Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: Your lie in April
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king 47
 Posts: 264 |
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Well, it very well seems to me there is not enough material to begin. They bring up his mom so much in the show. I understand it's important to the story, but it feels forced most of the time. With only that, and him not hearing the notes, it's not enough to build the characters and develop them. In addition, episode 9 was all over the place with flashbacks, present time, and his imaginations. It was just so incoherent. The worst part was when he walked on stage and saw the girl with the cat. That to me, shows they don't have enough material, they were just forcing tension and drama. And him losing it while playing happened before. The show was very good but dropped in quality, for me at least, this episode. I don't hate the show, I'm just disappointed in the wasted potential. I want it to be good. |
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minamikaze
Posts: 221 |
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Psychological disorders in works of fiction, can with a little suspension of disbelief, make for some really good stories. One Week Friends definitely comes to mind. Although Amusia is a real disorder where people are unable to understand or process music, it is nothing like Kosei's disorder of becoming unable to hear he music he plays. However not being real does not diminish its dramatic effect within the story. I honestly have been fascinated by it.
Before this episode, I had envisioned the cause to be that all the music that Kosei played had never been his music at all. He only played the music as his mother told him to play it. On top of that, the style that his mother taught, which was actually her teacher's, was to effectively remove any part of himself (including emotions) from the performance. Kosei was to play the notes exactly as they were written, no more, no less. It was no wonder people called him his mother's marionette. After his mother had died, he could no longer hear the notes of the music, because he himself, fundamentally did not know how they should sound without his mother telling him. I thought that his exposure to Kaori's, completely opposite, emotional to the point of self-indulgence, style would allow Kosei to finally make his own music, and because it was his own music, he would be able to hear it. I actually half thought that he might succeed without any problems with his performance this episode and Takeshi and Emi would be surprised by the new Kosei. However, I only half thought that because there had been plenty of foreshadowing suggesting that Kosei's mother was more than just an overly strict stage mother. The severity of the abuse of Kosei by his mother portrayed in this episode and his final words to her being that he wished she were dead, completely changed the what I thought. There was no chance that Kosei would be able to overcome his problem without confronting the memories of his mother. It would take a lot more than just replacing her teachings with a style of his own. Her teachings were literally beaten into him, and although the bruises on his arms and head healed, the ones in his emotions and psyche clearly did not. Also, Kosei's former style of playing was more than just removing himself from the performance and just playing how his mother said to play. What became deeply entwined in it was his desperate desire to please his mother, and his even more desperate hope that winning competitions might make her well. After his mother was hospitalized and he started practicing independently, Kosei's desire and hope not only started to influence his playing, it also inspired his performance, so much so, that others said it was the best he had ever played, but to his mother, they had only contaminated and tainted the purity of the score. She violently rejected his feelings (which he had had for her) and Kosei himself. When that desire and hope were turned inside out by his first and final confrontation with his mother, everything he had learned from his mother was also twisted and distorted. Unfortunately for Kosei there was no way to separate his ability to play the piano from his memories of his mother: they were two sides of the same coin. After his mother's death Kosei thought he could escape those memories and the intense and conflicted emotions inextricably entangled in them because he had been trained to strip his emotions from his playing. Since there was nothing more full of memories of his mother than playing the piano, that was obviously not going to be possible. Kosei could not remain detached and emotionless while playing, without remembering that it was his mother that always had taught him to be that way. Kosei is trapped in a vicious cycle: the more he tries to avoid the conflicted emotions he has towards his mother, the more he is reminded of her. Whether Kosei's inability to hear what he plays is because of the resulting anxiety of that vicious cycle, or if he is subconsciously rejecting the music because it is reminding him of the emotions he has tried to bury (or possibly a completely different reason, since I'm only speculating), still remains to be seen. However, it seems very likely that the way out for Kosei will involve Kaori's (and Emi's) method of confronting (instead of avoiding) his emotions in the music he plays, which as already mentioned is the very antithesis of his mother's teachings. I would be surprised, and a bit disappointed, if Kosei resolves all of his issues with his mother in this performance, because as seriously as they have been portrayed, it would be unrealistic to resolve them so quickly and neatly. I am anxiously awaiting to see if he recovers just enough to finish the song though. |
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DRosencraft
Posts: 665 |
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I don't fault the somewhat glib nature of how Kosei's trauma was handled to now, because that was in keeping with the characters and story. He hid what happened to him from his mother, and despite everything hasn't really said anything harsh or bad about her to anyone, suggesting he hasn't exactly resolved that she really did anything wrong in his mind. He didn't like things she did, that's been made relatively clear. But at the same time, he hasn't said she was a monster or evil or anything like that. As such, being a little direct and glib from people who don't know what happened in his personal life is expected. Furthermore he hasn't shown himself to be the type to push back too forcefully, so again, without knowing the details, it is expected that things would seem rather abrupt once they reveal the full depths of what happened.
