your lie in April

So last year during April, I finished watching an anime series called "Your Lie in April", and I wanted to blog about this for a long time, but kept on postponing it, but I guess I should do it before April ends.

This series is definitely not from the mainstream genre in anime as it deals with the themes of sadness and suffering. The story centers on a boy who is a genius at playing piano, but later is traumatized psychologically, and it is not able to play anymore. Years later, he meets a girl (of course) who encourages him to overcome his condition so that he can become a fine piano player.

This series is excellent, and exceeded my expectations. At first, I find it very refreshing to watch a different genre, but as I watched more I started to enjoy the beautiful combination of good music, great animation, like-able characters, and a moving plot. When determining if I like a anime series or not, I put a large emphasis on the ending, and I have to say the ending episode is a masterpiece... the storytelling, the climax, the resolution, everything... one of the best 20 minutes of animation I have seen.

It actually made it to Netflix this year.

The series made me think a bit more about a truth of human life, that life is tough. I have been very blessed because as a child, my parents provided me with what I needed, and also got the opportunity to study in Canada, and now I have a job that allows me to live quite comfortably (don't need to worry about food on the table, about where to stay for the night, etc... and I can even travel). As I travel, I notice that life in other parts of the world can be a lot more difficult, and many people have less opportunities to live comfortably.

Putting that aside, what I mean by "life is tough" is more universal, that every human is susceptible to tragedies, like these ones: car accidents, incurable illness, losing a loved one. And when it happens, it is really hard to understand why it happened. One of the things that the main character of the series have to do, is to mourn, deal with the sadness, come in terms with it, and move on (that process took him a few years).

As Christians, we believe in a God who promises He will wipe away every tear when we are in the "new earth and new heaven", and that the afflictions we are going through now are just "momentary" (a little while), so we have hope that there are better days to come. God takes care of us, but that does not mean that our lives will be easy, there will be trials and tribulations that will test our faith, and that is always challenging. At least we have the assurance that God is for us. I cannot imagine how hard it is for a non-believer, who does not have God to put his hope into, since life is such a long and winding road, what is the purpose of it? Once again, we have God, and we know that we are to live for His glory and that we are created by Him for that purpose. Still, life is tough regardless.

As a young Christian, I remembered singing this worship song in Spanish back at home which resounds with some these thoughts:

"Dios no ha dicho: siempre tendreis        (God did not say: you'll always have
 sendas rosadas, cielos azul,                     roads with flowers, blue skies
 No ha prometido: sol sin calor                God did not promise: sun without heat,
 gozo sin penas, paz sin dolor.                   joy without trouble, peace without pain.
 Pero Dios ha dicho: siempre tendreis      God did say: you'll always have
 fuerzas en la lucha, descanso en El         strength in the battle, place to rest in Him,
Gracia en la prueba, Su ayuda fiel,          Grace in trials, His faithful help,
inagotable apoyo, su eterno amor"           unending support, His Eternal Love)

(note: Thanks to a comment I learned that this song is originated from an English hymn: https://www.hymnal.net/en/hymn/nt/720)