When anime fans think of romance, they likely think of the more comedic shows with one misunderstanding after another keeping the main couple apart until the very end. Your Lie In April is a romance, but it's not the typical one. It leans more into the drama than the comedy as it explores Kosei Arima's grief and guilt over the loss of his mother through music - and through him falling for a fellow musician.
Along the way, Kosei and his friends learn a lot about what falling in love is really like, and they have a lot of surprising pieces of wisdom to show for it. Of course, there are also wise words about music in the anime. These words make up some of the best quotes in Your Lie In April.
Kosei Learns That Small Moments Can Be Important
"Isn't it funny how the most unforgettable scenes can be so trivial?"
When Kosei starts interacting more with Kaori, he starts focusing on a lot of the little details in their interactions - and in hers with others. He slowly starts to realize that even the smallest things related to his crush seem important to him, and it surprises him.
The entire time that Kosei's crush on Kaori develops, he finds himself constantly surprised. As he learns more about her, he also learns about himself. The experience doesn't just help him become more comfortable around Kaori, but it also helps him grow as he waxes poetic to himself about their experiences.
Tsubaki Finally Realizes Her Own Feelings
"The boy I took for granted would always be by my side, the boy I want to be by my side forever. I'm such an idiot."
Tsubaki spends the first half of the anime series not understanding why she's having such a hard time with the relationship dynamics among her friends. She knows that Watari has several girls interested in him, believes Kaori to have a crush on Watari, but sees Kosei and Kaori gradually grow closer through music, and she cannot understand why it upsets her so much.
Watari and Tsubaki's softball teammates realize long before she does that she has more than friendly feelings for Kosei, that her discomfort stems from jealousy. It takes Tsubaki a long time to get to the point to see in herself what everyone else sees. The "aha!" moment that comes in plenty of romance anime just makes Tsubaki angry with herself.
Kaori Makes Some Wise Points
"Change all you want, or don't change at all, but you're still just you."
Much like another popular anime young woman, Sailor Moon, Kaori is much wiser than she first appears. Both young women take things more seriously than others give them credit for initially.
Kaori and Kosei have a lot of chats while they're supposed to be practicing music. The duo finds themselves discussing change at one point, and while Kosei might see himself as trying to change, Kaori points out that no matter how much he changes, he'll still be him. That's not to say that Kosei isn't growing or evolving, but that he's not going to become a completely new person overnight just because he wants to make a change or two. She likes Kosei just the way he is.
Watari Knows The Good Is Always There Under The Bad
"See the stars? They're always out. But they shine the brightest at night."
Like Kaori, Watari is wiser than he initially appears. He proves that when Kosei tries to ask him for advice more than once. As Kosei deals with his own overwhelming grief at the loss of his mother and his feelings for Kaori at the same time, Watari points out the way the stars work.
If stars are happiness or good times in Watari's unspoken analogy, then Kosei just needs to wait for them to shine again. He seems to understand what Watari really means during their talk, but he's not ready to it it.
Kaori Just Wants Kosei To Live Up To His Potential
"Why sail the high seas if you're stuck below deck?"
Kaori knows from the start how incredibly talented Kosei is. When she asks him to accompany her, she already knows his history, even if he doesn't know that. She understands that he needs to find a way back to the piano, but she also understands that there's a thin line between him trying and giving up completely.
Kaori approaches the two of them playing music together like it's a new adventure for them, which is why she compares his tendency to hold himself back to someone below deck when their boat is on the open water. It might be safer below deck, but the person completely misses out on the view and the adventure that way.
Kaori Connects With Others Through Music
"By exchanging notes... your souls were connected and your hearts overlapping. It's a conversation through instruments. A miracle that creates harmony. At that moment, music transcends words."
A lot of anime have fun original soundtracks, but Your Lie In April focuses largely on classical music compositions because that's exactly what trained musicians would need to compete with. Kaori and Kosei - and their competitors - are able to make classical compositions that the audience has likely already heard sound unique.
The way they do that is by pouring their own emotions into the pieces, allowing the audience to feel exactly what they're feeling while they play. Kaori's right in that it forms a connection with the audience and the duet partners that then goes beyond words.
Watari Understands Crushes
"It's only natural for the girl you're crushing on to be in love with someone else. Since you're in love with her, she sparkles in your eyes. That's why people fall so irrationally in love."
Watari is full of surprisingly good points in the anime. He knows that people always seem special, larger than life, or even, sparkling, when someone ires them. Kosei can't figure out why Kaori seems to appear to "sparkle" to him whenever they interact, or how to stop feeling the way he does.
Watari, on the other hand, who has been the object of many crushes and had many crushes himself, knows that falling for someone isn't rational. There are no easy explanations as falling for someone is going to make them seem even more appealing, no matter how complicated the situation might be.
Competition Can Help People Grow
"From your enemies, you learn so much and gain so much... Just knowing they exist helps you withstand the loneliness."
A college friend of Kosei's mother, Hiroko Seto becomes his piano advisor when he decides to try to push himself back into music wholeheartedly. She offers an interesting perspective for the audience, as she knew his mother because her illness, and she saw Kosei for the prodigy he was as a toddler. She also understands that enemies in the competition circuit actually help each other out.
Kosei might not realize that there are other teenagers who see him as their enemy on the piano, but their need to prove that they are as good as he is gives them something to strive for during his years away from playing. They feel a kinship with him as they put all of their feelings into their music, and that's something Kosei doesn't see right away.
Kosei's Feelings Confuse Him
"When you appear, it's what I want, and what I dread. This feeling I have, what do they call it?"
The first time that Kosei spends time with Kaori alone after being introduced to her, his feelings are a complete mess. He both wants to find a way to connect with her and is terrified of being around her. Like Tsubaki, he can't initially determine why.
He slowly comes to realize that he's falling for her, which only confuses him more since he's so sure she has a crush on his friend already. Kosei and Tsubaki, who have spent their entire childhood together, really experience crushes in a similar way without realizing it. Their obliviousness is part of what makes the outcomes of their crushes all the more heartbreaking.
Kaori Changes Kosei's Whole World
"The moment I met her, my whole life changed. Everything I saw, everything I heard, everything I felt, all the scenery around me... started to take on color."
It's a theme in the series that Kosei sees the world in "monotone." Just as he has lost the music in his life, he's also lost color. Kaori changes both of those things for him.
Not only does she inspire his music, but she also has him starting to see the world through new eyes. He begins to see things brighter, beyond even just Kaori's sparkle. Her zest for life helps him learn to live again, which inspires the most beautiful line in the series.