kimi ni todoke 2
Categories: episodic review, kimi ni todoke
Tagged: kimi ni todoke
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I think, more than anything, I need to write at least 500 more words about Kimi no Todoke.
I wonder if ugly duckling shoujo is to teenaged girls what harem anime is to tennaged boys. There’s always some “ugly” girl who, through her relationship with her “ideal” boy turns into the beautiful swan. Nodame, Kare Kano, PGE… it’s not a list as long as the Akasaka, Wind, H2O, Mamotte, Da Capo, etc, but it’s a sizable category. Obviously, there’s some genres I prefer (train wreck!), but I like any and all good anime. And, surprisingly, Kimi no Todoke is good.
It’s not a fast show. It’s not the same type of gripping as Railgun or Gurren Lagann. But there’s definitely slow clap moments… anyone who has had unpopular moments can sympathize with Sawako as no one wanted to sit next to her. Well, we all knew Kazehaya was going to sit next to her… but everyone else almost fighting to sit next to her as well? Slow clap worthy. It’s about winning people one at a time, much like what Onizuka did at the beginning of GTO. I like this approach.
(Also, we knew a seat change episode would happen soon. There’s no way in hell any major anime character wouldn’t get the back window seat. None. Won’t happen. You’d have better luck looking for a penis in Maria+Holic.)
Production IG is an anime studio to be reckoned with. They go from horses with tailpipes in Basara to the eye-candy-licious Eden of the Eden… to an understated, pastely shoujo style. This trumps Kyoto’s “Wait, is it just me, or does Haruhi look like Yui?” animation style.
(Also like all the SD Sawako. Can we hook SD Sawako up with SD Tomoki from Sora no Otoshimono? Is this how we got the necessary DNA combination for Dan-kun?)
Mamiko Noto. She has 80% of the lines in this series. If you’re a Mamiko Noto fan, you cannot pass up this series. And I was highly, highly disappointed that she didn’t do a “Ippen, shinde miru?†during the test of courage.
This episode (and really the first) didn’t have any sort of theme holding it together. It was just things Sawako did throughout the day, and how she changes her view of Kazehaya, like a prerequisite pre-coupling episode. The only problem is that there’s really no conflict between Sawako and Kazehaya… I could definitely use some– maybe not Yukino and Arima levels– but at least some token conflict. Instead, it’s Sawako’s crush on Kazehaya growing like the K-On!-viewing public with Mio… and Kazehaya’s revealed to be always sympathetic to Sawako.
The thing I don’t understand is why does the class assume so quickly that she rejected him… and don’t give him hell for it. If she is the ugly duckling of the class and one of my friends got shot down by her, do you think I’d stop teasing, Twittering, or texting about it? Hell no. You’re talking about 16 year old boys here. You’d have better luck looking for penises in Maria+Holic than finding brain cells in that demographic.
(Needless to say, if you don’t like shoujo anime, don’t bother with Kimi no Todoke. However, if you do like shows where it isn’t an explosion a minute, this is a great unwinder.)
There’s points during a story when the author wants to portray a character as being a nice person… but come on, leaving the umbrella behind for a dog? The dog’s already wet! It’s not going to help.
Such an incredibly sweet scene. Not even Potemayo could have a scene as sweet at this.
(Now excuse me, I gotta throw up. Or at least watch an episode of Kiddy Girl-and.)
26 Responses to “kimi ni todoke 2”
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Such a nice show.
Sawako’s appearance just happens to resemble her voice actress, Mamiko Noto, so calling her unattractive is inaccurate. It’s more like her being an “ugly duckling” is due to her standing out in a conformist culture.
I see Potato from AIR finally scored himself another job.
“The thing I don’t understand is why does the class assume so quickly that she rejected him… and don’t give him hell for it.”
Because you don’t mess with a girl who looks like they came out of The Ring, who can summon spirits, and curses teachers without a thought.
I can undestand where you are coming from when you say she is like the ‘ugly duckling’ of the tale, but in my opinion she is plenty beautiful to begin with, it’s just that people only notice her spooky traits. And since she is not good with people there is not much chance for her to clear up these misunderstandings.
I don’t see why you would want any conflict so early in the series. Kazehaya is madly in love, while Sadako just begins to discover her feelings for him. I’m sure we will have some later.
I quote: “why does the class assume so quickly that she rejected him”. I don’t know what you mean by that, everyone assumes it’s the other way around: Sadako being rejected by Kazehaya.
The part with the umbrella was nice. The author just wanted to show that Sadako cares more about others then herself. And I’m sure if you met with a friend who didn’t have an umbrella while you had one, I’m sure you would invite him/her under, no matter how drenched he/she was.
And yes, “ippen, shinde miru?” would have been nice, but we already had that in Seitokai no Ichizon :D
Also let me point this out too: it’s å›ã«å±Šã‘ (kimi ni todoke).
