Intro
EDIT: When I originally wrote this review, the top review was a highly critical piece that rated the show a 3.1/10, but it has since been deleted from this site or set to private. However, you can still find it by google searching the sections I quoted (it's on MAL if you're curious at all). Regardless, I still hope you enjoy this review.
I haven’t felt motivated to write a review for a show in quite some time, but after reading the highly critical and low scoring top review for this show, I felt it necessary to provide some a counter-arguments against what I believe is a travesty. A score below 5/10 is, by definition, a below average score. To score this work 3.1/10, is to say it is well below average and is beyond mediocre. Everything considered, I just can’t see this work being below average.
Below, I will write what my thoughts on the show and counter arguments for anything I feel was misunderstood. This review is filled with spoilers so reader beware.
In Defense of the Characters
Straight out of the gate, you, the viewer, immediately know this is a tragedy. Anyone who has read or watched any number of works can immediately tell that Kaori is going to die and that her story will be a tragic one. It’s telegraphed from so early on, that I would be shocked if you were shocked that she died, but as they say, it’s not about the destination, it’s the journey.
First, I’ll tackle the weakest point of this show: the characters. The friends that Kousei has surrounded himself with are by no means perfect. Afterall, they’re 14 years old and in middle school. That’s one fundamental issue I have with the top review, it places enormous expectations and standards on what are basically children. Their imperfections, be it rampant jealously, envy, anger, or sadness are what one can expect to see out of kids going through puberty, it’s what makes them human.
I’ll start off with the character assessment I disagree with the most, the one painting Kaori as a vile, repugnant, and disgusting individual worthy of any and all malice towards her. From what I can assume, Kaori knows from a young age that she is destined to die very young. At an age where all one can think about are their dreams, be it a dream of marriage, a career in something they love, travelling the world, or any number of fantastical realities, Kaori knows she will never have that. She knows she will die very young, never getting to marry, never having her dream career as a violinist, and knowing full well each and every day could be her last. Knowing this, she has one dream and one dream alone: to play with the boy who inspired her music career, Arima Kousei. The only way I can see her being worthy of contempt was if she leveraged her health to bend Kousei to be with her, but she didn’t. We the viewer don’t even know any specific health problems she has, not only that, but she puts on an unbelievably brave face in spite of that.
“He keeps telling her no, but she won't listen.”
“To the shock of absolutely nobody, Kousei has trouble playing towards the halfway mark because of his trauma and he can't hear the notes, so he stops playing for a bit, and so does Kaori. After that, they play like they don't care anymore, so they play to their heart's content. They obviously lose and could've avoided this whole scene if they listened to him and allowed him to explain why he can't”
This is an immense misunderstanding, the whole point of why Kaori played and wanted to play with Kousei is not grasped at all. It wasn’t about winning, putting on a good show, or expecting Kousei to play perfectly, it was about Kaori being able to simply be on stage with Kousei and leave a mark on the audience. You can see her behavior before becoming crippled entirely focused on that, leaving a mark. She doesn’t want to be forgotten, she doesn’t want to fade away, and she wants to make the most out of her rapidly ending life. Put yourself in her shoes, would you simply let go of your lifelong dream simply because that individual said no? Just pack it all up and say, “well I asked and got a no, oh well. I’m dying soon anyway just might as well give up,” and just carry on until you die? One can counter all they like about how Kousei didn’t like playing piano, it reminded him of his mother, or any number of things, but you cannot sit there and say that Kousei getting back into playing piano was a net negative impact on him. With playing, he not only pushed passed his mother-related PTSD, but he grew from it as a person. Not to mention that Kousei, at his core, loves playing piano. Afterall, he was playing before his mother even taught him a note. He was a complete natural, a prodigy even.
I don’t understand how one can state this:
“The scene is actually great, with Kousei and Nagi playing in sync until Kousei changes tempo to become faster and more aggressive, to which she ends up adapting and plays in sync with him again. He did this to push her out of her comfort zone and get her out of her nervous issues.”
and then so heavily criticize Kaori getting Kousei to pick the piano back up again. With playing, he recovered from associating it with his mother, matured from the fetal position crying boy he once was, and was able to play a beautiful farewell to the first girl he truly loved. To expand on that first item, Kousei at no point fundamentally hates playing piano. Even in the beginning, he was still playing to transcribe songs to sheet music. Without Kaori pushing him back into the limelight, Kousei would’ve never grown beyond the crying little boy he was, afterall, he had no parents to guide him and he obviously wasn’t going to get better by himself. You can disagree and say that she should’ve been considerate of his PTSD, but again, you cannot say that falling back in love with the piano was a net negative on Kousei.
I also disagree on how Hiroko is also labeled a grotesque and morally repugnant individual. There’s a distinct lack of empathy in the summation of her character. Picture this: you are Hiroko, your piano friend from college Saki has a little boy, and one day, you see the boy’s potential and strongly encourage your friend to put the boy on the path of music, something your friend jokingly said she didn’t really want to do. As time goes by, you see how your friend is becoming increasingly demented as her life is rapidly approaching its close. You see what was a casual remark turn into the boy having bruises up and down his body and even seeing your once bright and happy friend strike the only mark she left on the world, drawing blood even. Shortly after, your friend dies, and the boy is left all alone in the world. Should she have stayed and nurtured Kousei? Absolutely, but was her feeling so much guilt over what her suggestion turned into and keeping distance out of fear of hurting the boy again bad writing? Was it not human of her?
