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[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/a16108-3394987534_1411917115_3703.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300: "I met the girl under full-bloomed cherry blossoms, and my fate has begun to change."]]
->''"We're all afraid, you know...to get up on stage. Maybe you'll mess up. Maybe they'll totally reject you. Even so, you grit your teeth and get up on stage anyway. Something compels us...moves us to play music."''
-->-- '''Kaori Miyazono'''
Kousei Arima used to be a ChildProdigy at piano. Winning many competitions and earning himself a name in the classical music world, his future seemed bright, colorful and full of posibilites. However, after his mother's death, his breakdown at a concert made him stop playing.
Kousei, now in middle school, spends his days living in a monochrome world, having spent two years without playing piano but managing to live everyday thanks to his friends, his cheerful neighbour [[PatientChildhoodLoveInterest Tsubaki]] and his best friend [[TheCasanova Watari]].
That is, until Tsubaki introduces him to Kaori Miyazono, a mysterious and beautiful classmate who plays the violin in a way he's never heard before, and that introduces colours in his world again.
'''''Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso''''' (officially translated as '''''Your Lie in April''''') [[note]]That's "lie" in the sense of "falsehood", not in the sense of "lying down". Due to the use of "wa" as a topic particle, it could also be loosely translated as "April is when you lied to me".[[/note]] or just simply '''''Kimi Uso''''' [[note]]''Your Lie''[[/note]] for short, is a [[ShonenDemographic shounen]] manga written and illustrated by Naoshi Arakawa and serialized monthly in Shounen Magazine. An {{anime}} adaptation started airing in the Fall2014Anime season produced by Creator/A1Pictures. It can be watched legally on [[http://www.crunchyroll.com/your-lie-in-april Crunchyroll.]]
The manga ran from April 6, 2011 to February 6, 2015. The anime which adapted the entirety of the manga aired from October 2014 to March 2015 at [[Creator/NoitaminA noitaminA]] programming block.
A {{Prequel}} manga which telling the story from Kousei and Tsubaki's childhood, ''Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso: Coda'' (''Your Lie in April: Coda'') is bundled with the DVD releases of the anime. Similarly, an {{OVA}} episode which telling the beginning of rivalry between Kousei, Emi, and Takeshi in their childhood was released with the last collected volume of the manga on May 17th, 2015.
Creator/AniplexUSA confirm that there will be an English dub for ''Your Lie in April'' from Creator/BangZoomEntertainment with Creator/PatrickSeitz as the ADR Director. It is noted to be the first non-action anime title from Aniplex USA's catalog to get an English dub (as Aniplex USA has historically has dubbed only action shows or titles with [[Creator/GenUrobuchi Urobuchi]]'s name on it).
----
!!This series shows examples of:
* AccidentalPervert:
** When Kousei first sees Kaori playing music with a bunch of children, his first instinct is to take a picture... but the wind made Kaori's skirt blow up, so he accidentally takes a picture of her panties.
** Kousei and Watari sneak an accidental peek at Kaori receiving a sponge bath when visiting her at the hospital. So does Tsubaki, but naturally only the boys get hit by Kaori for it.
* AdaptationDyeJob: Tsubaki is shown to have bluish hair on the cover of volume 3 of the manga, while the anime gives her brown hair. Also, Kousei says his eyes are brown early in chapter 1 (and in the first episode of the anime), but all of the covers and the anime depict his eyes as blue.
* AdultFear: Saki's main concern about Kousei are about how he will be able to live decently without source of income and parental advices after she were dead and while her husband is away with business.
** Also, one of the RealLife parents nightmare is [[spoiler:having their only child succumbing with terminal illness that would claim his/her live in young age, like Kaori.]]
* AirplaneOfLove: In episode 20. [[spoiler:Kaori made a phone call to Kousei on his way home from lesson with Hiroko just to inform him there was an airplane flying by on its night flight. According to Kousei, the plane just look like a shooting star across the sky. This makes him realize his true feelings to Kaori and decide to visit her again.]]
--->'''Kousei''': "A lump of steel, like a shooting star. Just seeing the same sky as you makes familiar scenery looks different. I swing between hope and despair at your slightest gesture, and my heart starts to play a melody. ''What kind of feeling is this again? What do they call this kind of feeling? I think it's probably called loved''."
* AllLoveIsUnrequited: One of the main theme besides the music. Tsubaki likes Kousei, who develops a crush on Kaori, but she's interested in Watari, who is fond of her but also [[TheCasanova goes after other girls]] and is oblivious to her feelings. Emi meanwhile is in love with Kousei as well while Watari has displayed attraction towards her. By the end of the series, this trope becomes incredibly depressing. [[spoiler:Tsubaki is still in love with Kousei but there's no indication of her feelings being responded to. Kaori reciprocates Kousei's feelings...[[DeadManWriting in a letter she wrote that Kousei didn't receive until after she passes away.]] ]]
* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: Kousei, Emi, and Takeshi is this towards ''every'' other participant in almost ''every piano competition'' those three participated, but Kousei takes the cake by being this towards Emi and Takeshi.
* AmazinglyEmbarrassingParents: Kaori's parents show Kousei old pictures of Kaori, including the ones of her naked as a baby, to her great embarrassment.
* AnguishedDeclarationOfLove: [[spoiler:Kaori]] makes her emotional confession to Kousei, [[spoiler: in the letter he receives after her passing.]]
* AnimeHair: Takeshi has very pointy, bright blonde hair. His hairstyle looks even more striking compared to the rest of the cast, whose hair colours and styles are more realistic.
* ArcWords: ''"Do you think you'll be able to forget?"'' was Kaori's question to Kousei that have about three contexts as the show goes on: the piano in Kousei's life, their duet performance with cheering audience, and finally [[spoiler:her short existence in Kousei's life]]. Kousei returns that question while asking her to once again perform together with him.
* BarbieDollAnatomy: The non-fanservice Kaori and Kousei nude dancing scene in the first opening features this.
* BeautifulDreamer: In episode 6, Kousei watches Kaori sleeping while she's accompanying him practicing piano in the school's music room. While covering her with his jacket, he mutters that she looks like an angel...''as long as she's quiet''. [[Funny/ShigatsuWaKimiNoUso Cue to Kaori suddenly makes frown expression in her sleep]]. This situation later becomes sort of ChekhovsGun for Kousei since he use this exact scenery as his imagery for his playing in piano competition in episode 10.
* BettyAndVeronica: Reliable childhood friend Tsubaki and the wild and cheerful musician Kaori play these roles for Kousei respectively.
* BridalCarry: Kousei holding Kaori like this in a brief scene from the first opening.
* BunnyEarsLawyer: Kaori plays without worrying about being successful in tournaments or not, and she's kind of an airhead... but that doesn't make her any less amazing at violin.
* CallBack: When Kousei reads the letter from [[spoiler:late]] Kaori, she reminds him of various scene when they were together before.
** Every ending of this show previewing the scene of next episode. The ending of OVA episode feature the scene from Episode 1 when Kousei first meeting with Kaori.
* ChekhovsGunman: [[spoiler: The little girl sitting next to little Emi when she first hears Kousei playing the piano. The final episode reveals she is a young Kaori.]]
* CherryBlossoms: Since the series starts in April, there can be seen plenty of cherry blossoms. They serve as a symbol of Kaori and her relationship with Kousei, as they first meet in a rain of cherry blossoms.
* ChildhoodFriendRomance: Kousei and Tsubaki grew up next door and they have a close sibling-like relationship, but once Kaori shows up and begins to catch Kousei's attention, Tsubaki realizes she likes him as more than a brother.
* ChildhoodFriends:
** Watari, Kousei, and Tsubaki, who have known each other since they were kids.
** Also Emi and Takeshi who've known each other ever since they started competing in piano competitions as children.
* ChildProdigy:
** Kousei used to be one thanks to his mother. He got the nickname "Human Metronome" because of how accurately he played from the music score no matter how difficult it was, despite being a mere child.
** Takeshi and Emi were also very good for their young age, but got overshadowed because of Kousei's performances.
* ComedicSociopathy: One of main reason for people who dropped this series (as pointed in one of [[http://randomc.net/2014/11/07/shigatsu-wa-kimi-uso-05/ anime review site]] that skip reviewing between episode 6-11) is because its [[HeroicBSOD traumatic]] main character, Kousei, is prone to the abuse such as being kicked, slapped, or thrown with stuffs by [[DoubleStandardAbuseFemaleOnMale the girls, Tsubaki and Kaori]], causing them become sort of BaseBreaker towards the audience. This become less during the latter half of the show, though. [[spoiler: Also, in the end, one of them (Kaori) is apologized to him via her [[DeadManWriting posthumous letter]] for being mean and hit him all this time]].
* ConnectedAllAlong: One of the big twists in the final episode is that [[spoiler: Kaori was the little girl sitting next to young Emi when Kousei first played piano.]]
* ConspicuousCG: The piano playing shots.
* CryIntoChest: Kaori cries into Kousei's chest in episode 21 under the raining snow because she was afraid to be apart of Kousei [[spoiler:in case she didn't survive the surgery. She didn't, and that was their final moment together while Kaori's still alive]].
* CynicismCatalyst: Kousei stopped playing the piano and became a very cynical boy since his mother died.
* DeadManWriting: [[spoiler:In Chapter 44 / Episode 22, Kousei receives a letter Kaori left for him before she died from her parents as he visits her grave. There she confesses to him that he's the reason she became a violinist and that when they met in April, she lied about wanting to meet Watari, she actually wanted to meet him all along.]]
* DeathOfTheHypotenuse: The Kousei/Kaori/Tsubaki LoveTriangle gets "resolved" at the end with [[spoiler:Kaori's death. While Kousei and Tsubaki don't really end up together, she has confessed her feelings for him and promises him to never leave him alone so they might get together sometime in the future.]]
* {{Determinator}}: Kaori is very determined to be able to do the duet performance with Kousei once again [[spoiler:after she was hospitalized due to her growing serious illness, to the point she starts doing walking therapy and take the high risk surgery, which is sadly fails and claim her life]].
* DisappearsIntoLight: [[spoiler:The fate of Kaori after finishing her long-awaited duet with Kousei in final episode. It's unclear whether the Kaori that playing alongside Kousei was indeed her spirit before going to afterlife or just Kousei pure imagination, but it makes him realize that she has died.]]
* DiseaseBleach: [[spoiler:Kaori's]] hair color become lighter shade of [[spoiler:blonde]] after she was hospitalized in episode 13.
* DoubleStandardAbuseFemaleOnMale: Most of the females hit the main two males a lot, with Kaori and Tsubaki being the mains offenders. Subverted with Kousei's mom as Seto said she went too far. [[spoiler:Subverted with Kaori in the finale when she apologizes to Kousei for hitting him all this time]].
* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:Kaori ends up dying from complications during the high-risk surgery and Kousei receives a letter from Kaori posthumously via her parents, thanking him for introducing her to music, for bringing color to her world and Kaori admits that it wasn't Watari she loved but Kousei. Tsubaki tries to comfort Kousei by reasserting her feelings for him and determination to never abandon him, but it doesn't have much effect and there's no signs that he will reciprocate her feelings any time soon. The next shot is Kousei lamenting on the idea of a spring without Kaori.]]
* DuetBonding: Playing together, and even the prospect of playing together, brings Kaori and Kousei together. [[spoiler: As revealed at the end, an intentional InvokedTrope on Kaori's part.]]
* DullEyesOfUnhappiness: PlayedForLaughs at the start of episode 5. Kaori's eyes suddenly become this when the gang visit her without knocking the door and sneak an accidental peek at her while she was naked and receiving a sponge bath from nurse.
** Played straight at episode 20 [[spoiler:from a traumatized Kousei on his way home after he was visit Kaori only to see her health take a sharp turn for the worst]].
* ElegantClassicalMusician:
** Kousei was already a ChildProdigy pianist that inspired many people by his piano playing before event in the series began. Though in the start of the series he's got HeroicBSOD and somewhat lost his edge, he starts to become this again when he returns to playing piano and tries to overcome his obstacles with the help of Kaori. [[spoiler:He finally fully become this after the death of Kaori, making Hiroko, Nagi, and even Koharu stunned by his practice performance.]]
-->'''Hiroko''': "Look how you've gotten more sensual. You've grown up, have you?"
-->'''Koharu''': "So cool!"
-->'''Nagi''': *''blushing''* "[[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial I-it's not like I want to be able to play like him, all right?]] [[CatchPhrase What a cliche!]]"
** Though she's fit to the category, Kaori averts this: she plays violin and has elegant appearence, but her style of play is wild and full of energy.
** Takeshi and Emi both are pianists who play quite elegantly, although Emi's style is also very personal and energetic.
* EvolvingCredits: The second opening changed a bit of its lyrics after episode 17 before the reff part. From ''"boku wa ame, kimi wa taiyou, te o tsunagou"'' [[note]]I'm the rain, you're the sun, so let's holding hands[[/note]] to ''"nee, ima kono isshun o dakishimeyou"'' [[note]]hey, let's grab tight this moment[[/note]]. Not only lyrics, but some scenery also changed. They are including:
** The changed lyrics parts initially features Kousei, Tsubaki, and Watari playing together, but after episode 17, it features Takeshi and Emi smiled at the sky.
** The scene while Kousei playing piano and Kaori playing violin accompanied by flying birds changed into scenery of Kousei and Kaori double riding bike together.
** The scenery while both of them playing in the reff part of opening changed from sunny sky with white cloud into clear night full of twinkling and falling stars.
* TheFaceless: We never see Kousei's mother's face, even when shown from a first-person perspective, until episode 13 where we're given more insight on her character and past.
* FamilyBusiness: Kaori's parents runs a cake shop named ''"Ma Fille"'', [[MeaningfulName French for "my daughter"]], as revealed in OVA episode.
* FirstNameBasis: Tsubaki ''Sawabe'' is very rarely referred to by her last name.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: Several in the first half of the show. It becomes more and more obvious as the show goes on, especially on a second watch.
** Episode 2. [[spoiler:Kaori's shaking left hand after asking for Kousei's opinion about her performance.]]
** Episode 3. [[spoiler:Kaori's stop at a hospital.]]
** Episode 4. [[spoiler:Tsubaki is stunned by Kousei and Kaori's performance and realizes Kousei's passion for music has finally been reignited because of Kaori, starting her [[GreenEyedMonster jealous]] streak.]]
*** [[spoiler:Later, Kaori collapsing after finishing said performance.]]
** Episode 5. Kaori's words after finishing her duet performance: [[spoiler:"I won't forget, even if I die"]].
** Episode 11. Kaori embracing and apologized to her violin because she dropped it [[spoiler:while she was collapsed]].
-->"I'm sorry. As someone who dropped you, I don't deserved to be a violinist. I'm sorry, ''please bear with me for just a little longer''."
** The scene featuring two hands holding each other and an opened envelope on a piano in the second opening. [[spoiler:Both of them revealed in final episode: Kousei's love for Kaori is indeed reciprocal, and the opened envelope encased Kaori's letter explaining it all.]]
