Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: Your lie in April
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huangm777
 Posts: 9 |
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How do y'all respond or feel about an emerging consensus among a number of bloggers that the show is fundamentally toxic because it condones and trivializes physical and mental abuse? See here, here, here, here, and here (more mildly) for examples. The idea is that both Kaori and Tsubaki are bullying Kosei back into public performance even though it's tied to some very deep trauma from his abusive mother, and that it's deeply irresponsible and even unethical for the show to pass this off as being cute, lighthearted comedy. That that sort of treatment is OK if it's done by a cute girl.
Me, I understand the argument intellectually, and as an Asian kid who was herded into classical piano by a parent too, I even get some of the resentment. Heck, I've even had the experience of freezing up in the middle of a piano evaluation and having to start over. (Like Kaoru in Sakamichi no Apollon, I was saved by discovering jazz, or else I might have quit piano altogether.) But the vehemence of the opinions shocked me and I just can't connect with it. Like Rose, I find the show thrilling and inspiring and beautiful. To me the comedic, cartoony violence is of a different world than the way the mom's abuse is portrayed. I see it more like someone who needs a bit of nudging in order to journey back into happiness--Kosei is clearly not truly happy in his previous state. In being Kaori's accompanist, he's also finding his way back to his own musical voice, which is what you need if you want to keep going. The show uses a lot of comic and melodramatic exaggeration, but what others see as abuse, I tend to see as more like coaching. I admit that having grown up a certain way, I tend to see that as normal rather than coercive, what friends do when they care. Anyways these reviews are well-written and are, to my surprise, one of the few wholly positive ones out there right now in the anime sphere. What does everyone think? |
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Dr. Cakey
 Posts: 13 |
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I wonder how Sword Art Online fits into the "paid review" narrative? Maybe it's like a smokescreen to trick us or something?
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meepsheeps
 Posts: 399 |
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A+? Yes, I agree.
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Angel M Cazares
 Posts: 5424 Location: Iscandar |
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This episode was a roller coaster for me. I was a bit frustrated at the start because spoiler[Kosei can apparently get over his traumas and be able to play the piano in a matter of seconds simply because of the somewhat selfish demands from Kaori]. Did I miss something along the way? Then the excellent drowning scene came, and the emotions from the show really immersed and captured me.
At the end of the episode, the show's tendency to solve hurdles in an over simplistic and naive way showed up again. This can become frustrating. The premise continues to appeal to me, but the writing can be shaky. And once again, like last week, I hope the last moments of episode 4 signal better things to come. Last edited by Angel M Cazares on Fri Oct 31, 2014 6:50 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Animegomaniac
Posts: 4084 |
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No, no. This isn't like how [UBW]'s first {double length} episode of nothing got 4 people to give it 5 stars, I saw this episode and it really is actually great. Even better that the episode isn't as simple as the reviewer wants it. As grandiose the performance was, I was too fixated on the character drama which honestly trumped it, even if she only wants to admit it in the last scene. The last bit didn't come out of nowhere, it was foreshadowed and such. And moves in the right direction to explain the harassment and mental abuse; Not excuse, just explain. Don't get me wrong, I still don't like our "MPDG" who's selfish and abusive {like all MPDGs} but at least she's abusing the poor guy for a reason. Because she wants to. No, wait... |
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Kaioshin_Sama
Posts: 1215 |
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The only one of those I'd even consider giving top marks to would be the music aspect. It does some justice by it which was a fear of mine going in. Other than that Art, character, animation etc a mixed bag of mostly positives but IMO they're kind pf botching a key character dynamic from the manga source so far. The simplistic solutions to complex problems IMO is just a symptom of it being aimed more at a teen demographic despite A-1 really trying to convince people with some style choices that it belongs on noitaminA. Not really the sources fault of itself really but again A-1 seemingly trying to flatter its own image of itself by playing it up like they're working on this monumental work. I guess as long as enough people by into their egotism and god knows enough people do scarily enough then it works for them, but I'm pretty far from being fooled having read the source material and more than being onto the angles and shortcuts to peoples hearts they try to work via said stylization appeals. |
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HaruhiToy
 Posts: 4118 |
