I'm back!
Everyone in unison: But you didn't go anywhere
I got around to watching the Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya movie. Was pretty great, amazing development for Kyon, and I liked Yuki more than I did in the anime proper. A little. Didn't change my overall impression of the original anime by much, but overall I'd say it was the strongest part of the Haruhi series for me. Definitely worth watching if you have 3 hours of free time.
Also, I finally watched Your Lie in April, which is probably obvious. I'm...honestly floored. I've never watched anything so amazing and agonizing at the same time. It was basically the equivalent of being tied to a pair of railroad tracks and hearing a train coming from 50 miles away. I ended up binging most of it over the past 4 days just to end my suffering as soon as possible.
And yet, I don't know what to call it other than an absolute masterpiece.
The animation was brilliant, the music was sublime (both the actual musical pieces and the OST), and it was obvious how much work went into it. There was so much visual story-telling to be found, and the metaphors and foreshadowing still have me mulling over the anime as a whole. I absolutely loved the main romance, and Kaori quickly became one of my favorite female leads in any medium. Strong, funny, beautiful, inspiring, and yet still so vulnerable on the inside. The main love story was incredible, and had me bawling my eyes out multiple times, especially towards the end when we realize just how much of an impact Kousei, the MC, had on her. The two inspired each other, were each others' heroes, pushed each other on, and brought color into each other's gray worlds. I knew Kaori's death was coming well over half the anime in advance, and it still floored me when it finally happened, that final musical piece was so gorgeous and tragic, just like Kaori herself. Shit I'm about to cry just writing this. Ugh where's Mao when I need him.
I suppose any gripes I had would obviously be minor nitpicks or matters of personal preference. I really wish it was longer, and we saw Kousei and Kaori play together more before she was sent to the hospital. I wish the surgery was successful, even if it only gave Kaori a little more time, and the final piece was a true duet (although the spiritual one was still amazing). The secondary MCs were okay, but probably could have been handled better. The soccer boy was supposed to be close enough to Kaori for the MC to think the two were meant for much other, while it seemed obvious as a viewer how shallow their relationship was. Tsubaki, the childhood friend character, had a lot of personality flaws that didn't really seem to be properly addressed, especially one awful one close to ending ("You have no choice but to love me!") that really soured my opinion of her entire character. Finally, the MC's denseness, while not abnormal in romance stories like this, could be pretty annoying in a story with actual consequences.
Overall though, while I obviously loved this anime, it also reminded just how terrible I am with tragedy type stories. I can't remember how many times I just felt broken while watching this, and still feel destroyed emotionally. I really need to take a break from my backlog for a bit...this anime took such a mental toll on me. Hopefully my simulcasts can help, I swear if the girl dies in 3D Kanojo or Tada-kun I'm freaking getting rid of this stupid human heart.
TLDR: This is an absolutely amazing anime that I'll never forget even if I die..but also not something I can recommend to anyone who's as much of a wuss as I am.
Woo...another long thought post. Good job Boom. *goes back to petting Mao*
NNID: Zephyr25 / PSN: Zephyr--25 / Switch: SW-4450-3680-7334
