Kaori Miyazono

Kaori Miyazono (宮園 かおり Miyazono Kaori) is the main female protagonist of Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso. She is the only daughter of Yoshiyuki Miyazono and Ryouko Miyazono. Kaori is a gifted violinist who attended Sumiya Junior High School.

Appearance
Kaori is a beautiful girl in her early teens with long wavy waist-length blonde hair and pale indigo eyes. Her height is average for her age while her body is noted as frail and delicate. Following Kaori's hospitalization, her hair color and skin color began to fade into a duller hue. She also wears contact lenses, which are the same color as her eyes.

As a little girl, she wore a pink dress and her hair was at chin-length. During her early years of Junior High, she wore black rimmed glasses and tied her hair into two low pigtails.

Personality
Kaori is a free-spirited violinist who reflects her playing style with that of her own personality. She is friendly and encouraging and loves sweet foods. Kaori has many interests, however one thing that remains constant after meeting Kousei Arima, since they were younger, is her passion for the violin. Kaori is independent, and is more of a support for others, as well as an innovator. She puts up a smile in front of others, regardless of how she feels, in order to avoid her friends worrying about her. Kaori has an open mind, and seems to have trouble settling on one thing, before moving to the next. This is shown when she used a pencil to decide which piece to perform for the competition, and when she takes up ballet, the piano and then the violin. Kaori isn’t fussed when it comes to being late (and even being a “no-show”), and easily shakes off situations that others may find serious.

Background
When Kaori was younger, her class went to see a music recital, where she first saw Kousei Arima. From the moment he touched the keys and started playing, she was immediately inspired by his music.

Kaori was physically weak and underwent many surgeries. Despite so, her hospitalizations became more frequent and prolonged, which lead to her often missing school and practice. One night, possibly eavesdropping or simply walking by, she observed her mother crying in the hospital lobby. She then discovered she didn't have much time remaining to live, and shortly after she realized it herself through the recurrent hospitalizations and developing weakness.

When she realised that she would be attending the same junior high school as Kousei, she wanted to approach him. Because Tsubaki Sawabe was close friends with Kousei, she had trouble getting his attention. So she built up her courage, replaced her glasses with contact lenses (which she was too scared to wear), and became her unique self, by doing everything the way she wished to. Knowing that Tsubaki was a close friend of Kousei’s, Kaori asked her to introduce her to Ryota Watari, another one of Kousei’s close friends. This way, she would be able to get closer to Kousei.

Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso
Kaori plays with three young children, attempting to summon pigeons by playing her melodica while standing atop a dome in the park. She catches a boy taking a photo of her as a gust of wind blows her dress, and immediately lashes out at him with her melodica and pins him down with a recorder. Upon realising that she had attacked the famed pianist Kousei Arima, Kaori apologises for her violence, and is introduced to Ryota Watari by Tsubaki Sawabe as she had requested. Kaori invites the three to watch her in the preliminary round of the violin competition. The three agree, and set off to Towa Hall.

When it comes to Kaori’s turn, she changes up the set piece (Beethoven’s “Kreutzer”), and turns the whole thing into her very own original score. By the end of the performance, the audience applauded and cheered tumultuously for her (much to the anger of the judge, who was not happy with what she played). After the preliminary round ended, a young girl gifted her with a bouquet of flowers. Kaori was voted “audience choice”, bringing her to the next round of the competition.

Kaori hid her illness from everyone else. This was first shown when she collapsed after her first performance with Kousei. At the time, she claimed to be anemic. However, there were many suggestions of more severe health concerns. She was shown with medication during Kousei's competition, and was unable to participate in her callback round with Kousei during her prolonged hospitalization. It is later revealed that she was unable to perform with Kousei after she fell and hit her head at home. When Kousei heard from about Kaori's hospitalization from Tsubaki Sawabe, he rushed to visit her.

It later became obvious that her health is deteriorating rapidly and she could no longer hide her illness from her friends. Her illness began causing bouts of paralysis in her legs. Also, she suddenly fell to the ground while walking down the hallway in the hospital and she was unable to stand up again. During one of her hospital visitations, Kousei noticed that she had gotten paler and skinnier.

