(L+CR) Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso (NoitaminA)

[cyth]

Originally Posted by Cloudedmind

The fact that he sees a nasty image of his mother right before he stops being able to hear the music is also telling. Now later he does have another vision of her but unlike the previous ones it's a happy image from before she gets sick,, leading us to believe that her getting sick was a cause in her change of behavior and attitude. That doesn't change the fact though that towards the end of her life his mother was abusive and left him with mental scars and trauma.

There's also the worrying parallel running between Kousei's motivation for playing the piano when his (abusive) mother was around and his motivations now that another woman is pushing for him to play again.

Has Kousei ever loved music? From my perspective, he loved his mother. Now he's in love with Kaori. What is discomforing to know is that Kaori is also dying. Just like his mother, Kaori forces him to play music, a thing she loves doing. There's not an ounce of evidence that her helping him is out of pure altruism, so I don't believe she is the Magical Pixie everyone thinks her to be. She's a selfish child, as children often are, furthermore if she's dying she's in an existential crisis and she has a goal to achieve before it comes to pass. Oh my God, holy shit, that is exactly what her mother was doing when she got sick, she wanted musical success by proxy of her son!

So Kousei is, in fact, helping Kaori, and not the other way around.

The problem with this setup now is that there's always going to be a clout of suspicion regarding his affection for Kaori. It could be that he started seeing a motherly figure in her and will now try his hardest to pick the music back up not for his sake but for his late mother's sake, despite what he may say later. Kaori's sickness is just a terrible setup for the show.

Again, has Kousei ever loved music or has he always thought of it as an extension to his love for his mother? Right now it seems the dude is totally fucked in the head and the issue is more serious than it looks, far from something pushy teenagers can fix.

[Arya]

^ Arima said something in this episode about not trying to excuse himself as he did with his mother. I'm at work now so I can't check it out what he really meant. But as I said his journey could be about find again his love for her mother through music and Kaori. And not about the music itself (aspect that will come eventually). Tsubaki also didn't said by chance that if he play or not it doesn't matter. The show could be doing things deliberately after all.

[Klashikari]

From how Kaori and Tsubaki reacted in that part of the story, I can't help but agree with cyth worries in there.

So far, Kousei's involvement with Kaori's performance is simply one sided. The former plays only because the latter needs him, but the opposite doesn't work at all.
In fact, Kousei's fundamental issue is still rather murky, and instead of having a proper discussion or treatment about his trauma, both Kaori and Tsubaki are extremely pushy.

It isn't even a matter of whether or not Kousei 'wants' to play piano, but rather that he -should- play piano in their perspective.

IMHO, Kousei's issue is much more complicated than simply associating his mom's abuse and death with the piano, and the fact both girls completely ignore this aspect is quite aggravating in my books.
It isn't even a matter of "not wasting a talented musician" but rather have their run for the hell of it. No matter how good their intentions are, they are completely circumventing Kousei's issues altogether.

"You don't know until you try" is always a motto I found bold but also unconsiderate if the context calls it right, and I'm really not buying Kaori's speech. It is simply similar to how "power of friendship" works in some other series: "just believe in yourself" which is rich when you consider the fact Kaori knows nothing about Kousei's personal anguish, no matter the information she got from Tsubaki.
So frankly, I was just dumbfounded when Kaori thought it was a good idea to headbutt Kousei and dismiss his doubts with an empty and cliche one liner.

[Dr. Dahm]

They're really kind of mucking up Kaori's interpretation with this adaptation pretty badly at this key juncture IMO. Really playing up this idea of her apparent perfection and always being righteous and the one everyone always has to live up to including the establishment itself when in reality this is supposed to be a rather crucial moment when Arima realizes that she needs him as a grounding force and support not for her performance but for her dreams that are about to get crushed by an establishment unconcerned with innovation and personal interpretation as much as he kind of needs her energy and willpower to handle his issues in the long run as well. It really doesn't come across that way here again though and more like everyone must acknowledge Kaori who basically all but forces the guy into performing with her and making it through the whole thing rather than convinces him with the truth of their situations.

