The movie begins in a high school music room where a boy named Kousei Arima plays piano with a beautiful melody.
Unlike usual, Kousei has not played the piano or read sheet music in the music
room for a long time because he has left that life since his mother died.
From a very young age,
his mother always taught Kousei to play music every day to become a successful pianist.
He does have extraordinary talent and genius in playing the piano.
He often wins classical music competitions or piano competitions.
However, all these glorious achievements were never considered perfect by his mother.
Even when he finishes winning a competition, his mother always
interrupts him about the notes that he doesn't play well.
All the pressure to be the perfect pianist in his mother's eyes and all that burden made young Kousei hate her.
He is always demanded to play the piano perfectly by his mother,
until one day he can't stand all the pressure, then has a big fight with her.
Unfortunately, the big fight happened shortly before his mother died,
and Kousei hadn't even had time to say sorry.
Since his mother's death, he suddenly can't hear the sound of the piano and can't read the score well.
He thought it was a punishment he got for all the bad things he had done to his mother before she died.
From then on, he only played the piano when he missed her,
even though he couldn't hear the piano or read the sheet music anymore.
At school, Kousei has a best friend named Ryota Watari and a girl best friend whom he has known
since childhood, Tsubaki Sawabe.
Tsubaki is a tough girl who actively joins the school's baseball club,
while Watari is a playboy who joins the soccer club just to impress girls.
When Kousei comes home from school with them by bus, Tsubaki informs him that there is a classmate
who likes Watari and wants to meet.
Watari, who really likes dating girls, immediately accepts her offer,
and Tsubaki invites Kousei to join the meeting at the end of the week.
After getting off the bus,
Watari suddenly had to leave them because he had to meet one of his girlfriends.
Meanwhile, Tsubaki and Kousei continue their journey to their respective homes, coincidentally in the same housing estate.
Tsubaki has been Kousei's friend since elementary school and is often with him
as they have been neighbors for a long time.
On Saturday, Kousei had arrived first at the meeting place with Tsubaki's classmates.
While waiting in a park, he saw a beautiful girl playing the piano with the children.
Since he was impressed with her music playing and fascinated by her beauty, Kousei intended to take a photo of her.
But when he was taking pictures, a strong wind blew and made her skirt fly,
so he accidentally took a picture of her panties.
When the girl realized that Kousei had taken her picture,
she scolded him and accused him of being a pervert.
While she was nagging and beating him, Tsubaki, who had just arrived at the park, immediately called her Kaori.
It turns out that the girl named Miyazono Kaori is Tsubaki's classmate who previously wanted to
meet Watari to hang out together.
Seeing Kaori looking beautiful and sweet, Watari was excited and introduced himself to her.
After a brief introduction, Tsubaki invites Watari and Kousei
to watch Kaori's violin performance at an annual classical music competition.
At first, Kousei, who was still not ready to hear classical music performances, refused the invitation.
But Kaori insisted on taking him to the classical music performance with them,
so he could do nothing but obey her request.
When Kousei entered the studio and sat in the audience with Watari and Tsubaki,
many people recognized and talked about him. He is known as a young pianist who was quite popular a
few years ago because he often wins classical music competitions. So, it's no wonder many
people know him, especially those interested in classical music or pianist competitions.
When the show started, one by one, the participants started to show their own music.
Watari, who was not interested and didn't understand anything about classical music,
fell fast asleep right from the first participant's appearance. At the same time,
Kousei tried to remain calm even though he was a little nervous. When Kaori's turn to play the
violin on stage, he silently assessed her music playing. Kousei looked surprised because Kaori
didn't play the violin according to the sheet music. She played well and was very sincere, but
she seemed not to care about the judges' judgment and just played according to her heart's desire.
While the judges seemed disappointed with her performance, Kousei was interested in her musical
style because she played the violin happily and freely without any burden. Since meeting Kaori,
Kousei often spends time daydreaming and thinking about her. That day when Kousei was about to go
home from school, he accidentally met Kaori, who was waiting for Watari's arrival on the sidelines.