** Episode 12. Kaori's parent's attitude toward Kousei. [[spoiler: Despite Kousei just meeting them for the first time, they already have a very good impression of him because Kousei is the only reason [[IllGirl Kaori]] is still motivated to live her short life.]]
*** When Kashiwagi asks about what kind of high school Kousei and Kaori will be attended, Kaori replied with an uncertain answer about her future [[spoiler:while her handheld fireworks shuts off prematurely compared with others fireworks which remains lit]].
*** [[spoiler:Also, Kaori missing the gala concert.]]
** Episode 13. [[spoiler: Kaori is hospitalized again, with her faded hair color and paler skin indicating her disease is getting worse.]]
*** [[spoiler:The gang visits Kaori and brings her a bag full of books to read, but as they leave, she says: "I don't have time to read all these..."]]
** Episode 16. [[spoiler: Kaori dropping the drink Kousei gives her.]]
* FourTemperamentEnsemble: The main characters' quartet. Thoughtful Kousei is the '''Melancholic''', passionate Kaori is the '''Choleric''', lovable Casanova Watari is the '''Sanguine''' and friendly Tsubaki is the '''Phlegmatic'''.
* FreezeFrameBonus: [[http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/732c262467b99195f741bfc4672e4f66.jpg In episode 9]].[[spoiler:Little Kaori can be seen among the audience (behind Tsubaki's seat) that watching Kousei's first performance just after his mother's death. Actually, the same scene already showed at the first few minutes of first episode, but by then the audience still has not given any clue about the context of the scene.]]
* FriendToAllChildren: Kaori. She's playing the melodica with a group of children when she's first introduced, and later we see she's very good with kids.
-->Kousei: "She sure knows to get along with kids, I guess her mental age is low?"
* GenderEqualEnsemble: The main characters, two boys and two girls. Even if you add Takeshi and Emi, this trope still applies.
* GratuitousEnglish[=/=]GratuitousGerman: Kaori loves throwing in random heavilly-accented English and German words into her conversations.
* GreenEyedEpiphany: Tsubaki doesn't seem to realize she likes Kousei until she starts to become jealous of Kousei hanging out with Kaori. She [[LikeBrotherAndSister thinks of him as her younger brother]] up until then.
* HairDecoration: Kaori wears a [[FlowerInHerHair flower hairpin]] as part of her performance outfit.
* HeroicBSOD:
** Kousei had one two years before the series began when his mother died and it left him very depressed.
** It happens again at the end of episode 20 when[[spoiler: he and Watari come to visit Kaori and her health takes a turn for the worst. He stays in a depressed state for a whole week, especially after he visits Kaori after that event and realizes that she's getting worse and worse.]]
* IllGirl: Kousei's mom, Saki, that already passed away before the series began[[spoiler: and also Kaori, first hinted in episode 4 when she collapses after her performance and further shown in episode 9 when a lot of pills can be seen in her bag. Then in episode 15, her legs give out in the middle of the hospital hallway at night. And in episode 16, her arms can't hold up her bow or, at the very least, a bottle of juice Kousei hands her]]. While her disease is unnamed, it's explained that she will lose control of her legs and her limbs and suffer from seizures that will lead to heart failure. Most fans have suspected that due to the symptoms, Kousei's mom [[spoiler:and Kaori as well]] suffered from ALS.
* InSeriesNickname: Kaori "Kao-chan" Miyazono. Kousei's nickname, "Human Metronome", also can be counted, but it's more like an infamous RedBaron nickname for him.
* IWishedYouWereDead: [[spoiler:Kousei told his mother to die after being fed up with her abuse and harsh critique of his playing. Apparently she died sometime after it]]
* LastNameBasis: ''Ryota'' Watari and ''Nao'' Kashiwagi are rarely referred to by their first name, not even by their close friends.
* LikeASonToMe: Hiroko to Kousei. Even though she doesn't make an appearance until TheStinger in episode 10, she's been established as something like Kousei's second mother and even refers to him as her son.
* LikeParentLikeSpouse:
** In chapter 32 / episode 16, Kousei begins to realize that Kaori and his mother are quite similar; they're both obsessed with music, they're constantly pushing him into becoming a better pianist and are prone to drastic mood swings. [[spoiler: They are both also sick with unnamed but fatal diseases. Possibly fatal in Kaori's case, as we don't see whether she survives in chapter 43. Then comes chapter 44, she didn't survive.]]
** This is lampshaded in episode 16 when [[spoiler: Kousei, Watari and Tsubaki visit Kaori in the hospital and Kaori yells at him for not practicing for the upcoming competition in such a way that in Kousei's eyes, the room begins to glitch and Kaori turns into his mother.]]
* LiterallyLovingThyNeighbor: Because they're also being ChildhoodFriends, Tsubaki's feelings to Kousei is eventually become this, but she always assumed it's just a LikeBrotherAndSister-type relationship until he met Kaori and she start to jealous to her.
* ManicPixieDreamGirl:
** Played straight with Kaori towards Kousei. As he explains, she's the one who introduces colours back into his life. [[spoiler: Then it's played for drama.]]
** It's revealed that [[spoiler: this was invoked by Kaori because it turns out, just like Takeshi, Nagi, and Emi, Kaori was also moved by Kousei's music and it brought colours into her world and when Kousei stopped playing music, she dropped piano and picked up the violin just to try and help him get back on his feet.]]
** As shown in Takeshi's and Nagi's flashbacks, Kousei himself was a gender-flipped one for them - he inspired them to become excellent musicians as well. [[spoiler: Kaori admits in her final letter that she was similarly inspired.]]
* {{Megane}}: Besides of Kousei, there are few male character that use glasses on regular basis: Takahiko Arima (Kousei's father whose face is revealed very briefly in OVA episode), Akira Takayanagi (Takeshi's piano mentor), Toshiya Miike (The kid that insult Kaori's playing to Kousei in episode 13). Though, the latter two can be counted as {{Nerd}} with their NerdGlasses.
* {{Meganekko}}: [[spoiler:Kaori, before she start her "change" as she said in her letter.]]
* MoodWhiplash: This series can swing from happy romantic comedy to tragic and tense drama in mere seconds.
** At the end of episode 4, Kaori and Kousei finish their performance to massive applause from the audience...[[spoiler: and a few seconds later, we hear Kaori collapsing. This is the start of Kaori's declining health.]]
** In episode 16, Kousei explains to Nagi the kind of person Kaori is, calling her a "strong person". Cue a scene of Kaori [[spoiler: crying because she can't hold her violin bow properly anymore]]. Seconds later, we cut to a scene of the gang visiting Kaori at the hospital, with Kaori's anger at Kousei for not bringing her any gifts entirely PlayedForLaughs. After Kousei reveals he's giving Nagi piano lessons, Kaori's further enraged because she thinks he's not taking his upcoming competition seriously to the point she starts crying and make everyone in the room speechless. [[spoiler: The next scene when Kousei visiting Kaori alone at night, her attitude before drawing parallels to his own mother's behavior shortly before her death, further foreshadowing Kaori's eventual demise.]]
* TheNamesake: The meaning behind "Your Lie in April" is revealed in the final episode/final chapter of the manga. [[spoiler: Kaori lied about liking Watari and used their relationship to get closer to Kousei, the guy she truly loved all along.]]
* NotSoDifferent: As the series goes on, Tsubaki are envious towards Kaori because she can communicate so well with Kousei due to her vast knowledge of music. [[spoiler:It turns out that Kaori also envy to Tsubaki because she knows everything about Kousei's life due to their shared childhood.]]
** Nagi realized that Kousei and herself are this; both are always gazing, pursuing, and loving someone they can never have no matter how hard they tried. In Nagi's case, it's her own brother; in Kousei's case, it's a girl who like his best friend. She also realized that Kousei also afraid because of the sheer pressure before giving their duet performance in episode 18.
* NotWhatItLooksLike:
** Kousei trying to take a picture of Kaori while performing with the children, only for him to accidentally take the photo at the exact moment Kaori sees him and the wind blows her skirt up.
** After jumping in the river, Kousei lets Kaori change into his dry clothes at his house. Kaori, in a fit of rage, slams open the windows in the piano room... and Tsubaki, who lives next door, sees the two of them through her window at that moment. Of course, Tsubaki gives Kousei a good beating.
* OppositesAttract: The cynical and reserved Kousei and the optimistic and wild Kaori.
** Also, the calm [[ElegantClassicalMusician musician]] Kousei and the energetic [[PassionateSportsGirl sports girl]] Tsubaki, as lampshaded by Tsubaki's baseball club senior, Saitou, after [[spoiler:he broke up with Tsubaki because he feels their relationship is just as casual friendship rather than couples.]]
-->'''Saitou''':"You and I... We should be with people who are the total opposite, probably."
* ParentalAbandonment: Kousei's mother is dead, and his father is usually away for business, so he lives alone.
* ParentalSubstitute: After episode 10, Saki's best friend Hiroko becomes this to Kousei. Though, it was implied she already become this immediately after Saki's death, it was just she don't want to be near Kousei's life if her existence would bring his bad memories back.
* PartingWordsRegret: [[spoiler:Kousei's last words to his mother were that he wanted her dead. His guilt over it is an important part of the trauma that keeps him from playing piano.]]
* PassionateSportsGirl: Tsubaki is in the baseball club and is much more passionate about it than her studies.
* PastelChalkedFreezeFrame: Done in the first opening features Kousei and Kaori performing together with their respective instrument. [[spoiler:Which is used again in the finale, but it's later revealed that their final duet performance is never happened, since real Kaori was doing her surgery during that time and it's suggested the Kaori that playing alongside Kousei was either her spirit before leaving to afterlife or just pure Kousei's imagination.]]
** Also done in episode 10, with the BeautifulDreamer scenery (see that entry above).
* PatientChildhoodLoveInterest: Tsubaki has liked Kousei since childhood, but their relationship has always been sibling-like. She's fine with it until Kousei begins to become closer to Kaori.
* PiggybackCute:
** Kousei carries Tsubaki on his back after she injures her leg during a baseball game.
** He also carries Kaori like this when [[spoiler:she asks him to carry her out of her hospital room, since by then her disease has become so serious that she can't walk anymore]].
* ProductPlacement: It seems that the only piano manufacturer in this series are Steinway & Sons.
** Glico also referenced in some scene in the anime.
* ThePromise: Kaori make a promise to Kousei to perform together once again, which is become her determination to take the high-risk surgery. [[spoiler:She fails to keep it.]]
* RealPlaceBackground: According to [[http://anitabi.net/blog/2014/11/kimiuso.html this blog]], many of this series' settings takes place in [[https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Nerima Nerima-ku, Tokyo]].
* RedOniBlueOni: Playing music with passion versus following the score, multiple examples.
** Kousei "the human metronome" is blue and Kaori the feisty and erratic violinist is red, and people make comments on how badly they're matched when they first play together.
** Igawa is red, and Aiza is blue. Igawa plays differently depending on how she feels each particular day, and Aiza is much more consistent. Episode 9 of the anime color codes them this way for us, before Kosei's recital.
* RuleOfSymbolism: In Episode 20, Kousei and Watari visiting Kaori [[spoiler:only to see her health take a sharp turn for the worse]]. Later, a traumatized Kousei on his way home sees the black cat that Kaori usually played with [[spoiler:fatally run over by a car, symbolizing Kaori's ultimately death two episodes later]]. Another black cat appears at the railroad tracks in the final scene of Episode 22 and disappears behind a passing commuter train [[spoiler: symbolizing the loss of Kaori]].
** In episode 12, Kaori's handheld fireworks shuts off prematurely just as she answered Kashiwagi's question with uncertain answer about her future.
** During the first half of the series, Kousei always symbolizing his inability to hear his own piano playing as being dragged and forced to playing piano under the dark ocean.
* RunningGag: The bruise Kousei got on his forehead after being hit by a baseball in episode 1 keeps opening at various points in the series, and nobody seems to care despite the stream of blood on his face. [[spoiler: It soon becomes HarsherInHindsight when we first see that it really started when Kousei's mother beat him upside the head in a fit of rage in a venue lobby, opening the wound on his forehead and knocking off his now broken glasses.]]
* SavvyGuyEnergeticGirl: Kousei is the cynical OnlySaneMan while Kaori is a cheerful GenkiGirl.
* ScaryShinyGlasses: Kousei's glasses become this after he decided to go into serious playing mode while he's accompanying Nagi in a four-finger piano duet in episode 18.
** Kousei's glasses also become this in episode 17 when he initially refuse Watari's invitation to visit Kaori together because he don't know what he should say to her, or how he should act when he sees her [[spoiler:after she starts to losing hope in life]].
* ShoppingMontage: In episode 16, Kaori has Kousei accompanying her to the mall, shopping various item ranging from clothes to doll to stationery [[spoiler:for her one day out of the hospital]]. She make him bring ''a lot'' of her belongings and missed his lesson in the process.
* ShoutOut:
** The tune Kaori plays on the melodica in the first episode is [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwvdAo7VSFo A Morning of the Slag Ravine]] from ''Anime/CastleInTheSky''. This seems to be what she's playing in the manga as well, since the kids who are with her lament that her playing isn't attracting any birds and Kaori says it worked for Pazu.
** There are some references from ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'' Kaori quoted throughout the series:
*** In episode 6: ''"It takes courage to sail through uncharted waters"'' by Snoopy.
*** In episode 7: ''"When you're depressed, it always helps to lean your head on your arms. Arms like to feel useful"'' by Charlie Brown.
*** In episode 11: ''"You know, I'm not always going to be around to help you"'' by Charlie Brown again.
*** In episode 21: ''"We all need someone to kiss us goodbye"'' by Marcie.
* SnowMeansDeath: [[spoiler:Kousei retrieved Kaori's letter from her parents in front of her cemetery under the raining snow.]]
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Kaori's is usually romanized as "Kaori" but in Japanese, instead of "かおり／カオリ", it's spelled "かをり” which is romanized as "Kawori" and it's even romanized that way in episode 11 on a sign on Kaori's door saying "Kawori's room".
* SpiritualSuccessor: Of ''Manga/NodameCantabile''. Both are musical series featuring a prodigious yet cynical male pianist whose life changes when he meets a talented and wild female musician.
* StageMom: Kousei's mother wanted him to become famous and perform in Europe, which she couldn't do due to illness. She demanded him to play the piano to perfection and made him practice for hours, often beating him up for small mistakes. [[spoiler:Turns out she actually wanted him to become successful so that he could live on his own when she was gone.]]
* TheStinger: Done in episode 10, to show audience reaction toward Kousei's piano playing that has changed since his last piano competition from robotic, down to the notes to become more colorful; and also to introduce his mother's best friend that later become his ParentalSubstitute as well as his mentor, Hiroko, to the series.
