Your Lie in April - Episode 3 - Inside Spring

Those facial expression...

Kaori has dragged Kosei to a cafe and she is fascinated by what she ordered.  She observes a piano and manages to coax Kosei to play with two small girls.  We get to see for the first time Kosei's mental stigma towards the piano.

After their meal, Kaori admits she knows exactly who Kosei is and that she looks up to him as a musician. Kosei tells her he can only hear the sound of the keys  but not the notes themselves. Kaori refuses to accept his curse and decides to make him her accompaniest for the second round.

Kosei tries to refuse but as the next day demonstrates, Kaori is not one to take no for an answer.  She proceeds to enlist Tsubaki's help to force Friend A to do it. The results are fairly comical. At one point the two conspirators talk about Tsubaki's relationship with Kosei, to which she replies that she views him as a kid brother.

The day of the competition, Kosei is nowhere to be found. As the competition begins, Kaori finds him eating egg salad sandwiches on the roof of the school and begs him to play with her, bowing her head and crying while she implores him to play. Our main protagonist relents as Watari and Tsuabki show up and haul ass on their bikes to get them to the competition in time.

Kaori's facial expressions are probably some of my favorite parts of the series.  She is so animated in everything she does, which is stands in very stark contrast to the soft spoken Kosei.  The reaction to eating the pastry is particularly amusing.

In contrast to that, her singing is quite awful and it's an awkward part in the show to hear the voice actress singing in very heavily accented English. I know one can counter "That's how she'd sound singing it," but its a strange moment and to be honest I can't fanboy everything.

The background theme with violin and piano, which will make apperances in various altered forms throughout the series is such an excellent framing device that helps all the scenes build.

Observations on Second Viewing (spoilers):

We now know very clearly why Kaori was actually crying. In one her realest moments in the series, where all pretense is dropped, she is begging the boy who she fell in love with years ago to play with her and fulfill her most deeply held wish. Knowing about both her limited time remaining and her history, the scene is so much more emotionally taxing than the first viewing.

It's also amusing to note how Kaori is also quite a manipulative person when you think about it.  Her trying to talk Kosei into playing at the cafe, playing the the classical piece for a week straight over the PA system, enlisting Tsubaki to harass him through posting the score everywhere (even his phone wallpaper)... all of it is quite an intense effort to get Kosei to play, though in retrospect I think we can forgive her. Seeing Kaori holding the black cat is also interesting since the feline serves as a representation of his mother's curse and his inability to play anymore.

The scene on the bus, when Kaori pushes for the stop to the hospital, is the first clue that something is wrong with her health.  I remember my wife point asking me "Does she die?" Sigh. Did you really need to ask honey?  Do you really want to know that answer?

Your Lie in April - Episode 2 - Friend A

Classical Pieces: Violin Sonata No. 9 (Kreutzer Sonata)

One of the drawbacks of reviewing a completed series is that you love it and don't want to stop watching it.  You want to go to the next episode without stopping and if you find yourself limited on time to spend the 20-30 minutes to write a review the end result is perhaps a few days between watching.

Because classical music is such an important part of this series, I thought I'd add an extra feature to these reviews and list any classical performance pieces featured in an episode.  For the second episode, it is Beethoven's Kreutzer.

Kosei, Tsubaki and Watari enter the Towa Hall auditorium to watch Kaori perform her competition piece.  Watari falls asleep almost immediately and Tsuabki laments her boredom that everyone is playing the same piece.  Kosei explains that because it is a competition they are all expected to play the same piece; however, this competition is interesting in that the violinists all have piano accompaniments.

Kaori, who is fourth in line to play, shocks Kosei and the entire crowd by playing the piece without regard for how it was written.  The lead judge even comments that she "might as well be picking a fight with [Beethoven]. The show ramps up the volume of her performance, compared to those who came before her, and we are treated to the first of what will eventually be many great classical performance pieces.  One of the most impressive features of the show is how accurate the movements of the characters are when playing.  In adding this detail, it adds to the realism of the show, which sets it apart as the show could have just as easily been lazy with the animation.
Kosei's eyes sparkle at the first note from her bow.  Kaori gets a standing ovation from the crowd but the judges are not impressed.  Kosei's words at the bumper are simple yet poignant, "She's beautiful."

