Your Lie in April ( Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso )
Directed By : Kyōhei Ishiguro
Produced By : A-1 Pictures
Genre : Drama/Music/Romance/School/Shounen
Watch it now on Crunchyroll !
Your Lie in April is an anime adaptation of a popular manga series written by Naoshi Arakawa and produced by A-1 Pictures. The series is being aired on Fuji TV’s famed NoitaminA time slot, which has played host to the likes of Eden of the East and Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day , so from the outset Y our Lie in April has extra expectations placed upon its shoulders. The director, Kyōhei Ishiguro, has only worked on a handful of series, including Psycho-Pass and Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun , mainly in lesser roles, so this marks his first full series in the director’s chair. Couple this with A-1 Pictures tendency to be very hit and miss with their adaptations, you’d be right to be worried, fortunately though, the first episode was an absolute joy to watch.
Kousei Arima is a pianist prodigy, dominating competitions in his mother’s stead, forced to live the life she wanted for herself, doing all he can to put a smile on her face, by working tirelessly to be the best. Until she passed way, causing Kosei to have a mental breakdown, which left him unable to hear the sound of the piano. Two years on and Kosei lives his life in a monotone world, unable to see anything but grey, that is until he meets Kaori Miyazono.
Visual impact is a powerful tool and is everything you would expect from a Makoto Shinkai movie, but this isn’t a Shinkai movie, in fact it’s not even related to Shinkai in anyway. But as I sat watching the first episode, the visuals wowed me in such a way that I thought I accidentally started watching one of his movies, the animation quality and the vibrant colours had such a large impact on me. The show’s beauty is supported by a solid story and characters that have a great blend of deep emotion and cheeriness.
While this is only the first episode of a two-cour series and I’m always skeptical of new directors and studios like A-1 Pictures, I feel my fears have been totally blown away this time. There aren’t many series that I can say I’ve liked from the very first episode, but this one has made the list. So if you aren’t watching this series already, then trust me and head over to Crunchyroll and give this a watch!