"Hearts Come Together" (心重ねる Kokoro kasaneru?) is the eighteenth episode of the Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso anime adaptation. It first aired in Japan on February 19, 2015.
Blurb[]
Kousei asks Nagi to let him perform at the Kurumigaoka Junior High culture festival. He wants to reach Kaori through his music. With that in mind, he and Nagi take the stage, and their performance begins. But unlike during practice, Kousei, the supporting player, in a complete switch of gears, begins playing at an incredible pace, filling the music with an aching atmosphere, pressuring Nagi. And Nagi, unwilling to give in to Kousei, tries to hold her own…
Synopsis[]
In a flashback, Nagi consults Kousei about why he wants to perform at her school's culture festival. Kousei replies with how he has a "horrible friend" who is feeling sorry for herself and how he wants to "punch her, just once", referring to Kaori and how she has lost sight of her dreams. Nagi monologues, feeling sure that something will change during their performance.
Kousei and Nagi enter the stage at the culture festival and approach the piano, with a variety of audience members, including Takeshi, exclaiming about Nagi's choice of support being Kousei Arima and questioning their relationship. They begin their performance and Nagi monologues about how well they've started off and how she feels calmer now that she has begun performing.
Kousei monologues about how he cannot concentrate because he's hearing the sounds of the piano and tells it to be gone. With this, he begins to play at a higher tempo, and the sound of his performance changed, startling the audience and Nagi, causing her to panic and feel like she's being overpowered by him. This causes her to challenge Kousei in a monologue, telling him to "Bring it!" as she picks up her playing to compete with Kousei. This amazes the audience as their playing is in perfect harmony and both musicians are able to synchronize with each other and know what they will do next.
Nagi monologues about how the past two months of practice have paid off, and how Kousei is not the "Chogokin Robot" that her brother once described him as. She instead remembers the moments they have shared together, his warm hands, the sweet potatoes, their walks home. She recalls why she started playing the piano; an "ulterior motive" to regain her brother's attention, which she lost when Kousei stopped playing the piano and Takeshi began to doubt his hero. Nagi then begins to play at an even faster tempo in an attempt to get him to notice her from the crowd and tell him to continue pursuing his hero.
At the hospital, Kaori, who can hear the performance on her phone via a phone call from Watari, begins to imitate playing the violin. Back at the festival, Takeshi begins to become frustrated at the fact that he isn't the one on the stage performing and cannot understand why both Nagi's and Emi's recent performances have begun to move people's hearts, and then questions whether Kousei is the reason.
Nagi realises their performance is about to end and questions whether she played the piece with total sincerity. She asks herself why the notes that Kousei plays are so colourful and vibrant as they finish the song. At the hospital, Kaori stops imitating their performance and begins to cry.
Kousei prompts Nagi to stand up and take a bow before the audience, who are cheering them on. Nagi asks Kousei whether he thinks her playing reached "him", to which Kousei replies that he believes it did. Nagi also asks whether he managed to give his friend the punch he wanted to, which he also believes he managed to do. Nagi offers her hand to Kousei, who holds it and takes a bow, much to the dismay of Takeshi.
Takeshi's friend questions whether he will take anything away from his sister's performance, emphasizing how Nagi is "climbing the stairway", despite her brother complex and everything else bothering her. Takeshi cannot bring himself to answer the question.
Backstage, Nagi cheers in relief of the performance being over and is met by applause from her friends. Hiroko asks Kousei whether he finds it thrilling to watch someone grow, referring to Nagi. Nagi asks Hiroko how she thinks she did, to which she states that life has been interesting every day since both her and Kousei came along.
Takeshi appears backstage, grabbing the attention of Kousei who cannot remember his name. Takeshi begins shouting at him for being so close to his little sister, much to the confusion of Kousei, who thought Nagi's last name was "Aizato", not Aiza. Nagi refers to him as dense.
Takeshi begins to pester Kousei as to why he was performing with Nagi and becomes angry when he refers to Nagi by her first name, stating that he should be referring to her as "Takeshi's little sister". Nagi defends Kousei, stating how he has helped and taught her recently, which Takeshi absolutely takes the wrong way and declares that he will beat Kousei at the Eastern Japan Piano Competition in December. Hiroko comments about how entry in that competition will be a pain while Nagi monologues about whether her brother even slightly understood what she was trying to convey through her performance.
The next day, Nagi is confronted by Miike, who questions why she is so close to Kousei. She becomes annoyed when Miike does not refer to Kousei with honorific and starts bragging about having his phone number and email address, and about how they regularly eat lunch together.
Over at the hospital, Kaori is on the roof playing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" on a keyboard with two children. This is cut short by the appearance of Kousei, who the two children question Kaori about whether he is her boyfriend, to which she denies and states that he is "just a jackass". Kaori replays a recording of Kousei's performance and states how it was evil to make a violinist listen to it.
Kousei goes on to state that he cannot commit a "double suicide" with Kaori as he has always been behind her, whether it's carrying her bags while shopping or her always taking the initiative. He states that it wouldn't be a double suicide as he would only be following her. Kousei instead pleads for Kaori to perform a duet with him once again, which she attempts to try to deny.
Kousei interrupts, stating that she's not a princess and that she's a regular person who should perform with him once again. He asks whether she'll forget their past performances, to which Kaori states light-heartedly that he really is cruel. Kousei smiles and states how he thought she already knew he was a jackass.
Kaori begins to monologue about her surroundings and how Kousei is cruel for making her dream about playing her violin once again. She begins to cry, which causes the children to start attacking Kousei and make her laugh. Kaori then reignites her dream to perform alongside Kousei once again sometime as the episode ends.
Major events[]
- Kousei and Nagi complete their performance at the Kurumi School Culture Festival.
- Kousei learns that Nagi is the younger sister of Takeshi Aiza.
- Takeshi challenges Kousei to beat him at the Eastern Japan Piano Competition in December.
- Kaori reignites her passion to play the violin.
Music used[]
- Pyotr I. Tchaikovsky's "Sleeping Beauty Waltz" arrangement for piano 4 hands, by Sergei Rachmaninoff.
Characters[]
- Kousei Arima
- Kaori Miyazono
- Tsubaki Sawabe
- Ryota Watari
- Nao Kashiwagi
- Hiroko Seto
- Koharu Seto
- Nagi Aiza
- Takeshi Aiza
- Satsugi
- Komugi
- Miike
- Students
Quotes[]
- (Kousei to Nagi) "I've got this horrible friend. And since she's feeling so sorry for herself, I want to punch her, just once."
- (Hiroko to Kousei & Nagi) "You know what, since you guys started coming over, I've been enjoying myself like there's no tomorrow!"
- (Nagi to Takeshi) "He's looking after me here. He's teaching me all kinds of things! He's giving me all these precious experiences!"
- (Kousei to Kaori) "You're not a princess. You're the daughter of a cake shop owner who loves canelés. And you're not the heroine of a novel. There's no way I'm going to play Ravel. So please, perform with me one more time."
Trivia[]
- As of this episode, some scenes shown in the opening theme, Nanairo Symphony, have been changed.
- The prayer Kousei whispers before playing: "Elohim, Essaim... Elohim, Essaim I implore you" is the same one that he heard Kaori whisper on episode 4.
Those words are 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".
- Interestingly enough, Kousei does not know the meaning of these words, and he is just repeating what he heard Kaori say.
- Nagi and Kousei's performance is actually a medley of Sergei Rachmaninoff's arrangements of "The Sleeping Beauty Suite" Adagio and Waltz.
Gallery[]
| 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 | ||