Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso (四月は君の嘘). Your Lie in April.
Time spent: 2 days. 22 Episode + 1 OAD.
Recommend level: Must watch.
No spoiler.
This is a 2014 anime series about classical music, especially violin and piano.
I am a piano player. I have known this anime for so long. But I never think of watching it.
Some day, for what ever reason I got bored in my workplace. So I decided to start watching it. I have not been watching anime for a long time. But Anya from SPY family is so cute that everyone in the office talks about her. It makes me want to watch some other anime.
I thought Your Lie in April would be a good start. I was wrong, the anime is good, but too heavy for an amateur weeb.
I spent only two days finishing the whole series. Ended up crying like a baby. I am not joking, this anime gives PTSD. I have finished the anime for a couple months. But just hearing a few notes from its music, seeing a few scenes or even a few lines in words cause me to shed tears.
I always think music is an important element to touch people. Music alone is enough to make me emotional, especially classical music. I am a regular classical music listener. I have listened to most of the pieces in the anime before. Some pieces like the Chopin's ballad is really sad on its own. Together with the plot, it breaks hearts.
This is a very sad anime. No, sad is too mild for this. A tragedy does not make people cry, especially for those non-sense plots in some Korean dramas, which can only make my mom cry.
In this anime, I know what the plot is developing into, everything makes sense. I wait til the end, expecting some miracles will happen even though I know that is not going to happen. I tried very hard to hold my tears because I am a grown man. I kept watching and saw what I expected. Tears running like river.
I thought it was over, because I already cried like a baby. Then it finally revealed what the "lie" was, (I have absolutely no idea why the anime title is about a lie until the end), it was the moment gave me PTSD. I was beaten down on the ground crawling myself because it hurts so much, the "lie" was an extra knife which forcefully stabbed into my heart.
The characters' tears was like running water. But the scene that make me cry the most, is the smiley face of the girl.
This anime deals permanent emotional damage. Time will not heal this wound, every time I think of it, I would be suddenly depressed.
If I have a pill that can erase memory, I would erase everything about "Your Lie in April", and watch it again.
I have abandoned piano for around a year. After watching the anime, I play the piano again.
There are four original music from the anime, OP1「光るなら」, ED1「キラメキ」, OP2「七色シンフォニー」, ED2「オレンジ」.
Among these four, ED2 (Orange) is my favourite. It is also the only song that I have a hard time listening to. I have a song list to play during my work. I do not dare to put this song in, because everytime I listen to it, I cry. It is just like a reflex that I cannot control. I don't know whether it is because I am kind of sensitive to music. The piano cover from rach3master in my opinion is the greatest.
I also like a classical piece, "Liebesleid" (Love's Sorrow) by Kreisler, and the piano solo version arranged by Rachmaninoff. Apart from the original music of the anime, for piano solo, I recommend this version by Anton Mordasov, for violin, I recommend this from its composer, I think the 1930 version is slightly more touching due to its simplicity. It gives the feeling of a mix of happiness and extreme sadness, it is just like the last dance of a pair of couple before their final departure.
I brought the offical piano book from Amazon Japan. It contains most of the classical music and the first OP and ED. Unfortunately, it does not have the score for "Orange".
