled "Kosei's a Liar". Emi, much like Aiza, took up piano competition indirectly because of Kosei. The fault in this chapter though is that it's nothing new. As the main show indicates, we pretty much get a repeat of Emi's backstory. Perhaps if you know nothing of the original then this works out fine but otherwise it is just repetitive. For this chapter, Emi is the liar for not giving us anything new, as my attempt at wit tries to sum this up.
The third chapter returns to adolescence as childhood friend Tsubaki Sawabe titles it "Kosei, You're Too Kind". This one goes into detail of how Chelsea came into Kosei's life. For those who don't know, Chelsea is the black cat that constantly plays around in Kosei's mind during the show. We finally understand just how important that cat is here and to explain a little further would be to spoil but it is just the first step toward that one fateful day where the anime began. I was quite fond of this chapter as it gives background to Kosei's current personality and shows how important Tsubaki is for him. That final sentence of the chapter just hit my heart too but mentioning it would certainly not be kind knowing how everything plays out.
The fourth chapter covers good friend Ryota Watari and he says "Kosei's a Guy". The thing is, this whole chapter covers nothing relating to the main story and yet it covers it substantially. I will include some spoilers briefly in a bit but this chapter has Watari inviting Kaori on an outing at a college. By doing so, he tries to show his attraction to her. So what happens?
During the college event Kaori comes across the musical performances that are being played. She then volunteers to play alongside the others and basically shows how talented and into music she is.
Regarding the story as a whole, it misses some opportunities such as not having a dedicated Kosei chapter where he tells a scenario or something. However, that would probably undermine the theme of everyone talking about Kosei if he were to do it himself, so it's understandable to an extent. The fact some parts, and one chapter mostly, just repeats what we are aware of already (if coming from the main source) kind of makes it feel like a bit of a time waster. Objectively, this makes the score a little lower than I rate it but being fond of the series properly explains my score for this novel. I thought there was more good than bad basically.
All in all, the characters didn't lose their charm in here and even in tidbits, it is mostly a fun and short read. To this very moment, I don't regret having read this and if you ever have the chance, I would tell you to go ahead and read this too.
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