四月は君の嘘 (literally: "April is your lie") is a Japanese comic with 9 volumes thus far, that has been turned into an anime. The story is about Kousei Arima, most famous of all Japan's musical prodigies, whose death of his mother when he was 11 years old, led to a psychotic break during a piano recital where he could no longer hear himself play. Three years later, Kousei's friends trick him into attending a performance by another prodigy his own age, Kaori Miyazono. Kousei's strict adherence to the score led to his nickname, "the human metronome," and Kaori's decision to turn a competition recital of Beethoven's Kreutzer Sonata into an improvisational piece, leads to judges tearing up her scorecard, the audience giving her a standing ovation, and Kousei's instant--albeit dumbfounded--infatuation, even though his official role was to be "Friend A" (an actual literary term in Japanese teen-oriented drama) during a double-date.
Kaori's mercurial personality and dedication to music combine to gradually force Kousei to confront his own demons that prevent him from hearing his own music, and lead him back towards the concert stage. The comic version started only 2 years ago, and has already received one major literary award in the genre and a nomination for another. The anime adaptation is only 3 months old, and is already one of my all-time favorites, even though the story is such that it could logically end at any moment. The very name of the story and the sub-text concerning Kaori's health implies that the story will be short-lived, but who knows? Anyone who has ever been through the biting-your-hands-til-they-bleed, head-pounding, hand-cramping, practice-until-you-collapse from exhaustion and/or lack-of-food, OCD behavior mandated to become a professional classical musician, can appreciate the nuanced story being told. If ever there can be a worthy short introduction to the more refined aspects of anime and japanese graphic story-telling, this is it. L