As Kaori's surgery date approached, she wrote a farewell letter to Kousei. On the day of Kousei's piano competition, Kaori underwent surgery. But despite the doctor's efforts, she died on the 18th of February at the age of fourteen. At her funeral, her letter was given to Kousei by her parents.

Ability
While considered a great violinist from a theoretical perspective, Kaori often eschews details of the score and its historical and traditional interpretations. The judges note that her abilities far exceed the others in the competition. She wields a free spirited style of performance that emphasized emotion and artistry over strict interpretation of the score and the composer's intent.

Kousei Arima
Ever since Kaori was a little girl, she and her parents have been fans of Kousei and attended all of his performances. After seeing Kousei play the piano, she begged her parents for a violin, in hopes that maybe one day, she’d get Kousei to play the piano for her. Since then, Kaori has been an admirer of Kousei.

When she attended Sumiya Junior High School, Kaori found out that Kousei was also going there too. She wanted to speak to him, but because he was always surrounded by Tsubaki and Watari, she couldn’t. When she realized that she didn’t have much time to live, she decided to up her confidence, by playing the violin in an unconventional way, and wore contact lenses instead of glasses. Kaori first met Kousei in person at the park, when she lashed out on him, after he accidentally took a photo of her, when a gust of wind blew up her dress.

After getting to know each other, they both realize that, as musicians, they have a lot in common. Kaori first discovered that Kousei became tone-deaf when he stopped in the midway, she asked him to play the piano in the café. She then appointed Kousei to be her accompanist. Although reluctant at first, Kousei finally accepted when Kaori begged him to support her in the “moment that she's about to lose heart”. Their relationship gradually strengthened and they start spending more time together, especially in the music room. Kousei found himself falling in love with Kaori, but held back because he knew Watari was interested in her.

At the end of the series, in Kaori's letter, it is revealed that she had a crush on Kousei since they had been young and that she had lied about her crush on Watari just so she could be near Kousei. After her death, Kousei was depressed and accepted it. He continued to play the piano, due to her lasting impact on his life.

Ryota Watari
Watari is Kaori's supposed love interest throughout the series. Both of them are very close friends and tend to act lovey-dovey around each other. It is later revealed that she had faked interest in Watari just to get close to Kousei. Watari was immediately infatuated with Kaori's appearance when he first met her, but still remained a ladies' man, chasing after other girls at school. Nonetheless, he is shown to care for her and visits her frequently when she is in hospital, bringing gifts and making her laugh. In Kaori's letter for Kousei, she claims that Watari was an amazing friend but will probably forget all about her; however, it is visually suggested that he really did like her.

Tsubaki Sawabe
Tsubaki is a classmate of Kaori’s. Kaori asked her to introduce her to Watari thus, Tsubaki ultimately gave her the opportunity to meet Kousei. Kaori tried to meet Kousei in such a roundabout manner because she knew that Tsubaki would not respond well if she directly asked to be introduced; in her letter to Kousei, she mentioned that she knew Tsubaki was in love with Kousei from the very beginning. Both Kaori and Tsubaki can be seen traveling home together throughout their time together, and they are shown to be good friends. Tsubaki liked Kaori as a friend, but realized her own feelings for Kousei after she noticed Kaori and Kousei's relationship developing.

Trivia

 * Kaori is voiced by Rieke Werne in the German dub and Greta Ruiz in the Spanish dub.[1]
 * In Kousei Arima's quote, “A single petal that drifted into my life”, the petal is a metaphor for Kaori, who appeared out of nowhere and disappeared, due to how fragile she was.
 * The illness Kaori suffered from is unknown, but fans of the series have hypothesized that she had suffered from Bone Marrow Failure, Amyotrophic Lateral Scleorsis (ALS) or Friedreich's Ataxia.
 * Kaori loves eating sweet foods.


 * Etymology
 * Kaori (香り) - Fragrance
 * Miyazono (宮園) - Palace Garden