However, because Watari still has to participate in club activities, she asks Kousei to accompany
her to lunch at a restaurant. At the restaurant, Kaori sees two small children playing the piano,
and she suddenly has an idea to make Kousei want to play the piano again. She approached the two
small children and told them that Kousei was a talented pianist, so the two children asked him
to teach them. Kousei had no choice but to obey the little boy's request and started playing the
piano slowly. At first, everything went smoothly, and the restaurant patrons seemed impressed by
the piano playing by Kousei. However, in the middle, he suddenly stopped playing the piano,
and his hands seemed to shake. He then rushed to grab his things and left the restaurant without
saying anything to Kaori. Seeing this, Kaori ran after Kousei and asked him to go to a lake.
She told him that she often saw the sunset at that place when she was feeling sad.
She said that she had admired Kousei's music playing since she was little, and all of his music
had inspired her to play music. Therefore, since Kousei stopped playing music, Kaori became very
surprised and wondered what made him stop playing the piano. He had no choice but to tell her that
he couldn't hear the piano or read the sheet music well. Hearing that, she encouraged him and
said that his piano sound deserves to be heard by everyone. Not only that, but she also asked Kousei
to help her accompany the song in the next violin competition. The next day at school, Tsubaki looks
happy after learning that Kousei is finally willing to play the piano again after so long.
Since that day, Kaori and Tsubaki have been enthusiastic about helping Kousei overcome his
fear of playing the piano. They started displaying the scores of the songs they were going to play at
the competition all over the walls of the school music room. But unfortunately, after all the
effort and support they gave, Kousei suddenly approached Kaori and said that he couldn't
continue playing the piano and asked her to find another accompaniment. On the day the classical
music competition takes place, Kousei decides not to attend and chooses to relax on the roof. Kaori,
who knew Kousei would be hiding on the roof, approached him and persuaded him to participate
in the competition. She said that he doesn't have to try hard to play perfectly but to play happily
and express his true feelings so that his music can reach the audience's hearts. Hearing all that,
Kousei became impatient with Kaori and accepted her invitation to come to the competition. But
he couldn't promise anything to her or guarantee that they could win the competition. After that,
they rushed to the music studio with the help of Watari and Tsubaki so they could arrive on time.
While waiting for their turn, Kaori approached Kousei, looking seriously at the sheet music,
and tried to calm him so he wouldn't be nervous during the performance later. When it was their
turn to appear on stage, they slowly began to play their instruments calmly and in rhythm. At first,
everything went pretty smoothly, but after getting to the middle of the song, Kousei suddenly
saw the image of his mother and began to lose concentration. He finds it difficult to listen to
the piano or see sheet music well, so he decides to stop playing to not ruin Kaori's performance.
But not long after Kousei stopped playing, Kaori also stopped playing her violin and asked
him to start playing the song again. Seeing her sincerity, Kousei started to get up the courage
to go back to playing the piano without looking at the score and only relying on his memory of the
score he saw all the time. As a result, they could put on a performance that was better than their
previous expectations, and the audience seemed satisfied to see their musical collaboration.
A few days later, Kaori informs Kousei that they have received an invitation
to perform at a gala concert. Even though they had not won any classical music competition before,
some well-known judges and pianists seemed so impressed with their performance that they got
a special invitation to perform at a concert. The next day, when Kaori visited Kousei's house,
she saw a piano and a pile of dusty scores because they had not been used for a long time.
After cleaning Kousei's piano and music room, she finds a sheet of music on the music shelf
and decides to display it again at the gala music concert later. It turns out that the
song is another favorite of Kousei's late mother, entitled Sadness of Love, and his mother often
played that song when Kousei was little. On the other hand, Tsubaki looks sad to see the closeness
between Kousei and Kaori because she has actually liked him for a long time. Still, she is not aware
of her feelings for him. A few days before the gala concert, Kaori and Kousei spent more time
practicing together in the music room. However, when the day of the gala music performance
arrives, Kaori suddenly does not attend the show, so Kousei is forced to appear on stage alone.
When playing his mother's favorite song, he recalled all his good memories with his mother.
His mother used to play the song as a lullaby for him and deliberately played the Sadness of Love
song so that he could grow up to be a stronger person in dealing with all the sorrows in life.
Since Kousei's appearance that day, he begins to accept his mother's death and is slowly freed from
the past trauma that made him stop playing the piano. After the show ended, Kousei, Watari, and
Tsubaki got the news that Kaori was being treated, so they were immediately rushed to the hospital.
