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EP. REVIEW: Your lie in April


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Angel M Cazares



Joined: 23 Sep 2010
Posts: 5406
Location: Iscandar
PostPosted: Thu Jan 29, 2015 8:31 pm Reply with quote
Episode 15 grade: A

This was a mostly great episode. More Tsubaki drama is always welcome to me. I really hope that she has, indeed, finally decided to fight for Kousei's love. The introduction of the new, mysterious character broke the flow of the episode, but the last scene more than made up for it.
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zensunni



Joined: 05 Mar 2010
Posts: 1291
PostPosted: Sun Feb 01, 2015 2:05 am Reply with quote
This episode was wonderful! Beautiful music, heartfelt tears from Tsubaki, who finally came to realize how much she had been hurting the sempai she admired by dating him without being in love with him, all the while going on and on about the boy she, obviously, really loves. The new character added a touch of mystery to the episode, as well as some humor. Who is she? Why is she out to get Kosei? And why does Hiroko want Kosei to teach her?

Then the end... Oh My! Just when I think it is safe, this show tosses out something that breaks my heart and starts the tears flowing. The way it leads into the ED with scenes like that is brilliant, since the music of the ED always sends a chill down my spine. I don't recall a series since Gosick that made such wonderful use of the mode of the ED as an augmentation of the end-of-episode emotional impact. (Gosick was a master of that!)
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Angel M Cazares



Joined: 23 Sep 2010
Posts: 5406
Location: Iscandar
PostPosted: Thu Feb 05, 2015 6:36 pm Reply with quote
Episode 16 grade: A

Another strong but heart breaking episode. I know that it is sad to see what Kaori is going through, but I feel so mesmerized by it and cannot look away. And I want to think that the last line of the episode is something Kaori was quoting from somebody else. Finally, I still do not like the lolicon girl. The idea of her potentially being Kaori's substitute is dumb and a little creepy.
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Angel M Cazares



Joined: 23 Sep 2010
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 19, 2015 9:25 pm Reply with quote
Episode 18 grade: A+

What an amazing and powerful end to this episode. If the series ended at episode 18, I would be satisfied. This is an excellent episode with powerful drama, and even the humor was on point. Takeshi's reaction when he heard from Nagi that Kousei was giving her experience was priceless.

I am very happy to see that Kousei seems to have matured to the point where he seems ready to bear whatever happens with Kaori. I hope Kaori also spends her last days (assuming she dies) with cheerfulness close to her loved ones.
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HaruhiToy



Joined: 15 Apr 2008
Posts: 4118
PostPosted: Thu Feb 19, 2015 10:37 pm Reply with quote
angelmcazares wrote:
I am very happy to see that Kousei seems to have matured to the point where he seems ready to bear whatever happens with Kaori.

And more than that he doesn't seem inclined to coddle her. What he does instead is exactly what she needs at this stage. It also seems he fully understood what that "double suicide" thing was about. Better than I did.

I really wanted another performance with these two together and it seems thats what Kousei wants as well, but I wonder what she is going to be able to actually do in this condition.

The performance with Nagi was brilliant. I felt a little bad for big bro though. And if this grade school kid and middle school kid can play at that level, what are they going to be like at college age?

Yes, an A+ episode.
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Animegomaniac



Joined: 16 Feb 2012
Posts: 4070
PostPosted: Fri Feb 20, 2015 1:40 am Reply with quote
So the month or two it took Kousei to train Nagi, in which time Kaori's condition obviously deteriorated and every one just got held in place {Kousei didn't talk to Tsubaski?} and its overall effect on the series dramatic flow and potential only bother me then? "Series is at its best with its performances." You know, we could always have a show of just those but they're not why I'm here or what I want to see now.

As I said before, this series died when that calendar changed. Kaori's hospitalization prior to her concert with Kousei was fine if coincidental {It's classic, I can't fault the series for that}. But if the series wants to turn her condition and how it affects everyone else into a ticking time bomb, they can't hit the snooze button when they feel like it.

Four episodes left. Yeah, the clock's ticking there as well.
This episode: D. Would have been a B- if it was less than 16 or prior to Kaori's hospitalization of if it happened during Nagi's training.
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CrowLia



Joined: 24 Feb 2012
Posts: 5500
Location: Mexico
PostPosted: Fri Feb 20, 2015 3:16 am Reply with quote
I will agree that it's the best episode we've had in a while, and I probably would give it an A+ if I had a single fiber of sympathy for Nagi in my body, but alas, such is not the case. In spite of that, the performance was stellar, it's just not the performance I want because I just don't care about Nagi.

The part were Kaori is playing her phantom violin was beautifully tragic, I probably would've cried if I hadn't grown tired of the show's "Kaori is so much like Kousei's abusive mom, isn't that romantic?" garbage. It was also satisfying to see Takeshi finally regaining his motivation, although the slapstick bit with "hurr durr Arima-sensei teaches me lots of (hanky-panky) things" was awfully uninspired and unfunny. At least I'm looking forward to see Kousei in a competition, this time performing at his full potential, and although any affection I once had for Kaori is mostly gone, I still want to see them playing together one last (unless Mirakuru Romansu?) time
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solitude03



Joined: 17 Oct 2014
Posts: 4
PostPosted: Fri Feb 20, 2015 3:34 am Reply with quote
Someone know if that book on the chair is real? When kaori asked kousei "to commit lovers suicide with me?"
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HaruhiToy



Joined: 15 Apr 2008
Posts: 4118
PostPosted: Fri Feb 20, 2015 10:37 am Reply with quote
CrowLia wrote:
although the slapstick bit with "hurr durr Arima-sensei teaches me lots of (hanky-panky) things" was awfully uninspired and unfunny.

