Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso Episode 1 [First Impression]

Eva’s First Impression
CAN WE ALL JUST TAKE A MOMENT TO APPRECIATE HOW SPECTACULAR THE MUSIC WAS?! THIS IS HOW YOU DO IT! *GLARES IMMENSELY AT LA CORDA D’ORO 3 BLUE SKY*  It was fun, it was enchanting, it was tense (in particular for eleven year old Kousei’s European Tournament performance, where it had looked as if he had no soul). AND THE OPENING, WOW. That was just fantastic. I am very excited to hear the rest of the original soundtrack.
Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso had a very simple but powerful start. The was no beating around the bush, they went straight to the basic facts we needed to know. Our protagonist Arima Kousei was a prodigy child pianist, harshly trained by his mother to become a world re-owned pianist that she could not achieve. Despite the pain he had to go through, Kousei always did his best, wanting his mother to be happy. Then, in autumn when he was eleven, just when the European competition was in sights, his mother had died. And he has despised the piano ever since. Nowadays, while Kousei doesn’t play the piano, he still uses it to help transcribe songs by ear into sheet music. I find this fact highlights the fact that as much as Kousei “consciously” hates the piano, he can’t seem to stay away from it, which shows that deep within his heart, he still loves it.
As if it was destiny *coughcouldn’thelpmyselfcough*, after reluctantly agreeing to go with Tsubaki so that she wouldn’t be the third wheel to organize a meeting between Watari and Kaori, he arrived early and was drawn to the sound of music playing in the park, where he spotted a girl (Kaori) playing music for and with some children. Charmed by the musical scene before him, he wanted to take a picture… only to accidentally end up with a panty shot after a gust of wind blew through. As result he wounded up having a very unfortunate first meeting with Kaori. Nevertheless, thanks to this mishap, it made Kaori’s introduction even more fun than it already was to begin with. Kaori is a spontaneous girl with a lot of energy. She majors the violin, but she can also play all sorts of instruments. I love her personalty, a charming sweet heart with an aggressive demon from the wrath of hell side of her when you tick her off. Though this is only the first episode, I am under the impression that she isn’t the type to hold grudges. Being playful and fun seems to be more of her nature. When Kousei had declined joinning them to watch her recital, it was Kaori who pulled him forward to join them, and added a bit of color into his monotone world.
And the animation? Oh my god, absolutely GORGEOUS. *SWOONS* I love it. There are however some similar touches and style that I have seen in Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo, (despite it being animated by different animation studios). But most of all, I appreciate that I have no seen a single ounce of CG in the performances. It will only make the performances even more magical, so I pray that it stays that way. ANIMATION TEAM, FIGHTO!
Overall while this episode was served for the sole purpose of introducing the characters, I am already sold on covering this show. I want to watch this love story unfold, and am certainly looking forward to further interactions with Kaori and Kousei. But I am mostly curious about how Kousei will react and response to seeing Kaori perform and whether or not it will inspire him to start playing again, or will he need another push of encouragement to step back into the world of music.
Possibility of Blogging: HIGH *may very well by my shotgun of the season*
Possibility of Watching: Guaranteed
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Berry’s Impression
What a gorgeous show. This is the last show this season that I was really looking forward to and I was waiting so long for it! There aren’t much music-oriented shows, so whenever one pops up it makes me excited. An extra plus if one or more of the characters are violinists, seeing as I’m one too, so it makes me more connected. What I like is that the blonde girl can actually play more instruments. She also looked more like a sweet girl, but then we also saw that she can get pretty angry, which was a nice surprise. We know she’s probably going to make Kousei play the piano again, since she pulled him along to watch her performance when he declined. A little pushes from her can make him play again.
Speaking of which, why was Kousei so affected when his mother died? I don’t know if she was like that the entire time with him or just when practicing the piano, but she was abusive towards him. She would beat him when he wouldn’t do well enough, and we saw that he had scratches and was even bleeding. Did he really like the piano, or did he only “like” it because his mother wanted him to carry out her dream since she wasn’t able to. I don’t know if we’ll see more of that but it just makes me curious. Kousei really had a breakdown and it was sad to watch.
This episode was great. The music was beautiful, the animation was crazy gorgeous, I like the concept, and the characters seem fun. If the animation is just good for regular everyday stuff, then I can’t wait to see it when the characters are performing. The little bit of piano playing we saw in the beginning was fine, but I’m most likely going to pay more attention to Kaori’s violin playing. One of the many problems in La Corda Blue Sky (which was shit btw) was the horribly lazily drawn performances. The bow would never be at the same tempo of the song, the fingers would hardly ever move OR the fingers would not move in time with note changes, and worse of all THEY MADE KANADE PLAY HER BOW OVER THE FINGERBOARD. YOU’RE NOT SUPPOSED TO DO THAT. Your violin is going to practically be inaudible and sound like shit if you play it over the fingerboard! That’s…like the rookiest of mistakes, and yeah I know Kanade was supposed to be “da bestest in the world” or whatever, and obviously the animators didn’t care. Goddamn, it was awful. I remember just cringing and yelling whenever that happened because it was so stupid.
Yeah…it was awful. Anyway, I would like to cover this show, but if Eva is going to shotgun it then there’s nothing I can do. I would probably talk about a lot of music stuff if I were to cover it anyway.