Show Review: Your Lie In April

When quarantine started in March, I decided to kill time by watching Netflix. I came across Your Lie In April, a Japanese animation I had previously watched about 4 years ago, and decided to rewatch it.

The plot of the show is incredibly engaging. 14 year-old Arima Kousei, a piano prodigy, is suffering from post-traumatic disorder after closely linking his piano performances with the abuse he suffered from his dying mother. He hasn’t played the piano in over two years and each time he tries to, he cannot hear the notes. His life ultimately changes when he meets Kaori Miyazono, a revolutionary violinist. Kaori dedicates her time to helping Arima’s relationship with music. What he doesn’t know is that Kaori has a painful secret, one that will unexpectedly affect his whole life.

As someone who has been playing piano for almost 13 years, it really opened my eyes. I related to Arima and his issue with not hearing himself playing due to anxiety. Kaori taught me that while I play, I should “feel” the music rather than try and get to sound absolutely perfect. For some reason, this message only hit me the second time watching it and not the first time. Maybe it was because I had grown as a musician.

Another thing about Your Lie In April that impressed me was the beautiful art in the anime. The music was of course the main focus of the show, but the illustrators did a wonderful job animating. The colors and their gradual variations are outstanding. Since it is animation rather than live action, you can create much more to show the emotion and tone in a scene.