Manga Alphabet: K is for Kimi ni todoke

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Kimi ni todoke: From Me to You

Kimi ni todoke is a shojo high school manga centred on Sawako "Sadako" Kuronuma (in the middle above), a shy and very well-meaning young woman whose looks and quiet demeanour unfortunately has made her peers find her creepy. She's isolated and forgotten rather than maliciously bullied at the start of the story, and has never really learned how to be with people in an informal way. But this begins to change when the cheerful Shota Kazehaya, the most popular boy in her class, starts to reach out to her, eventually followed by others, and we get to see Sawako slowly opening up and making new connections in a sometimes dramatic, sometimes heartbreaking, usually heartwarming and hopeful way. Lots of great points about loneliness and friendship and budding romantic love are made.

There are many things to like in this very sympathetic manga, like the gentle pace, the unexpected outcomes to many common high school story tropes, Kazehaya being genuinely nice and friendly and all the more popular for it... One particularly neat thing is the treatment and presence of Sawako's classmates Ayane Yano and Chizu Yoshida (pictured flanking Sawako above). When they're initially presented, you think they're going to be bad guys, with Yano (who likes fashion and make-up, dates an older guy, is good at reading people) as an Alpha Bitch and the somewhat more socially clueless tomboy Yoshida her tough henchwoman. Instead [spoiler], they prove to be genuinely open and friendly towards Sawako, finding her funny and adorable; and eventually they get to be quite close friends with her. Indeed, the three girls' friendship is constantly depicted as very important and positive in the narrative, and not something to be taken for granted or underestimate.[/spoiler]

Another thing that I really like is that Sawako has a good home life: her parents are loving and supportive. That goes against stereotypes in a refreshing way.



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Creators

Kazuo Koike (but only for Lone Wolf & Cub)
Goseki Kojima (ditto)
Fumiyo Koumi (Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms)



Favourite characters

Kagome Higurashi (Inu-Yasha)
Kenji Endo (20th Century Boys)
Kurotowa (Nausicäa of the Valley of Wind
Kushana (ditto)
Kyo Sohma (Fruits Basket)
Kyoko Mogami (Skip Beat!)
Kyoko Otonashi (Maison Ikkoku)


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Anime corner

Kino's Journey Episodic series in 13 parts based on a series of light novels about a traveller called Kino. Kino, who travels on a sapient and talking motorcycle called Hermes, never stays longer than three days in any single countries (the countries in this world all seem to be fairly small). The anime's motto is "The world isn't beautiful, and therefore it is". Indeed, the people Kino encounters often aren't very beautiful - there's a lot of tragedy and dark humour on display - but there is also genuinely moving, poignant and lyrical stuff. The main character is pretty detached and philosophical most of the time, which makes it all the more powerful when that's not the case. Sometimes when I've watched the series I wish it had more openly emotional moments, and perhaps a few less disillusioned ones, but I guess then it would have been a different series. As it is, Kino's Journey has a quiet integrity and a lovely, sad charm all its own.

Kiki's Delivery Service, the 1989 Miyazaki movie about the 13-year-old Kiki who, following her country's tradition for young witches, sets out to live alone for a year and make her own living away from her parents, with only her cat Jiji as company. Kiki's only magical talent so far is broom-flying, which every witch knows, but she doesn't let that stop her from flying far away. She makes it to the large and beautiful town Kiriko (entrancingly animated with inspiration from Stockholm, Naples, San Francisco and more!), where she at first has a hard time understanding big city people but soon finds a place to stay and a way to make a living - by making on-air deliveries. After getting several interesting missions and meeting many new people, something unexpected and upsetting happens, which leads to some really cool introspective, character-exploring passages until the dramatic climax occurs. With all the wish-fulfillment of the set-up and the generally warm tone of the movie, Kiki still comes off like a pretty real-feeling young teenaged girl to me, her hopes and daydreams and insecurities feeling quite authentic.