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I got the gist from the links you posted, not reading them all the way through because they waxed so predictable that its boring. Their proposition is that if you like this anime you are objectively pro-abuse. Sorry but I am not going to be baited that way. If you look at my prior postings on this anime you should see that I pointed out the horrific abuse Arima endured as soon as anybody did. (His mother was most likely a similar victim.) The story is showing the repurcussions of that and the considerable difficulty Arima endures because of it. I don't see how it in any way trivializes it just because it uses humor reminiscent of Love Hina or something. What is the alternative? That the story that involves an abused character can only be properly handled one way and that is with grim moralizing and morose behavior and wretched outcomes? Screw that. My observation is that when you have individuals working themselves into high moral dudgeon over something like this is that their motivation for doing so is they want to be praised for being such Guardians of What Is Correct. The super pro-feminist child protectors in a super suit. So to do this they desperately want an Offender to rail against and not having one they will identify this anime as Close Enough as long as you can be convinced to do enough misinterpretation of what it actually is. We see this over and over -- probably the most epic example is Kokomo no Jikan but more currently we see it in Cross Ange. So sorry I ain't buying any of it. One side nit: I keep hearing the phrase "Stockholm Syndrome" applied to Arima's frame of mind in that he defends his mother against accusations that she abuses him. It is not Stockholm Syndrome it is being a child abuse victim and survivor. Not the same thing at all so stop calling it that. |
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omiya
 Posts: 1827 Location: Adelaide, South Australia |
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I'm only part way through watching episode 3 of Your lie in April and wonder whether the manga also copied the appearance of the main character in Kids on the slope? I only bought Kots yesterday and have watched the first episode so far.
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srlracing
 Posts: 87 |
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I am utterly and absolutely head over heels in love with this show after the 4th episode. I expected this to play out more like White Album 2 where the performance is dragged out to the end. The two main characters are compelling as all hell. I just cannot wait for the next episode.
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Kaioshin_Sama
Posts: 1215 |
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If there's a problem with this show it isn't that it's being abusive towards it's characters, it's that it's getting the portrayal and adaptation of one of it's principal characters from manga to anime kind of wrong. The abusive stuff is actually just typical slapstick comedy fair that the anime is kind of playing up over it's manga counterpart as well and kind of bad comedy IMO (that's it's own separate issue and a matter of subjective taste so I feel I ought to come clean and offer that frankly I find 95% or so of anime comedy desperately unfunny at the best of times), but I think people are way overreaching and kind of taking their entertainment far to seriously if that really bothers and makes them feel there's some sort of injustice on display here.
It's a bloody cartoon, it'd be like feeling bad for Wile E. Coyote after getting blown up so many times in order to chase and catch the Road Runner. He's always going to be fine in the next scene cause it's all just for base comedic purposes, same as how Arima Kousei doesn't end up in the hospital the next scene after every time he's left lying in a pool of his own blood. |
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Hentai_JP
 Posts: 605 Location: Toronto, ON |
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Was waiting for this review. A+ you say? I wish we had an S rating too, but on a scale from one to ten this episode is an 11.
I don't even know how many times I watched and rewatched this episode. Hell, I think this is a first. Being an audiophile and loving genuine drama the episode just hits home on every level with me. Character drama, animation and the music came together and utterly blew me away. I am in awe. Now to address a few criticisms. Angelmcazares, yes you did miss that explanation. In fact he explained it clearly last episode. You might want to be more attentive to avoid needless frustration on you end. Huangm777 I disagree. I believe Tsubaki explained it beautifully last episode. Kousei quit piano, but not because he wished to do so he simply could not play anymore. Why do you think he still transcripts the pop songs? He was forced to let go, he did not hate piano. People do overcome a trauma, not always, and not necessarily on their own. The push Tsubaki and Kaori decided to invoke is justified, even without Kaori's "condition" (that I was spoiled to thanks to /a/). And think of this: you can't really force people to do something they hate. Kousei said yes. This anime season is damn great, I knew Parasyte was ~ Masterpiece level on the episode one but to have a more than one Masterpiece level work in one season... that is a first. I hope it happens. |
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Paragon Flynn
Posts: 14 Location: Somewhere in Asia |
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After watching the fourth episode, I really can't bring myself to continue anymore and decided to drop the anime. I'm just writing this because hey, opinions, am I right?
