Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso

Kousei Arima is a child prodigy known as the "Human Metronome" for playing the piano with precision and perfection. Guided by a strict mother and rigorous training, Kousei dominates every competition he enters, earning the admiration of his musical peers and praise from audiences. When his mother suddenly passes away, the subsequent trauma makes him unable to hear the sound of a piano, and he never takes the stage thereafter.

Nowadays, Kousei lives a quiet and unassuming life as a junior high school student alongside his friends Tsubaki Sawabe and Ryouta Watari. While struggling to get over his mother's death, he continues to cling to music. His monochrome life turns upside down the day he encounters the eccentric violinist Kaori Miyazono, who thrusts him back into the spotlight as her accompanist. Through a little lie, these two young musicians grow closer together as Kaori tries to fill Kousei's world with color.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Miyazono, Kaori Main

Taneda, Risa Japanese

Arima, Kousei Main

Hanae, Natsuki Japanese

Sawabe, Tsubaki Main

Sakura, Ayane Japanese

Watari, Ryouta Main

Oosaka, Ryouta Japanese

Igawa, Emi Supporting

Hayami, Saori Japanese

Seto, Koharu Supporting

Minase, Inori Japanese

Seto, Hiroko Supporting

Sonozaki, Mie Japanese

Aiza, Nagi Supporting

Kayano, Ai Japanese

Aiza, Takeshi Supporting

Kaji, Yuuki Japanese

Kashiwagi, Nao Supporting

Ishigami, Shizuka Japanese

Saitou, Shunsuke Producer

Fukushima, Yuuichi Producer

Kimura, Makoto Producer

Tateishi, Kensuke Producer

Reviews

Jan 18, 2025

Au79gamer

Recommended

Every April, I find myself revisiting this masterpiece, *Your Lie in April*. There's just something about it that makes it unforgettable.

The anime has one of the best soundtracks I've ever heard, with iconic tracks like "Hikaru Nara" and "7!! Orange." Even now, I still listen to them on YouTube—they hit differently every time. Honestly, I know it might sound like a paid promotion (😅), but this is my very first review on MyAnimeList, so I had to express how much I love it.

What’s surprising is that I never thought I'd watch a romance anime. Yet somehow, this one drew me in, ... and it’s the only anime that has ever made me cry. The emotions, the music, and the story—it all came together so beautifully.

What saddens me, though, is how underrated *Your Lie in April* is. It deserves so much more recognition. If you're reading this and haven't watched it yet, give it a shot. You might just find yourself crying alongside the music like I did.

---

Let me know if you’d like any changes!

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Jun 5, 2023

TinoTheThortino

Mixed Feelings

This is the first time ever I need to write a review 'bout an anime.
Why? Because I feel it was good but not enough to make me say "This is a real masterpiece".
What a clichè: initially, the main theme (music) kept me away from watching Your Lie in April because it is slightly away from my main interests but I wanted to give it a try.

Let's start with the first impressions, then I'll go for the scores.
The first episode is nothing special: introduces the characters and the plot, vaguely.. the music is almost absent.
From the second episode, the "first" part of the plot actually ... starts: the main character, Arima Kousei, is going to face his biggest fear with the help of a violinist girl, in order to get back playing piano as he was used to do before his mother's death.
After about 10 episodes, the "second" (and the most annoying) part of the plot transforms the anime in a really boring teen-romance where the characters keep repeating the same things, just to extend the story as long as they can: the music doesn't even look like the main theme anymore.. but the storywriters are trying to convince you otherwise.
The unnumerable signs pointing to what was going to happen make the ending obvious but I thought that, somehow, it didn't look so bad.

Now, let's go with the scores and I'll go from the best to the worst point:

