Kimi ni
Todoke
Number of episodes: TBA
Production Studio: Production I.G.
Fansub Release Viewed: Eclipse
Likelihood of US Release: Medium
Sawako is a strange girl who is often mistakenly called “Sadako” due to her appearance and unconventional demeanor. She admires her popular classmate, Kazehaya-kun, due to his outgoing personality and unconditional friendliness towards her.
Episode Summary
Kuronuma Sawako is a misunderstood girl. Her awkward nature makes it difficult to interact with others, and most of her classmates are afraid to talk to her, giving her the nickname “Sadako” like the character from The Ring. There is, however, one bright spot in her life — Kazehaya, a popular boy in her class who takes the time to speak to her and understand what she has to say. He invites her to their class’ test of courage coming up. She goes to the classroom secretly to add her name to the list, but Yano and Yoshida, two of her other female classmates are there discussing how great it would be if Sawako could play a ghost for the event, something which Sawako decides to do earnestly.
On the night of the event, Sawako is able to scare the pants off of most of her classmates as they file through the woods in groups of two, but Kazehaya soon comes by himself, disappointed that he was alone due to Sawako not participating normally in the event. The two sit under the stars until Yano and Yoshida come by with a bottle of tea for Sawako. Kazehaya seems embarrassed, but Sawako isn’t sure why. The next day the class teases Kazehaya for failing to complete the test of courage, giving him the punishment of dating Sawako for a week, something which Kazehaya finds rude. Sawako apologizes to protect his reputation and to clear up any misunderstandings about their relationship, but as Summer Vacation begins, she finds herself weeping over the loss of their friendship. On the way to help her teacher at school, she encounters Kazehaya, who treasures a memory of Sawako helping him out on their first day of high school.
Thoughts
There are those who will take one look at this episode and dismiss it as just another shoujo series, and in many respects they may be right; the first episode is chock full of shoujo tropes, from the misunderstandings that crop up involving the female lead, a male lead who is perfect and gets along with everyone, to art direction that fills many of the backgrounds with fluffy, bubbly imagery that one really only can find in a shoujo series. But somehow, in spite of these obvious elements, there’s something that sets this series apart from your more cliché examples of the shoujo romance genre, and the result is a sublimely-sweet and sometimes quite funny opening episode of a show that charmed me from the outset.
Perhaps the most obvious element that sets this series apart from others is its main character. Far from the ideal icon of beauty and popularity that characterize many female shoujo lead characters, Sawako is earnest but socially-awkward; beautiful in her own way, but not in a way that many people would commonly be able to appreciate. She takes everyone at their word but tends to misinterpret exactly what they’re trying to tell her, and the result is often cute and humorous. She’s often prone to apologizing for not living up to the expectations of others, even if those expectations are as unreasonable as being able to see ghosts or curse people by looking at them. While I can’t say that my own high school experience was quite as awkward, I will say that I identify with the character to some extent, in that she represents all those other girls who normally get teased or ignored; who don’t wear the most fashionable clothes or makeup and have trouble speaking to others, and who would truly love just to fit in and make some friends.
Kazehaya, on the other hand, is a bit of a mystery. He appears for the most part to be a relatively flat character in that he’s popular, he’s the only person who is truly nice to Sawako and even speaks up for her on more than one occasion and doesn’t appear to have any major personality flaws. Even though I think I could be satisfied with a show that concentrates mostly on Sawako and developing her character, it would be nice to see if Kazehaya has another layer beneath his cool exterior. I’m hoping that, as Sawako comes out of her shell, the focus may switch to him a bit and flesh out his character.
The animation production comes courtesy of Production I.G., and even though this isn’t the type of series to feature their excellent action animation, the overall visuals of the series are beautiful. Especially striking are the backgrounds which employ a beautiful and colorful watercolor aesthetic, both taking advantage of modern visual techniques while making the series feel overall very airy and somewhat nostalgic. Yes, there’s a heaping helping of shoujo sparkles, bubbles, and lacy, abstract background images from time to time, but even those elements are visual treats in comparison to many other series. There are also a higher-than-normal occurrence of Sawako turning chibi, which is something that may admittedly turn some people off. I, however, find them extremely cute and very faithful to the manga art, so it wasn’t a big deal to me at all.
If someone just doesn’t have the stomach for shoujo at all and isn’t willing to give this particular series a try, I find that completely understandable. I myself have become frustrated with a lot of the trends in shoujo stories and can see where they would put someone off. But in this case, I couldn’t help but fall in love with the main character, a sweet, naïve girl who just wants to make friends. This definitely comes highly recommended from me.
Pros
- Beautiful background artwork that fits the mood of the show perfectly
- The female lead is very non-traditional, something that sets the series apart
Cons
- It’s a very shoujo show and one has to buy into a certain set of ideas in order to enjoy it
