Kare Kano

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Kare Kano a.k.a. His and Her Circumstances
彼氏彼女の事情 (Kareshi Kanojo no Jijō)
Genre	Romance, Comedy, Drama
Manga
Authored by	Masami Tsuda
Publisher	Hakusensha Haksan Publish TOKYOPOP MnC Glénat Carlsen Verlag Panini Comics Grupo Editorial Vid Tonkam Dynit
Serialized in	LaLa Magazine Daisuki Magnolia
Original run	December 1995 – April 2005
No. of volumes	21
TV anime
Directed by	Hideaki Anno, Kazuya Tsurumaki
Studio	Gainax
Network	TV Tokyo Tooniverse ABS-CBN , Studio 23 , Hero TV
Original run	October 2, 1998 – March 23, 1999
No. of episodes	26

Kare Kano (カレカノ, Kare Kano^?), or His and Her Circumstances, or Kareshi Kanojo no Jijō (彼氏彼女の事情, Kareshi Kanojo no Jijō^?), is a 21 volume manga series by Masami Tsuda, and a 26 episode TV anime series directed by Hideaki Anno of Gainax. The English anime, distributed by Right Stuf International, is titled His and Her Circumstances (a direct translation of the Japanese title) and the English manga, published by TOKYOPOP, is titled Kare Kano, a popular abbreviation of the Japanese title. The series is licensed by Enoki Films USA under the title Tales at North Hills High; however, Right Stuf opted to use the original title of "Kareshi Kanojo no Jijō", translated to English as the aforementioned "His and Her Circumstances".

The main character is Yukino Miyazawa, a Japanese high school freshman who is the envy of her classmates because of her good grades and immaculate appearance. However, this is just a charade she maintains to win praise—at home and in private, she is spoiled, stubborn, and a slob, and studies relentlessly instead of spending time with her sisters. Her position is threatened by Soichiro Arima, a handsome young man who also gets top grades. Yukino considers his very existence to be a challenge to her class leadership positions and a threat to the praise on which she thrives, and so she vows to destroy him. But after some misunderstandings, they see past each other's facades and fall in love. The series follows their relationship as they are tested by school, family problems, and friends.

Masami Tsuda usually does short stories, and did not intend the manga to go as far as it has. Despite this, both Masami and her fans have enjoyed the expansion of the story.

The anime was notable in being the first anime from Gainax that was not based on its own in-house manga. As is to be expected by an anime directed by Hideaki Anno, the style is vivid, original, and at times unpredictable. For example, the animation style of the characters changes frequently to reflect their mood. In one episode, paper cut-outs replace the usual animation. At the end of each episode, the "next episode" preview is a live-action segment of two of the voice actors reading the script in the recording studio. Several episodes contain lengthy recap sequences to sum up the plotline of previous episodes. Due to a dispute with Tsuda, who reportedly wanted the anime to be more traditional teen romance and less comedy, Anno left Gainax roughly halfway through the completion of this anime series.

The anime ends right before the school's annual cultural festival. The manga goes on to cover the festival (including a play written by Aya and performed by Yukino and friends), the revelation of the Arima family's past secrets, and the backstories of many other characters. The manga ends in the future when the protagonists (and their family) are in their 30s, just like how Yukino's parents start out in the story.

Contents 1 Characters 2 Trivia 3 See also 4 External links

[edit] Characters

Yukino Miyazawa (宮沢 雪野, Miyazawa Yukino^?)

Smart, attractive, athletic and talented, Yukino Miyazawa appears to be the model student. Both her male and female peers express their admiration for her, often asking her for help and commenting about her model features and characteristics. However, her "perfect" exterior hides the fact that everything she does is done solely to receive praise from others. She has been this way since she was a little girl—a self-professed "queen of vanity", Yukino once practiced playing her recorder until she vomited blood. With all this praise, however, she never realized that she never had a real friend aside from her family and was considered by her peers as a kind of semi-approachable "guest". This all changes when Yukino meets Soichiro Arima, another model student who beats her high school entrance exam score, and is even more popular and athletic than Yukino.

