With a beautiful opening shot of cherry blossoms blowing in the wind, the anime Your Lie in April portrays a beautiful story of young love, pain, loss, friendship, and hope.

I think the moment that I saw one of the first scenes in the first episode, I knew that this show was going to haunt me forever. Right after the theme song plays, a young Kousei Arima (around 10 or 11) is depicted as he is competing in a classical music competition expertly playing Beethoven piano sonata No. 14 3rd movement. Not only was I shocked by the sheer amount of skill and talent he possessed, but I was also left speechless by the lack of light and life in his eyes as he played such a lively piece. This portrayal is one of the many bone-rattling, jaw-dropping, and heart shattering scenes incorporated into this masterfully created anime.

The show then transitions to Kousei Arima at age 15, in his third year of middle school. He no longer plays the piano, traumatized by the stress of being a young prodigy and the weight of his mother’s death, he expresses that when he plays the piano, he can no longer hear the notes. It’s not a matter of auditory impairment, but when he begins to play, he transcends into a self destructive mindset, imagining that he is drowning with the piano, the harder he plays the farther he falls.

When going on a double date with his two best friends, Tsubaki and Watari, he comes across a girl dancing on top of a playground with kids playing a melodica while the kids harmonize on instruments. At that moment, he is so captivated by the image of her and the cherry blossoms falling around her, that he imagines that his world begins to take color, after an eternity of seeing black and white, almost like piano keys.

Unfortunately, the poor guy tried to take a picture of her at the exact moment when the wind blew up her skirt, creating a very bad looking situation for him and the girl on the playground, Kaori. Kaori turns out to be the girl who is supposed to join them on the double date, cementing her presence in Kousei’s life and unknowingly changing his life forever.

Kaori is a competitive classical music player, a violinist. When she meets Kousei, she tries to convince him to accompany her, making it her mission to rekindle his love of music and his passion for life.

Let me just say, the soundtrack in this show is absolutely phenomenal, the plot is comedic and heartbreaking, and the show itself is a masterpiece. I highly highly highly recommend that you watch it and watch the story unravel for yourself!

Thanks for reading!