His condition wherein he can't hear his own playing is clearly psychological. Trying to pin it down to one cause itself underestimates the way psychological conditions work. They usually aren't the result of a single issue. He has a severe emotional connection to playing the piano. He started for his mother, and continued for his mother. Without her, he has all this skill and talent, but has no idea what it's for at this point. He isn't even sure whether he likes it. It's just something that he can do and has been tying him down all this time. There are two paths he could take. They could have had him make a break from piano altogether. Or, they could force him to confront it. They went with the latter option. If it were easy, he wouldn't have been lost for the last couple years in the first place, so they need to be forceful with him. Kaori's own situation suggests that she may not particularly have long to live herself. I have to wonder if she might not have the same sickness that took his mother, as the pills in her bag looked very similar to the bevy of pills on Kosei's mom's table at the hospital. That Kaori is aware of her own mortality, she also has two paths. She could have become demure and reserved, concerned only about preserving her health as long as she possibly can. Or, she could try to live her life as much as possible, doing something she loves. She likely is accustomed to pushing forward as quickly as possible due to how little time she believes she has. Not knowing the extent of Kosei's past, she only sees his talent and wants to push him as far as she can as someone who appreciates his skills and laments the lack of drive and action on his part. I imagine they'll make a rather big deal of it later with Kaori being very remorseful over her being so hard on Kosei. I don't think they'll linger too long on Kosei's trauma. I don't know that they'll clear it all up in the next episode or two, but I think the overall focus is supposed to be more on Kaori, so they'll likely work to shift back to her issues, and the performances the two put on together. If Kosei doesn't manage to at least somewhat overcome the trauma, he won't be able to fulfill that role in the story. They can't linger on it too long, however, as such trauma tends to linger for a lifetime - a lot longer than any anime can adequately cover. |
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Angel M Cazares
 Posts: 5424 Location: Iscandar |
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I have not thought much about Kaori's motivations, but what you say makes sense.
Yeah. And remember that in episode 6 Kaori already showed some remorse. |
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sunflower
 Posts: 1080 |
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This follows the manga very closely. There's exactly as much material as they're using. As to whether or not it's a good choice... Honestly, I felt it dragged on far too long, but considering is going on in him at this point in the manga (and thus the anime) they kind of have to spend time there or it won't work at all. I just rather the story didn't play out in such a way that they had to. |
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brankoburcksen
Posts: 126 |
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It seems to be drawing a comparison between the mountain of pills of his mother and Kaori.
Also, yes, the stark contrast of the serious physical abuse against the comedic one, especially after the scenes in this episode would make any future attempts at that type of humor really uncomfortable. Did the director think about this sort of thing during production? |
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Agent355
 Posts: 5113 Location: Crackberry in hand, thumbs at the ready... |
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Because on this show, girls are allowed to emote in public. They're even allowed to use crocodile tears to emotionally manipulate others and not be called out on it, because they're girls. Meanwhile, boys have to maintain an outward appearance of calm even when they're breaking inside. We've seen two boys *literally lock themselves alone in the bathroom* in order to express negative emotion. When a character expresses doubts about Kosei in this ep, she's told it's okay, he can take it, because he's a man. How can you *not* see how sexist this show is? Now, I'm willing to give the show a chance to tell us that outward expression of negative emotions is okay for boys, but so far all I've seen is both boys and girls basically tell the main character to suck it up because of his gender. The comment Emi's teacher made was not out of left field, as its been in line with the more subtle themes of gender in this show: "girls are emotional firebrands, but guys can (or, worse, *should*) hold all negative emotions in." But my main problem with this show is how it can accurately depict trauma and child abuse, but get all its ideas on how to deal with it so, so wrong. I just want everyone to leave this poor, abused kid alone, particularly his idiotic rivals. Is it not bad enough that his suffering was obvious to countless people who stood by and did nothing? That's par for the course, sure. But they put him on a pedestal? As a grade schooler? When its obvious that his "metronome-like, robotic" piano playing reflects abuse? He is not playing the piano to be your ideal or your rival or for you at all. He's not even playing the piano for himself! He's playing it for his mom, who's forcing him and manipulating him in the worst way one can do to a child--by tying his entire self worth and even his mother's very life and happiness into this one aspect of his life. Can I share something personal? I was abused, and there was one particular school subject that was particularly bad. Every time I made a mistake, I was yelled at or hit. It started when I started to learn the subject at 5 or 6. I *never* did well in the subject. Even when I passed most other subjects (ones that didn't require parental supervision in homework),in that subject I required special classes, modified tests and tutors. It actually confounded me for years until I tied the severity of the abuse to my performance. I was absolutely convinced that I was stupid, and that I would never get it. But over the