Yukino is envious of her rival Soichiro, and works hard to top his grades. When Soichiro confesses that he has a crush on her, she rejects him and laughs about it afterwards. But her observant sister Kano points out that Yukino's rivalry with him is borne of admiration. This revelation is useless, however, as Yukino accidentally lets her guard down and Soichiro discovers that she is a slob at home. Soichiro uses this to blackmail her to spend more time with her.

After discovering that Soichiro is also maintaining a model-student facade for his own reasons, they become very good friends. Yukino resolves to abandon her fake ways and become true to herself, though she initially has some trouble letting go of her lifelong habit of pretend-perfection. Eventually, she is able to open her true self to others and finally earns real friends beyond Soichiro.

As Soichiro himself observes, it is Yukino who is truly growing as a person in their relationship, and it is Soichiro who ultimately depends on Yukino for emotional support. Yukino sometimes feels inadequate compared to Soichiro, but in truth, he envies her individual strength and uniqueness and feels that he is a dull, unoriginal person in comparison. Through their relationship, Yukino is successfully able to assert her individuality, while Soichiro cannot completely abandon his facade.

A pivotal moment comes when Yukino at first reluctantly, then enthusiastically agrees to act in Aya's play for their school's cultural festival. Her participation in the play helps her realize that she enjoys extracurricular activities and decides to give up obsessing about ranking number one, and resolves to be satisfied with maintaining a respectable top-10 ranking. While watching Yukino perform, Soichiro is so deeply affected by Yukino's ability to stand alone that he can not bear to stay for the second act. Yukino fails to realize that Soichiro is growing more and more dependent on her, and that he feels excluded by her newfound independence and interests.

During her senior year in high school, Yukino becomes pregnant. She marries Soichiro after graduation, marrying at a young age as her parents did. Although her goal in high school was to become a politician or a lawyer, she realizes that she has always wanted to be a doctor. She eventually becomes a doctor at a hospital run by the Arima family, specializing in reconstructive surgery. Sixteen years later, she is the mother of three children: a daughter and a pair of male fraternal twins. When pregnant with her first child, Hideaki Asaba said with conviction that the child would be a girl. (He was right.)

According to Enoki Films USA's website, she would have been named "Yuki" in an Enoki Films dub.

Seiyū: Atsuko Enomoto; English Voice Actor: Veronica Taylor

Soichiro Arima (有馬 総一郎, Arima Sōichirō^?)

Smart, attractive, athletic, and talented like Yukino, Soichiro Arima becomes Yukino's rival at school. Very handsome and popular, Soichiro excels at kendo and becomes a national champion. He is at first smitten by Yukino, unaware that she secretly hated him and constantly tried to compete with him. After unwittingly discovering that Yukino is not the model student everyone thinks she is, Soichiro blackmails her into doing his school work so he can spend more time with her. After resolving the issue and becoming each other's first true friend, they eventually fall in love.

Yukino learns that Soichiro, like her, is making an effort to "be perfect" for a reason. While Yukino is motivated by praise and vanity, Soichiro is trying to cover his "real" self, a self damaged by childhood trauma that he fears may be destructive. Yukino and Soichiro were able to find an emotional sanctuary in each other.

While Soichiro comes from a distinguished family of doctors, he was abandoned by his parents, who were the family's disgrace, and raised by his uncle and aunt. Fearing that he may turn "bad" like his parents, he is always trying to hide behind a mask and is constantly fighting his own demons. As with Yukino, he feels more in touch with his true self as he falls in love. But along with love, he is apprehensive of his other emerging emotions, such as becoming increasingly jealous of Yukino's friends, her activities, her life without him. When Yukino unknowingly damages Soichiro's bond to her, he finds himself becoming jealous and afraid. So he begins to wear another facade that he hopes will fool her and protect her from his "ugly" self.

