I used to be a huge anime nerd. Back in the day I even worked with some groups to distribute anime on the web. Back when you could expect to download episodes in segments and you were lucky to find something subtitled! Ahhh those were the days.
I’ve slowly declined watching anime though. I have found the characters to have been growing more bland and stereotyped and just lacking in anything new and interesting. But this morning looking for something to watch while eating my frosted mini wheats, I found a show called “Kimi No Todoke.” At first I wasn’t sure what it would be like.
I liked the art style though and decided to watch it. I was touched. I’m not a huge romance fan, but this was so sweet and appealing I ended up not only watching the first, but the second as well.
It’s the typical romance idea – pairing an unpopular girl and the popular boy. Only this anime looks at how one appears to others and how relationships tend to affect and change people. The heroine of the story is lonely. Being a lonely nerd myself and understanding how rumors can go, I found myself quickly attached to the girl. Taken in by the ability to be open and communicate easily with his peers, she falls into an initial deep admiration for a young man.
The young man isn’t your typical popular boy. He is courteous, sensitive, and really just a nice guy. They’ve hinted though that he’s not quite behaving as he’d like. He’s not presenting his true self. And by then end of the first episode both seem very taken with the other but with different mind sets.
Additionally, Sawako (the heroine) begins to make friends because feeling challenged and led to be more open and honest with people thanks to the hero (Kazehaya). Through the snubbing of the kids at school you get to see how her attempts to be more open (very awkwardly!) and gentle naivete win over two of the tough girls in class.
By the end of the second episode Sawako sees an end to her loneliness and is feeling truly happy for one of the first times ever. But they left a suspicion that there is trouble ahead with a girl who seems to always show up with the two heroes are communicating privately. Sawako seems to be realizing she holds more than just a deep respect and admiration for Kazehaya and he too is finding out more about himself.
The character development and pacing is actually very smooth and gentle. The characters just feel refreshing and aren’t flooded out too much by comical bunny trails or too weird of faces. Accompanied by what I feel is a very pleasant art style, I pretty much have fallen in love with what I’ve seen of this anime so far.
I’ve learned too this is based off a manga (graphic novel) and I’ll likely look into getting this as well.
I watch a lot of my anime at animeseason.com and you can find this series there. Some heads up on the site though – in the past it had some malware popups. I think they’ve dealt with most of it, and not had issues in a while. But be sure to keep the popup blockers up and if you find yourself oddly redirected heads up on that as well. I’ve been watching anime on the site for about a year now though and overall I’d say its trustworthy.
Another option is to check out youtube!
Link for now: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUQlf26UwPM
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