* TearsOfRemorse: As part of her MyGodWhatHaveIDone (''see WasTooHardOnHim example below''), Saki's crying after hitting Kousei to the point he's bleeding can be counted as this.
* TechnicianVsPerformer: Kousei is the technician, since his mother drilled into him that he must always stick to the score and memorize it inside and out, while Kaori is the performer whose wild and energetic playing greatly deviates from the sheet music.
* TemptingFate: [[spoiler:The more Kousei reject the similarity between Kaori and his late mother, the more relevant those similarity become.]]
** Also, shortly after Kousei [[IWishedYouWereDead wished his mother to just dead]], his mother were dead to her illness, makes him felt guilty and trauma to the point he can't hear his own piano playing even after the main story began few years later.
* TheEndingChangesEverything: In the final episode [[spoiler: Kaori's goodbye letter reveals that she was inspired to become a musician by Kousei during his ChildProdigy days, that she had wanted to play music with him ever since she was a little girl, and that she lied about liking Watari in order to get close to Kousei.]]
* ThemeTuneCameo: The music Kousei is transcribing in the first episode is the opening song, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnXkhkEvNIM Hikaru Nara by Goose House]].
* ThereAreNoTherapists: Just from the backstory alone, Kousei loses a parent, then develops a condition where he can't hear his own piano playing. Nobody even thinks to suggest that he see a therapist of any variety.
* TragicKeepsake: Kousei keeps one [[spoiler: from Kaori. It's an old photo from before Kousei gave his first performance, featuring Kaori, her friend, and a walking by Kousei behind them, making it the first and only photo Kaori has with him]].
* TrainingFromHell: It's suggested that Kousei receiving this by his mother in context of piano practice. In OVA episode, Takeshi secretly spying Kousei practice from Tsubaki's house only to heard repetitive practice from Kousei since he finished school in the noon until about sunset.
* {{Tsundere}}: ''All of four'' girls that attracted to Kousei, either because of his NiceGuy personality or because of his piano playing [[note]]Tsubaki, Kaori, Emi, and Nagi[[/note]] somewhat has this trait towards him.
* UnknownRival: Emi and Takeshi are both this to Kousei, at least before they reunite in the story. Surpassing Kousei, who always took first place from them as a child, seems to be their only motivation to compete in piano competitions at all - however he never noticed them back then and doesn't recognize them when they reunite.
* UnreliableVoiceover: In the final episode [[spoiler: Kaori states in her goodbye letter that Watari will probably forget about her. As her voice says this, the viewer sees that Watari has a picture of himself and Kaori on his cell phone.]]
* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: Hiroko was the one who convinced Saki to make Kousei into a pianist after seeing his great talent. After Saki became sick, she became more demanding and abusive towards Kousei, eventually damaging their relationship beyond repair and leaving Kousei with deep emotional scars. Hiroko always blamed herself for Kousei's problems because of it.
* WasTooHardOnHim:
** Kousei's mother, also a MyGodWhatHaveIDone. [[spoiler: In episode 13, we get a look at the situation from Hiroko's point of view and despite the numerous instances of abuse she put Kousei through, Saki loved Kousei and only wanted to make sure that Kousei would be able to move on after she was gone. Her last moments in the hospital were spent lamenting that she wasn't a better mother to him and that she hoped that "her treasure would find happiness."]]
** In a way, Kaori towards Kousei. [[spoiler:In the posthumous letter she wrote to Kousei, she tells him how much she loves him and that she was sorry for being so mean to him and hitting him.]]
* WellDoneSonGuy:
** Even despite the abuse he got from her, Kousei's motivation for doing well at piano competitions as a child was to please his mother and make her feel better. [[spoiler: Then he snaps after being publicly beaten and says that after doing so much to try and make her happy despite not playing with his friends, practicing, and getting beaten up by her, he just wishes that she'd die already.]]
** In a way, Takeshi and Emi to Kousei. Takeshi and Emi have been in the same competitions with Kousei since they were children, and Emi even became a pianist after being emotionally moved by Kousei's performance, but they could never beat him and he never paid them any mind (justified however, because he was busy being abused by his StageMom). After Kousei left, they spent two years perfecting and becoming amazing pianists with Takeshi getting ready to go overseas and when they find out that Kousei is returning, they're excited and sign up for the same competition that they've gone through year after year, just to show Kousei how much better they've gotten and how they believe they can stand side-by-side with him. And when Kousei praises Takeshi on his performance, he is incredibly happy.
* WhamLine:
** Kaori in Episode 5: [[spoiler:"I won't forget, I won't forget even if I die."]] Also in the same episode: [[spoiler: "Ah. I passed out again."]].
** In episode 11: [[spoiler: "'You know, I'm not always going to be around to help you...' -Charlie Brown."]]
** Episode 16: "Want to [[spoiler: commit double suicide]] with me?" Admittedly, [[spoiler: Kaori]] is quoting from a Japanese novel named ''Ichigo Alliance'', but Kousei is frozen in place the instant he hears that.
** The final episode/chapter has one that even shocks Kousei in-universe. "[[spoiler: Kaori Miyazono was in love with Watari Ryota... that was the lie I told]]." See TheEndingChangesEverything.
** [[spoiler: "Goodbye."]]
* WhamShot:
** [[spoiler: Kaori collapsing]] at the end of episode 4.
** [[spoiler: Kaori in the hospital AGAIN]] at the end of episode 13.
** The last two minutes of episode 15 where [[spoiler:Kaori walking around in the hospital at night alone and she suddenly falls because she loses feeling in her legs]].
** The first sequence of episode 16 has the moment where [[spoiler:Kaori's limbs give out again when she's walking around her house while reading sheet music. She falls on her head and opens a wound but doesn't notice it until she sees blood on her hands and sheet music and then she passes out, make her miss the gala concert in episode 13.]]
** In Episode 20 [[spoiler:the black cat that's been around the whole series gets fatally run over and all the audience and Kousei sees is the cat lying lifelessly in a pool of its own blood]].
** Episode 22. [[spoiler: Kaori disappearing in front of Kousei during his performance, symbolizing her death.]]
* WomanInWhite: Kaori's performance dress always consists of white colored dress as seen in epiosde 2, episode 4, and [[spoiler:also her "imagined" final duet performance with Kousei in]] episode 22.
* YaoiFangirl: In the final episode, Tsubaki asks how is Kashiwagi so versed in romance, and she reveals that her knowledge comes from her collection of BL doujinshi. In the manga, however, this is revealed to the reader through a gag strip where Kashiwagi fantasizes a gay relationship between Watari and Kousei.
* YourDaysAreNumbered: Two of the character close to Kousei has this in the backstory, how they acted toward this fate build the main story of this series.
** Saki (Kousei's mom) realize she didn't have much time left in her life due to her unknown illness, so she teach Kousei as much as she can how to play piano accurately according to the music score, despite Kousei is still a mere child, giving him the nickname "Human Metronome". [[spoiler:She's doing this with the hope that Kousei be able to make income and having a decent life by his piano playing after she were dead and while her husband is away with business]]. Her plan backfires ''horribly'' on her after Kousei is being fed up with her abuse and harsh critique after his one special performance dedicated for her purely from his heart and ignoring the music score in the process. She died shortly afterwards, leaving Kousei dealing with [[HeroicBSOD trauma]] that make him unable to hear his own piano playing in the start of the series.
** After in one night she saw her parents crying in the hospital waiting room, [[spoiler:Kaori]] realize she didn't have much time left in her life, so she decided to live a full and happy life before passing away. She put on the contact lenses which she never had the courage to wear, ate a lot of foods (particularly cakes, since now she is ignoring her weight) [[spoiler:and ignored the aspect of her performing appearance and played the music the way she wanted to. Then, she told the titular lie about liking Watari, for the sake of approaching Kousei, the guy that become her reason to become violinist and also to help him overcoming his trauma so that he can returns to the music world once again and continues his journey as a musician]].
----
[[caption-width-right:300: "I met the girl under full-bloomed cherry blossoms, and my fate has begun to change."]]
->''"We're all afraid, you know...to get up on stage. Maybe you'll mess up. Maybe they'll totally reject you. Even so, you grit your teeth and get up on stage anyway. Something compels us...moves us to play music."''
-->-- '''Kaori Miyazono'''
Kousei Arima used to be a ChildProdigy at piano. Winning many competitions and earning himself a name in the classical music world, his future seemed bright, colorful and full of posibilites. However, after his mother's death, his breakdown at a concert made him stop playing.
Kousei, now in middle school, spends his days living in a monochrome world, having spent two years without playing piano but managing to live everyday thanks to his friends, his cheerful neighbour [[PatientChildhoodLoveInterest Tsubaki]] and his best friend [[TheCasanova Watari]].
That is, until Tsubaki introduces him to Kaori Miyazono, a mysterious and beautiful classmate who plays the violin in a way he's never heard before, and that introduces colours in his world again.
'''''Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso''''' (officially translated as '''''Your Lie in April''''') [[note]]That's "lie" in the sense of "falsehood", not in the sense of "lying down". Due to the use of "wa" as a topic particle, it could also be loosely translated as "April is when you lied to me".[[/note]] or just simply '''''Kimi Uso''''' [[note]]''Your Lie''[[/note]] for short, is a [[ShonenDemographic shounen]] manga written and illustrated by Naoshi Arakawa and serialized monthly in Shounen Magazine. An {{anime}} adaptation started airing in the Fall2014Anime season produced by Creator/A1Pictures. It can be watched legally on [[http://www.crunchyroll.com/your-lie-in-april Crunchyroll.]]
The manga ran from April 6, 2011 to February 6, 2015. The anime which adapted the entirety of the manga aired from October 2014 to March 2015 at [[Creator/NoitaminA noitaminA]] programming block.
A {{Prequel}} manga which telling the story from Kousei and Tsubaki's childhood, ''Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso: Coda'' (''Your Lie in April: Coda'') is bundled with the DVD releases of the anime. Similarly, an {{OVA}} episode which telling the beginning of rivalry between Kousei, Emi, and Takeshi in their childhood was released with the last collected volume of the manga on May 17th, 2015.
Creator/AniplexUSA confirm that there will be an English dub for ''Your Lie in April'' from Creator/BangZoomEntertainment with Creator/PatrickSeitz as the ADR Director. It is noted to be the first non-action anime title from Aniplex USA's catalog to get an English dub (as Aniplex USA has historically has dubbed only action shows or titles with [[Creator/GenUrobuchi Urobuchi]]'s name on it).
----
!!This series shows examples of:
* AccidentalPervert:
** When Kousei first sees Kaori playing music with a bunch of children, his first instinct is to take a picture... but the wind made Kaori's skirt blow up, so he accidentally takes a picture of her panties.
** Kousei and Watari sneak an accidental peek at Kaori receiving a sponge bath when visiting her at the hospital. So does Tsubaki, but naturally only the boys get hit by Kaori for it.
* AdaptationDyeJob: Tsubaki is shown to have bluish hair on the cover of volume 3 of the manga, while the anime gives her brown hair. Also, Kousei says his eyes are brown early in chapter 1 (and in the first episode of the anime), but all of the covers and the anime depict his eyes as blue.
* AdultFear: Saki's main concern about Kousei are about how he will be able to live decently without source of income and parental advices after she were dead and while her husband is away with business.
** Also, one of the RealLife parents nightmare is [[spoiler:having their only child succumbing with terminal illness that would claim his/her live in young age, like Kaori.]]
* AirplaneOfLove: In episode 20. [[spoiler:Kaori made a phone call to Kousei on his way home from lesson with Hiroko just to inform him there was an airplane flying by on its night flight. According to Kousei, the plane just look like a shooting star across the sky. This makes him realize his true feelings to Kaori and decide to visit her again.]]
--->'''Kousei''': "A lump of steel, like a shooting star. Just seeing the same sky as you makes familiar scenery looks different. I swing between hope and despair at your slightest gesture, and my heart starts to play a melody. ''What kind of feeling is this again? What do they call this kind of feeling? I think it's probably called loved''."
* AllLoveIsUnrequited: One of the main theme besides the music. Tsubaki likes Kousei, who develops a crush on Kaori, but she's interested in Watari, who is fond of her but also [[TheCasanova goes after other girls]] and is oblivious to her feelings. Emi meanwhile is in love with Kousei as well while Watari has displayed attraction towards her. By the end of the series, this trope becomes incredibly depressing. [[spoiler:Tsubaki is still in love with Kousei but there's no indication of her feelings being responded to. Kaori reciprocates Kousei's feelings...[[DeadManWriting in a letter she wrote that Kousei didn't receive until after she passes away.]] ]]
* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: Kousei, Emi, and Takeshi is this towards ''every'' other participant in almost ''every piano competition'' those three participated, but Kousei takes the cake by being this towards Emi and Takeshi.
* AmazinglyEmbarrassingParents: Kaori's parents show Kousei old pictures of Kaori, including the ones of her naked as a baby, to her great embarrassment.
* AnguishedDeclarationOfLove: [[spoiler:Kaori]] makes her emotional confession to Kousei, [[spoiler: in the letter he receives after her passing.]]
* AnimeHair: Takeshi has very pointy, bright blonde hair. His hairstyle looks even more striking compared to the rest of the cast, whose hair colours and styles are more realistic.
* ArcWords: ''"Do you think you'll be able to forget?"'' was Kaori's question to Kousei that have about three contexts as the show goes on: the piano in Kousei's life, their duet performance with cheering audience, and finally [[spoiler:her short existence in Kousei's life]]. Kousei returns that question while asking her to once again perform together with him.
* BarbieDollAnatomy: The non-fanservice Kaori and Kousei nude dancing scene in the first opening features this.
* BeautifulDreamer: In episode 6, Kousei watches Kaori sleeping while she's accompanying him practicing piano in the school's music room. While covering her with his jacket, he mutters that she looks like an angel...''as long as she's quiet''. [[Funny/ShigatsuWaKimiNoUso Cue to Kaori suddenly makes frown expression in her sleep]]. This situation later becomes sort of ChekhovsGun for Kousei since he use this exact scenery as his imagery for his playing in piano competition in episode 10.
* BettyAndVeronica: Reliable childhood friend Tsubaki and the wild and cheerful musician Kaori play these roles for Kousei respectively.
* BridalCarry: Kousei holding Kaori like this in a brief scene from the first opening.
* BunnyEarsLawyer: Kaori plays without worrying about being successful in tournaments or not, and she's kind of an airhead... but that doesn't make her any less amazing at violin.
* CallBack: When Kousei reads the letter from [[spoiler:late]] Kaori, she reminds him of various scene when they were together before.
** Every ending of this show previewing the scene of next episode. The ending of OVA episode feature the scene from Episode 1 when Kousei first meeting with Kaori.
* ChekhovsGunman: [[spoiler: The little girl sitting next to little Emi when she first hears Kousei playing the piano. The final episode reveals she is a young Kaori.]]
* CherryBlossoms: Since the series starts in April, there can be seen plenty of cherry blossoms. They serve as a symbol of Kaori and her relationship with Kousei, as they first meet in a rain of cherry blossoms.
