Your lie in April Episode 2 “Friend A”
Life is like playing a violin solo in public and learning the instrument as one goes on. – Samuel Butler
It can be said that I play the piano to a level of proficiency where I am quite pleased. I have no need to become an automaton that must play every note in Franz Liszt’s "Un Sospiro Etude 3" perfectly. It is my favorite song of all time, but I have no need to learn it. Instead, I know the textures and the chords and the melody line. From that, I may make as many variations as possible.
Similarly, I don’t need to know a jazz piece in and out. A bad example, given the improvising nature of the genre, but here me out. I’ve taught students who had no desire to need improv, pounding the notes out in an attempt to finish learning a song. Granted, there are other influencers to their apprehension, but that’s not the point. My point is that if you are inclined to an instrument and you manage to trump even Beethoven’s notation, you are not a good musician but a happy musician. Otherwise, you are a great musician who can read notation well. Combine the two, and you become a legend.
Another anime, another wonderful story, and this time it’s a more traditional high school anime. Your lie in April for me was always on the back burner, but given my review schedule, it’s time to bang out another title. Strangely though, I will avoid discussing the first episode, given it is actually not that great. I’ll give my reasons in a second, but first, a quick synopsis.
Kousei Arima was once the greatest piano prodigy in the Japanese competition scene. His dream, as was the dream of his ill mother, was to enter a European tourney and become world-renowned. Days before his major recital to enter onto the world stage, his mother passed away and at the age of eleven, Kousei had a mental breakdown on the piano. He retreated from competition and hadn’t touched the piano since that day. Two years after, he views the world in a monotone black and white to the point where he cannot physically hear the tones of a piano. Residing to live a life only supported by his friends Tsubaki and Watari, his life is shattered with color when he meets Kaori Miyazono. She is a free spirit with music while also having the distinction of being a violin prodigy without employing charts or notation. However, the apprehension of Kousei’s resigned life of being “Friend A” may get the better of him.
With that out of the way, the reason I avoided discussing the first episode is because as an anime fan, WOW is it paint by numbers. The charm is there, the cute is there, but nothing I see from the first episode is anything different. Most of the characters barely pass as non-caricatures, with Kaori being labelled near "Mad Pixie Dream Girl" territory (luckily, her take no crap attitude and self-reliance give her a pass). If you have any aversion to cute anime stereotypes (note to theOtaku.com members – other people are reading this review who aren’t on the site), this won’t change your mind anytime soon. My suggestion is to stop what you’re doing and go read the manga Yotsuba&!. Just do it and accept the true lord and master of cute.
The second episode is a different story. Starting from Episode 1’s end, Kousei and his two friends have heard of Kaori’s next competition at Towa Hall and all are willing to attend. When Kousei enters the building, he soon realizes the world of music competition never forgot about him and the buzz is palpable. This excitement almost forces him to retreat, but he presses on. The concert hall isn’t large but it was clearly built to house competitions. As in, I’ve seen that concert hall in every Japanese piano/violin competition ever. YouTube videos of those concerts are just brilliant sometimes.
As most competition rules specify, contestants will play only one piece as a show of talent. Today’s article du jour is Beethoven’s Violin Sonata No. 9 “Kreutzer”, First Movement. With Kaori in the fourth position, we get to see the various techniques employed during a single song against three different musicians. The notations are each the same, and even the third competitor can’t keep pace and makes an audible mistake. It’s really an honest portrayal of the lower levels in this cutthroat world. I’m almost glad I never tried to achieve such lofty, lofty goals.
With Kaori up to bat, one can only begin to imagine what she has in store. Does she bust out the big guns and wipe the floor with everyone? Does she rebel against the man and play her own piece? Will she transform into a magical girl?
Surprisingly, that is a no to each anime stereotype. Instead, she plays the song how she feels it. I’ve got to say, from what I’ve heard about this performance, most people went on a Beethoven sonata binge. For good reason, as the performance, recorded by violin impresario Yuuna Shinohara, is undoubtedly one of the best examples of music we have this year in anime. Take a listen if you don’t believe me.
How was that? I couldn’t sum it up in words, so there you go. The animation, the movement, the sound; it’s all near perfection. The judges all agree that her version was the most spirited and honest. Her appearance as a contestant without having won any previous titles is shocking to some. Still, the way the world works is fickle, and all the judges very nearly DQ her for making an obscene amount of mistakes regarding tempo and arrangement. The head judge, who gladly brushed off everyone else’s mistakes, is audibly shouting at the top of his lungs. She even manages to confuse her accompanist in the process. It’s like playing an online game as a support character and your fighter goes in hog wild with incredible success. It’s like, “Wow, that was awesome. Just don’t do it again, or you’re going to get burned next time.”
Out in the building’s corridor, everyone heaps praise on Kaori and two young girls even give her flowers. Even Kousei notes that her life is like a movie. He’s never seen flowers given to a complete stranger in the audition portion, so to the two girls, this may be the greatest day of their lives. Still he can't shake the feeling that with Watari's romantic advances towards Kaori, he is still Friend A, a secondary character that no one really cares about. The results are posted, and Kaori just makes it into the competition preliminaries by audience vote alone. The rest of the episode focuses on the relations that Kousei has with his friends and ends with him meeting the violinist on the sidewalk and going out to eat in place of his friend Watari, who didn’t show up.
As you can tell from the earlier part of the review, I’m not going to jump into a show just because it’s cute. There needs to be incentive for the fluffiness, and this episode can prove that. From what I’ve heard, the show also focuses on other people like Kousei, whose musical dreams were in one way or another hampered by circumstance. Hey, if I get more music like that, I don’t care.
Your lie in April may not go down as one of the greatest musical anime ever produced (that honor still belongs to Nodamile Cantabile). It’s animation is good but not great, it’s story is good but not great, and the music…I have no complaints. Combine all this, and you end up with a very happy anime in a season that is hosting some dark themes. Consider it a breather of a series.