After a lifetime of striving to be "perfect", Soichiro's dark side begins to manifest itself by vengeful feelings against those that hurt him in his family, and he realizes that he has the ability to be cold and cruel. When the charade reaches a critical point that threatens his relationship with Yukino, she steps up to save him by opening him to a true and complete love. Soichiro finally understands that to love, he must be willing to trust and be trusted, even enduring the suffering that comes out of love. Yukino is able to convince Soichiro that she truly loves him for who he is, and that she is willing to support and suffer for him. From that point on, Soichiro truly and completely opens up to Yukino, his friends, and his beloved adopted parents.

Soichiro's union with Yukino has come full circle, as both are finally free from the oppression of the conflict within themselves. Even though Soichiro cannot forget the past, he no longer allows it to control and hurt himself or anyone else.

After high school, Soichiro marries Yukino and they have three children. Their oldest child is a daughter named Sakura, a beautiful girl who resembles him in looks and talent. Although his original ambition was to follow his family's profession and become a doctor, he follows his childhood dream and becomes a policeman. He eventually becomes a highly decorated police inspector.

Soichiro was also reunited with his father, Reiji Arima, a famous jazz pianist who lives in New York but returned to Japan for a concert. After spending 10 days together, both father and son grew fond of each other and reestablished their bond. Reconnecting with his father helps Soichiro deal with his demons and heal the wounds of his childhood.

During the second chapter of the manga (where by this time Soichiro already discovered Miyazawa's secret of vanity by the end of the first chapter) he playfully sings to himself that he likes "Lemon Tree" by Fool's Garden as he casually passes by Yukino. The author intended this reference to foreshadow Soichiro's feelings and events to come in the story, based on the lyrics. Interestingly, the song "Lemon Tree" was a massive hit in Asia for Fool's Garden in 1995, very uncharacteristic of a "rich kid" to listen to, which is in itself another hint at Soichiro's character.

Seiyū: Chihiro Suzuki; English Voice Actor: Christopher Nicholas

Tsukino Miyazawa (宮沢 月野, Miyazawa Tsukino^?)

The middle daughter of the Miyazawa family, Tsukino seems to be goofier and more laid back than her sisters. Tsukino tends to tease Kano, the youngest daughter.

Neither Tsukino nor Kano understands Yukino's quest for perfection. But they love her very much and are constantly begging her to play with them. (But Yukino usually can not because she has to study!)

In the manga, Tsukino became a talented tennis player. However, she had to retire from professional tennis due to injury, after which she became a reputable coach.

Seiyū: Yuki Watanabe; English Voice Actor: Jessica Calvello

Kano Miyazawa (宮沢 花野, Miyazawa Kano^?)

The youngest of the three Miyazawa daughters, Kano is known for her shōjo manga and novel obsessions. She uses the knowledge from her love stories to help out Yukino when she is in a psychological pinch. Later, she becomes an editor of her favorite author, Aya Sawada, one of Yukino's high school friends.

Seiyū: Maria Yamamoto; English Voice Actor: Megan Hollingshead

Hiroyuki Miyazawa (宮沢 洋之, Miyazawa Hiroyuki^?), Miyako Miyazawa (宮沢 都香(みやこ), Miyazawa Miyako^?)

Yukino, Tsukino and Kano's parents. They met as children and married right after high school, a continuous source of consternation for Miyako's father. When Hiroyuki asked to marry Miyako, her father beat him black-and-blue. Hiroyuki still bickers with his father-in-law, grumbling that the old fool could not let go of his daughter. His father-in-law was a policeman, and Hiroyuki encountered the old man under unfavorable conditions; he was caught while he and his friends were forcibly riding Miyako's new bike.