I thought the class – and the entire school, for that matter – assumed it was Kazehaya who rejected Sawako. So it was a pretty normal outcome fot them, since that bunch of bastards don’t realize that Sawako is like the epithome of cuteness. And that, I think, is the weak point of the show – you mentioned in the thin slicing post, if I remember correctly: she’s just too cute to be scary. Not that my suspension of disbelief is at stake here, since my brain starts drooling the second I hear Mamiko Noto’s voice.
Anyways, the end of episode 3 left me in despair. It seems the series will enter typical shoujo territory, which was to be expected, but the first 2 episodes, with no badmouthing, far-fetched schemes or jealousy were so sweet and refreshing. Hopefully the relationship between Sawako and her newly aquired friends will remain at the center of the narrative, and this won’t turn into another generic romance a-la Peach Girl.
Hi Jason,
Long hair. Scary looking. Mamiko Noto voice.
Who was she before she became Jigoku Shoujo, Enma Ai?
:P
From
water_ling
The other shojo anime worth mentioning is Itazura Na Kiss. Lets see how this anime fares compared to it~(which are both enjoyable btw)
> watch an episode of Kiddy Girl-and.
Thanks for reminding me. I have a certain fondness for the original and liked how it changed pace several times through the storyline but I honestly have no idea what is going on with this new show. I’m more confused by this than any series currently airing and that includes Trapeze!
It obviously has a decent budget behind it but episode 1 was truly awful. If it was supposed to be a light-hearted comedy fanservice introduction to the new cast where was the comedy or fanservice? Episode 2 started out more of the same but then the last half was filled with some insanely random wtf?! they-didn’t-just-do-that LOL moments. We are talking Inukami levels of humour here.
> Long hair. Scary looking. Mamiko Noto voice.
> Who was she before she became Jigoku Shoujo, Enma Ai?
> :P
Sunako.
I’m getting serious Ogiue Chika vibes off that last photo. This isn’t bad,just confusing :-).
I like how you described Railgun as “gripping.” lol
“We are talking Inukami levels of humour here.”
You really think so? The only thing KGa has going for it is the budget. I found Ascoeur’s voice incredibly irritating (despite never before have a problem with voice acting) and you really have to wonder if the writers weren’t flunkies from whichever University Sunrise hires at. The only part of episode 2 I enjoyed was the voice-changing bit. I’m hoping it will improve of course…
The only shows with any real sense of humour this season are Natsu no Arashi and Seitokai no Ichizon.
It’s “kimi ni todoke”, not “kimi no todoke” (unless you’re trying to make a joke about touching).
“There’s always some “ugly†girl who, through her relationship with her “ideal†boy turns into the beautiful swan. Nodame, Kare Kano, PGE”
Personally i wouldn’t put KareKano with the rest of the ugly duckling titles. There was nothing wrong with her looks just her personality and that only needed a adjustment not a makeover.
Thanks for blogging this, please continue.
Love the blotchy watercolor backgrounds.
i like yoshida and yano.
after looking at what you like about this series I don’t think you are going to like where this is headed, watch ep 3 and you’ll understand
The art style’s older… but it’s starting to look more interesting. I’ll have to try this.
Uho! Ii otoko! Yara—
This what you’re referring to by throwing up? ;)
It’s interesting that this shoujo managed to catch you. YOU who earnestly blogged such classics as haruhi suzumiya, gundam 00, k-on, etc. It goes to show how a very well executed anime can attract even those outside its target demographic
I blogged Nodame. People just remember what they want to remember. Anyway, fixed the typo.
“I blogged Nodame. People just remember what they want to remember.”
I dont recall that. Did you blog when it was first airing I seem to remember you did not seem interested in Nodame and it was absent from your end of year awards.
Spellcheck: “Eden of the Eden” -> “Eden of the East”.
Trying some recursivity right there, eh Jason?
I just had an epiphany! Sawako and Ryuuji from Toradora would be the most epic couple ever. Imagine the terror they could induce just by being seen together in public. And what would the *children* be like!?
This show has fallen off for me… I loved the first 2 episodes, but 4 and 5 were rather painful.
I really, seriously liked this show. Got hooked (maybe cause of the Ugly Duckling theme, dunno) and I was kinda disappointed when it ended. Not cause of HOW it ended, but cause there was no more of it.
I like your comments about shows, even though I get lost between references to other shows, and name of character that makes no sense to me, and between the definition of anime genres (I didn’t even know there was a “harem” genre, or a trainwreck genre <- the hell is that?).
Even though I'm a guy, I'm much more for this kind of shows (and my favourite manga is Video Girl Ai, and loved I''s even if clearly an attempt to follow VGA success, and Love Hina) than robots, or fighting ones.
I wonder what I should watch now.