* ChildhoodFriendRomance: Kousei and Tsubaki grew up next door and they have a close sibling-like relationship, but once Kaori shows up and begins to catch Kousei's attention, Tsubaki realizes she likes him as more than a brother.
* ChildhoodFriends:
** Watari, Kousei, and Tsubaki, who have known each other since they were kids.
** Also Emi and Takeshi who've known each other ever since they started competing in piano competitions as children.
* ChildProdigy:
** Kousei used to be one thanks to his mother. He got the nickname "Human Metronome" because of how accurately he played from the music score no matter how difficult it was, despite being a mere child.
** Takeshi and Emi were also very good for their young age, but got overshadowed because of Kousei's performances.
* ComedicSociopathy: One of main reason for people who dropped this series (as pointed in one of [[http://randomc.net/2014/11/07/shigatsu-wa-kimi-uso-05/ anime review site]] that skip reviewing between episode 6-11) is because its [[HeroicBSOD traumatic]] main character, Kousei, is prone to the abuse such as being kicked, slapped, or thrown with stuffs by [[DoubleStandardAbuseFemaleOnMale the girls, Tsubaki and Kaori]], causing them become sort of BaseBreaker towards the audience. This become less during the latter half of the show, though. [[spoiler: Also, in the end, one of them (Kaori) is apologized to him via her [[DeadManWriting posthumous letter]] for being mean and hit him all this time]].
* ConnectedAllAlong: One of the big twists in the final episode is that [[spoiler: Kaori was the little girl sitting next to young Emi when Kousei first played piano.]]
* ConspicuousCG: The piano playing shots.
* CryIntoChest: Kaori cries into Kousei's chest in episode 21 under the raining snow because she was afraid to be apart of Kousei [[spoiler:in case she didn't survive the surgery. She didn't, and that was their final moment together while Kaori's still alive]].
* CynicismCatalyst: Kousei stopped playing the piano and became a very cynical boy since his mother died.
* DeadManWriting: [[spoiler:In Chapter 44 / Episode 22, Kousei receives a letter Kaori left for him before she died from her parents as he visits her grave. There she confesses to him that he's the reason she became a violinist and that when they met in April, she lied about wanting to meet Watari, she actually wanted to meet him all along.]]
* DeathOfTheHypotenuse: The Kousei/Kaori/Tsubaki LoveTriangle gets "resolved" at the end with [[spoiler:Kaori's death. While Kousei and Tsubaki don't really end up together, she has confessed her feelings for him and promises him to never leave him alone so they might get together sometime in the future.]]
* {{Determinator}}: Kaori is very determined to be able to do the duet performance with Kousei once again [[spoiler:after she was hospitalized due to her growing serious illness, to the point she starts doing walking therapy and take the high risk surgery, which is sadly fails and claim her life]].
* DisappearsIntoLight: [[spoiler:The fate of Kaori after finishing her long-awaited duet with Kousei in final episode. It's unclear whether the Kaori that playing alongside Kousei was indeed her spirit before going to afterlife or just Kousei pure imagination, but it makes him realize that she has died.]]
* DiseaseBleach: [[spoiler:Kaori's]] hair color become lighter shade of [[spoiler:blonde]] after she was hospitalized in episode 13.
* DoubleStandardAbuseFemaleOnMale: Most of the females hit the main two males a lot, with Kaori and Tsubaki being the mains offenders. Subverted with Kousei's mom as Seto said she went too far. [[spoiler:Subverted with Kaori in the finale when she apologizes to Kousei for hitting him all this time]].
* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:Kaori ends up dying from complications during the high-risk surgery and Kousei receives a letter from Kaori posthumously via her parents, thanking him for introducing her to music, for bringing color to her world and Kaori admits that it wasn't Watari she loved but Kousei. Tsubaki tries to comfort Kousei by reasserting her feelings for him and determination to never abandon him, but it doesn't have much effect and there's no signs that he will reciprocate her feelings any time soon. The next shot is Kousei lamenting on the idea of a spring without Kaori.]]
* DuetBonding: Playing together, and even the prospect of playing together, brings Kaori and Kousei together. [[spoiler: As revealed at the end, an intentional InvokedTrope on Kaori's part.]]
* DullEyesOfUnhappiness: PlayedForLaughs at the start of episode 5. Kaori's eyes suddenly become this when the gang visit her without knocking the door and sneak an accidental peek at her while she was naked and receiving a sponge bath from nurse.
** Played straight at episode 20 [[spoiler:from a traumatized Kousei on his way home after he was visit Kaori only to see her health take a sharp turn for the worst]].
* ElegantClassicalMusician:
** Kousei was already a ChildProdigy pianist that inspired many people by his piano playing before event in the series began. Though in the start of the series he's got HeroicBSOD and somewhat lost his edge, he starts to become this again when he returns to playing piano and tries to overcome his obstacles with the help of Kaori. [[spoiler:He finally fully become this after the death of Kaori, making Hiroko, Nagi, and even Koharu stunned by his practice performance.]]
-->'''Hiroko''': "Look how you've gotten more sensual. You've grown up, have you?"
-->'''Koharu''': "So cool!"
-->'''Nagi''': *''blushing''* "[[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial I-it's not like I want to be able to play like him, all right?]] [[CatchPhrase What a cliche!]]"
** Though she's fit to the category, Kaori averts this: she plays violin and has elegant appearence, but her style of play is wild and full of energy.
** Takeshi and Emi both are pianists who play quite elegantly, although Emi's style is also very personal and energetic.
* EvolvingCredits: The second opening changed a bit of its lyrics after episode 17 before the reff part. From ''"boku wa ame, kimi wa taiyou, te o tsunagou"'' [[note]]I'm the rain, you're the sun, so let's holding hands[[/note]] to ''"nee, ima kono isshun o dakishimeyou"'' [[note]]hey, let's grab tight this moment[[/note]]. Not only lyrics, but some scenery also changed. They are including:
** The changed lyrics parts initially features Kousei, Tsubaki, and Watari playing together, but after episode 17, it features Takeshi and Emi smiled at the sky.
** The scene while Kousei playing piano and Kaori playing violin accompanied by flying birds changed into scenery of Kousei and Kaori double riding bike together.
** The scenery while both of them playing in the reff part of opening changed from sunny sky with white cloud into clear night full of twinkling and falling stars.
* TheFaceless: We never see Kousei's mother's face, even when shown from a first-person perspective, until episode 13 where we're given more insight on her character and past.
* FamilyBusiness: Kaori's parents runs a cake shop named ''"Ma Fille"'', [[MeaningfulName French for "my daughter"]], as revealed in OVA episode.
* FirstNameBasis: Tsubaki ''Sawabe'' is very rarely referred to by her last name.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: Several in the first half of the show. It becomes more and more obvious as the show goes on, especially on a second watch.
** Episode 2. [[spoiler:Kaori's shaking left hand after asking for Kousei's opinion about her performance.]]
** Episode 3. [[spoiler:Kaori's stop at a hospital.]]
** Episode 4. [[spoiler:Tsubaki is stunned by Kousei and Kaori's performance and realizes Kousei's passion for music has finally been reignited because of Kaori, starting her [[GreenEyedMonster jealous]] streak.]]
*** [[spoiler:Later, Kaori collapsing after finishing said performance.]]
** Episode 5. Kaori's words after finishing her duet performance: [[spoiler:"I won't forget, even if I die"]].
** Episode 11. Kaori embracing and apologized to her violin because she dropped it [[spoiler:while she was collapsed]].
-->"I'm sorry. As someone who dropped you, I don't deserved to be a violinist. I'm sorry, ''please bear with me for just a little longer''."
** The scene featuring two hands holding each other and an opened envelope on a piano in the second opening. [[spoiler:Both of them revealed in final episode: Kousei's love for Kaori is indeed reciprocal, and the opened envelope encased Kaori's letter explaining it all.]]
** Episode 12. Kaori's parent's attitude toward Kousei. [[spoiler: Despite Kousei just meeting them for the first time, they already have a very good impression of him because Kousei is the only reason [[IllGirl Kaori]] is still motivated to live her short life.]]
*** When Kashiwagi asks about what kind of high school Kousei and Kaori will be attended, Kaori replied with an uncertain answer about her future [[spoiler:while her handheld fireworks shuts off prematurely compared with others fireworks which remains lit]].
*** [[spoiler:Also, Kaori missing the gala concert.]]
** Episode 13. [[spoiler: Kaori is hospitalized again, with her faded hair color and paler skin indicating her disease is getting worse.]]
*** [[spoiler:The gang visits Kaori and brings her a bag full of books to read, but as they leave, she says: "I don't have time to read all these..."]]
** Episode 16. [[spoiler: Kaori dropping the drink Kousei gives her.]]
* FourTemperamentEnsemble: The main characters' quartet. Thoughtful Kousei is the '''Melancholic''', passionate Kaori is the '''Choleric''', lovable Casanova Watari is the '''Sanguine''' and friendly Tsubaki is the '''Phlegmatic'''.
* FreezeFrameBonus: [[http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/732c262467b99195f741bfc4672e4f66.jpg In episode 9]].[[spoiler:Little Kaori can be seen among the audience (behind Tsubaki's seat) that watching Kousei's first performance just after his mother's death. Actually, the same scene already showed at the first few minutes of first episode, but by then the audience still has not given any clue about the context of the scene.]]
* FriendToAllChildren: Kaori. She's playing the melodica with a group of children when she's first introduced, and later we see she's very good with kids.
-->Kousei: "She sure knows to get along with kids, I guess her mental age is low?"
* GenderEqualEnsemble: The main characters, two boys and two girls. Even if you add Takeshi and Emi, this trope still applies.
* GratuitousEnglish[=/=]GratuitousGerman: Kaori loves throwing in random heavilly-accented English and German words into her conversations.
* GreenEyedEpiphany: Tsubaki doesn't seem to realize she likes Kousei until she starts to become jealous of Kousei hanging out with Kaori. She [[LikeBrotherAndSister thinks of him as her younger brother]] up until then.
* HairDecoration: Kaori wears a [[FlowerInHerHair flower hairpin]] as part of her performance outfit.
* HeroicBSOD:
** Kousei had one two years before the series began when his mother died and it left him very depressed.
** It happens again at the end of episode 20 when[[spoiler: he and Watari come to visit Kaori and her health takes a turn for the worst. He stays in a depressed state for a whole week, especially after he visits Kaori after that event and realizes that she's getting worse and worse.]]
* IllGirl: Kousei's mom, Saki, that already passed away before the series began[[spoiler: and also Kaori, first hinted in episode 4 when she collapses after her performance and further shown in episode 9 when a lot of pills can be seen in her bag. Then in episode 15, her legs give out in the middle of the hospital hallway at night. And in episode 16, her arms can't hold up her bow or, at the very least, a bottle of juice Kousei hands her]]. While her disease is unnamed, it's explained that she will lose control of her legs and her limbs and suffer from seizures that will lead to heart failure. Most fans have suspected that due to the symptoms, Kousei's mom [[spoiler:and Kaori as well]] suffered from ALS.
* InSeriesNickname: Kaori "Kao-chan" Miyazono. Kousei's nickname, "Human Metronome", also can be counted, but it's more like an infamous RedBaron nickname for him.
* IWishedYouWereDead: [[spoiler:Kousei told his mother to die after being fed up with her abuse and harsh critique of his playing. Apparently she died sometime after it]]
* LastNameBasis: ''Ryota'' Watari and ''Nao'' Kashiwagi are rarely referred to by their first name, not even by their close friends.
* LikeASonToMe: Hiroko to Kousei. Even though she doesn't make an appearance until TheStinger in episode 10, she's been established as something like Kousei's second mother and even refers to him as her son.
* LikeParentLikeSpouse:
** In chapter 32 / episode 16, Kousei begins to realize that Kaori and his mother are quite similar; they're both obsessed with music, they're constantly pushing him into becoming a better pianist and are prone to drastic mood swings. [[spoiler: They are both also sick with unnamed but fatal diseases. Possibly fatal in Kaori's case, as we don't see whether she survives in chapter 43. Then comes chapter 44, she didn't survive.]]
** This is lampshaded in episode 16 when [[spoiler: Kousei, Watari and Tsubaki visit Kaori in the hospital and Kaori yells at him for not practicing for the upcoming competition in such a way that in Kousei's eyes, the room begins to glitch and Kaori turns into his mother.]]
* LiterallyLovingThyNeighbor: Because they're also being ChildhoodFriends, Tsubaki's feelings to Kousei is eventually become this, but she always assumed it's just a LikeBrotherAndSister-type relationship until he met Kaori and she start to jealous to her.
* ManicPixieDreamGirl:
** Played straight with Kaori towards Kousei. As he explains, she's the one who introduces colours back into his life. [[spoiler: Then it's played for drama.]]
** It's revealed that [[spoiler: this was invoked by Kaori because it turns out, just like Takeshi, Nagi, and Emi, Kaori was also moved by Kousei's music and it brought colours into her world and when Kousei stopped playing music, she dropped piano and picked up the violin just to try and help him get back on his feet.]]
** As shown in Takeshi's and Nagi's flashbacks, Kousei himself was a gender-flipped one for them - he inspired them to become excellent musicians as well. [[spoiler: Kaori admits in her final letter that she was similarly inspired.]]
* {{Megane}}: Besides of Kousei, there are few male character that use glasses on regular basis: Takahiko Arima (Kousei's father whose face is revealed very briefly in OVA episode), Akira Takayanagi (Takeshi's piano mentor), Toshiya Miike (The kid that insult Kaori's playing to Kousei in episode 13). Though, the latter two can be counted as {{Nerd}} with their NerdGlasses.
* {{Meganekko}}: [[spoiler:Kaori, before she start her "change" as she said in her letter.]]
* MoodWhiplash: This series can swing from happy romantic comedy to tragic and tense drama in mere seconds.
** At the end of episode 4, Kaori and Kousei finish their performance to massive applause from the audience...[[spoiler: and a few seconds later, we hear Kaori collapsing. This is the start of Kaori's declining health.]]
** In episode 16, Kousei explains to Nagi the kind of person Kaori is, calling her a "strong person". Cue a scene of Kaori [[spoiler: crying because she can't hold her violin bow properly anymore]]. Seconds later, we cut to a scene of the gang visiting Kaori at the hospital, with Kaori's anger at Kousei for not bringing her any gifts entirely PlayedForLaughs. After Kousei reveals he's giving Nagi piano lessons, Kaori's further enraged because she thinks he's not taking his upcoming competition seriously to the point she starts crying and make everyone in the room speechless. [[spoiler: The next scene when Kousei visiting Kaori alone at night, her attitude before drawing parallels to his own mother's behavior shortly before her death, further foreshadowing Kaori's eventual demise.]]
* TheNamesake: The meaning behind "Your Lie in April" is revealed in the final episode/final chapter of the manga. [[spoiler: Kaori lied about liking Watari and used their relationship to get closer to Kousei, the guy she truly loved all along.]]
