Manga Alphabet: K is for Kimi ni todoke

[rainsometimes]

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.

Comments

[randono]

Aww, då kanske jag skulle läsa Kimi ni todoke. Jag är en total sucker för vänskap i berättelser. Jag hade hoppat över Kimi ni todoke för att jag tyckte beskrivningen av mangan lät som The Wallflower. Båda har ju en Sadako-creepy tjej som ska kastas in i en romans.

Det låter som Kimi ni todoke är mer i min stil eftersom den inte enbart fokuserar på biten med att para ihop folk (visserligen gör många romantik-manga det bra, men jag tycker inte att hitta ett kärleksintresse är ett sätt att lösa alla ens sociala problem, vilket det ibland känns som om romantiska berättelser försöker antyda).

När det gäller anime på K måste jag nämna Kyo Kara Maoh och KURAU Phantom Memory. De är både favoriter fast på olika sätt (med reservation för att det är en story-arc i Kyo Kara Maoh som irriterar sönder mig, men jag förlåter serien för det eftersom den väger upp det med epic crack i resterande säsonger).

Mangamässigt kommer jag bara på Kusatta Kyoushi no Houteishiki, som visserligen är yaoi, men väldigt rolig. Ehm. Om man ignorerar det enda paret i serien som får stå för sexet, jag tycker den elake läraren och hans hängivna stalker är bäst. KKH är lite speciell för mig eftersom jag i princip vuxit upp med serien i mina tonår. Jag hann komma upp en bra bit över tjugo år innan jag äntligen, äntligen kunde läsa serien på engelska. Om den fanns officiellt utgiven och ocensurerad så skulle jag köpa alla delarna direkt!

[rainsometimes]

Ja, Kimi ni todoke är inte särskilt like Wallflower - finns väl då en fysisk likhet mellan Sunako och Sawako, men de är helt olika till sättet och likaså är uppläggen och tonerna helt annorlunda. Och som sagt, vänskap är väldigt betydelsefullt i Kimi ni todoke.

Tack för rekommendationerna! Hoppas Kusatta Kyoushi no Houteishiki blir officiellt utgiven en dag, då! (Undrar om den finns på franska... Vad heter mangakan?)

[randono]

Vad heter mangakan?

Hon heter Kazuma Kodaka. Den första yaoi-mangaka som jag lyckades lära mig namnet på för övrigt ;D

[rainsometimes]

Tack! Jag kollade just på en fransk seriesajt och där finns följande titlar utgivna av henne, men de har alla franska titlar... är någon av dem den rätta månne?

http://www.bdnet.com/catalogue_auteurdetail_Kodaka-Kazuma

[randono]

Hm, jag var tvungen att trixa lite för att få se vad som stod på hennes författarinfo. Jag tror inte KKH var med där, Not ready sensei är en annan manga och Kizuna är...speciellt. Det är återigen Kodaka-problemet med att huvudpersonerna enligt mig är urtråkiga, det enda de gör är att ha en massa sex på ett pseudoheterosexuellt sätt och angsta. Bikaraktärerna är trevliga, men de får inget utrymme till skillnad från KKH.

[rainsometimes]

Aj då, vad synd! Tack för förklaringen! Kanske den kommer på franska (el rentav engelska) en vacker dag...

[alabastajewel]

I highly recommend Kekkaishi by Yellow Tanabe. It's one of my very favorite manga ever, right up there with One Piece. While initially, it may seem like a fairly typical shounen, in my opinion it distinguishes itself pretty quickly, and presents a lot of common tropes with an unusual twist. For example, Yoshimori, the protagonist, loves baking, and has a major crush on his next-door neighbor/childhood friend (oh yeah, and rival) Tokine, who's two years older than him. Really, so many of the characters are just wonderful! I'm tired and not doing a good job at all of singing its praises, but if you haven't, you should check it out! The manga itself is complete, and Viz has nearly translated all of it; I think they only have a couple volumes left to go. (There was an anime adaptation a few years ago too, but I've only seen the first few episodes and wasn't too impressed.)

The mangaka is a woman, too, and she represents herself as a penguin, which I think is just adorable.

[rainsometimes]

That sounds amazing! The art style in the image you posted kinda reminds me both of Rumiko Takahashi and Hiromu Arakawa (is it a Female Mangaka Of Shonens thing??), which definitely appeals to me. Based on your recommendation I just bougth the first three volumes as a three-in-one set: much looking forward to getting to read it!