Your Lie in April

• While there may be other stories that are written better or other productions that are animated better, Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso (Your Lie in April) struck a chord with me that I hadn’t felt with a show in a long time. Even with its flaws, I loved every moment of this show, both as a musician and as an ordinary viewer. Shigatsu focuses on the journey of Arima Kousei, who was a brilliant pianist as a child, but is now just a shell of his former self, haunted by the tragedies of his past.

• Animation stood out where it counts. Those performances. I would have been really been disappointed if the animation was average in those moments, because of how beautiful the soundtracks are. But A-1 delivered, and they both complimented each other outstandingly. By the end of the series, I was just left in awe, and honestly a bit (extremely) emotional.

• Tragic not because of a single element but because of all of its parts, and yet at the end of everything, this isn’t a series about tragedy. It is a series about learning to heal, learning to move on, and learning to accept the parts of ourselves that we’d rather pretend aren’t there. Part of that is accepting that sometimes we need a helping hand to take that first step. Part of it is learning to say goodbye when the time comes.

• From its flawless animation to its gorgeous soundtrack—genuinely the finest soundtrack I have ever had the pleasure of hearing in any series. Its incredible characters, each distinct, yet each possessing a personality so eccentric and endearing that you find yourself wishing they were your real-life companions.

• Because when I started watching you, everything began to take on color. You submerged me in a kaleidoscope of landscapes filled with sunflowers, cherry blossoms in bloom, starry nights, and parks painted with a palette of over twenty-four colors, far more than that.

1 / 5