The Innocence of Youth is Beaten Out of Us...

Life isn't easy. It's not like they make out on TV. Everything always seems to go well, even with bombs exploding in the background. You're thrown to the ground but you're miraculously unhurt.

So if for some reason you thought that "Your Lie in April" was another slice of life young love anime, you might be in for a heartbreaking surprise.

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"Your Lie in April" is about a group of friends going to school together, like so many other animes, but that might be where the simularity ends with most. "Your Lie in April" mainly focuses on one boy, Kousei Arima, who is a pianist, but has a bit of trauma and can no longer play.

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Perhaps I should have seen this as a sign that this was going to be anything but a lighthearted anime...

Warning: This anime contains scenes that may be considered triggers for abuse victims...

"Your Lie in April" is a beautiful anime about the struggles of a young boy as he tries to overcome his struggles...and at the same time around him, everyone else struggles...with life...love...medical issues... If you want a light hearted anime, look elsewhere. But, if you want something beautiful to watch and listen to, with beautiful music, that makes you want to cry and at the same time somehow leaves you hopeful, then perhaps you should give "Your Lie in April" a try.

I don't know why I kind of felt hopeful at the end of "Your Lie in April". It has a very melancholy ending after all. It just felt like it was saying that even with all the hardships and horrors in life, we have to keep struggling. We have to see the beauty in tomorrow.

Maybe I'm just talking out my ass. Maybe there was no message. Maybe it was just about the struggle and the beauty and the hardship and how we just have to keep struggling, and there is no reason.

"Your Lie in April" certainly doesn't pull any punches. In between the beauty of the music and colors painted across the screen is a hard lesson about how much we put on our children. Kousei Arima is only a boy of 14, and he has already gone through such hardship and abuse and trauma...and yet somehow he overcomes it thanks to his friends.... Even at such a young age, and going through so much, he also inspired so many. Even though "Your Lie in April" might be melancholy and painful, it is also inspiring and hopeful.

To be honest, I don't really know what to think about "Your Lie in April". I don't know if it's one of the best animes I've seen in years, or if I'll forget it in a few weeks. I know it's a beautiful work of art that anyone that's a fan of anime should watch, even if it is a bit traumatic. It might make you cry. It might make you burst into tears. Or it might make you bored. For me, it stirred up something inside me, and now I don't even know what I feel.