Your Lie in April

Alt title: Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso

Vol: 11; Ch: 44
2011 - 2015
4.307 out of 5 from 1,498 votes
Rank #321
Your Lie in April

Kosei Arima was a piano prodigy until his cruel taskmaster of a mother died suddenly, changing his life forever. Driven by his pain to abandon piano, Kosei now lives in a monotonous, colorless world. Having resigned himself to a bland life, he is surprised when he meets Kaori Miyazono, a violinist with an unorthodox style. Can she bring Kosei back to music, and back to life?

Source: Kodansha 

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Reviews

Yakoz
5

Kousei can't do it. He can no longer listen and feel piano like he used to. Mentally scarred from being the shadow of his mom, he can't perform because of his trauma and stage fright. One day he meets Kaori, a young and energetic girl who tries to bring colors in his monochrome life. Too bad that she is his friend's girlfriend. That's why he gets called Friend A. Plus/minus considerations: STORY: sorry in advance if I hurt your feelings writing this, but I didn' see the the masterpiece everybody is talking about. Your Lie in April is one of the most common tearjerker baits out there. The story is pretty simple: a young kiddo is traumatized by the figure of his mother who left him because of a terminal illness. He sees everything pitch black and the piano prodigy within him died along with his mother. Suddenly, a girl, who's his friend's gf, changes his life awakening his passion for music once again. The romantic side of the manga fails, giving too much space where/when not needed to secondary characters (one in particular who is never impactful in the story) and we're frequently remembered that Kousei is just Friend A. This story would've worked better if Your Lie in April was a shoujo, but is not. Not only it's serialized in a shounen magazine, but the biggest "limitation" is that the story is narrated from the boy's point of view, hence shounen. Another big problem is how the tournaments have been handled. To prevent spoilers I'll keep it vague: him joining a random tournament with character x? Shouldn't that be against the rules? No? And the final tournament? The ending? Hello? I genuinely tried to follow this manga for the classical music, but apparently music was just the side thing. If the romance side doesn't work well and the music part is not optimal, what's left? Drama. Is the drama part good at least? His mom's part, maybe. Kaori's part? Absolutely not. Just go and read or reread what she says towards the beginning and you'll understand what I'm talking about. Obvious. (-) ART: interesting style, somewhat familiar to shoujo manga (what I really feel this is). I like how Kousei's darkest moments are illustrated. There are great scenes that would make really good wallpapers (him on the stage or them on bikes having the best time of their lives). You can clearly distinguish all characters and backgrounds are not bad. Nothing overly complicated or too simplistic. Well balanced. Took me a while to get used to the facial features, lips and eyes in primis, but overall good. (++) CHARACTERS: similar thing to what I said about the story. 2/4 main characters are completely useless. Actually, let me correct myself. They're an obstacle for Kousei, the main character and the story itself. Ryouta is there to steal every cute girl from other boys around the school and, oh well, Kaori is one of them. RUINED. Tsubaki, Kousei's childhood friend, is useless: supposedly a main character, she does literally nothing to fuel the story if not giving more side-material that nobody cares about. Thankfully Kousei's rivals lived up to the espectations: great personalities, different backgrounds and likeable. (-) As I said multiple times, this manga has many flaws. I think the biggest issue is the target: it tries too hard to reach both girls and boys, mixing where it shouldn't have. Characters whine and cry too often: I understand they're kids, but there's a limit ffs. There are flaws, ok. Did I have fun reading it though? Yes. The read was enjoyable and time passed so fast it only took me 2 days to finish it.  This is my opinion on a manga that gave me a good time but it could've been much more and it's negative in almost every department. I suggest you to read Your Lie in April because, as a tearjerker bait, the mass should like it. Have fun and don't hate me for this review, it's just my opinion.

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