While at the hospital, Kaori explained that just as she was about to leave for the show,
she suddenly fell and hit her head on the floor, so she fell and had to be rushed to the hospital.
But actually, Kaori was treated not for that reason. She was suffering from a deadly disease
that made it difficult for her to move. Behind the smile and joy that she showed to her friends,
she secretly kept all the sadness and suffering to herself. A few days later, Kaori was allowed
to go out for a while, so she took the opportunity to approach Kousei and ask him out on a date. She
invites him to buy some books at the bookstore, watch the underwater scenery in a large aquarium,
eat in the park, and play on a beach. Before ending their date, Kaori invites Kousei to
take a photo together as a memento of them. After that, he offered to accompany her to take the bag
to class because he thought she had recovered and returned to school. Unfortunately, Kaori is still
not allowed to enter school, and she deliberately comes to school just to meet Kousei. While crying,
she tells him that she is still being treated and her illness is getting worse every day.
After telling the truth to Kousei, Kaori ran out of the classroom, and when he chased after her,
she suddenly fell unconscious in the school corridor. After that, Kousei called the ambulance
and dropped her off at the hospital. After Kaori woke up, she apologized to Kousei for worrying
him. She didn't expect that her condition would worsen so quickly. Even she wished they never met
if she ended up like that. After knowing her true condition, Kousei chooses to avoid Kaori
because he is still not ready to experience the loss of the person he loves for the second time.
Watari also tried to persuade him to visit Kaori or meet her, even if only for a few minutes. In
the afternoon, Tsubaki visits Kousei at the park near the lake and asks if he likes Kaori. Hearing
that, Tsubaki couldn't help but feel jealous, but for his happiness, she insists on forcing
him to confess his feelings to Kaori before he regrets it. After hearing Tsubaki's words,
Kousei realized that he must confess his feelings to Kaori before it was too late. After that, he
also ventured to meet her at the hospital and eat together on the hospital roof. While on the roof,
Kousei confesses his feelings to Kaori and says he wants to get back to playing music with her.
Hearing Kousei's confession, she kept quiet and didn't say anything while looking up at the sky.
When Kaori was about to return to her room, her legs suddenly relaxed until she finally fell into
Kousei's arms. At that time, he saw for the first time a girl who usually looked cheerful turned
into a very fragile girl. Kaori cried and said she was scared because she was still not ready to face
death. A few days later, Kaori decided to undergo surgery even though the operation's success was
less than 50 percent. This is because she wants to be able to return to playing music so that
she can appear on the same stage with Kousei. On the day of Kaori s surgery, Kousei enters a piano
competition and plays a song he dedicates to her. While performing on stage, Kousei kept imagining
Kaori playing the violin with him and pouring all his feelings into the music he created for her.
She seemed happy to be able to play on stage with him, and he also seemed moved by her presence.
But at the end of the song, Kaori suddenly stopped playing the violin with a smile,
as if she was saying goodbye to Kousei. Her figure slowly disappeared from sight, along with the last
melody he played. It turns out that all of Kousei's thoughts about Kaori's departure are
not just a hunch because, in the end, she really left him. After going through hours of surgery,
the doctor declared that Kaori could no longer be saved and was gone for good. A few days later,
Kousei finds a letter left by Kaori for him in the school's music room. In the letter, she reveals
that she has been interested in him for a long time and wants to be a part of his life. She had
watched all of his performances for a long time. Since seeing Kousei play the piano, Kaori became
inspired to play the violin and became interested in classical music. That's why, when he suddenly
stopped playing the piano, she became very sad and wanted to help him to recover from his trauma.
While at the same high school as Kousei, Kaori pretends to like Watari so she has a chance to
get close to Kousei. While reading the letter, Kousei recalled the memories of when he met her
for the first time and all the memories of when he spent time with her. At the end of the letter,
Kaori finally gives an answer to Kousei's confession of love while on the hospital roof
the other day by saying that she also likes him. Since then, Kousei has returned to playing the
piano like before, and his two friends seem happy with him, who have managed to overcome his fear.
The moral that can be learned from this movie is to live life to the fullest
because we don't know how long we will be able to live in this world and how
much time we have to create beautiful memories with the people we love.