Your Lie in April

‘Your Lie in April’ is an anime television series animated at A-1 Pictures that debuted in October 2014 on Fuji TV. Director Kyōhei Ishiguro oversaw the adaptation based on the manga created by Naoshi Arakawa. Character designs came from animator Yukiko Aikei, while Masaru Yokoyama wrote the instrumental music.

A 14-year-old piano prodigy named Kōsei Arima ceases playing after the loss of his mother leaves him unable to perceive the sound of his instrument. Two years later, he spends his days as a regular middle school student with his close childhood companions Tsubaki Sawabe and Ryōta Watari. Tsubaki introduces him to an upbeat classmate named Kaori Miyazono, an unconventional violinist whose expressive style ignores traditional competition rules. Kaori selects Kōsei to accompany her performance at an upcoming classical music tournament at Towa Hall in Tokyo, pushing him toward public stages.

Natsuki Hanae performs the spoken lines for protagonist Kōsei Arima, while Risa Taneda supplies the Japanese voice for Kaori Miyazono. Television broadcasts spanned 22 episodes across a single season, running from October 2014 until March 2015 on network television. A standalone original video animation episode named ‘Moments’ appeared in May 2015 alongside a bundled manga volume. A separate live-action film adaptation reached Japanese cinemas in September 2016. In North America, streaming platforms Crunchyroll and Hulu distributed the subtitled English version starting in October 2014.

Voters selected the series for first place within the anime division of the Sugoi Japan Award 2016, organized by newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun. Concert scenes showcase classical pieces by Frédéric Chopin, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Camille Saint-Saëns. Background artwork draws from real locations across the Nerima ward in Tokyo, including the auditorium inside the Nerima Cultural Center. Music group Goose house supplied the opening track ‘Hikaru Nara’, while band Coalamode performed ‘Nanairo Symphony’ for subsequent episodes. Japanese pop group 7!! recorded the closing song ‘Orange’.