The music genre is one of the most unexplored themes in the anime and manga industry. There are only a few projects that intensely focus on music as a central theme. One of them is Your Lie in April, created by Naodhi Arakawa, who initially earned his fame after creating a sports manga called Sayonara, Football.
Your Lie in April follows the story of a young prodigy, Kosei Arima, who is an excellent pianist. However, the tragedy of his mother dying drove him to a mental breakdown that led to him never being able to hear the sound of his piano playing. Later on, he meets Kaori Miyazono, a violinist who helps him with his skills and gets him back on track.
When Your Lie in April first came out, fans were shocked to see Arakawa’s transition from the sports genre to the music genre. The manga creator once revealed why he decided to shift to a musical theme and what was his inspiration behind it.
Naoshi Arakawa Got Bored After Writing a Sports Manga
In 2016, Anime News Network interviewed Arakawa during the Anime Expo held at the Los Angeles Convention Center in California. During the interview, the manga creator was asked about his sudden transition from the sports genre to the music genre with Your Lie in April.
Arakawa revealed:
Sometimes you get bored if you just stick creating just one genre of stories. At times like that, you just want to try different genres to challenge yourself to see things in a new way, take a fresh approach to storytelling. That’s why I decided to explore the world of music instead of sports with Your Lie in April.
According to Arakawa, sticking to one specific genre for a long time gets boring. Thus, he decided to challenge himself and try something entirely different.
That’s when Your Lie in April came in as it allowed him to take a fresh approach to storytelling. It also allowed him to get an insight into a totally different world that he never had explored in the past.
Naoshi Arakawa’s Inspiration Behind Your Lie in April
While talking about transitioning toward a musical-themed story, Arakawa explained that he was actually inspired by a program that featured a person playing violin. He was very intrigued by it and decided to base his next story on a similar element.
Arakawa stated:
Well, it wasn’t as if I dislike music, to begin with. The second thing is that I was inspired by seeing a picture of a person playing the violin. It was really beautiful.
I think I saw it on TV, but I don’t remember the exact program. Also, another thing was that I thought that not many people drew this sort of music manga, that focuses on the violins and stuff.
Arakawa knew that music was an unexplored genre that had a lot of potential and it might be interesting to write a story around it. With violin as his inspiration as one of the main elements, the mangaka went on to create one of the greatest musical genre stories of all time.
Your Lie in April was a huge hit, earning a lot of appreciation and accolades within the industry. It also got an anime adaptation that ran from October 2014 to March 2015.
Your Lie in April is available to watch on Crunchyroll.
