Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso 18 – 19
He’s just not going to let her give up
Two Episodes, Two different performances.
Showing What’s Possible
Nagi and Kousei stand out
Starting with the first performance, because that’s a good place to start. Nagi and Kousei get to perform at her cultural festival. And while Nagi’s happy that she can hear the piano and everything’s going well at the beginning, Kousei has now embraced that which is he formerly felt was a terrible handicap with playing, not being able to hear the piano and the notes he’s playing. So he pushes. And from then we get to hear the voice in Nagi’s head, as she reacts to Kousei’s playing. At first scared, shocked that he is pushing, not following. And then she breaks through and decides to match his intensity, meet his challenge. And of course, the audience reaction is excellent, with Takeshi wondering how his little sister got involved with Kousei, Hiroko realizing how much Nagi (and Kousei) has grown, and the rest of the audience enraptured… including Kaori listening from her hospital room.
Takeshi hears the wrong thing
It was nice to have a performance like that, the first one that wasn’t full of Kousei’s mom and Kousei’s insecurities. And it was nice to have Kousei play without being the focus, with Nagi being the focus of the performance even afterward as she accepted the feelings of her friends. The only person who’s not focused on her is her brother Takeshi. He’s more worried about how Nagi knows Kousei, and the “precious experiences” and “lots of things” that Kousei is showing her, and thereby renews his passion to defeat Kousei, now not just in piano, but for his sister’s attention. So maybe something of her feelings got through to him, but of course he didn’t take it the way she wanted him to.
A Renewed Reason to Live
Going for it
Did we know Kaori was that bad off? What’s worse is that she had given up. She had said her goodbyes to performing, to that thrill of living, and almost even to Kousei. It seemed like all she wanted from him was to comfort her and pat her head as she moved out of this life. But Kousei’s not interested in that. He played with Nagi to kick her butt out of that thinking, and it worked. But what he follows it up with is even more inspiring or cruel, depending on your point of view: He asks her to play with him another time. And this when she had already felt like she left it behind. But it has the intended effect. Kaori decides to have some surgery that probably has some small chance of success, and also restarts physical therapy. I liked the scene where she was talking to the doctor, with her parents behind her, and her mother’s breakdown as she says she couldn’t face them before, having decided to give up. And giving that speech in front of her parents points out that Kousei is the one who has inspired her. And they get a chance to thank him when they meet him at the hospital. No idol worship this time, no fawning. This time it’s sincere gratitude from parents who feel like their daughter has a chance because she hasn’t given up.
Offering the Egg Salad Sandwich of Friendship
But before that, Kousei has to play in the first round of another competition. Thankfully, the show skips over about 2 months between the festival and the beginning of the competition. We do get a little bit of Tsubaki being all tsundere about Kousei again, as Kashiwagi listens and tries to push her the right way, as usual. I’m beginning to think that there’s nothing the show could do to get Tsubaki to finally be up front with her feelings for Kousei, at least not with Kaori alive. She’s definitely on her way to the friendzone. And the way she’s acting, she’s gotta accept that.
Takeshi tries to beam the others out
Some others who have entered into a friendzone are Kousei, Emi, and Takeshi. Meeting backstage before their performances in the competition, Kousei shares his egg salad sandwich with them. That finally seems to have broken the ice, or at least the overwhelming tension between the three of them, especially right before a performance. And while Takeshi, going first, worries that he doesn’t have any nervous energy before the performance, he doesn’t miss it, as being more relaxed allows him to throw down a great performance, one that sets a bar for the others (and gets the crowd all applauding, again out of character for a situation like that).
I thought it was interesting that Emi and Kousei didn’t just reflexively say something like ‘good luck’ or ‘do your best’ as Takeshi started to the stage. And not because they didn’t want him to do well, just because that’s not appropriate for this situation. These two episodes were good, with the two performances taking up a lot of the time, and the rest of it wrapping up Nagi’s story and bottoming out Kaori’s moods. It was much better seeing her on the way up than continuing to wallow in her own situation. Will this surgery help, whatever it is? Or will it fail. Unlike the illness itself, which we all saw coming a mile away, the results of that surgery are a lot more ambiguous, and the show could do almost anything with it.
About Highway
Proving that you don't have to be young to love anime, I enjoy all genres and styles of shows. If it's not hurting anyone else, you should never be ashamed of what you like!
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
I am wondering if there is a collection of cycles in this show. How they flow and how they get broken. Or how they might not have a chance to start.
The relationship between Kaori and Kousei is growing, and might even go against the perceived grain, his mother dying and him coming to terms with that as part of his progression, and how having to repeat that to reach another level. I’m hoping that cycle gets broken.
POWUH: 900-999 with 915 comments
I was just noticing how this one-sided hero relationship from Takeshi about Kousei reminds me of Ping-Pong The Animation. The very same metaphor was used in both, with the climax of the show being Peco’s return to full form after a series of sloppy plays. I just wonder if Kousei’s really going to come back the way Takeshi wanted, and the last episode made it pretty much unlikely. Kousei is another beast right now, completely different, but still astonishing, and I guess Takeshi will have to deal with it.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
I don’t know if Takeshi wants the robot Kousei back. I feel like if that Kousei showed up and played, Takeshi would feel let down, after hearing emotionally charged Kousei in the previous competition and Nagi’s performance. And it’s for sure that Emi would probably just run out on stage and throttle him for that. And Kousei’s just not that player anymore. It’ll be interesting to see what he can do solo now, unsaddled by his mother, inspired but not yoked by Kaori, and ready for his future. He looked completely relaxed backstage, munching on egg salad sandwiches, and essentially ‘rested and ready’. Whether the judges will like it is a different question.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
I feel that we may be missing something in the lack of Emi Throttles Folks Show, but that is just me.
And I don’t think Kousei even cares that much about competition any long…a bit, but it’s fading.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
I think he probably cares about the competition quite a bit more than you’re thinking. You don’t practice all night and lose sleep and forget to eat if you’re not interested in it or if you don’t care about it. I think the big thing is that he’s learned that he’s playing to someone else, even if they’re not there. He couldn’t do it for his mother, because she didn’t outwardly appreciate his effort. But with Kaori he has that inspiration that he never had with his mother.
He cares, it’s just not the validation of his existence anymore.
POWUH: 900-999 with 915 comments
Yeah, I agree Emi would probably strangle Kousei to death if he did go back to his robotic days. Though Takeshi’s probably think the other way. Ever since both of them were introduced, they always wanted to see different sides of Kousei and I think that fact remains unchanged.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
I dunno, I think that for Takeshi it would be enough if Kousei once again became that out of reach, almost idol figure. It’s almost like Kousei was a god to him, and then fell to Earth, and Takeshi lost his way because he didn’t know where to look.
POWUH: 900-999 with 915 comments
If there is some way for Kousei to be out of reach without following the score as perfectly as he did before, then I could agree with you.