I feel like the anime is always making things way to much about Kaori and a sort of character worship for sure when really it's supposed to be more focused on Arima and how it's strictly him who feels this way out his own sense of self-loathing. Somehow Arima's idealized interpretation of her is being conveyed as the shows general interpretation of her as well basically and it's causing some problems. Speaking of Arima's character, I also kind of have to say I really haven't enjoyed Natsuki Hanae's performance with the character to date much at all who among other things I feel really overplays the weakness and vulnerability aspect of the character while failing to capture his insightful nature. He makes him seem a lot dumber than he actually is basically. There's also just something about this newer voice actor where it always seems like he either has no emotion in his performance whatsoever or entirely too much to the point where it becomes hammy and he's yet to be able to find that comfortable middle ground in any instance I've heard him in where his performance doesn't stand out like a sore thumb compared to his co-stars who incidentally are all perfectly fine and well cast so far in this. I'll chalk it up to still being very new to the scene, but to me he shouldn't be getting pushed as much as he has been if he's still clearly not ready for leading roles. Most seiyuu start off their career doing just that, talking smaller roles and building a portfolio of experience before being tasked to lead, but for whatever reason the latest batch like him and frequent co-star Sora Amamiya have been jumped ahead. I'd argue she's a rare case of ready right away, but he's clearly not coming across almost like an unpolished Kaji Yuki of all things.

Anyway I don't know why they're portraying the character dynamic between Arima and Kaori this way in any case, but then again it's not entirely uncommon for an A-1 adaptation to just sort of take an approach more like this where they overemphasize a certain character that I guess is more marketable in the long run so I'll chalk it up to that. Oh well they'll have another chance to start getting it right pretty soon and showing a clearer distinction between Arima's vision of Kaori versus the reality of who she is in being a lot more vulnerable and less composed under the surface than she or the anime interpretation lets on.

[Kaoru Chujo]

Originally Posted by cyth

...The problem with this setup now is that there's always going to be a clout of suspicion regarding his affection for Kaori. It could be that he started seeing a motherly figure in her and will now try his hardest to pick the music back up not for his sake but for his late mother's sake, despite what he may say later. Kaori's sickness is just a terrible setup for the show....

This is far from being a problem. It adds a wonderful richness to the show. If we are all psychologists trying to help this poor boy, then maybe it's a problem. But we are animephiles enjoying a show. Let's see what fate has in store for our complicated hero in his complicated life.

I loved the way we were quickly and effectively shown that Mama started out kind and only gradually became the desperate ogre, as her health failed. The fact is that Kousei is vulnerable to strong girls. This is a problem how? The scenes where he is following her golden back are thrilling, for him and for me. The difference between Mama and Kaori is that Kaori is all about the love of music and of self-expression. Mama was rigid and technical. Or at least she became that way. Kaori's not likely to go down that path. The show is suggesting that Kousei may be recovering his actual love of music, going back to the time he was just beginning to learn to play.

My feelings about this episode were similar to DragoonKain3's. Thrilling episode. And it was so moving when Tsubaki was devastated to glimpse how much Kousei was into Kaori. However, I do agree with cyth that we can't take Kousei's "no-one understands" totally at face value. He does suffer from a kind of Stockholm Syndrome, where he loves his tormentor (Mama, in this case, lol). But at least the love came first, before the torment.

To be honest, I think I find myself identifying more and more with Kaori. She has the clearest vision, and the most pressing problem (as it turns out). Music is freedom. Of course, it is hard not to identify with Tsubaki, too. She doesn't even really know she loves Kousei in a romantic way. She thinks he's just a troublesome little brother.

I loved the way Ryouta seems to be falling more and more for Kaori. Such complications ahead. I can even (barely) imagine KaorixKousei being a purely musical association, with her romantic feelings going elsewhere. However, I think music is her life, and her desire to get close to Ryouta was just another aspect of her desperation to do everything before the end, including dating the most attractive boy in the school. Tragic for a teenager to already have a "bucket list."

[cyth]

Originally Posted by Kaoru Chujo

This is far from being a problem. It adds a wonderful richness to the show. If we are all psychologists trying to help this poor boy, then maybe it's a problem. But we are animephiles enjoying a show. Let's see what fate has in store for our complicated hero in his complicated life.

Actually, my problem with the setup is that it limits what the show can do later to make it seem less cliche. If Kaori's sickness prolongs his mommy issues, then that's really what this show is about, no? She should be the one helping to resolve his issues!

[HandofFate]

Originally Posted by cyth

Actually, my problem with the setup is that it limits what the show can do later to make it seem less cliche. If Kaori's sickness prolongs his mommy issues, then that's really what this show is about, no? She should be the one helping to resolve his issues!