The two met while they were children, when Hiroyuki was six years old, and Miyako was four. Although Hiroyuki was very affectionate and loving toward his grandfather, he was a scamp as a child, and known as a little devil of sorts to the neighbors, as he would always do dangerous and meaningless things like planting weeds on other's property, brawl, and even steal and ride on a St. Bernard. Incidentally, he would meet his wife and invited her and her friends to play hostages. Although he played rough with his younger playmates, he honestly believed he was being nice and friendly to Miyako and her friends. He took care of them and wanted to make them happy, but he would never allow any of the nearby grownups see.

During his last year of middle school, his attitude and feelings toward Miyako changed, as the incoming freshman accidentally bumped into Hiroyuki. He noted that she was the first cute girl that made him stare. Although the two never admitted it during middle and high school, they were clearly infatuated with each other. Miyako's friends asked if the person she liked was "Miyazawa-senpai", to which she responded to with a blush. Incidentally, Hiroyuki was nearby and overheard everything and walked by the girls with a blush on his face as well. He invited Miyako to Kawahoku High School if she was not planning to go to any other school, which she affirmatively responded to with an agreement.

When she arrived as a high school freshman, Hiroyuki was still having difficulty with his recent change of feelings toward Miyako and acted with the same childish attitude to mask his affections. Their feelings for each other were made clear during a critical time in Hiroyuki's life, when his grandfather passed away. Despite his urging, Miyako did not leave after the funeral and waited for Hiroyuki. She gave the comfort he was seeking and said that she had always loved him from the first time she saw him. The "little devil" replied in kind by saying he would not be crying if he was not with the girl he loved.

Hiroyuki was an orphan who was raised by his grandfather, and values family very highly, a feeling that Miyako shares with him. Miyako understands his pain as she had lost her mother as a child. He loves his three daughters very much, and is frequently wearing a t-shirt that says "Daughter Love". (His daughters, on the other hand, frequently tease him or treat him a little rudely, e.g., "Shut up, Dad!" after which he sulks comically.)

Perhaps due to their relative youth (Yukino was born very soon after they married), Hiroyuki and Miyako are easygoing and silly parents. When Yukino brings Soichiro home for the first time, the family, especially Hiroyuki, were shocked and run to the front door to ward off the boyfriend. However, as soon as the entire family saw how "radiant" Soichiro was, they were quick to say "please take care of our daughter", to Yukino's embarrassment. When Yukino gets into trouble at school for slumping grades due to dating Soichiro, instead of becoming upset with Yukino, Hiroyuki and Miyako are eager to go to school and tell the teachers off and "fight for love", even joking that they would bring weapons. And rather than pressuring Yukino to excel in school like other parents would, they have complete faith in her ability to make her own decisions in life.

Hiroyuki has always liked Soichiro, and feels a bond with Soichiro because he was an orphan himself. He even encourages Soichiro to find in Yukino the comfort Soichiro needs to ease his loneliness. But ironically, just like his father-in-law, Hiroyuki was initially upset when he knew that Yukino was pregnant with Soichiro's child and that they were planning to marry so young. Of course, he eventually accepts their marriage, and knows that they are truly in love.

Seiyū: Takeshi Kusao (Hiroyuki), Yuka Koyama (Miyako); English Voice Actors: Pete Zarustica (Hiroyuki), Rachael Lillis (Miyako)

Pero Pero (ペロペロ, Pero Pero^? a.k.a. Pero²)

The Miyazawa family dog. He adores the family, Soichiro, and Asaba, and they in return adore him. If he is not being held by someone, or lying on top of their heads, he is usually seen lying around or eating with an apparently mindless look to his intentionally simple design. Although as a puppy he is just a tiny little blob of a dog, he eventually grows into a beautiful hound with luxurious hair and fathers several puppies.

Hideaki Asaba (浅葉 秀明, Asaba Hideaki^?)

Yukino and Soichiro's lazy and girl-crazy friend, very handsome and popular. Although bright enough to be accepted to the selective Hokuei High School, Hideaki is a terrible student, and spends most of his time surfing or chasing girls. Hideaki and Soichiro are considered the two most handsome boys in school, and while Soichiro is largely indifferent to the attention, Hideaki makes the most of it. During their school's annual culture-fest, Hideaki's class mounts a "Hideaki Asaba Dinner Show" which is a big hit with all the girls, but gives Yukino and Soichiro the creeps.

