Kimi ni Todoke: From Me to You
Story and Art by Karuho Shiina.
Published by Viz Media. 216 pages. 2009. $8.99
How many ways can I justify Kimi ni Todoke? It certainly impressed two of Anime Diet’s other writers to have written past blog entries about it. (Even I got into writing about the anime for a little bit on my blog.)
Ray’s Take -01
Mike’s Take on Why I like Sawako
Mike’s Mild Therapy Entry
Mike’s 8-9
Mike’s Midway Point
animemiz initial impression
animemiz Midway point
There is also the second season that currently airing in Japan this anime season. If you do enjoy the anime greatly, then you definitely should check out the manga version. The anime version can be a draw for visual people, but manga reading has subtle nuances that rely an internal feeling that is only produced by the reader. That’s how I felt when I read the first book. There are also more spoken in the manga that is otherwise overlooked in the anime.
Still upon reading the manga, there are some drawbacks… for one if you read the manga before seeing the anime, there are some expectations in seeing what is animated or not. Then there is disappointment when the bits are not animated. Another is the obvious five senses used of course. Reading uses only the sight, but watching is sight and sounds. Smells is also another condition that is for your discretion of course.
Kimi ni Todoke is an extremely innocent and slow paced high school romance. This may not be a realistic reality for many people, but this is definitely an ideal one from a very proper approach. Meeting someone who you want to be with for the rest of your life, having that same feeling return and maintaining a relationship is not going to be an easy thing to occur.
I don’t believe I have ever seen a male protagonist blush as much as what Kazehaya does. The manga has themes of friendship, acceptance, understanding, and inner beauty. There is not as much conflicts that Sawako should overcome, other than her own confidence on being accepted in spite of other school situation. Sawako is a shy and introverted girl with a “scary” face.
I definitely have pretty high hopes to see more of this series soon, so that’s my thoughts of this series at the moment. There has been six volumes with a seventh coming out soon in English and Japanese. This is one series that definitely has caught up with the Japanese version.
Kare Kano and High School Debut may be similar manga reads. Both are shoujo titles with teen relationships in it, but that is where similarities may end. Kimi ni Todoke has an interesting premise that please a reader who is patient enough with the relationship being developed slowly.