Your Lie in April

Your Lie in April, known in Japan as or Kimiuso for short, is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Naoshi Arakawa. The series was serialized in Kodansha's "Monthly Shōnen Magazine" from April 2011 to May 2015. The story follows a young pianist named Kо̄sei Arima, who loses the ability to hear the piano after his mother's death.
An anime television series adaptation by A-1 Pictures aired from October 2014 to March 2015 on Fuji TV's Noitamina block. A live-action film adaptation of the same name was released in September 2016. The series has also been adapted into a stage play, a light novel, and it was set to be adapted into a musical, but it was canceled.
The series was generally received very well, with many critics giving praise to the animation, the soundtrack, and the ending.
Plot.
Piano prodigy Kōsei Arima dominates various music competitions and becomes famous among child musicians. When his mother Saki dies suddenly, he has a mental breakdown while performing at a piano recital; this results in him no longer being able to hear the sound of his piano even though his hearing is otherwise perfectly fine.
Two years later, Kōsei has not touched the piano and views the world in monochrome, without any flair or color. He resigns himself to living out his life with his good friends Tsubaki and Watari, until one day, a girl changes everything. Kaori Miyazono, an audacious, free-spirited, fourteen-year-old violinist whose playing style reflects her manic personality. She helps Kōsei return to the music world and shows him that it should be free and mold-breaking, unlike the structured and rigid style Kōsei was used to. As she continues to uplift him, he quickly realizes that he loves her, although she already likes Watari.
Later, while performing together, Kaori suddenly collapses after a moving performance and is hospitalised. At first Kaori says that she is anaemic and just needs some routine testing, but this is revealed to be a lie. Kaori is discharged and back to her happy self, inviting Kōsei to play at a Gala with her. However, Kaori fails to show up on the day of the Gala, and as her health deteriorates, she becomes dejected. Kōsei plays a duet with Nagi Aiza, in the hope of motivating her. After listening to it, Kaori opts for a risky surgery that may kill her if it fails, just so that she can play with him one more time. While playing in the finals of the Eastern Japan Piano Competition, Kōsei sees Kaori's spirit accompanying him and eventually realizes that she has died during the surgery.
A letter written by Kaori was given to Kōsei by her parents at her funeral. The letter reveals that she was aware that she was about to die, so she became more free-spirited, both as a person and in her music, in order to not take her regrets to Heaven. She also reveals that she had been in love with Kōsei since she was five, and was inspired to play the violin so that she could one day play with him. Her supposed feelings towards Watari was a lie, fabricated in order to get closer to Kōsei without hurting Tsubaki, who also has limerent feelings towards Kōsei. After finding this out, Tsubaki confronts Kōsei and tells him that she will be by his side for the rest of her life. Kaori also leaves behind a picture of her as a child coming back from the concert that inspired her, with Kōsei in the background walking back home. Kōsei later frames this picture.
Development.
When Naoshi Arakawa first wanted to be a mangaka, he entered a one-shot in the Monthly Shōnen Magazine Grand Challenge. After finishing "Sayonara, Football", he wanted to try something new, even saying he was "bored" of sports manga. For ideas, he went back to the one-shot he submitted in the contest. Despite him having previously pitched a music manga, only for it to be turned down, he eventually settled on a music manga. The classical music theme was chosen because "Beck" was very popular at the time, and that was not a series he wanted to compete with. Since "Beck" focuses on rock music, a classical theme was chosen. In order to differentiate it from "Nodame Cantabile", another manga with a classical music theme, he decided to focus on only one instrument instead of an entire orchestra. Because he knew nothing about classical music before he created the series, he interviewed musicians Akinori Osawa, Masanori Sugano, Kaori Yamazaki, and Rieko Ikeda, as well as using his experience with Kendo to help depict the tension at competitions. He also read books about music and asked his editor, who had previous violin experience, for help.
For what instrument to focus on, he recalled seeing a female violinist on television, which inspired him to do the same in the story. He originally wanted to have a male and female violinist, but drawing scenes with two violinists was hard, so he chose a violinist and pianist. Also in the original version of the story, Kaori and Tsubaki's roles were reversed, with Kaori being the sporty-type, and Tsubaki being a violinist.
The ending was something he originally wasn't sure about doing, however, after volume three was published in Japan, they received an anime offer. The director of the anime liked his idea for the ending, so he decided to stick with it.
Media.
Manga.
The series was written and illustrated by Naoshi Arakawa, and began serialization in the May 2011 issue of Kodansha's "Monthly Shōnen Magazine" on April 6, 2011. It ended in the March 2015 issue on February 6, 2015. The first "tankōbon" was published by Kodansha on September 16, 2011, and the final volume was released in two editions, a regular edition and a limited edition, on May 15, 2015. The series is licensed in English in North America by Kodansha Comics. They published the first volume on April 21, 2015.
A spin-off manga, titled "Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso: Coda", was bundled with the release of the Blu-ray release of the anime series. It was published in "tankōbon" format on August 17, 2016.
Anime.