As expected Kaori does not place but is nonetheless picked as the audience's choice.  But we quickly get a good glimpse into Kaori's personality as she doesn't care at all about her rank, she only wanted to play.  Kosei praises her performance and then resigns himself as be only Friend A, a fill in to alievate Tsubaki from being in an awkward situation,

The episode ends with Tsubaki threatening Watari for neglecting Keiko and forcing him to walk the unshown girl home.  Kosei on his way home encounters Kaori, who he has been thinking about during his walk.  He persuades her not to return to the school to look for Watari and she tells him that he'll serve as an acceptable substitute to accompany her. 

Once again, the art is great.  Some of the facial expressions are very nuanced and I love the color scheme in the final scene of the show. 

Observations on Second Viewing (spoilers):

The visual of the double doors opening as Kosei enters Towa Hall was seems like possible foreshadowing of Kosei dusting himself off and beginning to play the piano again. His tapping along to his chair, trying to mimic the piano score is another sign he hasn't lost his desire to play, contrary to what he may say in the subsequent episodes.

When Kaori says "Elohim Essaim." This apparently has its origins in some spell that can summon black magic but Elohim is the Hebrew word for G-d, so I think this may be something akin to "G-d, please hear me."  Just before it, she hoes that her music will reach "them" and I wonder if she's really talking about the audience or just Kosei.

After the performance, Kaori is really seeking Kosei's approval.  His initial hesitancy to praise her has an immediate impact and in retrospect we know how much it means to her.

I don't know if this will be an ongoing trend, but Watari really serves as a strong third party observer to the series.  He says what we as the viewer are thinking and in some ways want to say to Kosei in the same situation. I love the response, "It's only natural for the girl you're crushing on to be in love with someone else," when Kosei laments Kaori would never be interested in him.

Final thoughts: is that Kaori is an impressive actress.  We know that she wanted to meet Kosei all along and her ability to manipulate him into escorting her is impressive.  Seeing the act she puts up is amusing.

And to answer your question Kosei, as to what that feeling is called... it's kismet.

Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash - Episode 11 - "Between Life and Death"

Can Mary overcome her fear?

In some ways its strange to begin a review mid-series let alone with only two episodes left in the season (or perhaps series?).  But such is life when you begin and I had to begin somewhere.  To recap where we left off, the party had decided to leave their usual hunting grounds and goblin prey to explore the Cyrene Mines where Mary's previous party had ventured and were almost entirely wiped.  After making good progress on several floors the group ends up encountering a large group of kobolds in a field, lead by the massive Death Spots, the kobold responsible for killing three of Mary's previous party members.

The episode opens with Mary remembering a conversation her old party had about first venturing into the Cyrene Mines.  The actual party members are rather vanilla but it is interesting to note that Mary has a much more upbeat personality than we've seen from her since joining Haru & crew.  She is brought back to reality just in time as Death Spots approaches the party's hiding spot.  Afterwards, they decide to venture to the 5th floor and in their quest to rest up return to where the tragic events in Mary's past happened.

The party encounters the undead versions of Mary's friend and are forced to fight them.  The team, although outnumbering the foes 2-1 is clearly at a disadvantage when it comes to skill, though in the end Mary is able to save everyone, both her teammates and her lost friends. A dominant theme of Grimgar is the quest to move on after loss and while most of the team has already confronted it with Manato, Mary is now able to do the same with the weight on her person.

Unfortunately, the fight with the Undead King's servants attracts the attention of Death Spots and from there the action picks up and this is where the episode shines. The artwork during the chase scene as the party tries to escape is excellent.  Although the fact Ranta is staying behind to try and save his teammates is a little cliche and predictable, it provides a good set up for what should be the finale next week.

For me, the first part of this episode was a little boring, including the fight with Mary's former teammates until she begins to dispel the curse keeping them alive.  The fact she not only casts a spell but embraces all three of them is a touching visual. 

Speaking of hugging, Yume really is the comic relief of the show and provides some needed levity between the action & desperation. Her latching onto Ranta in fear and then screaming at him to let her go cracked me up.  When she's later wondering where she could carry a possible future wolf dog pup in her costume and then looking disappointingly down her shirt was another great moment. Too often in anime, the jokes are over the top and just don't translate well to an American audience, but Grimgar has done a decent job of avoiding that.