* NotSoDifferent: As the series goes on, Tsubaki are envious towards Kaori because she can communicate so well with Kousei due to her vast knowledge of music. [[spoiler:It turns out that Kaori also envy to Tsubaki because she knows everything about Kousei's life due to their shared childhood.]]
** Nagi realized that Kousei and herself are this; both are always gazing, pursuing, and loving someone they can never have no matter how hard they tried. In Nagi's case, it's her own brother; in Kousei's case, it's a girl who like his best friend. She also realized that Kousei also afraid because of the sheer pressure before giving their duet performance in episode 18.
* NotWhatItLooksLike:
** Kousei trying to take a picture of Kaori while performing with the children, only for him to accidentally take the photo at the exact moment Kaori sees him and the wind blows her skirt up.
** After jumping in the river, Kousei lets Kaori change into his dry clothes at his house. Kaori, in a fit of rage, slams open the windows in the piano room... and Tsubaki, who lives next door, sees the two of them through her window at that moment. Of course, Tsubaki gives Kousei a good beating.
* OppositesAttract: The cynical and reserved Kousei and the optimistic and wild Kaori.
** Also, the calm [[ElegantClassicalMusician musician]] Kousei and the energetic [[PassionateSportsGirl sports girl]] Tsubaki, as lampshaded by Tsubaki's baseball club senior, Saitou, after [[spoiler:he broke up with Tsubaki because he feels their relationship is just as casual friendship rather than couples.]]
-->'''Saitou''':"You and I... We should be with people who are the total opposite, probably."
* ParentalAbandonment: Kousei's mother is dead, and his father is usually away for business, so he lives alone.
* ParentalSubstitute: After episode 10, Saki's best friend Hiroko becomes this to Kousei. Though, it was implied she already become this immediately after Saki's death, it was just she don't want to be near Kousei's life if her existence would bring his bad memories back.
* PartingWordsRegret: [[spoiler:Kousei's last words to his mother were that he wanted her dead. His guilt over it is an important part of the trauma that keeps him from playing piano.]]
* PassionateSportsGirl: Tsubaki is in the baseball club and is much more passionate about it than her studies.
* PastelChalkedFreezeFrame: Done in the first opening features Kousei and Kaori performing together with their respective instrument. [[spoiler:Which is used again in the finale, but it's later revealed that their final duet performance is never happened, since real Kaori was doing her surgery during that time and it's suggested the Kaori that playing alongside Kousei was either her spirit before leaving to afterlife or just pure Kousei's imagination.]]
** Also done in episode 10, with the BeautifulDreamer scenery (see that entry above).
* PatientChildhoodLoveInterest: Tsubaki has liked Kousei since childhood, but their relationship has always been sibling-like. She's fine with it until Kousei begins to become closer to Kaori.
* PiggybackCute:
** Kousei carries Tsubaki on his back after she injures her leg during a baseball game.
** He also carries Kaori like this when [[spoiler:she asks him to carry her out of her hospital room, since by then her disease has become so serious that she can't walk anymore]].
* ProductPlacement: It seems that the only piano manufacturer in this series are Steinway & Sons.
** Glico also referenced in some scene in the anime.
* ThePromise: Kaori make a promise to Kousei to perform together once again, which is become her determination to take the high-risk surgery. [[spoiler:She fails to keep it.]]
* RealPlaceBackground: According to [[http://anitabi.net/blog/2014/11/kimiuso.html this blog]], many of this series' settings takes place in [[https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Nerima Nerima-ku, Tokyo]].
* RedOniBlueOni: Playing music with passion versus following the score, multiple examples.
** Kousei "the human metronome" is blue and Kaori the feisty and erratic violinist is red, and people make comments on how badly they're matched when they first play together.
** Igawa is red, and Aiza is blue. Igawa plays differently depending on how she feels each particular day, and Aiza is much more consistent. Episode 9 of the anime color codes them this way for us, before Kosei's recital.
* RuleOfSymbolism: In Episode 20, Kousei and Watari visiting Kaori [[spoiler:only to see her health take a sharp turn for the worse]]. Later, a traumatized Kousei on his way home sees the black cat that Kaori usually played with [[spoiler:fatally run over by a car, symbolizing Kaori's ultimately death two episodes later]]. Another black cat appears at the railroad tracks in the final scene of Episode 22 and disappears behind a passing commuter train [[spoiler: symbolizing the loss of Kaori]].
** In episode 12, Kaori's handheld fireworks shuts off prematurely just as she answered Kashiwagi's question with uncertain answer about her future.
** During the first half of the series, Kousei always symbolizing his inability to hear his own piano playing as being dragged and forced to playing piano under the dark ocean.
* RunningGag: The bruise Kousei got on his forehead after being hit by a baseball in episode 1 keeps opening at various points in the series, and nobody seems to care despite the stream of blood on his face. [[spoiler: It soon becomes HarsherInHindsight when we first see that it really started when Kousei's mother beat him upside the head in a fit of rage in a venue lobby, opening the wound on his forehead and knocking off his now broken glasses.]]
* SavvyGuyEnergeticGirl: Kousei is the cynical OnlySaneMan while Kaori is a cheerful GenkiGirl.
* ScaryShinyGlasses: Kousei's glasses become this after he decided to go into serious playing mode while he's accompanying Nagi in a four-finger piano duet in episode 18.
** Kousei's glasses also become this in episode 17 when he initially refuse Watari's invitation to visit Kaori together because he don't know what he should say to her, or how he should act when he sees her [[spoiler:after she starts to losing hope in life]].
* ShoppingMontage: In episode 16, Kaori has Kousei accompanying her to the mall, shopping various item ranging from clothes to doll to stationery [[spoiler:for her one day out of the hospital]]. She make him bring ''a lot'' of her belongings and missed his lesson in the process.
* ShoutOut:
** The tune Kaori plays on the melodica in the first episode is [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwvdAo7VSFo A Morning of the Slag Ravine]] from ''Anime/CastleInTheSky''. This seems to be what she's playing in the manga as well, since the kids who are with her lament that her playing isn't attracting any birds and Kaori says it worked for Pazu.
** There are some references from ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'' Kaori quoted throughout the series:
*** In episode 6: ''"It takes courage to sail through uncharted waters"'' by Snoopy.
*** In episode 7: ''"When you're depressed, it always helps to lean your head on your arms. Arms like to feel useful"'' by Charlie Brown.
*** In episode 11: ''"You know, I'm not always going to be around to help you"'' by Charlie Brown again.
*** In episode 21: ''"We all need someone to kiss us goodbye"'' by Marcie.
* SnowMeansDeath: [[spoiler:Kousei retrieved Kaori's letter from her parents in front of her cemetery under the raining snow.]]
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Kaori's is usually romanized as "Kaori" but in Japanese, instead of "かおり／カオリ", it's spelled "かをり” which is romanized as "Kawori" and it's even romanized that way in episode 11 on a sign on Kaori's door saying "Kawori's room".
* SpiritualSuccessor: Of ''Manga/NodameCantabile''. Both are musical series featuring a prodigious yet cynical male pianist whose life changes when he meets a talented and wild female musician.
* StageMom: Kousei's mother wanted him to become famous and perform in Europe, which she couldn't do due to illness. She demanded him to play the piano to perfection and made him practice for hours, often beating him up for small mistakes. [[spoiler:Turns out she actually wanted him to become successful so that he could live on his own when she was gone.]]
* TheStinger: Done in episode 10, to show audience reaction toward Kousei's piano playing that has changed since his last piano competition from robotic, down to the notes to become more colorful; and also to introduce his mother's best friend that later become his ParentalSubstitute as well as his mentor, Hiroko, to the series.
* TearsOfRemorse: As part of her MyGodWhatHaveIDone (''see WasTooHardOnHim example below''), Saki's crying after hitting Kousei to the point he's bleeding can be counted as this.
* TechnicianVsPerformer: Kousei is the technician, since his mother drilled into him that he must always stick to the score and memorize it inside and out, while Kaori is the performer whose wild and energetic playing greatly deviates from the sheet music.
* TemptingFate: [[spoiler:The more Kousei reject the similarity between Kaori and his late mother, the more relevant those similarity become.]]
** Also, shortly after Kousei [[IWishedYouWereDead wished his mother to just dead]], his mother were dead to her illness, makes him felt guilty and trauma to the point he can't hear his own piano playing even after the main story began few years later.
* TheEndingChangesEverything: In the final episode [[spoiler: Kaori's goodbye letter reveals that she was inspired to become a musician by Kousei during his ChildProdigy days, that she had wanted to play music with him ever since she was a little girl, and that she lied about liking Watari in order to get close to Kousei.]]
* ThemeTuneCameo: The music Kousei is transcribing in the first episode is the opening song, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnXkhkEvNIM Hikaru Nara by Goose House]].
* ThereAreNoTherapists: Just from the backstory alone, Kousei loses a parent, then develops a condition where he can't hear his own piano playing. Nobody even thinks to suggest that he see a therapist of any variety.
* TragicKeepsake: Kousei keeps one [[spoiler: from Kaori. It's an old photo from before Kousei gave his first performance, featuring Kaori, her friend, and a walking by Kousei behind them, making it the first and only photo Kaori has with him]].
* TrainingFromHell: It's suggested that Kousei receiving this by his mother in context of piano practice. In OVA episode, Takeshi secretly spying Kousei practice from Tsubaki's house only to heard repetitive practice from Kousei since he finished school in the noon until about sunset.
* {{Tsundere}}: ''All of four'' girls that attracted to Kousei, either because of his NiceGuy personality or because of his piano playing [[note]]Tsubaki, Kaori, Emi, and Nagi[[/note]] somewhat has this trait towards him.
* UnknownRival: Emi and Takeshi are both this to Kousei, at least before they reunite in the story. Surpassing Kousei, who always took first place from them as a child, seems to be their only motivation to compete in piano competitions at all - however he never noticed them back then and doesn't recognize them when they reunite.
* UnreliableVoiceover: In the final episode [[spoiler: Kaori states in her goodbye letter that Watari will probably forget about her. As her voice says this, the viewer sees that Watari has a picture of himself and Kaori on his cell phone.]]
* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: Hiroko was the one who convinced Saki to make Kousei into a pianist after seeing his great talent. After Saki became sick, she became more demanding and abusive towards Kousei, eventually damaging their relationship beyond repair and leaving Kousei with deep emotional scars. Hiroko always blamed herself for Kousei's problems because of it.
* WasTooHardOnHim:
** Kousei's mother, also a MyGodWhatHaveIDone. [[spoiler: In episode 13, we get a look at the situation from Hiroko's point of view and despite the numerous instances of abuse she put Kousei through, Saki loved Kousei and only wanted to make sure that Kousei would be able to move on after she was gone. Her last moments in the hospital were spent lamenting that she wasn't a better mother to him and that she hoped that "her treasure would find happiness."]]
** In a way, Kaori towards Kousei. [[spoiler:In the posthumous letter she wrote to Kousei, she tells him how much she loves him and that she was sorry for being so mean to him and hitting him.]]
* WellDoneSonGuy:
** Even despite the abuse he got from her, Kousei's motivation for doing well at piano competitions as a child was to please his mother and make her feel better. [[spoiler: Then he snaps after being publicly beaten and says that after doing so much to try and make her happy despite not playing with his friends, practicing, and getting beaten up by her, he just wishes that she'd die already.]]
** In a way, Takeshi and Emi to Kousei. Takeshi and Emi have been in the same competitions with Kousei since they were children, and Emi even became a pianist after being emotionally moved by Kousei's performance, but they could never beat him and he never paid them any mind (justified however, because he was busy being abused by his StageMom). After Kousei left, they spent two years perfecting and becoming amazing pianists with Takeshi getting ready to go overseas and when they find out that Kousei is returning, they're excited and sign up for the same competition that they've gone through year after year, just to show Kousei how much better they've gotten and how they believe they can stand side-by-side with him. And when Kousei praises Takeshi on his performance, he is incredibly happy.
* WhamLine:
** Kaori in Episode 5: [[spoiler:"I won't forget, I won't forget even if I die."]] Also in the same episode: [[spoiler: "Ah. I passed out again."]].
** In episode 11: [[spoiler: "'You know, I'm not always going to be around to help you...' -Charlie Brown."]]
** Episode 16: "Want to [[spoiler: commit double suicide]] with me?" Admittedly, [[spoiler: Kaori]] is quoting from a Japanese novel named ''Ichigo Alliance'', but Kousei is frozen in place the instant he hears that.
** The final episode/chapter has one that even shocks Kousei in-universe. "[[spoiler: Kaori Miyazono was in love with Watari Ryota... that was the lie I told]]." See TheEndingChangesEverything.
** [[spoiler: "Goodbye."]]
* WhamShot:
** [[spoiler: Kaori collapsing]] at the end of episode 4.
** [[spoiler: Kaori in the hospital AGAIN]] at the end of episode 13.
** The last two minutes of episode 15 where [[spoiler:Kaori walking around in the hospital at night alone and she suddenly falls because she loses feeling in her legs]].
** The first sequence of episode 16 has the moment where [[spoiler:Kaori's limbs give out again when she's walking around her house while reading sheet music. She falls on her head and opens a wound but doesn't notice it until she sees blood on her hands and sheet music and then she passes out, make her miss the gala concert in episode 13.]]
** In Episode 20 [[spoiler:the black cat that's been around the whole series gets fatally run over and all the audience and Kousei sees is the cat lying lifelessly in a pool of its own blood]].
** Episode 22. [[spoiler: Kaori disappearing in front of Kousei during his performance, symbolizing her death.]]
* WomanInWhite: Kaori's performance dress always consists of white colored dress as seen in epiosde 2, episode 4, and [[spoiler:also her "imagined" final duet performance with Kousei in]] episode 22.
* YaoiFangirl: In the final episode, Tsubaki asks how is Kashiwagi so versed in romance, and she reveals that her knowledge comes from her collection of BL doujinshi. In the manga, however, this is revealed to the reader through a gag strip where Kashiwagi fantasizes a gay relationship between Watari and Kousei.
* YourDaysAreNumbered: Two of the character close to Kousei has this in the backstory, how they acted toward this fate build the main story of this series.
** Saki (Kousei's mom) realize she didn't have much time left in her life due to her unknown illness, so she teach Kousei as much as she can how to play piano accurately according to the music score, despite Kousei is still a mere child, giving him the nickname "Human Metronome". [[spoiler:She's doing this with the hope that Kousei be able to make income and having a decent life by his piano playing after she were dead and while her husband is away with business]]. Her plan backfires ''horribly'' on her after Kousei is being fed up with her abuse and harsh critique after his one special performance dedicated for her purely from his heart and ignoring the music score in the process. She died shortly afterwards, leaving Kousei dealing with [[HeroicBSOD trauma]] that make him unable to hear his own piano playing in the start of the series.
