English: Your Lie in April
Japanese: 四月は君の嘘 (Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso)
Episodes: 22
Aired: Oct 10, 2014 to Mar 20, 2015
Studios: A-1 Pictures
Genres: Drama, Music, Romance, Shounen
Duration: 22 min. per ep.
Rating: PG-13 – Teens 13 or older
My Rating: 8 out of 10
Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso or commonly known as Your Lie in April is probably in every list of saddest anime recommendation both online and offline. I’ve been hearing a lot of good things about this anime and seeing how popular it is in the sad anime department, I decided to stay back for a while because I think my heart can’t take any more deaths, up ’til now.
And yep, this review is going to contain some spoilers ahead, so read on your own risk, *wink.
Plot
A boy who stopped playing piano after the tragic loss of his mother, suddenly finds the will to play again after falling in love with a girl who’s in love with his bestfriend. Sounds like a lot of drama eh? Aside from a death of a certain character (a spoiler I forced out from a friend, haha) I think another thing that made me stick up to watching this anime was the sad and almost cruel backstory of one of the main characters.
Yes, the plot may seem ordinary but I actually enjoyed getting to know each character – what they’ve been through and how those experiences mold them into the person that they are now. And yes, this one contains some life lesson we could reflect plus I love that there’s an addition of humor as well.
Art
While watching the first episode, I felt weird about the graphics. I’m not sure why and I can’t even point out what it is that I find weird, but the more episodes I’ve got to watch, I realized how absurd I was. Why’s that? Because the graphics were superb, especially on the part where Kousei emotionally played a duet with Kaori. It was emotional yes, but it was so eye candy. The animators definitely portrayed that scene very well.
The animation was really great as well as the sound effects. I can’t definitely complain anything in that department.
Music
I’m not into classical music so I thought it’ll be hard for me to appreciate this anime, but surprise, surprise! I enjoyed it. Ofcourse, I get confused when they are talking about sonata or some technicalities about piano or whatsoever but that didn’t hinder me to enjoy the music. Each play was just so good it’s hard not to like it.
How about the opening and closing songs? Do you need to ask?! They’re equally amazing too. Hear them below.
Characters
Your Lie in April definitely won me over because of the character growth and development. There’s just only 22 episodes but it felt enough to get to know each character especially Kousei and Kaori. Kousei started off as someone I couldn’t find myself to like initially, but as the story progresses, I started to really understand his character and eventually became one of those people cheering for him. Kaori on the other hand is very hard not to love. She’s so care-free and so positive about life that you wouldn’t think one day she’ll be gone. And yep, that’s definitely a spoiler, haha.
Voice Actors
And yes, just like some popular animes out there, Your Lie in April got some really good English voice actors. They were able to portray each character so well especially on the sad parts and that definitely made me enjoyed this anime even more.
Was it really sad?
Your Lie in April definitely left me in tears. The emotions this anime portrayed were just so hard not to get affected, plus the graphics definitely made it even harder not to stop crying. There’re so many things I wanna tell you guys about this anime but I’m afraid even after watching it 4 hours ago, I still can’t find the perfect word to describe how this anime made me feel.
***
Your Lie in April is an anime masterfully made with such beauty and a story that’s truly bittersweet. If you decided to watch it, make sure to have a box of tissue with you, *wink.
FYI: This story also has a live-action adaptation. I added its trailer below. Enjoy!
Trailers