The discussion of Mary's teammates turning to nothing but ash was my favorite part of the episode.  The observation that they all at some point will turn to ash is poignant.  It was very similar to the Jewish concept of death, "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou return unto the ground for out if was thou taken: for dust thou art and unto dust shalt thou return" (Genesis 3:19).  I would not be surprised if this scene was directly inspired by the Biblical verse from the first book of the Torah.  Perhaps in a better title for the series would be Grimar of Fantasy & Dust.

Your Lie in April - Episode 1 - Monotone/Colorful

Our introduction to Kaori Miyazono.

Your Lie in April begins with the story of Kosei Arima, a child piano prodigy who has abandoned his playing.  His late mother was his teacher and very abusive towards her young son in her quest to get him to achieve perfection.  Tsubaki, his childhood friend and neighbor, is a classic tomboy.  During baseball practice, she hits a home run that breaks the window of the nearby music room, where Kosei is transcribing popular music and nails him in the head.  Rounding out the trio of friends is Watari, the attractive and popular captain of the soccer team.  While one would think the three make an odd pairing at first glance, the friendship between the three is genuine.  After introducing us to three of the four main players, the major moving point in the plot is that Tsubaki asks Kosei to accompany her during her quest to set up Watari with a classmate, Kaori Miyazono.

At the meeting spot, Kosei arrives first and ends up meeting our female protagonist in what could be called not ideal circumstances for an introduction.  Kaori steals the scene in the playground, which will be a recurring thing throughout the series, and while the comedy is nothing laugh out loud, seeing her reaction to her first encounter with Kosei is amusing. As a married man, I've seen that face once or twice from my wife.

The first episode has some of the typical anime tropes in it but thankfully this will be lacking in future episodes.  Additionally, the background music does a wonderful job setting the tone. We've not gotten any of the performance pieces yet but even when no one is on stage, the music is always great.  Moreover, in spite of the massive anime eyes, which can be a turnoff for some, the artwork is top notch. The scene of Kosei standing before his mother telling her he desires to make her well again through his playing is honestly a little uncomfortable in how well drawn it is.

Observations on Second Viewing: 

Although pointed out in the final fifteen minutes of the series, the entire first scene where Kaori and Kosei meet takes on a whole different meaning.  Their eyes meeting means so much for her and I love how she casually wipes the tears from her eyes and tries to pass it off as blowing too hard into the melodica.  In a second viewing, those few seconds take on such an important meaning that just simply one can't appreciate the first time around.

I also wonder what was going on in Kaori's head when Kosei initially tried to pass on watching the recital.  Managing to maintain the the illusion of being interested in Watari, she grabs hold of Kosei's hand and forcefully drags him along. The close up of Kaori's eyes speak so much to what's going on inside her head and you can observe that mix of joy to be with him and the desperation to keep him with her.

Hajimemashou (Let's Begin)

I decided that for as much as I watch anime, why not create my own reviews?  As a thirty-four year old father of two with a full-time job and working on my MBA, I simply don't have the time to invest in creating & managing videos via YouTube channel.  Beyond that, one could argue that I am nothing to look at in front of the camera.  Finally, it could be a little embarrassing for me to be doing something people a lot younger and more enthusiastic are currently doing. 

So what is a smart guy with a pretty good flair for communication to do?  Why not a blog? 

Right now I'm currently watching several on-going shows thanks to the miracles of streaming television: Grimar of Ash & Fantasy, Erased, Fairy Tail, Naruto and Snow White with Red Hair.  But to start, I thought I'd begin with re-watching my favorite show I've seen in over a year: Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso, or as it's known to English audiences, Your Lie in April.

Ever since I completed viewing it's 22 episode run almost a year ago, I've been trying to find a romance-themed show that could measure up to it and honestly I've not found anything to coming close. While there are other shows I could sit and mindlessly watch over and over again, this one has developed an emotional connection to me which others have lacked.

With all that said, I'll be approaching the Your Lie in April reviews a little differently than most.  I will do a standard written review but will also have a massive spoilers section that talks about all the interesting things I've noticed about the show with a second full viewing, knowing the reveal made in the show's closing fifteen minutes.

Can I go to bed yet?