** After in one night she saw her parents crying in the hospital waiting room, [[spoiler:Kaori]] realize she didn't have much time left in her life, so she decided to live a full and happy life before passing away. She put on the contact lenses which she never had the courage to wear, ate a lot of foods (particularly cakes, since now she is ignoring her weight) [[spoiler:and ignored the aspect of her performing appearance and played the music the way she wanted to. Then, she told the titular lie about liking Watari, for the sake of approaching Kousei, the guy that become her reason to become violinist and also to help him overcoming his trauma so that he can returns to the music world once again and continues his journey as a musician]].
----
to:
[[caption-width-right:300: "I met the girl under full-bloomed cherry blossoms, and my fate has begun to change."]]
->''"We're all afraid, you know...to get up on stage. Maybe you'll mess up. Maybe they'll totally reject you. Even so, you grit your teeth and get up on stage anyway. Something compels us...moves us to play music."''
-->-- '''Kaori Miyazono'''
Kousei Arima used to be a ChildProdigy at piano. Winning many competitions and earning himself a name in the classical music world, his future seemed bright, colorful and full of posibilites. However, after his mother's death, his breakdown at a concert made him stop playing.
Kousei, now in middle school, spends his days living in a monochrome world, having spent two years without playing piano but managing to live everyday thanks to his friends, his cheerful neighbour [[PatientChildhoodLoveInterest Tsubaki]] and his best friend [[TheCasanova Watari]].
That is, until Tsubaki introduces him to Kaori Miyazono, a mysterious and beautiful classmate who plays the violin in a way he's never heard before, and that introduces colours in his world again.
'''''Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso''''' (officially translated as '''''Your Lie in April''''') [[note]]That's "lie" in the sense of "falsehood", not in the sense of "lying down". Due to the use of "wa" as a topic particle, it could also be loosely translated as "April is when you lied to me".[[/note]] or just simply '''''Kimi Uso''''' [[note]]''Your Lie''[[/note]] for short, is a [[ShonenDemographic shounen]] manga written and illustrated by Naoshi Arakawa and serialized monthly in Shounen Magazine. An {{anime}} adaptation started airing in the Fall2014Anime season produced by Creator/A1Pictures. It can be watched legally on [[http://www.crunchyroll.com/your-lie-in-april Crunchyroll.]]
The manga ran from April 6, 2011 to February 6, 2015. The anime which adapted the entirety of the manga aired from October 2014 to March 2015 at [[Creator/NoitaminA noitaminA]] programming block.
A {{Prequel}} manga which telling the story from Kousei and Tsubaki's childhood, ''Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso: Coda'' (''Your Lie in April: Coda'') is bundled with the DVD releases of the anime. Similarly, an {{OVA}} episode which telling the beginning of rivalry between Kousei, Emi, and Takeshi in their childhood was released with the last collected volume of the manga on May 17th, 2015.
Creator/AniplexUSA confirm that there will be an English dub for ''Your Lie in April'' from Creator/BangZoomEntertainment with Creator/PatrickSeitz as the ADR Director. It is noted to be the first non-action anime title from Aniplex USA's catalog to get an English dub (as Aniplex USA has historically has dubbed only action shows or titles with [[Creator/GenUrobuchi Urobuchi]]'s name on it).
----
!!This series shows examples of:
* AccidentalPervert:
** When Kousei first sees Kaori playing music with a bunch of children, his first instinct is to take a picture... but the wind made Kaori's skirt blow up, so he accidentally takes a picture of her panties.
** Kousei and Watari sneak an accidental peek at Kaori receiving a sponge bath when visiting her at the hospital. So does Tsubaki, but naturally only the boys get hit by Kaori for it.
* AdaptationDyeJob: Tsubaki is shown to have bluish hair on the cover of volume 3 of the manga, while the anime gives her brown hair. Also, Kousei says his eyes are brown early in chapter 1 (and in the first episode of the anime), but all of the covers and the anime depict his eyes as blue.
* AdultFear: Saki's main concern about Kousei are about how he will be able to live decently without source of income and parental advices after she were dead and while her husband is away with business.
** Also, one of the RealLife parents nightmare is [[spoiler:having their only child succumbing with terminal illness that would claim his/her live in young age, like Kaori.]]
* AirplaneOfLove: In episode 20. [[spoiler:Kaori made a phone call to Kousei on his way home from lesson with Hiroko just to inform him there was an airplane flying by on its night flight. According to Kousei, the plane just look like a shooting star across the sky. This makes him realize his true feelings to Kaori and decide to visit her again.]]
--->'''Kousei''': "A lump of steel, like a shooting star. Just seeing the same sky as you makes familiar scenery looks different. I swing between hope and despair at your slightest gesture, and my heart starts to play a melody. ''What kind of feeling is this again? What do they call this kind of feeling? I think it's probably called loved''."
* AllLoveIsUnrequited: One of the main theme besides the music. Tsubaki likes Kousei, who develops a crush on Kaori, but she's interested in Watari, who is fond of her but also [[TheCasanova goes after other girls]] and is oblivious to her feelings. Emi meanwhile is in love with Kousei as well while Watari has displayed attraction towards her. By the end of the series, this trope becomes incredibly depressing. [[spoiler:Tsubaki is still in love with Kousei but there's no indication of her feelings being responded to. Kaori reciprocates Kousei's feelings...[[DeadManWriting in a letter she wrote that Kousei didn't receive until after she passes away.]] ]]
* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: Kousei, Emi, and Takeshi is this towards ''every'' other participant in almost ''every piano competition'' those three participated, but Kousei takes the cake by being this towards Emi and Takeshi.
* AmazinglyEmbarrassingParents: Kaori's parents show Kousei old pictures of Kaori, including the ones of her naked as a baby, to her great embarrassment.
* AnguishedDeclarationOfLove: [[spoiler:Kaori]] makes her emotional confession to Kousei, [[spoiler: in the letter he receives after her passing.]]
* AnimeHair: Takeshi has very pointy, bright blonde hair. His hairstyle looks even more striking compared to the rest of the cast, whose hair colours and styles are more realistic.
* ArcWords: ''"Do you think you'll be able to forget?"'' was Kaori's question to Kousei that have about three contexts as the show goes on: the piano in Kousei's life, their duet performance with cheering audience, and finally [[spoiler:her short existence in Kousei's life]]. Kousei returns that question while asking her to once again perform together with him.
* BarbieDollAnatomy: The non-fanservice Kaori and Kousei nude dancing scene in the first opening features this.
* BeautifulDreamer: In episode 6, Kousei watches Kaori sleeping while she's accompanying him practicing piano in the school's music room. While covering her with his jacket, he mutters that she looks like an angel...''as long as she's quiet''. [[Funny/ShigatsuWaKimiNoUso Cue to Kaori suddenly makes frown expression in her sleep]]. This situation later becomes sort of ChekhovsGun for Kousei since he use this exact scenery as his imagery for his playing in piano competition in episode 10.
* BettyAndVeronica: Reliable childhood friend Tsubaki and the wild and cheerful musician Kaori play these roles for Kousei respectively.
* BridalCarry: Kousei holding Kaori like this in a brief scene from the first opening.
* BunnyEarsLawyer: Kaori plays without worrying about being successful in tournaments or not, and she's kind of an airhead... but that doesn't make her any less amazing at violin.
* CallBack: When Kousei reads the letter from [[spoiler:late]] Kaori, she reminds him of various scene when they were together before.
** Every ending of this show previewing the scene of next episode. The ending of OVA episode feature the scene from Episode 1 when Kousei first meeting with Kaori.
* ChekhovsGunman: [[spoiler: The little girl sitting next to little Emi when she first hears Kousei playing the piano. The final episode reveals she is a young Kaori.]]
* CherryBlossoms: Since the series starts in April, there can be seen plenty of cherry blossoms. They serve as a symbol of Kaori and her relationship with Kousei, as they first meet in a rain of cherry blossoms.
* ChildhoodFriendRomance: Kousei and Tsubaki grew up next door and they have a close sibling-like relationship, but once Kaori shows up and begins to catch Kousei's attention, Tsubaki realizes she likes him as more than a brother.
* ChildhoodFriends:
** Watari, Kousei, and Tsubaki, who have known each other since they were kids.
** Also Emi and Takeshi who've known each other ever since they started competing in piano competitions as children.
* ChildProdigy:
** Kousei used to be one thanks to his mother. He got the nickname "Human Metronome" because of how accurately he played from the music score no matter how difficult it was, despite being a mere child.
** Takeshi and Emi were also very good for their young age, but got overshadowed because of Kousei's performances.
* ComedicSociopathy: One of main reason for people who dropped this series (as pointed in one of [[http://randomc.net/2014/11/07/shigatsu-wa-kimi-uso-05/ anime review site]] that skip reviewing between episode 6-11) is because its [[HeroicBSOD traumatic]] main character, Kousei, is prone to the abuse such as being kicked, slapped, or thrown with stuffs by [[DoubleStandardAbuseFemaleOnMale the girls, Tsubaki and Kaori]], causing them become sort of BaseBreaker towards the audience. This become less during the latter half of the show, though. [[spoiler: Also, in the end, one of them (Kaori) is apologized to him via her [[DeadManWriting posthumous letter]] for being mean and hit him all this time]].
* ConnectedAllAlong: One of the big twists in the final episode is that [[spoiler: Kaori was the little girl sitting next to young Emi when Kousei first played piano.]]
* ConspicuousCG: The piano playing shots.
* CryIntoChest: Kaori cries into Kousei's chest in episode 21 under the raining snow because she was afraid to be apart of Kousei [[spoiler:in case she didn't survive the surgery. She didn't, and that was their final moment together while Kaori's still alive]].
* CynicismCatalyst: Kousei stopped playing the piano and became a very cynical boy since his mother died.
* DeadManWriting: [[spoiler:In Chapter 44 / Episode 22, Kousei receives a letter Kaori left for him before she died from her parents as he visits her grave. There she confesses to him that he's the reason she became a violinist and that when they met in April, she lied about wanting to meet Watari, she actually wanted to meet him all along.]]
* DeathOfTheHypotenuse: The Kousei/Kaori/Tsubaki LoveTriangle gets "resolved" at the end with [[spoiler:Kaori's death. While Kousei and Tsubaki don't really end up together, she has confessed her feelings for him and promises him to never leave him alone so they might get together sometime in the future.]]
* {{Determinator}}: Kaori is very determined to be able to do the duet performance with Kousei once again [[spoiler:after she was hospitalized due to her growing serious illness, to the point she starts doing walking therapy and take the high risk surgery, which is sadly fails and claim her life]].
* DisappearsIntoLight: [[spoiler:The fate of Kaori after finishing her long-awaited duet with Kousei in final episode. It's unclear whether the Kaori that playing alongside Kousei was indeed her spirit before going to afterlife or just Kousei pure imagination, but it makes him realize that she has died.]]
* DiseaseBleach: [[spoiler:Kaori's]] hair color become lighter shade of [[spoiler:blonde]] after she was hospitalized in episode 13.
* DoubleStandardAbuseFemaleOnMale: Most of the females hit the main two males a lot, with Kaori and Tsubaki being the mains offenders. Subverted with Kousei's mom as Seto said she went too far. [[spoiler:Subverted with Kaori in the finale when she apologizes to Kousei for hitting him all this time]].
* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:Kaori ends up dying from complications during the high-risk surgery and Kousei receives a letter from Kaori posthumously via her parents, thanking him for introducing her to music, for bringing color to her world and Kaori admits that it wasn't Watari she loved but Kousei. Tsubaki tries to comfort Kousei by reasserting her feelings for him and determination to never abandon him, but it doesn't have much effect and there's no signs that he will reciprocate her feelings any time soon. The next shot is Kousei lamenting on the idea of a spring without Kaori.]]
* DuetBonding: Playing together, and even the prospect of playing together, brings Kaori and Kousei together. [[spoiler: As revealed at the end, an intentional InvokedTrope on Kaori's part.]]
* DullEyesOfUnhappiness: PlayedForLaughs at the start of episode 5. Kaori's eyes suddenly become this when the gang visit her without knocking the door and sneak an accidental peek at her while she was naked and receiving a sponge bath from nurse.
** Played straight at episode 20 [[spoiler:from a traumatized Kousei on his way home after he was visit Kaori only to see her health take a sharp turn for the worst]].
* ElegantClassicalMusician:
** Kousei was already a ChildProdigy pianist that inspired many people by his piano playing before event in the series began. Though in the start of the series he's got HeroicBSOD and somewhat lost his edge, he starts to become this again when he returns to playing piano and tries to overcome his obstacles with the help of Kaori. [[spoiler:He finally fully become this after the death of Kaori, making Hiroko, Nagi, and even Koharu stunned by his practice performance.]]
-->'''Hiroko''': "Look how you've gotten more sensual. You've grown up, have you?"
-->'''Koharu''': "So cool!"
-->'''Nagi''': *''blushing''* "[[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial I-it's not like I want to be able to play like him, all right?]] [[CatchPhrase What a cliche!]]"
** Though she's fit to the category, Kaori averts this: she plays violin and has elegant appearence, but her style of play is wild and full of energy.
** Takeshi and Emi both are pianists who play quite elegantly, although Emi's style is also very personal and energetic.
* EvolvingCredits: The second opening changed a bit of its lyrics after episode 17 before the reff part. From ''"boku wa ame, kimi wa taiyou, te o tsunagou"'' [[note]]I'm the rain, you're the sun, so let's holding hands[[/note]] to ''"nee, ima kono isshun o dakishimeyou"'' [[note]]hey, let's grab tight this moment[[/note]]. Not only lyrics, but some scenery also changed. They are including:
** The changed lyrics parts initially features Kousei, Tsubaki, and Watari playing together, but after episode 17, it features Takeshi and Emi smiled at the sky.
** The scene while Kousei playing piano and Kaori playing violin accompanied by flying birds changed into scenery of Kousei and Kaori double riding bike together.
** The scenery while both of them playing in the reff part of opening changed from sunny sky with white cloud into clear night full of twinkling and falling stars.
* TheFaceless: We never see Kousei's mother's face, even when shown from a first-person perspective, until episode 13 where we're given more insight on her character and past.
* FamilyBusiness: Kaori's parents runs a cake shop named ''"Ma Fille"'', [[MeaningfulName French for "my daughter"]], as revealed in OVA episode.
* FirstNameBasis: Tsubaki ''Sawabe'' is very rarely referred to by her last name.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: Several in the first half of the show. It becomes more and more obvious as the show goes on, especially on a second watch.
** Episode 2. [[spoiler:Kaori's shaking left hand after asking for Kousei's opinion about her performance.]]
** Episode 3. [[spoiler:Kaori's stop at a hospital.]]
** Episode 4. [[spoiler:Tsubaki is stunned by Kousei and Kaori's performance and realizes Kousei's passion for music has finally been reignited because of Kaori, starting her [[GreenEyedMonster jealous]] streak.]]