I think she will.
Kousei's trauma ended up carrying over after his mother died. And he never really got closure for himself on what music means to him. Is it just a connection to his mother, or does he really love music.

Now he has a second chance to redo it now that he isn't a 8-10 year old kid now. He's more conscious of himself, and making is own decision.

You can say Kaori has other motives, and is using Kousei to achieve her goal before she dies.

It goes both ways, Kousei is going to use Kaori as a substitute for his mother to get over his problem. Give & Take

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by Funkatron

Actually, I think she started as a good teacher but slowly devolved into strictness the sicker she got. Notice that scene where she was nice she wasn't in a wheelchair or had the oxygen tubing in her nose. Every scene we've scene of her being abusive, she looked much more sickly and was wheelchair bound. My guess is the sicker she got, the more demanding she became due to her knowing she was closer to death and didn't have enough time to mold her son the way she wanted.

I wonder if another factor, aside from her failing health, was that it looked like Kousei really had a shot at greatness. That his career as a world-class musician went from a dream, "it would be nice if it happened", to a terror that it wouldn't come to pass. That she somehow would fail to train him into it. Plus the frustration of knowing she wouldn't live to see it.

Originally Posted by cyth

So many things to whine about this episode, I unconsciously said "This is fucking stupid" while watching.

Kousei has himself convinced of the bullshit the two girls spew out about him making excuses on each turn. Of course, we're prompted to forgive Kaori now because she has a disease and somehow sick children are more mature or something. I can see it coming down to that.

Then Kousei's flashback to a time when his mother was still alive and healthy. We learn after she became ill she became a different person. I guess that's what happens in real world too sometimes, but for purposes of something that aims to be a serious drama it falls deep into cliche territory. His mom's singing was off and that only served to irritate me even more.

It'snot surprising. For him to be so attached to his mother and the piano, there has to have been some nice memories buried under the trauma.

Originally Posted by Kanon

I suspect it is a fatal disease. What she said in the previous episode about playing so that people will never forget her was a major death flag. Plenty of drama ahead. I'd rather take this kind of drama over over-the-top middle school romance drama though. I hope it's going to be handled tastefully.

Since "april" is in the title, I wonder if she'll live to see may?

[orion]

Originally Posted by Anh_Minh

Since "april" is in the title, I wonder if she'll live to see may?

I doubt that they will kill her off. This isn't a seinen title and it would be bad for sales.

[Master_Yoma]

Kousei freaking out it like drowning under a wight of issues but at less he got some good memories

[Shadow5YA]

Originally Posted by Anh_Minh

I wonder if another factor, aside from her failing health, was that it looked like Kousei really had a shot at greatness. That his career as a world-class musician went from a dream, "it would be nice if it happened", to a terror that it wouldn't come to pass. That she somehow would fail to train him into it. Plus the frustration of knowing she wouldn't live to see it.

I think it's more that mother Arima was frustrated that she lost her own career because of her illness, so she projected her failures onto her own son the more ill she became.

Had she stayed healthy, I doubt she would have been so adamant on getting Kousei to fill her shoes.

[hoshino_crimsonwings]

The music is simply stunning, can't wait till their OST is released.

[Benigmatica]

Episode 4:

Didn't expect for a comeback though as Arima-kun sunk in through his trauma mid-performance, but the damage has been done for both of them.

What's worse is that Kaori got collapsed afterwards. Man, I hope she's alright!

[DragoonKain3]

Okay, now back to business. And look at this, what I want to tell to everyone can be summed up in one reply!

Originally Posted by Cloudedmind

Just because Arima himself doesn't realize that his mother was the problem doesn't make it any less true.

See, that's the difference between me and most of the people here in this thread. Most people approach this series using real life as a basis. I approach this series as a written fictional piece of work.

As such, I assume that the writer is extremely competent and knows exactly what he (I dunno if the author is a he or a she, but I'm going to assume he) is writing. That is, he drew the scenes and wrote the dialogue, knowing full well the importance, the significance, and the implications with each picture and with each word that he puts in his work.

So if the author writes that Arima has a problem with other people and not his mom, and the author ALSO writes that his inner self (the cat) has problems with being compared to the legend Beethoven and not with his mom, AND the author gives Arima pretty much the same affliction as Beethoven thus the implication that his trauma has GOT something to do with Beethoven, who am I to contradict the author just because 'real life' says otherwise?

