"The Journey" (旅立ち Tabidachi?) is the fourth episode of the Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso anime adaptation. It first aired in Japan on October 30, 2014.
Blurb[]
It's the day of the second round of the preliminaries. Kaori and Kousei await their turn in the hallway of the venue. Noticing that Kousei is a bundle of nerves, Kaori head-butts him. Looking Kousei in the eye, she encourages him by saying, "I know you can do it." And their musical journey, with no clear destination, begins. Although they start off quietly, just as the melody changes, Kaori unleashes her true colors... She starts playing the violin with her whole body. In order to keep pace with her, Kousei plays precisely, never hitting a false note. But the more Kousei focuses on their music, the more the notes disappear, and the less he is able to hear the sound of the piano... Eventually, his accompaniment spins out of control, and he abruptly stops playing. Then Kaori stops playing as well. Smiling, the young girl whispers to him, "Again..."
Plot[]
In a flashback, Saki orders Kousei to play the music according to how the composer intended, and how it’s written on the score. Competition-goers comment about his mother’s abuse towards him and compare him to a machine.
Kaori, Kousei, Tsubaki and Watari arrive at Towa Hall, as Kousei goes over the piece as much as he can, just before the performance. Kaori tells Kousei to look up at her, because he is always looking downwards. They head out on stage, and Kousei takes his time to adjust the height of the piano bench. The audience members recognise Kousei as the pianist from the piano competitions, and question why he’s playing as an accompanist. Kaori and Kousei begin their performance, and it goes really well, until Kousei sees his deceased mother in her spot in the audience. He ceases to hear the notes, and starts pounding at the keys, until he decides to stop playing midway, as to not wanting to disturb the audience. Kaori stops midway as well, and then starts over again.
While Kaori plays by herself, Kousei remembers what his mother told him about the piano. “The piano is you. If you touch it gently, it will smile. If you touch it with force, it will become enraged.” Kousei joins in on the performance, and soon enough, they have the audience entranced in their performance, described by an audience member as “a brawl”. They end the performance with a bang, and the audience cheers and applauds loudly for them, much to the anger of the Judge. Kaori suddenly collapses on stage.
Major events[]
- Kousei is Kaori’s accompanist in the competition.
- Kaori and Kousei perform together for the first and last time.
- Kaori collapses on stage.
Music played[]
- Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso, Op. 28 by Camille Saint-Saëns
Characters in Order of Appearance[]
- Saki Arima
- Kousei Arima
- Kaori Miyazono
- Tsubaki Sawabe
- Ryota Watari
- Judge
- Nashida
Quotes[]
“Listen, Kousei, I want you to study the sheet music over, and over, and play it again, and again, and again. That’s how you’re going to perfect it. Just what the score calls for, and just as the composer intended, perfectly and precisely.” Saki Arima
"This silence belongs to us and these people are waiting for us to fill it with something." Kousei Arima
"The robot and the freespirit." Judge
"It's dark and we can't see where the road leads, so trust in me and take another step. The stars will light our path however faintly... I know they will." Kaori Miyazono
"With every punch they throw, the audience hungers for more of it." Judge
Trivia[]
The prayer Kaori whispers before playing: "Elohim, Essaim... Elohim, Essaim I implore you" is a chant common in anime and manga (for example, it occurs in episode 12 of an anime series "Gugure Kokkuri-san"), if recited 3 times can either give good luck or summon demons. Its origin comes from "the Book of Black Magic" and in the Italian "Il Grand Grimoire". A couple of translations and transcriptions later, here is the result:
Elohim as mentioned is the Hebrew word for "God", and Essaim is a french word for either "swarm" or "locust". You can read more about it here: https://moto-neta.com/anime/eloim-essaim/
Both words "Elohim" and "Essaim" together could mean a variety of different things, but the most consistent meanings go as follows:
Reciting these two words together at least twice before making a wish or command at the end of this recitation means you are offering your soul to gods, angels, or demons in exchange for what wish or command you have made.
In the case of writing a good story properly about a very pure innocent girl named Kaori Miyazono, these are erroneously very wrong words for Kaori to use because those two words together roughly mean "the Lord of Locust", and if readers and viewers get the wrong ideas, they'll going to think that she's offering her soul to a fallen angel AKA a demon posing as a god in exchange for being able to captivate her audience. The use of those two words in this story that possibly by either misunderstandings or translation errors comes from the fact that the Japanese adore Christian mythology, similar to how the Westerners adore Eastern mythologies. In a case like Kaori's, what she is doing is supposed to be the same thing as someone in a Western world invoking their Chinese "chi".
Gallery[]
References[]
| Anime Episodes | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | Monotone/Colorful | #2 | Friend A |
| #3 | Inside Spring | #4 | The Journey |
| #5 | Gray Skies | #6 | On the Way Home |
| #7 | The Shadows Whisper | #8 | Let it Ring |
| #9 | Resonance | #10 | The Scenery I Shared With You |
| #11 | Light of Life | #12 | Twinkle Little Star |
| #13 | Love's Sorrow | #14 | Footsteps |
| #15 | Liar | #16 | Two of a Kind |
| #17 | Twilight | #18 | Hearts Come Together |
| #19 | Goodbye, Hero | #20 | Hand in Hand |
| #21 | Snow | #22 | Spring Wind |
| #23 (OVA) | Moments | ||
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"The piano is you. If you touch it gently, it will smile. If you touch it with force, it will become enraged" |
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| This article is considered a Stub. As such, this article's contents are expected to grow over time. Help this article grow by editing it. |