There is something that about doing that kind of routine with an elementary school girl that anime finds nearly irresistible.

Setting that aside I still find something rather unique and endearing about how Nagi feels about Kousei. There is nothing tawdry about it really and she started out thinking of him as an enemy but ends up appreciating him in her own unique way.

It is still disappointing seeing her set up as that Kaori-that-should-have-been. Kaori pisses a lot of people off but she deserves much better than what she is getting.
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CrowLia



Joined: 24 Feb 2012
Posts: 5500
Location: Mexico
PostPosted: Sat Feb 21, 2015 1:13 am Reply with quote
HaruhiToy wrote:


It is still disappointing seeing her set up as that Kaori-that-should-have-been. Kaori pisses a lot of people off but she deserves much better than what she is getting.


I agree that Kaori certainly deserves better than what she's going through. And she certainly deserved better than becoming Kousei's (horrible) mom redux with romantic twist because tragedy. I suppose I should blame the original mangaka, but the shift in Kaori from "Kousei's new hope" to "Kousei's trauma rinse-and-repeat" because "he needs to suffer to become a good pianist" is dreadful, and has made me rather cold towards this series.
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Angel M Cazares



Joined: 23 Sep 2010
Posts: 5406
Location: Iscandar
PostPosted: Fri Feb 27, 2015 4:20 pm Reply with quote
Episode 19 grade: A+

A fantastic episode that was seamlessly able to combine the different struggles and motivations of the cast to produce an amazing product. I once again enjoyed the moments focusing on Tsubaki. And I loved seeing Kousei as his rivals have a great time hanging out together.
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CrowLia



Joined: 24 Feb 2012
Posts: 5500
Location: Mexico
PostPosted: Fri Feb 27, 2015 6:16 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
Neither are as interesting as our main four, Nagi, or Hiroko.


I think this sums up why me and the reviewer seem to be on completely opposite pages regarding this show. Imho, this is the strongest episode we've gotten in a while (I may even dare say it's the best of the second half) because I find Hiroko completely detestable and Nagi is a big 'meh' for me. I find Takeshi and Emi's pride and passion a lot more interesting than Nagi's melodrama or Hiroko's lame guilt. To me, this episode was perfectly balanced: we got to see what's going on with Tsubaki, Kaori's struggles, and the completion of Takeshi's character arc, as well as that beautifully sweet scene of the three of them sharing a sandwich, and how much Kousei has changed. This episode has definitely given me new optimism for this show, for which I had long felt nothing but indifference
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zensunni



Joined: 05 Mar 2010
Posts: 1291
PostPosted: Sat Feb 28, 2015 10:45 pm Reply with quote
This is the first time I haven't really agreed with Roses take on an episode, I think. I think that Emi and Takeshi both deserved the resolution they got. Emi pretty much already got hers, when she cleaned Takeshi's clock at the last competition and with the fact that she is now casually approaching Kousei. Now that Takeshi has gotten over his hero worship phase, I feel that gives resolution to both his and Nagi's story lines, except that Nagi is still going to be there in Kousei's life for a while and can be used to shed light on his mental stability as Kaori's condition worsens, as it is likely to do... (I don't know if it was at all mentioned in the anime, but in the manga there was a comment on the three of them being friends and rivals for years. One would think that Emi might have figured out what high school Kousei is going to and arranged to go to the same place? Not that she is that much of a stalker, but... OK, yeah, she is... That is just speculation mind you... I doubt that anything will ever be mentioned about where those two are going to high school...)

One think I loved in this episode is the fact that we see behind the lie for the first time, when Kaori is explaining to the doctor why she wants to go ahead with the surgery. spoiler[It is all about this wonderful boy she met in April... His name is NOT Watari!]

I really liked this episode.
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HaruhiToy



Joined: 15 Apr 2008
Posts: 4118
PostPosted: Sat Feb 28, 2015 11:28 pm Reply with quote
zensunni wrote:
One think I loved in this episode is the fact that we see behind the lie for the first time, when Kaori is explaining to the doctor why she wants to go ahead with the surgery. spoiler[It is all about this wonderful boy she met in April... His name is NOT Watari!]

I am pretty sure that there is only one character in the cast who does not know it and you can have one guess as to who that is.
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zensunni



Joined: 05 Mar 2010
Posts: 1291
PostPosted: Mon Mar 02, 2015 9:45 am Reply with quote
HaruhiToy wrote:
zensunni wrote:
One think I loved in this episode is the fact that we see behind the lie for the first time, when Kaori is explaining to the doctor why she wants to go ahead with the surgery. spoiler[It is all about this wonderful boy she met in April... His name is NOT Watari!]

I am pretty sure that there is only one character in the cast who does not know it and you can have one guess as to who that is.

Well, there might be two... Tsubasa is pretty thick sometimes and regardless of how much she is jealous of the relationship between Kousei and Kaori, she does seem to buy the lie, for now...

I guess I should have said we see behind the lie FULLY. It is the first time Kaori has actually talked about her feelings, albeit not to anyone who matters. (The doctor at the hospital really could care less about the love lives of his patients, I hope!) Of course, her parents are there too, so that really indicates that they have known what was going on to a certain extent.

And man! I hate looking at an old post and seeing a glaring typo like "One think I loved..." GRRRRR Where the heck did that come from! K and G aren't even on the same hand when typing!!!!
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