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.