The last time I sat down and actually watched a show by myself, live action or animated was ironically another anime: Hell's Paradise (hyped for season 2, hate that it's gonna be a Crunchyroll exclusive. Will rewatch season 1 at some point) about a year ago at the time of writing this review.

I'm not sure why I decided to watch this show as my way into getting back into the habit of setting time aside to watch a show. But I don't regret the decision.

For a long time, I didn't want to watch this show. I think I was kinda going through that phase where if a piece of media wasn't action or thriller or something groundbreaking, then it was dumb and not worth watching. Romance and Slice of Life shows were especially no goes during my preteen and teenage years. That and I got spoiled that Karoi, one of the main characters dies at the end of the show.

But despite this, for years the thought to watch this show kept rearing it's head. Or while doing something I would randomly remember that incredibly moving opening theme: Hikaru Nara by Goose House (well, it was actually the English cover of the song) was a fucking bop!

But the final in the coffin was that I saw that some people make a tradition to rewatch this show in April. If you couldn't tell by the date of this review, I did not in fact watch this in April. Despite the fact that I planned on doing just that.

But that is to say... past me can go kick rocks! This show was incredible! A show about the joy of making and playing music with some heavy themes that were handled masterfully!

Themes like: Live in the moment, it's okay to do something for the sake of doing it, enjoying your youth, inspiring others to do great things, and the importance of being remembered. Despite the show's over use of slapstick for it's comedy. the themes were handled with the grace and care of drama.

And that's not even getting into how damn good the actual musical performances in this show were (though a little to much Chopin for my liking. Not that I dislike Chopin, just please use someone else)! To me the biggest standouts were the solo version of Love's Sorrow and the show;s final performance: Chopin's Ballade No. 1. Seeing Kaori joining Kousei and playing with him, quite literally playing with him in spirit for the second and final time was both heartbreaking and beautiful.

And for anyone curious... despite knowing for years that Kaori dies at the end and knowing that it was her dream to play along side Kousei, I cried. Like everyone else who went into this show blind. From the moment that we first meet her in episode 1 to the bitter end of episode 22, I dreaded every moment leading up to it.