He initially tries to become friends with Soichiro so that Soichiro can be his "wingman" as they chase girls together. To this end, he tries to break up Soichiro and Yukino, because Yukino is in the way of Hideaki's dream of "Mary-land" (a land full of girls). When Soichiro finds out about this, he becomes very angry at Hideaki. Hideaki also has a series of hilarious battles with Yukino, since Yukino is not one to back down from a challenge. Although things started out badly, the three of them eventually become good friends. (Yukino calls him "Asa-pin".)

While an outrageous flirt (he dares to hit on Yukino's mother ... in front of Yukino's father!) and goofball, he has his own dark past—he is estranged from his parents. He is also one of the few people who understands Soichiro's dark side. During Yukino and Soichiro's relationship crisis during their senior year, Asaba tells her that only she could reconcile Soichiro's heart.

Later on, Hideaki becomes a famous painter, earning the title of "Takehisa Yumeji of the Heisei Era". (Yumeji is a famous Japanese painter during the Meiji era. Also of note is that his mentor is Soichiro's maternal grandfather.) True to his woman-loving nature, he specialises in drawing female portraits, and makes the subject of the portrait five times prettier. Maho realizes that this is because Hideaki truly sees women to be five times prettier than they actually are—which explains why he is so in love with all of them. (However, it is interesting that Yukino is the only woman who looks the same, and not extra-beautified, in Hideaki's portraits.)

Sixteen years later, Hideaki also lives next to the Arimas. Being a policeman, Soichiro is seldom at home, and Hideaki becomes a surrogate father of sorts to the three Arima children. Soichiro expresses (somewhat) playful jealousy at the situation. Despite loving women in general, Hideaki has never settled down or married; he feels empty inside and continues to feel as if he's missing something.

Arima's oldest daughter, Sakura, confesses her love to Hideaki when she is 16. Hideaki in turn realizes that Sakura is the woman he's been looking for all his life.

Hideaki's given name is the same as that of the director's Hideaki Anno—a coincidence.

Seiyū: Atsushi Kisaichi; English Voice Actor: Liam O'Brien

Tsubasa Shibahime (芝姫 つばさ, Shibahime Tsubasa^?)

A petite, beautiful girl who loved Soichiro since they attended middle school together. (She inherited her light hair, jade eyes, and cute looks from her father.) Although she studied hard so she could attend Hokuei High School with Soichiro, a bad skateboarding accident prevents her from starting school with everyone else. In the past, Tsubasa tried to confess her love to Soichiro several times, but Soichiro was comically oblivious. So she settled for being treated as Soichiro's younger sister as long as he did not have his affections occupied by another girlfriend. But upon learning that Soichiro has a girlfriend, she becomes insanely jealous and increasingly resentful of Yukino. After fighting it out with Yukino, they become good friends. Among their group of friends, she is the baby of the group and Yukino cannot resist her cuteness, often wanting to dress her up like a doll.

Tsubasa's mother died while she was giving birth to her, so she was raised by her indulgent father, and it was her loneliness that she had in common with Soichiro. In an episode that causes some of the fandom to miss the point by mislabeling her as a spoiled brat, Tsubasa is very possessive of her father and throws a fit when she learns that her father plans to remarry a woman named Izumi, her nurse at the hospital where she was treated for her skateboarding accident. She feels especially abandoned and hurt because she feels that she has just lost Soichiro to Yukino.

Tsubasa changes her mind about the marriage after she meets Kazuma, and realizes that Kazuma understands the longing for a family, as he is also the only child of a single parent, and knows the pain of coming home to an empty home every day.

In the original manga, fans had expressed their feelings and sympathies toward Tsubasa, as revealed by the author in one of her extra space inserts.

