Your Lie in April

Your Lie in April is widely known as one of those tear-jerker series because of its ending while also just being well liked in general. You could honestly put this review for either the manga or the anime since they're so similar to each other, but I decided to write it here since there was nothing written for this masterpiece. So then what can be said that hasn't already been said about this manga?

Your Lie in April tells the story of Kousei Arima, a child piano prodigy who can no longer hear the sound of his playing. This was birthed through the traumatic upbringing of his mother who taught him the piano. One day, he meets Kaori, a violinist, who makes him come listen to her play and eventually leads him out of the rut that he was in to fully appreciate playing the piano once more. Along the path of recovery he comes across old and new faces who see him as musical rivals and this further pushes him to take up the piano and express himself through it. It's hard to go much deeper into the plot without spoiling anything major so I'll just stop there. It's a pretty sound and diverse plot with a bunch of different arcs all showing little portions of Kousei's development throughout the story. There's a mix of romance, a little bit of drama, heavy introspection, tragedy and competition, not to mention a ton of character growth.

When we take a look at all the characters present throughout the story, you can honestly say that only two of them feel like pretty fully fleshed out characters while the rest are more just there for the ride and feel a lot less thought out. That being said, it's honestly fine since the story makes it clear that it is fully about Kousei and his journey. We aren't here to learn about what it's like to compete in a musical way or to talk about cliche high school love triangles and what not. We're here to see how Kousei, this once bright and enthusiastic young boy grew to loathe then love the piano again. We're here to see how those around him changed his life, and how he changed theirs. And that is what I really want to talk about, the theme of giving and receiving.

When I look at Your Lie in April, what I see is an amazing representation of how people are meant to live their lives: in relationship. When we look at how people interact, this is all that there is. All relationships, whether it be platonic, romantic, familial or professional are all based on a giving and taking of time, energy and love (for some of them). If either giving or receiving is missing in a relationship, it slowly becomes toxic and harmful for everyone involved. We see this when we look at Kousei's relationship with his mother. To him, all he wanted to do was to play the piano for his mother to help her get better. He was constantly pouring himself out on the stage thinking solely of her. Yet at the moment when he felt like he gave his finest, he was met with rejection, and that broke him. He soon becomes isolated and self-focused. That is, until Kaori comes and begins to pour back into his life. She forces him to take his eyes off himself, to step out of isolation and to learn to receive again. And once this cycle begins again for Kousei, it keeps on going. The rivals he once inspired as a child come back to inspire him and push him on towards being a better pianist. His friends that have stuck by him this whole time begin to pour into him, helping him to make decisions he was hesitant towards and to keep moving forward. And finally, when Kaori finds herself in a time of desperate need, Kousei begins to give his all for her, returning everything she did for him: all of the love and joy of playing music and the hope that comes with it.

There is a moment in the story when you see Kaori paralleled with Kousei's mother, and when you read it, you begin to get this uncomfortable feeling in your stomach since we've already seen where this story leads. Yet we see that things are different this second time around. Why is that? It's because Kousei was not alone anymore. He no longer had the entire weight to bear by himself. He has friends that come to help him, his rivals that push him on, and the healing and joy Kaori had given him. He was no longer just emptying himself out, only to be left as a husk of a man. He was in healthy relationships with others, and this allowed him to change what history dictated was going to happen.

Wow, so how's that for a full blown analysis of just one aspect Your Lie in April? There's honestly so much more you could talk about, so it's no wonder why even famous mangakas hold this story as one of the most well written manga of all time. Your Lie in April is a beautiful story about redemption and healing, of the power of healthy relationships and about the expression that comes through music. You may not find it as sad as most people like to advertise, but you would be honestly hard pressed to say that it is not a masterpiece in storytelling or character development.