Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso (Your Lie in April) Episode 4

As good as the performance scene was, what struck me the most was the scene between Kaori and Kousei prior to the performance. The constant eye contact between the two, demonstrated through close-ups and extreme close ups, really showed their strong connection. The visuals also exceptionally complement the dialogue.

The scene starts strong with a close-up of the two in order to immediately capture the viewers’ attention. The viewers are drawn to Kaori as much as Kousei. In effect, this made the dialogue sink in more as she tells Kousei to look at her and look up with more confidence.

It then cuts to medium-long shot, which breaks the intimacy but in a good way since it slows the scene down for dramatic build up. This shot also gives the viewers an overall sense of their contrasting body language. Kousei is sitting stiffly with arms and hands still mimicking practicing the piano, while Kaori has a more relax posture.

The medium-long shot was the build up for the extreme close-ups. Kousei’s wide eyed expression is full of amazement as Kaori encourages him with a look of confidence in her eyes. While the use of low and high angle shots were mainly for continuity purposes they still reinforce the state of the characters. The high angle on Kousei portrays him as the emotionally weaker character while the low angle on Kaori makes her look more admirable.

The eyeline matches of Kousei looking at Kaori’s back as they run to the stage were a great visual of his admiration for her, which added more emotion to the line, “You’re freedom itself.”

This scene was consisted of mostly centered shots. It’s worth mentioning since they were mostly implemented well and added strength to the connection between Kousei and Kaori. I liked the composition of the first image. The frame within a frame shot, the eyelines and leading lines centered on Kaori emphasize her captivating persona. The third image is another frame within a frame shot, with both characters at the border of the stage’s spotlight. It’s a visual that adds importance to the huge step in life that Kousei was about to take.  

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Shots of character eyes continued to the performance scene. The above being the more striking one. The push in shot into Kousei’s eye, with the reflection of his piano playing demonstrated his commitment to the performance despite not being able to hear his own music.

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Mushishi Zoku Shou 2nd Season - Episode 2

This was a riveting time loop episode where we witnessed a man relive both his regrets and his happiest moments in life. Each loop of Kaoru’s life were shot slightly differently in order to avoid being overly repetitive. That in itself wasn’t very interesting but there were some subtle changes that complemented the tension building done by the superb pacing.

These shots are the first and second time that Kaoru was shown entering the tunnel. In the second shot, Kaoru is farther into the tunnel which visually communicates how he’s being absorbed deeper and deeper into the time loop.

Time loop stories are built on sequential patterns. The insert shots (first two) of Kaoru taking a step into the tunnel were part of that pattern. After being made aware of his situation by Ginko, we started to anticipate if he will break the pattern. The first two insert shots helped build this anticipation that made the third insert shot of him stepping away from the tunnel even more gratifying.

After Kaoru entered the tunnel to save his wife, the loop was restarted from her perspective. The top row is Kaoru’s time loop and the bottom one is the wife’s. As you will notice, the wife’s time loop was consisted of POV, over the shoulder, and side view shots done from her vantage point.

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Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso (Your Lie in April) Episode 3

The cinematography in this episode was a bit of a mixed bag. Although a bit too obvious, the use of desaturation to visually equate musical deafness to lacking color was a nice touch. There were also hints of this in the first episode. On the other hand, some of the compositions in this episode were shoddy.

The first three images are examples of desaturated shots of Kousei that acted as visual metaphor to his loss of musical hearing. In contrast, Kaori was visualized brightly and colorfully, which reflects her bubbly personality and enthusiasm for music.

Another nice touch was the change of the scenery from warm to cold colors after he revealed to Kaori his affliction.

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The desaturation theme continued to the rooftop scene. This time it was done more naturally by putting Kousei in the shadows while Kaori remains in the sunlight to serve as contrast. The first shot nicely uses the shadow to form a surface division between the two. In the sunlight is the determined Kaori; while in the shadow is the dispirited Kousei. All these contrasts effectively set up the pivotal moment of the episode when Kousei steps into the sunlight and agrees to accompany Kaori.

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The above images are examples of some of the odd compositions in this episode. The first one is a centered shot of just the head with too much headroom. There were repeated unbalanced shots like this one of both characters. Unbalanced composition can sometimes serve a purpose but this isn’t one of those cases.

Second one is centered full shot. The sentiment behind this is it puts more emphasis on Kaori as she declares Kousei as her accompaniment. However, the shot lasted way too long. After Kaori’s declaration it should have cut to a closer shot: either a two shot or a non-centered one. Also, the tree being a dominating figure was distracting. To add to that, the tree obeys the rule of thirds, this unintentionally makes it an additional point of interest.