A-1 Pictures produced an anime television series adaptation of the manga. It aired from October 10, 2014 to March 20, 2015 on Fuji TV's Noitamina block. The first opening theme song is by Goose house and the first ending theme song is by wacci. The second opening song is by Coalamode and the second ending theme is by 7!! (Seven Oops). The series was directed by Kyōhei Ishiguro, with Takao Yoshioka doing the scripts, Yukiko Aikei designing the characters, and Masaru Yokoyama composing the original soundtracks.
An original video animation (OVA), titled "moments", was bundled with the Japanese release of the eleventh volume of the manga. Most of the staff and cast from the TV show reprised their roles.
In North America, Aniplex of America licensed the series and simulcasted the series on various platforms. The series is licensed in the United Kingdom and Ireland by Anime Limited. In Australia and New Zealand, the series is licensed by Madman Entertainment, who streamed the series on AnimeLab.
Light novel.
A light novel spinoff by Yui Tokiumi, titled "A Six Person Etude", was released in Japan on November 17, 2014. Vertical published it in English. The light novel retold the events of the main series from Kōsei's friends' and rivals' perspectives.
Live-action film.
On August 24, 2015, the domain 'kimiuso-movie.jp' was registered under Toho, a Japanese film production and distribution company, which made fans believe that a movie adaptation was in the works. Speculations were confirmed in September 2015 when the main cast was announced for the live-action adaptation of the series: Kento Yamazaki as Kōsei Arima, Suzu Hirose as Kaori Miyazono, E-girls' Anna Ishii as Tsubaki Sawabe, and Taishi Nakagawa as Ryōta Watari. The film was released in Japan in September 2016. It was written by Yukari Tatsui, and directed by Takehiko Shinjō. While the original manga depicts the characters in their junior high year, the film had them be in their second-year of high school instead.
Stage play.
In the May 2017 issue of "Monthly Shōnen Magazine", it was announced that a stage play adaptation of the manga was green-lit, and set to run in August the same year. The stage play was announced to be held at the AiiA 2.5 Theater Tokyo from August 24, 2017, to September 3, 2017, and at the Umeda Arts Theater in Osaka from September 7, 2017, to September 10, 2017. The stage play is directed by Naohiro Ise, and written by Kaori Miura. It was also revealed that the play would have live musical performances, with Yuta Matsumura performing the piano, and Shuko Kobayashi performing the violin. The main cast was announced, and stars Shintarō Anzai as Kōsei Arima, Arisa Matsunaga as Kaori Miyazono, Misato Kawauchi as Tsubaki Sawabe, and Masanari Wada as Ryōta Watari.
Musical.
Toho and Fuji TV announced on October 10, 2019 a musical adaptation of the manga would premiere at the Tokyo Tatemono Brillia Hall from July 5, 2020, to July 29, 2020. Its music was composed by Frank Wildhorn at the helm, had lyrics co-written by Tracy Miller Schell and Carly Robyn Green, the arrangements by Jason Howland, with direction from Ikko Ueda, and book written by Riko Sakaguchi. Following the Tokyo premiere, it would have national tour with stops at the Misono-za in Nagoya from July 31, 2020, to August 1, 2020, at the Hakata-za Theatre in Fukuoka from August 7, 2020, to August 9, 2020, at the Ehime Prefectural Cultural Center in Ehime on August 13, 2020, and at the Umeda Arts Theater from August 20, 2020, to August 23, 2020. It starred Yuta Koseki and Tatsunari Kimura as Kosei Arima, Erika Ikuta as Kaori Miyazono, Fuka Yuzuki as Tsubaki Suwabe, and Koki Mizuta and Takuto Teranishi as Ryota Watari. All performances of the musical were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A concept album was released on December 25, 2020 in place of the performances.
Reception.
Manga.
Rebecca Silverman from Anime News Network rated the first volume of the manga a C. She praised the page setup, the way music is expressed in the book, and Kōsei's backstory, while criticizing it for backstory that was not as emotional as intended, Kōsei and Kaori's friendship, and the drawings of the characters' faces. When reviewing for The Fandom Post, Sakura Aries praised the manga's plot and characters, while criticizing the artwork, calling it "mediocre" and stating that it "takes away from the emotions of the performances".
The manga won the award for Best Shōnen Manga at the 37th Kodansha Manga Awards. It was also nominated for the 5th Manga Taishō. The first volume was also one of fifteen manga series to rank on the Young Adult Library Services Association's top 112 graphic novels for Teenagers list in 2016.
Anime.
The anime was generally regarded very well by critics. Nick Creamer from Anime News Network gave the series a B+. He praised the animation, music, and the performances throughout the series, while criticizing it the humor and the second half of the series for dragging at times. Theron Martin when reviewing the home video sets for the same website praised the English dub, writing, story, and emotions of the build-up, while criticizing the series for spreading out its focus a bit too much. He also added that if the emotional appeal doesn't work for the viewer, the emotions of the series can be lost. Andy Moody from THEM Anime Reviews gave the series four stars out of five. Like previous reviews, he praised the animation, music, and the character drama, while criticizing the attempts at humor and adding a similar note about the ending. When reviewing for The Aurora Chronicle, musician Mithran Jeyashankar gave heavy praise to the series' soundtrack, saying each song perfectly suits the tone to help increase the emotional impact. They also praised the characters and story.
The anime was the winner of the "Yomiuri Shimbun" newspaper's "2016 Sugoi Japan Awards".