years, on my own and very slowly, I tried learning a similar subject. I even started taking lessons. Every time I "get" it, learn something new, apply a principle, remember what I learned, it just feels awesome. Like a great personal victory, on a very small scale. I'm not graded, I don't take any tests, I don't even do homework (though I probably should) and the "no pressure" approach works very well. It isn't to master the subject or to impress anyone else. It's to prove to myself that I can learn. So I don't understand why Kosei and his friends seem to think the only way to reconnect him to music is to return to the same pressure filled, competitive world of classical music competitions that he broke down in, that he was forced and tortured within. There are so many other ways to express musical talent! Starting with playing for fun, or trying a new instrument, or, hey, jazz! (Worked in Kids on the Slope!) One of the many other myriad types of music expressionism! Anything but the exact circumstances that literally caused him to stop hearing himself play. TL;DR--this show is indeed a bit sexist and more than a little melodramatic, but what I can't forgive is how needlessly tortured a kid with PTSD would be when everyone he cares about insists he cure himself by going back to the same damn battlefield. |
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Angel M Cazares
Posts: 5424 Location: Iscandar |
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Episode 10
Grade: A+ Another heart wrenching episode that was able to combine the best elements of this anime. I am loving that Your Lie in April has began stringing several strong episodes. It is starting to live up to the high expectations I had since it was first announced. Hopefully what happened in episode 10 is a positive breakthrough for Kousei. |
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HaruhiToy
 Posts: 4118 |
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To me this is a bit frustrating. What we as the anime audience hears is different from what the characters in the auditorium here. If the soundtrack matched what was actually in the concert hall I think someone would have intervened to carry Kousei off the stage and carted him off to the hospital. It is bad enough building up all the pressure leading up to the performance, but then when it starts they drag out a half episode of agony with the feeling that everything is off the rails when in fact he is continuing to play at a level far above what anyone average could achieve. I also have a question in relation to this. It seems that these competitions are judged by the precision of the musician rather than any artistic expression. Hence Kaori can totally enthrall the audience yet get panned by all the judges. Kousei played like a robot when he was younger and won all the awards in spite of the clear self-driven passion of Emi and Takashi. So if the goal was to win competitions, was Kousei's mother correct after all? Even if true there is no question that Kousei is better off for having cut the "puppet strings" as Emi's mentor put it. I suspect his future is to win a lot of acclaim at the expense of winning competitions. |
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Garudyne
 Posts: 20 Location: Scandinavia |
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Agent 355: I agree with you that the treatment of Kosei is completly wrong. Also, it's brave of you to write something so personal. I'm sad you had to experience that, but I appreciate that you shared it with us.
I hate this anime, I really do, and that's why I dropped it a while back. I would easily label it as one of the worst anime series ever made. |
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boredandlazy
Posts: 189 |
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How do you know how apparently terrible it is if you haven't seen most of it? Anyway, as far as I'm concerned I'm enjoying the show a lot. 
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zensunni
 Posts: 1293 |
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I found the impact of the "good" vs "bad" playing by Kousei in this (and the previous) episode to be quite effective. Perhaps it is because I am not very familiar with the piece, but the sections where he, to paraphrase one of the listeners thoughts, sounded like child throwing a tantrum and pounding on the keys, did sound distinctly "off" to me and my daughter, who was watching that part of the episode with me. Perhaps it is what the piece would normally sound like, but it was clear that the tempo and rhythm were not really there. The section after he restarted and decided to play only for Kaori was far more pleasant and the emotional impact of the music was much greater. Of course, this was heightened by the use of the violin in the BGM, as commented on by Rose in her review. I also thought that was a brilliant move. The scene at the end of his performance with the vision of his mother... that was extremely touching. All in all, I thought the episode was fantastic. I really am looking forward to this show each week. |
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sunflower
Posts: 1080 |
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First, I'm sorry for what you suffered. It's a measure of your strength that you can talk about it. Regarding the point above, I don't know if they think it's the only way, but it is a common method that therapists use. Not everyone responds the same way to every therapy, and exposure therapy works in many cases concerning anxiety and PTSD, and I think that's what they're trying here. I don't think their method of doing it is that great, but Kosei is working at it hard and his now willing confrontation of the fear is what gives him a chance to truly heal, even if he was initially pushed into doing it unwillingly. |
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old_yoshi
 Posts: 42 |
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Sorry- Ani isn't my favorite company and I was referring to Blu-Ray disk releases not streaming media. |
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#828933
Posts: 2 |
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That doesn't even make sense. But yeah this show is awesome. |
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