Friday, February 26, 2016

First Impression Friday (FIF) #1-Your Lie in April


Kousei Arima was a piano playing master at the age of 11.  Taught by his mother, there wasn’t a number he could not play…until one day he could not.  Ever since a tragic blunder during a performance, Kousei has lost the ability to hear the sounds of the instrument he loved to play.  But then he meets the beautiful Kaori Miyazono, a prodigy violinist.  She is determined to play to her hearts content and she wants Kousei to back her up on stage at the piano.  There are reasons why Kou lost his gifts and why he is afraid to return to the spotlight.  But sometimes the road back is paved with challenges, from facing your fears to falling in love.

Welcome to First Impression Friday.  In this new little feature, I’ll be posting my initial thoughts on different series im checking out but not intending to do a full review of them.  These may be the first couple of episode or even a small group of 6, kind of depends on what ive seen.  I’ll share my likes, dislikes and whether or not I’ll be carrying on with this series for the foreseeable future.  Chances are I could just be watching out of excitement or desperation in the hope that a show will get better (trust me that bit’s been known to happen).  And to kick off this new run, I taking a look at a series that was heavily promoted at Katsucon: Your Lie in April.

Personally, when it comes to Anime I am an action/scifi/mecha lover first and foremost.  Anything else I take with a grain of salt and it will be a long shot that I enjoy it.  However, sitting down at the premiere of the English Dub of Your Lie in April at Katsucon 2016 was something I needed.  I was a bit bogged down by events earlier in the day and I needed some inspiration.  I could have gotten that anywhere at the convention but somehow, being in this room, watching these 3 episodes was what I needed at the time.  Was it the characters, the humor, the music (especially the opening and ending themes)?  Well it was a mix of all.

While the degree to which Kou’s mental block affects him has yet to be fully revealed, I think we’ve all been at some stage of talent block in our lives: Music, writing, animating or otherwise.  I feel for him, mostly.  How bad his mother probably treated him during his training makes me wonder why Kou put up with it.  That’s still too early in the series to talk about.  What I can talk about is the blossoming friendship between Kou and Kaori, which is the selling point of this series.  Kaori is insane, in a good way…sort of.  She’s hilariously rabid and violent but a gentle soul around children.  And when she’s on stage, she’s a rockstar with a violin.  Kaori breaks the rules and plays the way she wants to play.  And it’s this philosophy she wants to impart to Kou to help snap him back into playing.  Why do you play the violin?  Why do you play the piano?  All are good questions to be discussed as this series continues.  Now does Kaori see Kou as more than just her accompanying Pianist?  I want to say yes but more needs to develop.  Still, the effect Kaori has on Kou is obvious even if he doesn’t know what to make of it.  It’s heartwarming and overpowers my head scratching over Kou’s inner situation.  Just what the hell did his mom do to him.

The music is very well done.  Both the opening and ending themes and the classical music are great.  The musical throwdown between Kou and Kaori steals the show in these first few episodes.  I’m not sure how classical music purists would feel about this little step away from performing but damn it was awesome.  This is arguably the best use of orchestra ive seen in an Anime since Evangelion and MAN I didn’t think anything could come close after that series.  Im wondering if the infamous Beethoven Symphony #9 will come into play before the series ends.

There’s a pretty fair balance between the humor and heavier moments in Your Lie in April.  Usually most of the darkness revolves around Kou and his breakdowns.  Which is a good thing that fun supporting characters like Tsubaki and Watari are around to liven things up along with Kaori.  Kou is practically immortal with all of the physical abuse (THE FUNNY KIND NOT WHATEVER THE F HIS MOTHER WAS DOING TO MAKE HIM A BETTER PIANIST) being thrown his way by all three characters.  But the humor is good motivation and is pretty uplifting at times.  Kaori’s special kick and finishing pose on the roof is easily one of the funniest moments in an Anime ive seen in a long time.

So will I continue with this series?  You know what, yeah.  I’m four episodes in and im invested with what happens to Kou, Kaori, Tsubaki and Watari.  I’m guessing there will be some heartache and some love triangles or two developing between these four.  But the inspiration they create when theyre all together is undeniable.  I haven’t been into an Anime about music like this since K-On.  Could this be the next K-On or Ouran High School Host Club for me.  I certainly hope so.
 

No comments:

Post a Comment