Picture this now: your husband is frequently absent, you have one little boy who is your world, you’ve finished college, and are an aspiring and locally well-known pianist, but you are dying. You suddenly will never get to play in the great concert halls of Europe, you will never leave your mark on music, and you will die early, making all of your life’s efforts for naught. Knowing full well that your death in imminent, you train your little boy to accomplish what you could not, a boy who has already shown signs of musical prodigy. As the clock ticks down, you worry that not even he will be able to complete your dream and you become exponentially more violent and desperate to see your dream come true, like a cornered and wounded animal lashing out near death. Was what I said a justification for her actions? Absolutely not, she shouldn’t have forced her dream on her child, but can you say it was bad writing? Did it not make any sense? Was her role as a villain badly done? Did her actions distinctly lack humanity? Obviously not, her character’s writing spurned you so much that you felt it was an insult to people with PTSD and a variety of other things. You can hate her, revile at what she did, and go on and on about any number of things, but that’s the point. You’re supposed to feel that way. Her character is not a likeable one, that’s the entire the point of why she’s in the story. Can you imagine how boring stories would be if every single character was likeable, had no flaws, and did nothing bad to another character? Your Lie in April, at its core, is a tragedy. It’s supposed to have dark themes such as PTSD and child abuse, morally repugnant characters, and tragic circumstances. If anything, feeling, “disgusted,” is a good thing, this story was so well done that it elicited that much of a reaction from you and even caused you to write a lengthy review about what it made you feel. If it was truly a 3.1/10 story, you would have disregarded it as trash not even worth writing about.
Lastly, I’ll touch upon who I thought was the most dislikeable character: Tsubaki. Like the others, she is also only fourteen and in the midst of puberty. She does a number of terrible things, like getting with Saitou purely to fill the void in her heart and deny the feelings she has for Kousei, tells Kousei that Kaori doesn’t love him, she loves Watari, and only she can really love him. After which, she kicks him so hard in the shin that he limps the next day. She is a toxic character yes, but can you say that she isn’t human? Can you say that no fourteen-year-old girl would act the way she did? Even more so, she felt bad about how she hurt Saitou, how she hurt Kousei, and a many number of other things. Did she learn from them? No, she never changed her behavior. Do I think she should be with Kousei in the end? Absolutely not holy hell man run far and run fast from that girl and get with the pianist Emi. See how I have a passionate opinion about that? That means Tsubaki did her job as an unlikeable character. You could counter and say that the ending implies that Kousei ends up with her, but there is no evidence that definitively takes place. If anything, who Kousei ends up with is up to the watcher’s interpretation. Additionally, it’s absurd that one would say that Kousei should actively hate some characters instead of forgiving them. What is he supposed to do in the show, hate them the entire time and never move on from that? His character is an immensely forgiving one, that’s just his nature. One last thing I’d like to counter is:
>“The problem is that no one goes to take him to see a doctor to see if this issue can be helped, and it simply goes away after Kousei forgives Saki. It just feels gross to see this happen.”
I disagree with this assessment because it wasn’t a medical issue in the show. Never at any point is this a permanent medical issue, it was purely repressed childhood trauma that was allowed to snowball.
Fantastic Presentation
Moving on from the characters themselves, I’ll move onto the show’s presentation. I loved the themes of this show, how it gave imagery to music, and gave so much life to beautiful Chopin pieces. As a music-type person and as someone who loves to play instruments, this show was such a breath of fresh air. Every time there was a performance, where you could see these people putting their heart and soul into their playing, it made me itch to do the same with one of the instruments I play. It was beyond inspiring, beyond breath taking, and such a great portrayal of musicianship. The weight of playing on stage, the harsh criticism from the old codger judges, how everyone has such high expectations for your playing, they’re all so realistic and relatable. Touching on some of the darker themes of this show, I found Kousei’s recovery from his PTSD remarkable and inspiring. He went from being a crying child in fetal position, begging for help, and just passing through life as a grey blob of nothingness, to not only pushing past his image of his mother, but he became the master pianist he was always destined to be. There is not a doubt in my mind that Kousei never playing piano again because of his mother was something that just wasn’t fated to be. Some people are destined for certain things and Kousei was destined to be a master pianist.
As someone with poor health, seeing Kaori struggle through physical therapy, trying with every fiber of her being to re-learn how to walk, and putting on such a brave face in spite of so much hardship resonated with me deeply. I am not near death currently, but I have crawled back from the brink of it and it was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. Most people have no idea how soul crushing it is to not only not be able to walk, but know your life is forever changed and you will never be physically “normal” ever again. In this story, she never once complains about her health, never becomes an empty husk at the reality of her situation, and she fought to live to the very end. From the beginning you know Kaori will die, but the journey of how she handled that resonates with me so much. A commonly missed story element here as well is that Kaori and Kousei’s mother Saki are foils to each other. They both were musicians, they both knew they were going to die early, they both knew that they would never achieve their dreams, and they both placed their hopes on Kousei. The enumerable ways you can compare and contrast Saki and Kaori is such a great story element, some of the best writing in anime I’ve seen in a while. It goes back to what I was stating earlier that you’re supposed to hate Saki, that’s the whole point of her character.
Breathtaking Animation
I honestly don’t understand the criticism for using CGI for the finger movements for the piano playing. Have you seen the sheet music for some of those pieces? Here's a section from Chopin's Etude in A flat major, Opus 25 no. 1
Final Thoughts
Overall, this show was an amazing ride from beginning to end. One of the few shows that has so much more depth the more you think about it. I can’t think of another musician-based show that exemplifies what it’s like better than this.
If you disagree with my assessment, feel free to write a counter review. I’ll read anything that comes my way and will comment on it if you’d like. However, even as opinions go, there is no possible way that this show is anything below average, it’s just too good to be.