I'd been meaning the mention this story here, and the Your Lie rewatched seemed like as good as opportunity as any. (NOTE: THIS STORY HAS SUPER-SPOILISH IMPLICATIONS FOR THE WHOLE SERIES)At this year's Anime Boston convention, Aniplex setup big featured panel for Your Lie in April (as part of the promotion for the Blu-Ray). They went all-out for this panel, booking the big room and getting a crazy-good lineup of panelists: the director and character designer from the original Japanese staff as well as the English dub director and VAs for Kousei, Kaori and Hiroko. Unsurprisingly, this stories about the voice of Kaori, Erica Lindbeck. Here are some photos of the panel.As the panel opens, the host makes a couple early jokes about how the show has a tendency to turn viewers into puddles on their couch. They then screen the first three episodes of the series before bringing the VAs and directors on stage. It's a great discussion, particularly because the English and Japanese staffs hadn't met before. But what was striking was the voice actors. It was no surprise to see them give "Oh, we got real emotional wall making this" lip service. But soon it became clear that, no, seriously, this show put them through the wringer -- with Lindbeck/Kaori choking up at multiple points.Soon, time starts running low, and they then move to a Q&A segment to get some fan questions in. First question, it happens.Up in the front row (you had to have been waiting for a couple hours to get that seat), this girl gets the mic. She didn't have a question. She just wanted to say thank you. A couple years ago in high school, she started getting into playing music, thanks in large part to her friend that kind of drew her into it -- her Kaori. The friend got sick - real sick. It was around this time that the Japanese broadcast came out, and helped her get through the tough times of her friend being in the hospital. Her friend had passed away. She then talked about watching the show again in dub form, before she became overwhelmed and broke down in tears at the mic.No matter, her point had been made. This show hits people -- hard. And it was so real to her. There was applause, a brief moment to let the story sink in, and then the mic moved on to the next fan.But while that happened, Lindbeck (KOARI HERSELF) sudden got up from her seat and walked off the side of the stage. "That's weird," I thought, as the next question came in. A couple minutes later, she panel's back on track and she returns to her seat.Then it hits me: She walked off to where that girl was sitting. I didn't get a good look, but she went over to say something to that fan.In that moment, the girl had bared her greatest tragedy to a room filled with hundred of people that understood her relationship to her late friend, and why this one work (that so many people love) struck such a chord. Then, the one person on the planet who is the currently the most direct avatar of Kaori, the symbol of his friend, comes over and connects with her in that moment.The panel ended 5-10 after the exchange, but really it was just a blur after that. Nothing more really needed to be done or said about Your Lie in April.I love this show, and I'm not going to forget this exchange and what it and the work made me feel. http://ift.tt/1ralQ68
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