Your Lie in April: I was lied to.
So usually I don't bother with romance anime for several reasons, but I was bored and DL'ing Shinsekai Yori.
-YLIA got a ton of good press and praise so I thought I'd give it a check.
(Obvious spoilers)
So here. we. go.
Your Lie in April starts out as straightforward as you can get. MC has illness, meets beautiful girl who cures illness, but his best friend is "dating" the girl.
What struck me as odd from the very start is the classic trope of "overly artistic musician", that is, when a musician lives in a completely different world because he can play music. This sort of super-depression that the MC has from the start struck me as begging drama, much like how Plastic Memories established that the androids can only be sustained for a short period of time but still have human emotions.
Later on in the show(episode 4) I find out that *GASP* the love interest is SICK. OH MY GOD. NEW ADDITION TO STORYTELLING PEOPLE, THE GIRL IS SICK.
What sickness does she have? Not important.
(because god forbid you have 20 episode long anime and they mention that her sickness is a real thing and not just a plot device.)
So anyway, the show progresses and the love interest does pretty much every standard romance anime thing but the show doesn't confirm she has romantical feelings towards him.
So this brings me to my biggest issue with the show: I was fucking lied to.
This show has nothing to do with romance. It's just some over-glorified "musicians are super emotional people" bullshit.
Nothing in this show is something I can relate to because no: I don't suffer from schizophrenia, I don't have the magical girl of my dreams standing 2 feet away but me being a pussy on it, and I don't have a childhood friend that is basically the best person you could ever ask for be a potential love interest.
Oh and fuck this stupid "sick girls are so romantic" shit.
If you liked this show watch: The girl who leapt through time, Toradora, or Wolf Children.