The fact that he sees a nasty image of his mother right before he stops being able to hear the music is also telling.

As I said before, his mom in audience can be seen as a reminder that his mom is dead and thus, he is all alone. They did show her there one moment, and then she's gone, leaving him alone again. It was ONLY then the notes started to disappear from score, and him being unable to hear the sounds of his own playing.

The way I think about the scene... wouldn't it make more sense for Kousei to stop hearing the music after seeing that nasty smile of ghost mom (rather than when she disappears) if indeed the mom's abuse was the problem?

Now later he does have another vision of her but unlike the previous ones it's a happy image from before she gets sick,, leading us to believe that her getting sick was a cause in her change of behavior and attitude.

Oh yeah, definitely her mom changed after she got sick. No disagreements with me there.

That doesn't change the fact though that towards the end of her life his mother was abusive and left him with mental scars and trauma.

So... if it was the mom's fault for giving him the trauma, how does him remembering her before she got sick fix any of that?

Okay, STORY TIME!

When I first read Shigatsu wa Kimi Uso, I am not going to lie to you guys, I personally thought it was a stinking pile of crap. Like, it did not make sense at all for me. While true, I was a bit jaded that Kaori succeeded in like weeks what Tsubaki has been trying to do for years, and couldn't accept Kaori succeeded because she is someone Arima has falllen in love with, what really got me was that the narrative did not flow whatsoever under my initial assumption that (like everyone else) Arima's trauma was caused by the 'abuse' of his mom.

Think about it...

Assuming it was his mom's "abuse" that caused him the trauma, wouldn't her death be liberating rather than suffocating him? Why was he beaming so brightly when he won the competition? [eps 1 13:55] Why would the memory of a 'nicer mom' of days past be the one to get him to start to hear the music again? In the end, the mom is still the one who abused him, so that makes absolutely no sense.

Then there are things that the "abuse = trauma" theory doesn't explain. How is abuse connected at all with feeling all alone in the bottom of the dark sea where he can't hear anything? Why is he still clinging to the piano half-heartedly when his trauma stems from the abuse that came with it? Why is the cat speaking nonsense about being compared to Beethoven if his actual problem is the abuse that he received while playing the piano?

Not only that, but going under this assumption, how did Kaori convince Kousei to acoompany her? The only thing we have to go by is that Kousei only accepted to be Kaori's acommpanist because she's the one he loves, and she's crying while she pleads him to do as she wishes.

While technically true, that will be be all and end all of the whole story, as we can't use the theory of Kaori as a replacement for his mom. This because if the 'abuse' is the problem and Kaori the next coming of his mom (who was the source of the abuse), wouldn't Kaori have instead the opposite effect and push him further away from playing the piano?

So yeah, make no mistake, I PERFECTLY understood what the complaints were by a lot of people when episode 3 aired. Pixie Manic Dream Girl Kaori, Kousei's trauma being trivialized by accepting to Kaori's accompanist, Kousei being a shallow dude, the entire shebang. Believe me, I held the same opinion about the series on my first run through (the manga) and only really enjoyed the series after what was equivalent of episode 4 (thank god for Tsubaki keeping me interested!).

Then I saw episode 1 and only then did I think "Maybe I was mistaken with my assumption?" Before I actively ignored a lot what the author was writing down about how Kousei feels, thinking that it was imagery not relevant to the plot, since none of it matches my assumption of the mom's abuse being the source of Kousei's trauma. Only upon watching the anime that I thought maybe the author wasn't incompetent after all, and wrote all those things down for a reason.

[Flower]

Ep 04

Yep. The adaptation is extraordinarily faithful to the source material.

A little while ago another member asked me what I thought about the series and here was my reply:

Hmm...well, I am very fond of it, but, like Akatsuki no Yona, I read some manga chapters before the adaptation aired and not only liked it on the whole, but also experienced the initial strong emotional reactions I had in reacion to the manga. So up to now the material for me is not as intense as an anime only viewer's at this point.

I can say that the series is very...hmm...intense and raw, very much like a 14 year old emotions and crazy rushes and ups and downs. In that sense I feel the adaptation has done quite well thus far - part of me feels that if someone engages themselves in the series they should expect something akin to trying to bring a thrashing drowning victim under control, though in an emotional sense.