*** [[spoiler:Later, Kaori collapsing after finishing said performance.]]
** Episode 5. Kaori's words after finishing her duet performance: [[spoiler:"I won't forget, even if I die"]].
** Episode 11. Kaori embracing and apologized to her violin because she dropped it [[spoiler:while she was collapsed]].
-->"I'm sorry. As someone who dropped you, I don't deserved to be a violinist. I'm sorry, ''please bear with me for just a little longer''."
** The scene featuring two hands holding each other and an opened envelope on a piano in the second opening. [[spoiler:Both of them revealed in final episode: Kousei's love for Kaori is indeed reciprocal, and the opened envelope encased Kaori's letter explaining it all.]]
** Episode 12. Kaori's parent's attitude toward Kousei. [[spoiler: Despite Kousei just meeting them for the first time, they already have a very good impression of him because Kousei is the only reason [[IllGirl Kaori]] is still motivated to live her short life.]]
*** When Kashiwagi asks about what kind of high school Kousei and Kaori will be attended, Kaori replied with an uncertain answer about her future [[spoiler:while her handheld fireworks shuts off prematurely compared with others fireworks which remains lit]].
*** [[spoiler:Also, Kaori missing the gala concert.]]
** Episode 13. [[spoiler: Kaori is hospitalized again, with her faded hair color and paler skin indicating her disease is getting worse.]]
*** [[spoiler:The gang visits Kaori and brings her a bag full of books to read, but as they leave, she says: "I don't have time to read all these..."]]
** Episode 16. [[spoiler: Kaori dropping the drink Kousei gives her.]]
* FourTemperamentEnsemble: The main characters' quartet. Thoughtful Kousei is the '''Melancholic''', passionate Kaori is the '''Choleric''', lovable Casanova Watari is the '''Sanguine''' and friendly Tsubaki is the '''Phlegmatic'''.
* FreezeFrameBonus: [[http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/732c262467b99195f741bfc4672e4f66.jpg In episode 9]].[[spoiler:Little Kaori can be seen among the audience (behind Tsubaki's seat) that watching Kousei's first performance just after his mother's death. Actually, the same scene already showed at the first few minutes of first episode, but by then the audience still has not given any clue about the context of the scene.]]
* FriendToAllChildren: Kaori. She's playing the melodica with a group of children when she's first introduced, and later we see she's very good with kids.
-->Kousei: "She sure knows to get along with kids, I guess her mental age is low?"
* GenderEqualEnsemble: The main characters, two boys and two girls. Even if you add Takeshi and Emi, this trope still applies.
* GratuitousEnglish[=/=]GratuitousGerman: Kaori loves throwing in random heavilly-accented English and German words into her conversations.
* GreenEyedEpiphany: Tsubaki doesn't seem to realize she likes Kousei until she starts to become jealous of Kousei hanging out with Kaori. She [[LikeBrotherAndSister thinks of him as her younger brother]] up until then.
* HairDecoration: Kaori wears a [[FlowerInHerHair flower hairpin]] as part of her performance outfit.
* HeroicBSOD:
** Kousei had one two years before the series began when his mother died and it left him very depressed.
** It happens again at the end of episode 20 when[[spoiler: he and Watari come to visit Kaori and her health takes a turn for the worst. He stays in a depressed state for a whole week, especially after he visits Kaori after that event and realizes that she's getting worse and worse.]]
* IllGirl: Kousei's mom, Saki, that already passed away before the series began[[spoiler: and also Kaori, first hinted in episode 4 when she collapses after her performance and further shown in episode 9 when a lot of pills can be seen in her bag. Then in episode 15, her legs give out in the middle of the hospital hallway at night. And in episode 16, her arms can't hold up her bow or, at the very least, a bottle of juice Kousei hands her]]. While her disease is unnamed, it's explained that she will lose control of her legs and her limbs and suffer from seizures that will lead to heart failure. Most fans have suspected that due to the symptoms, Kousei's mom [[spoiler:and Kaori as well]] suffered from ALS.
* InSeriesNickname: Kaori "Kao-chan" Miyazono. Kousei's nickname, "Human Metronome", also can be counted, but it's more like an infamous RedBaron nickname for him.
* IWishedYouWereDead: [[spoiler:Kousei told his mother to die after being fed up with her abuse and harsh critique of his playing. Apparently she died sometime after it]]
* LastNameBasis: ''Ryota'' Watari and ''Nao'' Kashiwagi are rarely referred to by their first name, not even by their close friends.
* LikeASonToMe: Hiroko to Kousei. Even though she doesn't make an appearance until TheStinger in episode 10, she's been established as something like Kousei's second mother and even refers to him as her son.
* LikeParentLikeSpouse:
** In chapter 32 / episode 16, Kousei begins to realize that Kaori and his mother are quite similar; they're both obsessed with music, they're constantly pushing him into becoming a better pianist and are prone to drastic mood swings. [[spoiler: They are both also sick with unnamed but fatal diseases. Possibly fatal in Kaori's case, as we don't see whether she survives in chapter 43. Then comes chapter 44, she didn't survive.]]
** This is lampshaded in episode 16 when [[spoiler: Kousei, Watari and Tsubaki visit Kaori in the hospital and Kaori yells at him for not practicing for the upcoming competition in such a way that in Kousei's eyes, the room begins to glitch and Kaori turns into his mother.]]
* LiterallyLovingThyNeighbor: Because they're also being ChildhoodFriends, Tsubaki's feelings to Kousei is eventually become this, but she always assumed it's just a LikeBrotherAndSister-type relationship until he met Kaori and she start to jealous to her.
* ManicPixieDreamGirl:
** Played straight with Kaori towards Kousei. As he explains, she's the one who introduces colours back into his life. [[spoiler: Then it's played for drama.]]
** It's revealed that [[spoiler: this was invoked by Kaori because it turns out, just like Takeshi, Nagi, and Emi, Kaori was also moved by Kousei's music and it brought colours into her world and when Kousei stopped playing music, she dropped piano and picked up the violin just to try and help him get back on his feet.]]
** As shown in Takeshi's and Nagi's flashbacks, Kousei himself was a gender-flipped one for them - he inspired them to become excellent musicians as well. [[spoiler: Kaori admits in her final letter that she was similarly inspired.]]
* {{Megane}}: Besides of Kousei, there are few male character that use glasses on regular basis: Takahiko Arima (Kousei's father whose face is revealed very briefly in OVA episode), Akira Takayanagi (Takeshi's piano mentor), Toshiya Miike (The kid that insult Kaori's playing to Kousei in episode 13). Though, the latter two can be counted as {{Nerd}} with their NerdGlasses.
* {{Meganekko}}: [[spoiler:Kaori, before she start her "change" as she said in her letter.]]
* MoodWhiplash: This series can swing from happy romantic comedy to tragic and tense drama in mere seconds.
** At the end of episode 4, Kaori and Kousei finish their performance to massive applause from the audience...[[spoiler: and a few seconds later, we hear Kaori collapsing. This is the start of Kaori's declining health.]]
** In episode 16, Kousei explains to Nagi the kind of person Kaori is, calling her a "strong person". Cue a scene of Kaori [[spoiler: crying because she can't hold her violin bow properly anymore]]. Seconds later, we cut to a scene of the gang visiting Kaori at the hospital, with Kaori's anger at Kousei for not bringing her any gifts entirely PlayedForLaughs. After Kousei reveals he's giving Nagi piano lessons, Kaori's further enraged because she thinks he's not taking his upcoming competition seriously to the point she starts crying and make everyone in the room speechless. [[spoiler: The next scene when Kousei visiting Kaori alone at night, her attitude before drawing parallels to his own mother's behavior shortly before her death, further foreshadowing Kaori's eventual demise.]]
* TheNamesake: The meaning behind "Your Lie in April" is revealed in the final episode/final chapter of the manga. [[spoiler: Kaori lied about liking Watari and used their relationship to get closer to Kousei, the guy she truly loved all along.]]
* NotSoDifferent: As the series goes on, Tsubaki are envious towards Kaori because she can communicate so well with Kousei due to her vast knowledge of music. [[spoiler:It turns out that Kaori also envy to Tsubaki because she knows everything about Kousei's life due to their shared childhood.]]
** Nagi realized that Kousei and herself are this; both are always gazing, pursuing, and loving someone they can never have no matter how hard they tried. In Nagi's case, it's her own brother; in Kousei's case, it's a girl who like his best friend. She also realized that Kousei also afraid because of the sheer pressure before giving their duet performance in episode 18.
* NotWhatItLooksLike:
** Kousei trying to take a picture of Kaori while performing with the children, only for him to accidentally take the photo at the exact moment Kaori sees him and the wind blows her skirt up.
** After jumping in the river, Kousei lets Kaori change into his dry clothes at his house. Kaori, in a fit of rage, slams open the windows in the piano room... and Tsubaki, who lives next door, sees the two of them through her window at that moment. Of course, Tsubaki gives Kousei a good beating.
* OppositesAttract: The cynical and reserved Kousei and the optimistic and wild Kaori.
** Also, the calm [[ElegantClassicalMusician musician]] Kousei and the energetic [[PassionateSportsGirl sports girl]] Tsubaki, as lampshaded by Tsubaki's baseball club senior, Saitou, after [[spoiler:he broke up with Tsubaki because he feels their relationship is just as casual friendship rather than couples.]]
-->'''Saitou''':"You and I... We should be with people who are the total opposite, probably."
* ParentalAbandonment: Kousei's mother is dead, and his father is usually away for business, so he lives alone.
* ParentalSubstitute: After episode 10, Saki's best friend Hiroko becomes this to Kousei. Though, it was implied she already become this immediately after Saki's death, it was just she don't want to be near Kousei's life if her existence would bring his bad memories back.
* PartingWordsRegret: [[spoiler:Kousei's last words to his mother were that he wanted her dead. His guilt over it is an important part of the trauma that keeps him from playing piano.]]
* PassionateSportsGirl: Tsubaki is in the baseball club and is much more passionate about it than her studies.
* PastelChalkedFreezeFrame: Done in the first opening features Kousei and Kaori performing together with their respective instrument. [[spoiler:Which is used again in the finale, but it's later revealed that their final duet performance is never happened, since real Kaori was doing her surgery during that time and it's suggested the Kaori that playing alongside Kousei was either her spirit before leaving to afterlife or just pure Kousei's imagination.]]
** Also done in episode 10, with the BeautifulDreamer scenery (see that entry above).
* PatientChildhoodLoveInterest: Tsubaki has liked Kousei since childhood, but their relationship has always been sibling-like. She's fine with it until Kousei begins to become closer to Kaori.
* PiggybackCute:
** Kousei carries Tsubaki on his back after she injures her leg during a baseball game.
** He also carries Kaori like this when [[spoiler:she asks him to carry her out of her hospital room, since by then her disease has become so serious that she can't walk anymore]].
* ProductPlacement: It seems that the only piano manufacturer in this series are Steinway & Sons.
** Glico also referenced in some scene in the anime.
* ThePromise: Kaori make a promise to Kousei to perform together once again, which is become her determination to take the high-risk surgery. [[spoiler:She fails to keep it.]]
* RealPlaceBackground: According to [[http://anitabi.net/blog/2014/11/kimiuso.html this blog]], many of this series' settings takes place in [[https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Nerima Nerima-ku, Tokyo]].
* RedOniBlueOni: Playing music with passion versus following the score, multiple examples.
** Kousei "the human metronome" is blue and Kaori the feisty and erratic violinist is red, and people make comments on how badly they're matched when they first play together.
** Igawa is red, and Aiza is blue. Igawa plays differently depending on how she feels each particular day, and Aiza is much more consistent. Episode 9 of the anime color codes them this way for us, before Kosei's recital.
* RuleOfSymbolism: In Episode 20, Kousei and Watari visiting Kaori [[spoiler:only to see her health take a sharp turn for the worse]]. Later, a traumatized Kousei on his way home sees the black cat that Kaori usually played with [[spoiler:fatally run over by a car, symbolizing Kaori's ultimately death two episodes later]]. Another black cat appears at the railroad tracks in the final scene of Episode 22 and disappears behind a passing commuter train [[spoiler: symbolizing the loss of Kaori]].
** In episode 12, Kaori's handheld fireworks shuts off prematurely just as she answered Kashiwagi's question with uncertain answer about her future.
** During the first half of the series, Kousei always symbolizing his inability to hear his own piano playing as being dragged and forced to playing piano under the dark ocean.
* RunningGag: The bruise Kousei got on his forehead after being hit by a baseball in episode 1 keeps opening at various points in the series, and nobody seems to care despite the stream of blood on his face. [[spoiler: It soon becomes HarsherInHindsight when we first see that it really started when Kousei's mother beat him upside the head in a fit of rage in a venue lobby, opening the wound on his forehead and knocking off his now broken glasses.]]
* SavvyGuyEnergeticGirl: Kousei is the cynical OnlySaneMan while Kaori is a cheerful GenkiGirl.
* ScaryShinyGlasses: Kousei's glasses become this after he decided to go into serious playing mode while he's accompanying Nagi in a four-finger piano duet in episode 18.
** Kousei's glasses also become this in episode 17 when he initially refuse Watari's invitation to visit Kaori together because he don't know what he should say to her, or how he should act when he sees her [[spoiler:after she starts to losing hope in life]].
* ShoppingMontage: In episode 16, Kaori has Kousei accompanying her to the mall, shopping various item ranging from clothes to doll to stationery [[spoiler:for her one day out of the hospital]]. She make him bring ''a lot'' of her belongings and missed his lesson in the process.
* ShoutOut:
** The tune Kaori plays on the melodica in the first episode is [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwvdAo7VSFo A Morning of the Slag Ravine]] from ''Anime/CastleInTheSky''. This seems to be what she's playing in the manga as well, since the kids who are with her lament that her playing isn't attracting any birds and Kaori says it worked for Pazu.
** There are some references from ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'' Kaori quoted throughout the series:
*** In episode 6: ''"It takes courage to sail through uncharted waters"'' by Snoopy.
*** In episode 7: ''"When you're depressed, it always helps to lean your head on your arms. Arms like to feel useful"'' by Charlie Brown.
*** In episode 11: ''"You know, I'm not always going to be around to help you"'' by Charlie Brown again.
*** In episode 21: ''"We all need someone to kiss us goodbye"'' by Marcie.
* SnowMeansDeath: [[spoiler:Kousei retrieved Kaori's letter from her parents in front of her cemetery under the raining snow.]]
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Kaori's is usually romanized as "Kaori" but in Japanese, instead of "かおり／カオリ", it's spelled "かをり” which is romanized as "Kawori" and it's even romanized that way in episode 11 on a sign on Kaori's door saying "Kawori's room".
* SpiritualSuccessor: Of ''Manga/NodameCantabile''. Both are musical series featuring a prodigious yet cynical male pianist whose life changes when he meets a talented and wild female musician.
