Your Lie in April is widely seen as one of the great coming-of-age anime of recent decades. Telling the story of a prodigious child musician whose trauma forced him to shut off his heart and the girl who opened it back up, it’s a show that has many fans the world over.
Your Lie, often seen as one anime guaranteed to make you cry, has a suitably tear-jerking conclusion. However, it is also slightly cryptic, so we’re going to explain Your Lie in April’s ending.
Tissues at the ready, everyone.
How Did Your Lie in April End?
The final episode, Spring Wind, starts with Kosei delivering an emotional performance where he connects with Kaori, who is undergoing risky surgery at the time. During visuals where they share a performance across an endless lake, Kaori bursts into light and disappears. At this point, Kosei, returned to the concert hall, knows that Kaori has passed away.
At Kaori’s funeral, her parents hand him a letter, which he doesn’t open until Spring. Inside the letter, Kaori explains that she has been lying for most of the show, particularly the start, about her motives – it’s rumoured that this is to what the ‘lie’ part of the title refers.
It turns out that, from the very start of the series, Kaori was in love with Kosei. She saw him perform when she was five and has been in love ever since. One of Kosei’s performances as a kid is what inspired her to play the violin.
When she discovered that they were both in the same school, she was desperate to get close to Kosei, but was too shy. However, when she knew she didn’t have much time to live, she began to live more freely.
Kaori pretended that she was into Ryota, his best friend, so she could get closer to Kosei. Some people have suggested that this is what is meant by ‘Your Lie’ in the show’s title, although that’s unconfirmed.
Related: Your Lie in April Opening Theme Song Name, Title, Lyrics, Spotify and Where to Download the Intro
Does Kaori Die in Your Lie in April? What Happened
While it’s never explicitly shown, Kaori does die during the ending of Your Lie in April.
In an attempt to play the violin with Kosei again, Kaori tells him that she’s going to have a risky surgery operation. The surgery takes place at the same time as Kosei’s performance and given what we see, it’s widely accepted that the surgery was unsuccessful and Kaori dies at the hospital during Kosei’s performance.
The show then jumps forward, and one of the next scenes we see is Kosei at a graveyard, where Kaori’s parents hand him a letter that she wrote.
The letter is something of a love letter and confession at the same time and was sealed when handed to Kosei. Therefore, it’s easy to believe that this letter was written by Kaori when she knew she was likely to die, and she told her parents to only hand it to Kosei when she passed away.
Does Your Lie in April Have a Sad or Happy Ending?
Whether the ending to Your Lie in April is happy or sad ultimately depends on your viewpoint. However, most will agree that the story has a happy, albeit emotional, ending.
Given the tragic subject matter of somebody passing away, Your Lie in April’s ending features almost no crying by any of the characters. Kaori, monologuing her letter, sounds as cheerful as always, while the scenes all take place in the bright sunlight and colours of spring, where the story began.
At the very end, after Kosei has read the letter, Tsubaki tells him that he will never be alone because she will always be there for him. The two of them, whose friendship looked in doubt a few episodes before, reconcile, before looking ahead to a spring without Kaori.
While there is a tinge of sadness at the end of Your Lie in April, the show does a great job of turning it into a moment of happiness. Kaori is allowed to pass knowing that she enjoyed the last moments of her life to the fullest, while Kosei has opened up again, and will have support from his friends who share his grief for Kaori.
Related: Your Lie in April: Which Is Better? The Anime or Manga?
Can You Match This Image to the Right Anime Classic?
Can You Match This Image to the Right Anime Classic?