KimiUso

Your Lie in April, Episode 13

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Well, it certainly wasn’t KimiUso‘s best, but it landed much closer the show’s good side than last week’s episode did. As I’ve said before, KimiUso is an impressive show in its ability to oscillate between episodes that leave me unimpressed and episodes have a profound emotional impact—going from last week’s episode to this week’s was a classic case of this weird dynamic between Good KimiUso and Kind of Meh KimiUso.

And, the thing is, KimUso can have moving episodes while still faltering in some technical aspects. There were places in this episode that my brain was chirping at me, but my heart was still being worked on. To me, that’s an accomplishment, and I think KimiUso can do this when it leans on its strengths to compensate for its weakness. It’s perhaps not the best model to follow, but it’s the one that’s working for the show.

Your Lie in April

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Your Lie in April, Episode 12

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Man, this was a weird episode for KimiUso. For something like this to follow the beauty of episode 10 and the solidity of episode 11…it was like an entirely different show, even from what I felt were the weaker episodes at the beginning of the first cour. While KimiUso has always struggle with executing its comedy and doing so in a manner that didn’t interrupt the flow of the episode, this episode was an almost shocking departure from the general level of competency KimiUso typically exhibits—the flow, simply, was horrid.

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Your Lie in April, Episode 11

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I wasn’t expecting this episode of KimiUso to stand equal with the sheer emotional heft of last week’s episode, but it was a pretty freaking stellar episode even in comparison to episode 10. If I had to describe it quickly, I’d just say that this week’s KimiUso ticked a whole lot of boxes for me of things I didn’t know I wanted from this show and of things I did want. For a cour ending episode, this was both an impressively efficient and impactful wrap-up to the events of the first ten episodes and admirable preparation for what’s still to come.

Your Lie in April

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Your Lie in April, Episode 10

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There is no word that we haven’t stripped away all meaning from with overuse left for me to use to try and describe this episode. They all fall short. Let me try anyways.

This was Your Lie in April (Shitagtsu wa Kimi no Uso or KimiUso or whatever you prefer) at its absolute best, making use of all of its strengths, succumbing to none of its weakness, and letting the most potent element of all—the intensely personal unity between musician, emotion, and music—radiate out like recurring pulses of sunlight. This was nine episodes of on-again, off-again storytelling, some great emotional moments, a lot of painful trauma all breathing in together and out again to produce what I’m ready to call the best episode of the season; and maybe of the year. It is always, always a blessing and a privilege to experience something like this.

I am thankful.

Your Lie in April

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Your Lie in April, Episode 9

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Well, that was definitely not how I was expecting this to all play out. If I’m being totally honest, I think KimiUso (again, that’s the abbreviation of the Japanese title, Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso) overdid it this week in a number of place, but the overall effect was a net positive, if just barely. The thing about going for broke each and every week, regardless of content, is that it means some scenes come off like the show is beating you over the head (sorry for the unfortunate idiom use) rather than just being powerful. There were a lot more of the former this week.

Your Lie in April

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Is it Okay to Like Your Lie in April?

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If you’re dialed in to the anime fandom, particularly the simulcast-watching, blogging segment of the fandom that I inhabit, you’ve probably heard at least some hints of the controversy that’s been surrounding noitaminA’s new show, Your Lie in April, a 2-cour anime produced by A-1 Pictures and based on the Kodansha Manga Award winning manga by Naoshi Arakawa.

Near as I can tell as someone standing apart from those who are decrying the show, the bulk of the outcry surrounding KimiUso is derived from the show’s treatment of protagonist Kousei’s traumatic-abusive childhood at the hands of his now-deceased mother.

Now, I’ve always tried to form my own opinions of a show divorced from the complaints and praises of other, but KimiUso has been something of a special case for me. This is, partially, because I’m hearing these complaints from other bloggers whom I personally like and respect, but also because the criticism seems not to be directed towards KimiUso‘s technical aspects so much as it targets ethical concerns, excepting cases where the two merge together.

Your Lie in April

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Your Lie in April, Episode 6

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Well, it took me a while to really warm up to Your Lie in April (abbreviating it as KimiUso), but I’m finally there with episode 6—which mostly kept up the visual pace set by the past couple episodes and finally added in some much needed nuance to its thematic wanderings. I’ve said in my past highlights of the week that the thing I feared most was that KimiUso would oversimplify everything, from the story itself to the sorts of thematic entanglements it was setting up.

If KimiUso continues to develop along these lines, I might even find something to talk about each week!

Your Lie in April

Desho~!?

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