In anticipation of the upcoming live action featuring Miura Haruma (Bloody Monday/Gokusen 3) as the male lead, I decided to sit down and watch the original anime. Typically I'm not a fan of romantic comedies especially concerning a teenage cast, they tend to be consistently monotonous. Boy meets girl, despite having little to no chemistry they fall in love and spend a sluggish amount of time getting together. The old 'will they/won't they?' chestnut gets frustratingly drawn out during a course of illogical events and irrational actions. In essence Kimi Ni Todoke (From Me to You) is more interesting then it should be, since it doesn't deviate from what is expected.
The story focuses on heroine Sawako, a introverted loner, cruelly nicknamed Sadako "the girl from the Ring" as tediously pointed out over and over again, a seemingly laughable premise, until we learn how her shyness is construed as gloom by her classmates, leading to her social exclusion. Though this actually renders the character as identifiable and we are quickly able to regard her with fondness. Howbeit the tendency for Sawako's personality to go overboard is all too frequent, she is often portrayed as too innocent, too native and ultimately too nice, especially when compared to the average fifteen year old girl. Still, Sawako is likeable, which is the main thing.
Enter the love interest, popular heartthrob Kazehaya, who starts paying Sawako attention. Problem is, there is no logical reason for him to do so. Its a minor plot hole, but one commonplace in romantic comedies. Kazehaya encourages Sawako to communicate her feelings in order to make friends just because he is [i]that[/i] nice a guy, seems far fetched. Rather Kazehaya behaves according to how the plot needs him too in order to move along. On top of that, Kazehaya doesn't come across as particularly interested, genuinely a nice guy, but that's about it. I have no clue why other girls want him so badly other than it accommodates the plot.
The enviable Sawado/Kazehaya hook up drags on for 25 long episodes, which *spoiler* doesn't happen. Its slightly disappointing that they don't as much as kiss in those last fleeting moments, the progression of their relationship is so slow that I'd be surprise if they are onto holding hands by the middle of season two. However the series did capture the searing jealous and manipulative nature of the school girl crush quite nicely. Love rival Kurumei was delightfully wicked in her endeavours, crushing the competition in her single minded attempt to gain Kazehaya's affection. Its a shame this sub-plot wasn't carried on to the end of the series.
Still, I'm actually looking forward to season two.
6/10
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