One more time – Tell me why the seasons keep on changing / One more time – Missing all the times that we shared as one
What They Say:
“Goodbye, Hero”
After Nagi and Kousei’s performance Takeshi is pumped. It’s his turn to take the stage. What will his music say about himself? What will he convey to the audience?
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
A girl who loved but never knew, a boy who fought and was given the top, a girl who admires, a boy who plays piano, and a girl who wants nothing more than one more chance. Your lie in April is not just vibrant in its color palette, but its cast of characters. And in this episode, each one had their moment.
Tsubaki is finally reaching the conclusion she should have before she introduced Kousei to Kaori, at least for her sake it would be better. She loves Kousei for a long time and hasn’t really realized it. It’s hard at that age, but she knows know and it hurts all the more that she can’t help but talk about the things Kousei loves: Kaori and music. What did Kaori say about this? What did Kaori think about this? It’s all Tsubaki can do now to just be happy about Kousei, reawakened to music. It’s all she can do to hold back the frustration and tears that spending time with him is the most she can do and the most she can be happy with, at least as long as Kaori is alive. It’s heartbreaking to watch that play out. She can’t say anything because the feelings between Kousei and Kaori are so obvious and so affecting that it would be more to watch them all fall apart with a confession from Tsubaki. And she would be the cause of it. That’s what’s heartbreaking. A catch 22 of love in the worst sense.
Takeshi climbed up stairs, Rocky-style, and claimed he would beat Kousei and Emi. He would win on his own strength!! But Kousei dropped out and suddenly Emi’s enthusiasm to play waned. The two tops in his age bracket are suddenly gone from the piano world and what he worked so hard at is suddenly in his lap. Competitive by nature, he was at the top and felt no gratification for it. No victory because there was no competition. Emi’s piano speaks directly to Kousei and that’s its weakness. I’m sure she still plays wonderfully, but there’s no heart. Takeshi plays because it’s an outlet. He commands the piano with all his might to do his bidding and his bidding it does. He plays a Chopin piece in the episode and it’s eye opening. It’s a declaration of war. Kousei’s played the best piano in his life in the past month or so and Emi’s played the most moving piece ever in episode eight. Takeshi is pumped up and they are all at the best they’ve been in their lives. From Takeshi’s performance, Emi and Kousei’s can only be stunning.
Emi’s moments were subtle in this episode, but she got them all the same. They were comparison shots between how she is now and how she was. The first bite out of the egg salad sandwich wasn’t one of a rival taking a confusing piece of food as it was with Takeshi. It was someone infatuated. It was made intentionally more pretty when she took the bite because, however she can, she wants to be more pretty for Kousei. She’s just happy being there by his side—by their side. She wants to be noticed, but it doesn’t feel like love—not the same kind as Kaori and Tsubaki at least. It feels like admiration. She’s always looking in the corner of her eye at Kousei. Now that Kousei doesn’t feel nervous on the eve of his performance, she’s pumped. She wants to impress the man who got her to play the piano in the first place. She wants to shine as bright as she can and caress the piano keys just as she did 11 episodes ago. She wants to stand atop with the two who always have.
Kousei, again in the flashbacks, is the glue that holds these three together. Not only did their piano playing have much less FEEL behind them when he was absent, Takeshi and Emi didn’t seem to talk to each other much at the competitions. They conversed, but not hung out as they did with egg salad sandwiches this episode. He woke them both up, first Emi when she picked up piano and next Takeshi upon his return to piano after a two year absence.
The impetus? What started everything and set off this beautiful sequence of events. Kaori Miyazono. A girl who cares not about music competitions or standing atop a meaningless stand with a gold medal or trophy in hands. No. Kaori is a girl who cares about moving people with music. She’s a girl who awakened someone who couldn’t hear the notes come through the piano anymore to the beauty that music can hold.
Kaori, the girl that made a promise.
Kaori, the girl that wants one more chance at the stage.
Kaori, the girl that wants to hold a violin and play, just one more time.
At whatever cost and no matter how little a chance, Kaori wants to play the violin once more. Kousei and her, both at their best, have to stand on that stage once more. They have to play their hearts out, even if she collapses after the performance, even if it’s the last thing she does on this Earth. This is the most important thing to a musician like Kaori. She wants to play with the man whom she awakened to music anew. She wants to play with the man she loves, the man who she’s admit to wanting to die together with. The man who said no, the man who said to wait, the man who said to listen. And listen she did and awakened she was. The man who she awakened awakened her to the joy of life. She’s trying one more time because of this boy, because of the one love she may feel.
In Summary:
I can’t handle Your lie in April. At its onset, I didn’t expect it to be this. I expected it to be junior high fun of discovering music. It certainly is that, but it is so so much more and I love it all the more for those reasons. It integrates music perfectly into the show and its drama, while a little melodramatic, works in its context. Music is not always about subtle actions, it is about grand, sweeping moments. Every performance in Your lie in April sweeps you up, either in its tragedy or its success. It is enjoyable every single, tear jerking moment.
Grade: A+
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Equipment: PS3, LG 47LB5800 47” 1080p LED TV, LG NB3530A Sound Bar