The best part for me is the insight we get into the MC - I felt the portrayal of the desolation of his inner landscape is pretty well done on the whole, and I especially enjoy his mullings and rolling his experiences of the past under the...erm..."tongue" of his new experiences, I guess...is really well done. But then I liked it in the manga too.

Tl;dr? Melodrama. Very. And it will likely test the suspension of many viewer's disbelief. But I like that kind of stuff generally.

And I guess after seeing the ep 4 it sums up my reactions pretty well. This is a series that can get under your skin and simultaneously move and infuriate you, make you facepalm in frustration and yet bring you to the brink of tears with its loveliness. It is...well...exhausting and draining, and in lots of ways at the same time.

[larethian]

The main problem with the manga was that it was soundless!
I definitely have nothing to complain about the music direction, bgms, in-show performances. Heck, I even love the OP and ED, composition, lyrics and all. I already have the manga from bookwalker, and it's been a while since I got anime goods, but I'm definitely getting all the media goods of this show.

[Shadow5YA]

Originally Posted by DragoonKain3

AND the author gives Arima pretty much the same affliction as Beethoven thus the implication that his trauma has GOT something to do with Beethoven, who am I to contradict the author just because 'real life' says otherwise?

Except Beethoven's hearing was physically impaired, while in this case, Kousei is wallowing in his own angst.

Originally Posted by DragoonKain3

So... if it was the mom's fault for giving him the trauma, how does him remembering her before she got sick fix any of that?

It doesn't.

Originally Posted by DragoonKain3

Assuming it was his mom's "abuse" that caused him the trauma, wouldn't her death be liberating rather than suffocating him? Why was he beaming so brightly when he won the competition? [eps 1 13:55] Why would the memory of a 'nicer mom' of days past be the one to get him to start to hear the music again? In the end, the mom is still the one who abused him, so that makes absolutely no sense.

Because the trauma isn't that his ill mother was cruel, but that he could never live up to her expectations.

It should be obvious that Kousei started playing piano to impress his mother and other people in her world, but as she grew increasingly ill, Kousei collapsed under the expectations set for him as badly as his mother's life did.

Originally Posted by DragoonKain3

Then there are things that the "abuse = trauma" theory doesn't explain. How is abuse connected at all with feeling all alone in the bottom of the dark sea where he can't hear anything?

Because he was trained to meet the expectations of others, though primarily his mother. His life's performance hinges on the happiness of others.

Being unable to hear anything, and that being his "punishment" is because believe it or not, he's a growing child with conflicting feelings.

He needs think for himself now that his mother is gone, but since his performances were based on pleasing mostly her, he doesn't know how to think for himself. Getting lost in his own thoughts (and as this show proved, he has a lot of thoughts), means he can no longer be the human metronome Kaori called him.

Originally Posted by DragoonKain3

Why is he still clinging to the piano half-heartedly when his trauma stems from the abuse that came with it? Why is the cat speaking nonsense about being compared to Beethoven if his actual problem is the abuse that he received while playing the piano?

Kousei and Tsubaki already said it: it's the only world he knows.

And failing expectations (or more specifically, disappointing others) usually does not mean you failed to do something beyond what you're capable of, but that you failed to do something you or others believe you can do.

That is the paradox of self-pity. There is the feeling of disappointment, but it's not enough to prove it's beyond your league to the point where you can move on.

Originally Posted by DragoonKain3

Not only that, but going under this assumption, how did Kaori convince Kousei to acoompany her? The only thing we have to go by is that Kousei only accepted to be Kaori's acommpanist because she's the one he loves, and she's crying while she pleads him to do as she wishes.

Because her point was that it's better to try something and fail rather than to avoid attempting it at all. Even if she can't meet expectations, at least someone will remember what she did. That's her lesson to Kousei.

Originally Posted by DragoonKain3

While technically true, that will be be all and end all of the whole story, as we can't use the theory of Kaori as a replacement for his mom. This because if the 'abuse' is the problem and Kaori the next coming of his mom (who was the source of the abuse), wouldn't Kaori have instead the opposite effect and push him further away from playing the piano?

You're oversimplying the problem.

Again, Kousei's issue is figuring out what others expect from him now that his mother is gone, and what to expect from himself.

It is his mother's fault for raising him to become so critical of himself to the point where he has lost his self-esteem.

And whether you like it or not, Kaori clearly will be the driving force behind helping Kousei find his raison d'être. He doesn't have to physically cling to her, but you're not giving her enough credit if you're telling me she won't be a major influence in Kousei's life, especially with all the flowery language he uses to describe her.