中文版並非英文翻譯，兩篇獨立寫作，不同語言能表逹的有所差異。
四月は君の嘘，四月是你的謊言，以下簡稱「四月」。
耗時：2日，22集 + 1 OAD。
評價：必看。
以下無劇透可放心觀看。
「四月」是2014年關於古典音樂的動畫，準確而言只包含了小提琴和鋼琴。
我因為彈鋼琴的緣故，很早便知道有這一部動畫，但一直都未有抽空觀看。
我並不是個動漫宅男，雖然喜歡久居家中，卻對二次元的興趣不大。但同事一直都在談論SPY Family 的安妮亞，正好其第一季結束，我便想看看其他動畫。
因為早早便聽聞過「四月」，心想以此入宅應是不錯。不料大錯特錯，「四月」是一套好動畫，但對新入坑動畫的我未免過於沉重。
我僅用了兩日便完成全番，期間全程戴着耳機，結果泣不成聲。「四月」會導致永久創傷，一生抑鬱，並非劇言。時至今日，已過去了大概兩個月，但只要聽到某些旋律，某些畫面，甚至台詞，都足以令我黯然淚流。
音樂在我眼中是觸動人心的重要元素。單純音樂已足以牽動我的情緒，尤其是古典音樂。我愛聽古典音樂，劇中大部分音樂我以前都聽過。某些作品如蕭邦的叙事曲本身就很悲傷。結合劇情，令人心碎。
「四月」是一部傷感的動畫，然而傷感一詞遠遠不足以形容。
悲劇常見，但單純的悲劇並不足以令我流淚，例如那些狗血、劇情離譜、人物智商為零、不合常理的韓劇，大概只能讓媽媽級的師奶哭哭罷了。
我觀看「四月」時早早就猜到了劇情發展，一切都很合理地開展。我明明知道結局是這樣，但未看到最後，我卻仍抱有一絲幻想期待有奇蹟發生。結局亦如我所料，一個成年男人強忍淚水，但知道不等於不會哭，哭起來就如洪水決湜。
我哭得像個寶寶，本以為已經結束。最後卻揭示標題中的謊言，（直到最後我才知道為甚麼此劇與謊言扯上關係），這是壓死駱駝的最後一根稻草，我生平中第一次知道眼淚原來真的會哭乾。我明明已瑟縮一角雙手抱膝淚流滿面，但那「謊言」的意義仿如利刃一般在我心臓再狠狠補上一刀。
我在劇外流淚，劇中的角色亦不省眼淚。可是，最令我心酸痛哭的一幕，卻是女主角燦爛的笑容。
「四月」會導致永久性情感損傷，傷口不會隨時間癒合，每當我想起當中點滴，都會如抑鬱發作一般。
假如有粒可以消除記憶的藥丸，我會毫不猶疑地呑下，忘掉有關「四月」的一切，然後重頭再看一遍。
雖說我會彈鋼琴，其實我已丢棄了近一年，但看完這部後，我的十指又再在黑白鍵上跳舞。
「四月」以古典音樂為故事背景，本身選曲已經無可挑剔。而其原創音樂水準亦不低，兩首OP，兩首ED。
我個人最喜歡ED2「Orange」。但這首歌不可以常聽，一聽必哭，不哭也胃痛，如神經反射一般。以致我根本不敢放這首歌進歌單，也許是因為我對音樂比較敏感。而鋼琴cover中，我最喜歡Orange - rach3master。
而其中的古典樂，我則最喜歡"Liebesleid" (Love's Sorrow)，中文則譯作「愛之悲」，我個人認為曲名不夠傳意，這首曲聽起來遠不是單純的悲傷，而是混合了喜悅及極沉重的憂鬱，如要我描述一個場景，這會是一對將要永別的戀人在舞池中的最後一支舞。這首歌我推介兩個版本，一是原作曲家的小提琴版本Liebesleid - Kreisler，另一個則是Rachmaninoff 改編的鋼琴獨奏版，我不太喜歡Rachmaninoff 本人的演譯，或許是因為他是用Music roll 錄製，雖然清晰，但總感覺欠缺點靈性，所以我推介Liebesleid - Anton Mordasov 這個演譯，這個版本完全就是我腦海中的效果，速度和輕重都是我的最愛。至於動畫原聲，對不起，原聲有旁白催淚，忙着擦眼淚，未有仔細欣賞。動畫中的小提琴確實有種用生命演奏的感覺，鋼琴則因應劇情作出各種效果，音樂性方面一言難盡，但就劇情需要，也是十分貼切。
「四月」有發行官方樂譜，可以在日本Amazon買到，其中包含大部分出現過的古典音樂，以及OP1、ED1。美中不足，我最愛的「Orange」未有收錄其中。
「四月」令人抑鬱無容置疑，但如果因為怕抑鬱而錯過這作品，實在可惜。
藝術可以牽動情緒，讓人哭出來的動畫，我認為已經十分成功。
我自問淚點很高，鮮會傷心痛哭。但男兒有淚不輕彈，不是不彈，感動的時候獻上眼淚，也是對作者的尊重。