MUSIC (9): that was obvious, how can I not give this score to the music? It is surely the most important thing that kept me watching this anime, even if I'm not that into the classic genre: it just sounds so good!
And that's enough.. I don't know anything about the topic so I can't say anything else.
ANIMATIONS (8): especially when the characters are up to play an instrument, the animations looks incredibly smooth and relaxing, practically realistic and the camera angles are managed very well.
ART (8): pretty similar to 3-gatsu no Lion but more colorful. Awesome scenes and pretty-well refined details.
PLOT (6): yeah, we're starting to go deeper. As I said earlier, the plot switches from a young-pianist growth to a 3rd category soap-opera where the music is set aside, leaving room for the characters' relationship """DEVELOPMENT""" topic.
Just a boring sequence of scenes where the characters are never pleased about Arima's behaviour: sometimes they want to be ignored and the next two minutes they need attention.
It's just an unpleasant never-ending circus where no one is satisfied of his own situation and new useless characters are introduced in the plot doing the same thing and repeating the same quotes.
CHARACTERS (5): if there's something worse and more mundane than the plot, here we are.
The characters are just awful. Saving Arima and Kaori, who somehow create a nice although clichéd love-story connected to music, the secondary characters are just living stereotypes who Arima needs (maybe.. or maybe not) in order to grow both as a pianist and as a person.. nothing else.
As mentioned, they're incredibly obvious and repetitive, acting like never-changing immature teens with zero development. They're existance is only aimed to create filler dialogues and comedy (like Watari and Tsubaki) or just to create unnecessary rivalries with the main character (like Igawa and Takeshi).

ENJOYMENT (7-): I quite enjoyed Your Lie in April because it treats an uncommon thematic in a simple way: just showing it without focusing so much on the plot itself.
The story is not that original, but it is stable and connects every element so it can flow regularly.
The main reason why I hated it so much is because it lasts too long. There are so many episodes filled with unnecessary events, making the entire show extremely annoying (10 episodes would have been enough).

If you want to give it a try in order to listen to some well-made music, I totally recommend it, but don't focus too much on the story because it's not worth your time at all.

Definitely OVERRATED: playing good music is not enough to put on a good show.

OVERALL: 7

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Feb 2, 2025

NegativeMan007

Not Recommended

Your Lie in April – A Melodramatic Crescendo of Missed Opportunities
Your Lie in April is often praised for its emotional depth and musical brilliance, but beneath its glossy animation and Chopin-laden soundtrack lies a series plagued by frustrating narrative choices and exhausting melodrama. While it aims to explore themes of grief, love, and artistic passion, the execution often feels manipulative rather than moving, leaving viewers more drained than inspired.

Repetitive Trauma Porn
The protagonist, Kousei, is trapped in a cycle of trauma that the show beats into the ground with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer. Every performance triggers the same flashbacks to his abusive mother, complete ... with ghostly apparitions and overwrought metaphors. What could have been a poignant exploration of healing instead becomes a numbing loop of self-flagellation, reducing his character growth to a repetitive slog. By the fifth episode, the relentless focus on his suffering feels less like empathy and more like emotional exploitation.

Kaori: Manic Pixie Dream Girl, The Musical
Kaori, the vibrant violinist who reignites Kousei’s passion for music, is less a character than a plot device. Her “live life to the fullest” quirkiness feels contrived, and her motives remain frustratingly opaque until the final act. The series leans heavily on tired tropes, framing her as a mystical force whose sole purpose is to fix the male lead. Her illness, while tragic, is telegraphed so obviously from the start that any intended emotional payoff feels calculated rather than earned.

Pacing as Slow as a Funeral Dirge
The glacial pacing drains any urgency from the story. Endless monologues about “the color of your sound” and prolonged reaction shots during performances pad out episodes to unbearable lengths. Even the musical sequences—ostensibly the show’s strength—are undercut by constant interruptions, as characters pause mid-concerto to deliver soliloquies on their feelings. The result is a narrative that meanders when it should soar.

Underdeveloped Side Characters
Tsubaki and Watari, Kousei’s childhood friend and rival, are relegated to one-note roles. Tsubaki’s romantic subplot is particularly grating, as her feelings for Kousei flip-flop between jealousy and devotion without meaningful development. Watari exists solely as a caricature of a playboy, his potential as a foil to Kousei utterly wasted. The show’s fixation on Kousei’s angst leaves little room for anyone else to breathe.

Clichéd Ending & Emotional Manipulation
The finale relies on a twist that’s painfully predictable, leaning into melodramatic tropes that prioritize tears over genuine catharsis. The heavy-handed symbolism (cherry blossoms, anyone?) and saccharine voiceover monologues feel like cheap tricks to wring emotion from the audience. Instead of feeling moved, I felt manipulated—a stark reminder that tragedy alone doesn’t equate to depth.

Conclusion
Your Lie in April is a beautifully animated, well-scored series that squanders its potential on shallow characterizations and emotional grandstanding. While it may resonate with viewers seeking a tearjerker, its reliance on clichés, repetitive storytelling, and underdeveloped relationships make it a chore to endure. For a show about the power of music, it sadly forgets that the spaces between the notes are just as important as the notes themselves—a lesson it could have used in its own pacing and subtlety.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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