[cyth]

Originally Posted by DragoonKain3

Assuming it was his mom's "abuse" that caused him the trauma, wouldn't her death be liberating rather than suffocating him? Why was he beaming so brightly when he won the competition? [eps 1 13:55] Why would the memory of a 'nicer mom' of days past be the one to get him to start to hear the music again? In the end, the mom is still the one who abused him, so that makes absolutely no sense.

She's also the one person who provided structure to his life. Unfortunately, she dragged him down to the bottom of the ocean with herself (the Beethoven path), but now she's gone. The little bugger wants her back no matter what kind of abuse he went through, because deep down he remembers what his mom was like before she got ill. That he still cries for her in his thoughts while simultaneously imagining her to be this scary entity just shows he respects those memories more than he likes hearing or thinking about the abuse he went through. Not only does he want a nicer mom, but also craves the structure he had.

While technically true, that will be be all and end all of the whole story, as we can't use the theory of Kaori as a replacement for his mom. This because if the 'abuse' is the problem and Kaori the next coming of his mom (who was the source of the abuse), wouldn't Kaori have instead the opposite effect and push him further away from playing the piano?

While his mother was alive, Kousei was properly playing the piano. Sure, she was abusive with dreams of her own, but not once did he shut down under her rule. After she died, he was lost in darkness. Now Kaori comes into picture, another musician who forces him to play to achieve her dreams. Another commonality between the two female characters is that neither of them gave any thought to what Kousei might want. It's more than likely he wants the same thing as they did, but he was never asked, it was always forced upon him. So this kid is used to having someone else tell him how to live his life, someone to depend on when it comes to that. What is supposed to be his time for self-discovery and self-liberation has turned back to reclaiming the structure and dependence on another that he used to have as a kid. Kaori's presence only delays the start of his journey to personal discovery of whether he truly likes music or not.

It surprises me that we don't get to hear anything about Kousei's father. Did he die before Kousei was born or very little, or did he leave them when his mother got ill?

[Soliloquy]

Originally Posted by Shadow5YA

Snip

My god! You analysed the main character's psyche better than anyone can. I'm impressed.

Originally Posted by Shadow5YA

You're oversimplying the problem.

Again, Kousei's issue is figuring out what others expect from him now that his mother is gone, and what to expect from himself.

It is his mother's fault for raising him to become so critical of himself to the point where he has lost his self-esteem.

And whether you like it or not, Kaori clearly will be the driving force behind helping Kousei find his raison d'être. He doesn't have to physically cling to her, but you're not giving her enough credit if you're telling me she won't be a major influence in Kousei's life, especially with all the flowery language he uses to describe her.

This is the exact problem I have with this anime. It's too manufactured, too artificial for me to be moved deeply. And I have problem with people in general in their obsessive need for categorising and generalising the trauma that only a handful of people can really explain about. Sure, how people deals with trauma varies from each other, but the general outcome of it is, the sufferer will be affected for long time even if the source of the trauma is long gone. The tone of this anime feels grounded that it wants to be taken seriously as it's tackling a heavy subject but the monologue of the main character decorating with flowery metaphors and similes when describing Kaori makes me roll my eyes. Maybe I've grown too weary over the years.

[Cloudedmind]

Originally Posted by Soliloquy

My god! You analysed the main character's psyche better than anyone can. I'm impressed.



This is the exact problem I have with this anime. It's too manufactured, too artificial for me to be moved deeply. And I have problem with people in general in their obsessive need for categorising and generalising the trauma that only a handful of people can really explain about. Sure, how people deals with trauma varies from each other, but the general outcome of it is, the sufferer will be affected for long time even if the source of the trauma is long gone. The tone of this anime feels grounded that it wants to be taken seriously as it's tackling a heavy subject but the monologue of the main character decorating with flowery metaphors and similes when describing Kaori makes me roll my eyes. Maybe I've grown too weary over the years.

This soooo very much. The emotional and mental scars from a traumatic experience doesn't just go away simple because you remove someone from the environment. Yes, that's usually the first step, but if it was the only step to recovery then PTSD wouldn't exist, and people wouldn't suffer from it for years after said event or events.

But perhaps I giving the mangaka to much credit and should significantly lower my expectations as to how this is all going to be handled in even a marginally realistic fashion.