Kirameki [キラメキ] - Your Lie in April ED 1 - wacci (Piano Cover) 

It’s that time of year again.
Kirameki is an ED that easily gets overlooked at first. When it first appears as the ED in Your Lie in April, much of the show is still developing its premises, and it gets lost behind the hype of the OP, Hikaru Nara, and then overshadowed by the second ED, Orange, which is the ED for the more emotionally climactic portion of the show.
But then it makes a reappearance in the last episode, but not in its original, indie J-Rock sound; instead, it’s been transformed into a soft, piano-violin-voice piece that underscores the closing scenes of the series so beautifully that every time I hear it it evokes an emotional response. The piano is so delicate, the violin so tasteful in all the right, bittersweet ways, and Hashiguchi Yohei’s voice so gentle, that it creates the perfect wave of deep, sonorous sadness coupled with a surprising dash of gratitude and joy.
It’s so perfectly unexpected: the tune that we had become accustomed to, that we had written off as just another ED, suddenly takes on new color and meaning.
Even when we hear the ED at first, we’re only taken through the first verse, the first half of the last chorus, and the second half of the first chorus in that order. None of those lyrics imply anything other than what we’d expect from a generic ED. But when it plays in the finale, we hear the loss in the second verse and the longing in the last chorus.
The sentiments in the song shift so beautifully, detailing the joy of being together, to the realization and reality of losing someone important in your life, to longing for their presence, to finally accepting the memories that were made with the most bittersweet, yet accepting, smile.
All this was hidden behind the bouncy instrumentals, fun choruses, and happy leads of the full version. They got us good.
This song is especially poignant for Kousei in this light, but discussing that would involve spoilers so I’ll instead discuss why it’s poignant for me haha.
As you may know, it’s one of my goals to eventually write an arrangement for each one of the songs played in YLIA. However, I didn’t expect to have written one so soon since I wanted to wait until I had a bit more experience (whatever that means) so that I could really make it “good” and “special”.
Come June-July, and I hit a pretty rough patch going through a breakup, which you may remember from my Blue Streetlights video ( • Blue Street Lights (藍色... ). But right after I finished that arrangement, one of the things that I thought to myself was that I didn’t want to remain embittered or regretful that things played out the way they did or that I even engaged in the relationship in the first place; I wanted to be able to see the highs and the lows, feel them, and be thankful that I was able to create such a unique set of memories with someone who meant a lot to me for a period of time.
And so even though I definitely wasn’t in that place in July, I knew I’d want to have the arrangement around for later when I was there and finally able to say all that I wanted to say.
Fast forward several months, and in November I found this arrangement after forgetting about it since July. I started learning it and recorded it in January.
(continued in pinned comment)
Sheets:
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Outroless version:
• Kirameki [キラメキ] - Your...
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