* StageMom: Kousei's mother wanted him to become famous and perform in Europe, which she couldn't do due to illness. She demanded him to play the piano to perfection and made him practice for hours, often beating him up for small mistakes. [[spoiler:Turns out she actually wanted him to become successful so that he could live on his own when she was gone.]]
* TheStinger: Done in episode 10, to show audience reaction toward Kousei's piano playing that has changed since his last piano competition from robotic, down to the notes to become more colorful; and also to introduce his mother's best friend that later become his ParentalSubstitute as well as his mentor, Hiroko, to the series.
* TearsOfRemorse: As part of her MyGodWhatHaveIDone (''see WasTooHardOnHim example below''), Saki's crying after hitting Kousei to the point he's bleeding can be counted as this.
* TechnicianVsPerformer: Kousei is the technician, since his mother drilled into him that he must always stick to the score and memorize it inside and out, while Kaori is the performer whose wild and energetic playing greatly deviates from the sheet music.
* TemptingFate: [[spoiler:The more Kousei reject the similarity between Kaori and his late mother, the more relevant those similarity become.]]
** Also, shortly after Kousei [[IWishedYouWereDead wished his mother to just dead]], his mother were dead to her illness, makes him felt guilty and trauma to the point he can't hear his own piano playing even after the main story began few years later.
* TheEndingChangesEverything: In the final episode [[spoiler: Kaori's goodbye letter reveals that she was inspired to become a musician by Kousei during his ChildProdigy days, that she had wanted to play music with him ever since she was a little girl, and that she lied about liking Watari in order to get close to Kousei.]]
* ThemeTuneCameo: The music Kousei is transcribing in the first episode is the opening song, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnXkhkEvNIM Hikaru Nara by Goose House]].
* ThereAreNoTherapists: Just from the backstory alone, Kousei loses a parent, then develops a condition where he can't hear his own piano playing. Nobody even thinks to suggest that he see a therapist of any variety.
* TragicKeepsake: Kousei keeps one [[spoiler: from Kaori. It's an old photo from before Kousei gave his first performance, featuring Kaori, her friend, and a walking by Kousei behind them, making it the first and only photo Kaori has with him]].
* TrainingFromHell: It's suggested that Kousei receiving this by his mother in context of piano practice. In OVA episode, Takeshi secretly spying Kousei practice from Tsubaki's house only to heard repetitive practice from Kousei since he finished school in the noon until about sunset.
* {{Tsundere}}: ''All of four'' girls that attracted to Kousei, either because of his NiceGuy personality or because of his piano playing [[note]]Tsubaki, Kaori, Emi, and Nagi[[/note]] somewhat has this trait towards him.
* UnknownRival: Emi and Takeshi are both this to Kousei, at least before they reunite in the story. Surpassing Kousei, who always took first place from them as a child, seems to be their only motivation to compete in piano competitions at all - however he never noticed them back then and doesn't recognize them when they reunite.
* UnreliableVoiceover: In the final episode [[spoiler: Kaori states in her goodbye letter that Watari will probably forget about her. As her voice says this, the viewer sees that Watari has a picture of himself and Kaori on his cell phone.]]
* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: Hiroko was the one who convinced Saki to make Kousei into a pianist after seeing his great talent. After Saki became sick, she became more demanding and abusive towards Kousei, eventually damaging their relationship beyond repair and leaving Kousei with deep emotional scars. Hiroko always blamed herself for Kousei's problems because of it.
* WasTooHardOnHim:
** Kousei's mother, also a MyGodWhatHaveIDone. [[spoiler: In episode 13, we get a look at the situation from Hiroko's point of view and despite the numerous instances of abuse she put Kousei through, Saki loved Kousei and only wanted to make sure that Kousei would be able to move on after she was gone. Her last moments in the hospital were spent lamenting that she wasn't a better mother to him and that she hoped that "her treasure would find happiness."]]
** In a way, Kaori towards Kousei. [[spoiler:In the posthumous letter she wrote to Kousei, she tells him how much she loves him and that she was sorry for being so mean to him and hitting him.]]
* WellDoneSonGuy:
** Even despite the abuse he got from her, Kousei's motivation for doing well at piano competitions as a child was to please his mother and make her feel better. [[spoiler: Then he snaps after being publicly beaten and says that after doing so much to try and make her happy despite not playing with his friends, practicing, and getting beaten up by her, he just wishes that she'd die already.]]
** In a way, Takeshi and Emi to Kousei. Takeshi and Emi have been in the same competitions with Kousei since they were children, and Emi even became a pianist after being emotionally moved by Kousei's performance, but they could never beat him and he never paid them any mind (justified however, because he was busy being abused by his StageMom). After Kousei left, they spent two years perfecting and becoming amazing pianists with Takeshi getting ready to go overseas and when they find out that Kousei is returning, they're excited and sign up for the same competition that they've gone through year after year, just to show Kousei how much better they've gotten and how they believe they can stand side-by-side with him. And when Kousei praises Takeshi on his performance, he is incredibly happy.
* WhamLine:
** Kaori in Episode 5: [[spoiler:"I won't forget, I won't forget even if I die."]] Also in the same episode: [[spoiler: "Ah. I passed out again."]].
** In episode 11: [[spoiler: "'You know, I'm not always going to be around to help you...' -Charlie Brown."]]
** Episode 16: "Want to [[spoiler: commit double suicide]] with me?" Admittedly, [[spoiler: Kaori]] is quoting from a Japanese novel named ''Ichigo Alliance'', but Kousei is frozen in place the instant he hears that.
** The final episode/chapter has one that even shocks Kousei in-universe. "[[spoiler: Kaori Miyazono was in love with Watari Ryota... that was the lie I told]]." See TheEndingChangesEverything.
** [[spoiler: "Goodbye."]]
* WhamShot:
** [[spoiler: Kaori collapsing]] at the end of episode 4.
** [[spoiler: Kaori in the hospital AGAIN]] at the end of episode 13.
** The last two minutes of episode 15 where [[spoiler:Kaori walking around in the hospital at night alone and she suddenly falls because she loses feeling in her legs]].
** The first sequence of episode 16 has the moment where [[spoiler:Kaori's limbs give out again when she's walking around her house while reading sheet music. She falls on her head and opens a wound but doesn't notice it until she sees blood on her hands and sheet music and then she passes out, make her miss the gala concert in episode 13.]]
** In Episode 20 [[spoiler:the black cat that's been around the whole series gets fatally run over and all the audience and Kousei sees is the cat lying lifelessly in a pool of its own blood]].
** Episode 22. [[spoiler: Kaori disappearing in front of Kousei during his performance, symbolizing her death.]]
* WomanInWhite: Kaori's performance dress always consists of white colored dress as seen in epiosde 2, episode 4, and [[spoiler:also her "imagined" final duet performance with Kousei in]] episode 22.
* YaoiFangirl: In the final episode, Tsubaki asks how is Kashiwagi so versed in romance, and she reveals that her knowledge comes from her collection of BL doujinshi. In the manga, however, this is revealed to the reader through a gag strip where Kashiwagi fantasizes a gay relationship between Watari and Kousei.
* YourDaysAreNumbered: Two of the character close to Kousei has this in the backstory, how they acted toward this fate build the main story of this series.
** Saki (Kousei's mom) realize she didn't have much time left in her life due to her unknown illness, so she teach Kousei as much as she can how to play piano accurately according to the music score, despite Kousei is still a mere child, giving him the nickname "Human Metronome". [[spoiler:She's doing this with the hope that Kousei be able to make income and having a decent life by his piano playing after she were dead and while her husband is away with business]]. Her plan backfires ''horribly'' on her after Kousei is being fed up with her abuse and harsh critique after his one special performance dedicated for her purely from his heart and ignoring the music score in the process. She died shortly afterwards, leaving Kousei dealing with [[HeroicBSOD trauma]] that make him unable to hear his own piano playing in the start of the series.
** After in one night she saw her parents crying in the hospital waiting room, [[spoiler:Kaori]] realize she didn't have much time left in her life, so she decided to live a full and happy life before passing away. She put on the contact lenses which she never had the courage to wear, ate a lot of foods (particularly cakes, since now she is ignoring her weight) [[spoiler:and ignored the aspect of her performing appearance and played the music the way she wanted to. Then, she told the titular lie about liking Watari, for the sake of approaching Kousei, the guy that become her reason to become violinist and also to help him overcoming his trauma so that he can returns to the music world once again and continues his journey as a musician]].
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** The tune Kaori plays on the melodica in the first episode is [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwvdAo7VSFo A Morning of the Slag Ravine]] from ''Anime/CastleInTheSky''.
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** The tune Kaori plays on the melodica in the first episode is [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwvdAo7VSFo A Morning of the Slag Ravine]] from ''Anime/CastleInTheSky''. This seems to be what she's playing in the manga as well, since the kids who are with her lament that her playing isn't attracting any birds and Kaori says it worked for Pazu.
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The manga ran from April 6, 2011 to February 6, 2015. The anime which adapted the entirety of the manga aired from October 2014 to March 2015 at Creator/NoitaminA programming block.
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The manga ran from April 6, 2011 to February 6, 2015. The anime which adapted the entirety of the manga aired from October 2014 to March 2015 at Creator/NoitaminA [[Creator/NoitaminA noitaminA]] programming block.
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** Glico also referenced in some scene in the anime.
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* InSeriesNickname: Kaori "Kao-chan" Miyazono. Kousei's nickname, "Human Metronome", also can be counted, but its more like an infamous RedBaron nickname for him.
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* InSeriesNickname: Kaori "Kao-chan" Miyazono. Kousei's nickname, "Human Metronome", also can be counted, but its it's more like an infamous RedBaron nickname for him.
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* LiterallyLovingThyNeighbor: Because they're also being ChildhoodFriends, Tsubaki's feelings to Kousei is eventually become this, but she always assumed its just a LikeBrotherAndSister-type relationship until he met Kaori and she start to jealous to her.
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* LiterallyLovingThyNeighbor: Because they're also being ChildhoodFriends, Tsubaki's feelings to Kousei is eventually become this, but she always assumed its it's just a LikeBrotherAndSister-type relationship until he met Kaori and she start to jealous to her.
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** Nagi realized that Kousei and herself are this; both are always gazing, pursuing, and loving someone they can never have no matter how hard they tried. In Nagi's case, its her own brother; in Kousei's case, its a girl who like his best friend. She also realized that Kousei also afraid because of the sheer pressure before giving their duet performance in episode 18.
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** Nagi realized that Kousei and herself are this; both are always gazing, pursuing, and loving someone they can never have no matter how hard they tried. In Nagi's case, its it's her own brother; in Kousei's case, its it's a girl who like his best friend. She also realized that Kousei also afraid because of the sheer pressure before giving their duet performance in episode 18.
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* PastelChalkedFreezeFrame: Done in the first opening features Kousei and Kaori performing together with their respective instrument. [[spoiler:Which is used again in the finale, but it's revealed that their final duet performance is never happened, since real Kaori was doing her surgery during that time and its supposed the Kaori that playing alongside Kousei was either her spirit before leaving to afterlife or just pure Kousei's imagination.]]
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* PastelChalkedFreezeFrame: Done in the first opening features Kousei and Kaori performing together with their respective instrument. [[spoiler:Which is used again in the finale, but it's later revealed that their final duet performance is never happened, since real Kaori was doing her surgery during that time and its supposed it's suggested the Kaori that playing alongside Kousei was either her spirit before leaving to afterlife or just pure Kousei's imagination.]]
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* DeathOfTheHypotenuse: The Kousei/Kaori/Tsubaki LoveTriangle gets "resolved" at the end with [[spoiler:Kaori's death. While Kousei and Tsubaki don't really end up together, she has confessed her feelings for him and promises him to never leave him alone so they might get together sometime in the future.]]
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* DuetBonding: Playing together, and even the prospect of playing together, brings Kaori and Kousei together. [[spoiler: As revealed at the end, an intentional InvokedTrope on Kaori's part.]]
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** As shown in Takeshi's and Nagi's flashbacks, Kousei himself was a gender-flipped one for them - he inspired them to become excellent musicians as well. [[spoiler: Kaori admits in her final letter that she was similarly inspired.]]
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* DisappearsIntoLight: [[spoiler:The fate of Kaori after finishing her long-awaited duet with Kousei in final episode. It's unclear whether the Kaori that playing alongside Kousei was indeed her spirit before going to afterlife or just Kousei pure imagery, but it makes him realize that her surgery is fail and she's dead for sure.]]
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* DisappearsIntoLight: [[spoiler:The fate of Kaori after finishing her long-awaited duet with Kousei in final episode. It's unclear whether the Kaori that playing alongside Kousei was indeed her spirit before going to afterlife or just Kousei pure imagery, imagination, but it makes him realize that her surgery is fail and she's dead for sure.she has died.]]
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* DisappearsIntoLight: [[spoiler:The fate of Kaori after finishing her long-awaited duet with Kousei in final episode. It's unclear whether the Kaori that playing alongside Kousei was indeed her spirit before going to afterlife or just Kousei pure imagery, but it makes him realize that her surgery is fail and she's dead for sure.]]
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* DisappearsIntoLight: [[spoiler:The fate of Kaori after finishing her long-awaited duet with Kousei in final episode. It's unclear whether the Kaori that playing alongside Kousei was indeed her spirit before going to afterlife or just Kousei pure imagery, but it makes him realize that her surgery is fail and she's dead for sure.]]
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->''"We’re all afraid, you know...to get up on stage. Maybe you’ll mess up. Maybe they’ll totally reject you. Even so, you grit your teeth and get up on stage anyway. Something compels us...moves us to play music."''
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'''''Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso''''' (officially translated as '''''Your Lie in April''''') [[note]]That's "lie" in the sense of "falsehood", not in the sense of "lying down". Due to the use of "wa" as a topic particle, it could also be loosely translated as "April is when you lied to me".[[/note]] or just simply '''''Kimi Uso'''''[[note]]''Your Lie''[[/note]] for short, is a [[ShonenDemographic shounen]] manga written and illustrated by Naoshi Arakawa and serialized monthly in Shounen Magazine. An {{anime}} adaptation started airing in the Fall2014Anime season produced by Creator/A1Pictures. It can be watched legally on [[http://www.crunchyroll.com/your-lie-in-april Crunchyroll.]]
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'''''Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso''''' (officially translated as '''''Your Lie in April''''') [[note]]That's "lie" in the sense of "falsehood", not in the sense of "lying down". Due to the use of "wa" as a topic particle, it could also be loosely translated as "April is when you lied to me".[[/note]] or just simply '''''Kimi Uso'''''[[note]]''Your Uso''''' [[note]]''Your Lie''[[/note]] for short, is a [[ShonenDemographic shounen]] manga written and illustrated by Naoshi Arakawa and serialized monthly in Shounen Magazine. An {{anime}} adaptation started airing in the Fall2014Anime season produced by Creator/A1Pictures. It can be watched legally on [[http://www.crunchyroll.com/your-lie-in-april Crunchyroll.]]
