Anime Review: Your Lie In April

Anime series: Your Lie in April [no spoilers] review

I just binge watched the Japanese anime series Your Lie in April. My daughter already saw this a few months back and it really moved her. She had been bugging me to watch it for a while but when I looked at the Netflix synopsis* it just didn’t appeal. Finally I put it on and wow, what a tearjerker.

On the surface it’s a typical teen romance/drama but very soon it reveals darker layers of emotional unrest and some quite disturbing scenes of mental and physical abuse as well as very severe mental health issues with the main character. But it’s so much more. Only a Japanese creation could make you snort with laughter at the same time as wiping away tears of sadness. The cartoony cut aways are a bit distracting and the whole series is probably about ten episodes too long, stringing out what could have been a fine two hour movie into 22 episode emotional rollercoaster. Then again, a movie would never have included several long performances of piano and violin music. I'm glad they did that because the power and magic of music is pretty much the heart of the story.

The title only makes sense in the very final episode. The quality of animation is up there among the best I’ve seen for an episodic series - especially the moments where the boy plays piano and weird supernatural dreamy stuff happens around him. And whilst I’m no fan of classical music, the love for the genre shines through - you can’t help but be wrapped up in the music and applaud at the end of each performance.

Unusually for an anime or manga, I loved every character. My favourite was Tsubaki, the tomboy neighbour of the main character Kosei. As the series progresses you witness the blossoming of her deeply held love for the boy, it just takes her a long time to realise it. But once she does realise you are left to wonder if she'll ever make that step to tell him. Or if she does, will he reciprocate  because y'know, he kinda fancies that other girl, Kaori. All this love stuff...it's complicated! Well, you have to wait until the very end to find out - there's a neat plot twist and much to discuss and read about in fan forums!

I think your enjoyment of the series will depend a lot on whether you like the characters too. The main figure, Kosei is deeply withdrawn having suffered a ton in his short life. For a depiction of mental trauma survivor it's pretty deep. The love interest, his muse, Kaori is quirky, impulsive, care free spirit. I can see why some might think she's also annoying and irritating, but I loved her. She's an artist and expresses herself without any fear. The supporting characters are cool too. I agree with some who complain that out of the four friends, the weakest was the alpha male jock character Ryota, but he lends his support to Kosei a few times and its touching that he does so. It's rare to see a true friendship between an alpha male sports star and a wimpy nerd in school dramas.

Your Lie in April is sweet, funny, touching and enduring. Its a series that is worthy of your time if you liked Your Name, Silent Voice etc
8.5/10

*as an aside, aren’t all Netflix synopsis really badly written? Like they really don't make any effort to sell the story)