Your Lie in April

Last updated: 1 November 2026

About Your Lie in April

Kosei Arima was a piano prodigy until his mother's death left him unable to hear the music he plays. Your Lie in April is a 22-episode drama from A-1 Pictures, based on Naoshi Arakawa's award-winning manga. Kosei was famous as a child as the 'Human Metronome', playing every note exactly as written under his strict mother's teaching. Two years after her death he lives in a grey, quiet world, drifting through school with his friends Tsubaki and Watari and avoiding the piano completely. Then, under the cherry blossoms, he hears a violin played with total freedom, and meets Kaori Miyazono, a passionate, unpredictable musician who drags him back onto the stage as her accompanist, whether he is ready or not. Through competitions, rival pianists and Kaori's own secrets, Kosei has to face the memories he buried and learn to play, and live, with his heart open. The series aired in 2014–15 and has become one of the most beloved music dramas in anime, famous for its beautiful classical performances and its emotional final episodes.

Your Lie in April is a TV anime from 2014, first released in Fall 2014. It belongs to the Drama and Romance genres and is listed as a completed series. The summary above is written by the AnimeYug team in our own words.

Official Trailer

▶Your lie in April Trailer · Aniplex USA

Story & Plot

Kosei Arima dominated children's piano competitions until, at eleven, his mother and teacher Saki died, and from that day he could no longer hear his own playing. Two years later he is a quiet, colourless schoolboy who transcribes pop songs for money and keeps his piano covered. His childhood friends, the sporty Tsubaki and the popular Watari, set him up on a group outing where he meets Watari's date: Kaori Miyazono, a violinist who plays by feeling rather than by the score.

Kaori recruits Kosei as her accompanist and, when he freezes on stage, refuses to let him run. Word of the Human Metronome's return reaches his old rivals, Takeshi Aiza and Emi Igawa, who have spent two years aiming at the pianist who once beat them. With the help of his mother's old friend Hiroko Seto, Kosei takes a student, returns to competition and slowly confronts the truth about his mother, while Kaori's bright energy hides a struggle of her own that she will not name.

Why Watch Your Lie in April

• Real classical music, fully performed: Chopin, Beethoven, Kreisler and more.
• A story about grief and recovery told with honesty. It earns its tears.
• Kaori's free playing versus Kosei's precision gives the music a story of its own.
• The rival pianists, Takeshi and Emi, get arcs almost as strong as the leads'.
• A complete 22-episode story, no cliffhangers, no filler.

Who Is It For?

Your Lie in April carries a US TV-PG rating, and Common Sense Media suggests it for ages 13 and up. There is no violence or fanservice to speak of, but the themes are heavy: a parent's death, childhood emotional pressure, serious illness and grief are central to the story. It suits teens and adults, and younger viewers may need support through its saddest episodes.

Kosei Arima

Your Lie in April

Kaori Miyazono

Your Lie in April

Tsubaki Sawabe

Your Lie in April

Ryota Watari

Your Lie in April

Takeshi Aiza

Your Lie in April

Emi Igawa

Your Lie in April

Nagi Aiza

Your Lie in April

Hiroko Seto

Your Lie in April

Voice Actors

The Japanese voices behind the main characters of Your Lie in April.

• Kosei ArimaFormer piano prodigy, the 'Human Metronome'
  Japanese voiceNatsuki Hanae
• Kaori MiyazonoFree-spirited violinist
  Japanese voiceRisa Taneda
• Tsubaki SawabeKosei's childhood friend and neighbour
  Japanese voiceAyane Sakura
• Ryota WatariKosei's best friend and soccer captain
  Japanese voiceRyōta Ōsaka
• Takeshi AizaRival pianist who idolises Kosei
  Japanese voiceYūki Kaji
• Emi IgawaRival pianist who plays with raw emotion
  Japanese voiceSaori Hayami
• Nagi AizaTakeshi's younger sister and Kosei's student
  Japanese voiceAi Kayano
• Hiroko SetoPianist, Saki's old friend and Kosei's mentor
  Japanese voiceMie Sonozaki

Staff & Production

Original Creator

Naoshi Arakawa

Animation Studio

A-1 Pictures

Series Director

Kyōhei Ishiguro

Series Composition

Takao Yoshioka

Music

Masaru Yokoyama

Manga & Source Material

Your Lie in April adapts Naoshi Arakawa's manga, a short, complete series that won a major industry award while it was still running.

• Written and drawn by Naoshi Arakawa
• Serialised in Monthly Shonen Magazine from April 2011 to February 2015
• 11 collected volumes and 44 chapters; the manga is complete
• Won the shonen category of the 37th Kodansha Manga Award in 2013
• More than 5 million copies in circulation by June 2017
• A follow-up short-story collection, Your Lie in April: Coda, revisits the cast

Music

The performances are built around real classical repertoire (Chopin ballades and études, Beethoven sonatas and Kreisler's Liebesleid) arranged for the series alongside Masaru Yokoyama's original score.

Opening Themes

• “Hikaru Nara”by Goose houseThe first opening (episodes 1–11): bright and hopeful
• “Nanairo Symphony”by CoalamodeThe second opening (episodes 12–22)

Ending Themes

• “Kirameki”by wacciThe first ending (episodes 1–11)
• “Orange”by 7!! (Seven Oops)The second ending (episodes 12–22); an acoustic version closes the finale

Series Timeline

1. 2011

   Naoshi Arakawa's manga begins in Monthly Shonen Magazine.

2. 2013

   The manga wins the 37th Kodansha Manga Award for shonen manga.

3. 2014

   The anime premieres on Fuji TV's Noitamina block on 10 October 2014.

4. 2015

   The manga ends in February; the anime concludes in March, and the 'Moments' OVA follows in May.

5. 2016

   A Japanese live-action film adaptation opens in cinemas.

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