Okay, first things first, I do like good dramas or romance animes, it's not exactly that high on the genres I love but I tend to enjoy certain shows like Golden Time or Honey and Clover so I was interested to check out the series. The first episode's traumatic introduction caught my interest but after watching the second and third episode, I was beginning to have doubts. After watching the fourth episode, I finally decided to drop that anime like it's goddamn lava. Why, you may or may not care enough to ask? Well, if you're too lazy to read the rest, it's because of the two monster girls abusive nature. I'm sure you already heard of it before so you can stop reading now if you want! If you're still here, let me go into a bit more detail: The girls basically kept forcing the boy to start playing piano again without even giving a damn about his personal emotions. Things started falling apart for me in the third episode when Kaori basically started kicking Kousei, telling him to stop being a wimp and play the piano again, even going so far as to accuse his trauma of being a simple excuse without even trying to know the whole reason for said trauma? Then, Tsubaki and Kaori started posting those piano notes on everything Kousei sees was just ridiculous and rage inducing to me. Sure, they're just trying to help Kousei but the way I see it, their means doesn't justify the end at all. What Kousei suffered through, he needs a goddamn psychiatrist, not those monster girls. Sure, Kousei might still likes to play the piano but instead of supporting him and fixing his problem in a slower but caring manner, they're practically forcing him to do something without paying any attention at all about his feelings? What the hell is the distinction between Kousei's abusive mother and those two girls if they're both forcing him to play the piano against his own opinion and will? Oh I know, the girl's abuse is treated in a more humourous manner! Haha, laugh you guys, they threw a goddamn baseball at him and made him bleed, for God's sake! It's so goddamn hilarious! Let me ask you this, random reader, under a different perspective. If there's someone who's afraid of cars because that person went into a terrible car crash, would you find it proper if I just kick said person, told him to stop being a wimp and using that trauma as an excuse and just learn how to drive? Or if, God forbids, a rape victim. If that rape victim was afraid to go on dates or staying alone with the opposite sex , I wonder if kicking said victim and scold them for being a massive wimp for blaming their trauma is a good way to fix their fear. Man, it probably is if I was a hot anime girl and I was kicking in a funny 'laugh out loud' style. Bottom line is: I dropped it because of the show's handling of trauma. I don't agree with it at all, mainly because of my personal experience with trauma myself. Depression's a bitch, am I right? Watching it is just nothing more but rage inducing to me and so, I stopped watching it. Even though the end of episode 4 hints at something, the tasteless four episodes so far has completely drained my interest of this anime and I don't even want to bother myself to give a damn about its future episodes anymore. |
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SailorTralfamadore
 Posts: 499 Location: Keep Austin Weeb |
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If I could frame this paragraph and hang it on the wall every time there's a discussion about this with an anime that uses a lot of slapstick, I would. There is nothing more frustrating than a bunch of people (who usually have little to no real-life experience with the abuse in question, but are happy to tell people who do how they should feel about it) appropriating such a serious issue as physical abuse because they can't read context and want to feel Superior about not liking something. There's a huge difference between shows like YLIA that use lots of slapstick violence but where the character is magically fine a frame later, and shows that depict more ongoing, damaging abuse--that depict abuse the way it would happen in the real world--and condone or even romanticize that. (Like, starting with the fact that they don't usually SD cartoony-face when they want you to think it's real abuse.) What's going on in YLIA is just part of a long tradition of this sort of humor in cartoons, because you can get away with a lot of slapstick violence there that would look like "abuse/violence is funny" in live-action but doesn't in animation that takes into consideration the stuff I just mentioned. You don't have to find slapstick funny (I usually don't find anime's version of it that funny, either) but that doesn't excuse being unable to tell what it is. I mean, anime--especially shojo romance and yaoi anime--does have its own problems with romanticizing actual abuse, so it's not like anime fans wouldn't know what the real McCoy looked like and be able to tell that this isn't it. I have to say, the last time I saw people this vehement about something like this was with Winry throwing wrenches in Fullmetal Alchemist. Funny, that, that it's always when a woman is using a slapstick violence against a man that some fans are so quick to cry "ABUSE!!!" |
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phia_one
Posts: 1657 Location: Pennsylvania |
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At this point, I'm going to the this show go. It feels like a chore to watch especially with Kaori.
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Wrathful
 Posts: 372 |
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I think this is why anime will not ever be taken as seriously as the movie is. It's a bloody cartoon, by the same account, you shouldn't take Grave of the Fireflies as the fine point for discussing war and serious topics.
And ever so predictable ANN is. Comparing slapstick humour from Full Metal Alchemists and YLIA is comparing apple and oranges. |
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