Third one is also a purposeful centered shot that lasted too long. It also cuts off the character around at the ankles which always looks odd and happens way too often in anime. Kousei is also awkwardly positioned in this one.

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Sora no Method Episode 3

The drama in the latter parts of this episode was constructed cohesively. I particularly liked the use of cross cutting between Nonoka at the old kindergarten and her friends in the forest as a way to form a parallel about how they’re all trying to piece together the past.

This portion of the episode was strongly focused on recounting the past. The kindergarten scene was particular effective in communicating this theme.

When seeing an abandoned building, thoughts of its uses in the past and how it has been left behind by time come to mind. This scene illicit similar feelings. As Nonoka walks around the kindergarten school, the scenery stirs up thoughts of its past when the classrooms were filled with children and the playground was full of activity during recess. These thoughts of the past were strongly pertinent to the drama.

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This scene also effectively used insert shots to slow the pacing down to build up drama. The simple act of sitting down and putting down a backpack accentuated the lonely looking centered shot of Nonoka sitting by herself.

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This might look a bit gimmicky but I thought the use of quick zoom to an extreme close up graphic match was a creative way of transitioning in and out of a flashback. The abrupt zoom conveys the suddenness of Nonoka’s realization of the past.

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Mushishi Zoku Shou 2nd Season - Episode 1

The repeating imagery of this episode was that of the open hands. When framed from different perspectives the open hands can express a different meaning.

In the above images the open hands were framed from a perspective that’s more likely associated with receiving or taking. In those shots Ginko’s was tempted to take the mountain lord’s egg for himself with the thought it might fill the void created by his isolation and lack of purpose. Symbolically, the egg could represent rebirth to Ginko who has been dealt a bad hand in life.

These shots presents the open hands in a way that's more likely associated with giving or offering. In this scene the hands are actually taking something from Ginko but it could be seen as an offer to take the burden of the broken egg off him. Then with one simple gesture the hands offered him reprieve and a second chance in life.

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Much of the first few exchanges between Ginko and Suguro were shots of them facing away from the camera and each other. Showing just Suguro’s back was a subtle way of creating a sense of wariness and mistrust.

After Ginko explained his predicament of being taken advantaged of by other mushi-shis, Suguro is then shot looking back at him. This could be seen as a gesture of understanding and dissipating suspicion.

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Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso (Your Lie in April) Episode 2

Only days after the superb Shingeki no Bahamut dance scene, Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso brought us another enjoyable performance scene. Kaori’s performance of the Kreutzer Sonata was brought to life by purposeful shot variety that gave viewers different vantage points of the performance.

Here’s the scene:

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Just like the Shingeki no Bahamut dance scene, Kaori’s violin scene uses multiple low angle shots to present the performance in a grander scale. These shots exude stage presence that was conducive in making this scene engrossing. The low angle shots were also done in varying sizes. The full shots presented Kaori’s body language while the closer shots showed her emotions.

The shots from behind Kaori give the viewers the performer’s perspective. This perspective gives us an intimidating stage view of the venue, and aids in relating the nerves and exhilaration of performing in front of an audience. The use of low angle exaggerates the scale of the venue but also shows how a captivating performance can make it feel small and intimate.

These wide shots put the viewers among the audience and give an in-person feel of the performance.

My favorite moments were the engaging use of extreme close ups in match on action cuts. The first sequence (top three images) was during a brief and calm pause in the sonata. The calmness in Kaori’s eyes during the brief silence builds anticipation for the music that’s about to come. As Kaori raises her bow the sequence cuts to a medium shot of her gracefully finishing the motion.

The second sequence (bottom three images) is again during a brief pause but this time before shifting to a faster pace. Again, the mood of the performance is seen in her eyes, which pop wide with intensity. The look also matches her motion, as she swings the bow with less grace but more energy.

The only negative about this scene was the use of overhead shots. It’s understandable to use it once for shot variety but doing it multiple times briefly took me out of the performance.

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Around the end of this episode were the different lateral tracking shots of Arima. In these shots Arima constantly switches from one side of the frame to another. The lack of balance and continuity visually displays his confusing emotions. He’s puzzled by his indescribable feelings towards Kaori, and just like the lateral tracking shots he keeps switching between wanting and not wanting to see/hear her.  

The gif of the last tracking shot cleverly uses camera movement to actively add visual weight. The small lead room in the start of the shot gives Arima’s eyeline very little visual weight. But as Arima stops on his tracks and gazes off screen, the camera keeps moving to give his eyeline more visual weight. This effectively adds drama and romance as the scene cuts to a waiting Kaori.

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Budget Framing

This is pretty self explanatory. Only the top of the heads were framed in order to save time and money on animation. Most of the episode’s time and money were most likely spent on the violin scene which was well worth it.

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