Tsubasa is a sucker for Totoro in the anime. She loves giant cats in the manga.

Tsubasa can be violent and scratch people when they try to embrace her, especially during her bad moods. However, she has never scratched Rika.

The "hime" part of the family name means "princess". Although she appears to be overly pampered and seemingly talentless, she is actually a very good homemaker and does a good job taking care of her father. In the manga, she later marries Kazuma and becomes a homemaker. She also models for the album covers of Kazuma's band, Yin & Yang.

Seiyū: Mayumi Shintani; English Voice Actor: Lisa Ortiz

Tsubaki Sakura (佐倉 椿, Sakura Tsubaki^?)

A friend of Yukino's. Tsubaki is a talented athlete. Her tomboyish attitude eventually catch up to her when a person from her past, Tonami Takefumi, appears. Initially, she could not recognise Takefumi, who underwent a complete transformation during the three years he was away. Takefumi used this as leverage in his quest to get revenge on Tsubaki.

As time went by, Tsubaki's never-say-die attitude and Takefumi's realisation that he is in love with Tsubaki calmed the conflict between them. After graduating from high school, the two leave Japan to travel the world together. Tsubaki studies at an Egyptian university and eventually becomes a professor of archaeology at an American university. With her instincts and capabilities, she managed to discover many archaeological sites.

While not actually a lesbian, Tsubaki nevertheless has a thing for pretty girls, the same way that both Hideaki and Takefumi are smitten with Arima. (Same-sex attraction/admiration is a common element in Japanese culture, and does not always indicate homosexuality.) When in kindergarten, she approached pretty but anti-social Tsubasa, at which point, Tsubasa latched onto Tsubaki with a death-grip. The two have been friends ever since. While the two bicker and fight a lot, Tsubaki is one of the only people who understood Tsubasa's loneliness.

Seiyū: Saeko Chiba; English Voice Actor: Lea Lane

Aya Sawada (沢田 亜弥, Sawada Aya^?)

A published writer at a very young age, Aya is obsessive compulsive when it comes to her writing. She writes a play for the newly formed school drama club, and chases down Maho and Yukino to play lead parts. Although both Maho and Yukino run away at first, Yukino changes her mind after reading the play. Yukino's sister Kano is a big fan of Aya's books.

Aya occasionally smokes despite her young age, which Rika and Yukino disapprove of. Unlike Rika, Yukino takes action against Aya's smoking in anime episode 11 (Volume 5, Act 17 of the manga).

Later, Aya continues her career as a writer. But like in her younger days, she rushes like mad to meet publishing deadlines due to her forgetfulness. Her capable editor is Kano Miyazawa, Yukino's younger sister.

Seiyū: Yukiko Hontani; English Voice Actor: Rachael Lillis

Rika Sena (瀬奈 りか, Sena Rika^?)

Sweet and gentle Rika is a gifted seamstress and craftswoman. A self-effacing person, Aya considers her life as average, and the least distinguished among her friends, but she is happy to be behind the scenes. She works on costumes for school plays and events. She was best friends with Aya since childhood, and she and Aya have a strange dynamic where Aya will do something selfish towards Rika, but Rika's sheer goodness will shame Aya ... and the cycle continues.

At some point before the cultural festival, Yukino asked Rika if she had a special someone in mind, and Rika responded to with a denial and blush. Yukino eventually realizes that Rika has a crush on Aya's older brother Kyo when she again blushed while talking to him. However, Aya has been aware of her friend's and brother's mutual infatuation for some time, and after the cultural festival was over, she supposed stayed behind to do some work so that Aya and her brother would have dinner without her.

During Rika's own special chapter, there are a few things revealed about her. Her family is much like Yukino's, as Rika has a kid brother and sister. They love their older sister very much, but in an attempt to repay her for always cooking for them, they accidentally spill the cake batter over Rika. Of course, both Yukino and Rika adore their cute little siblings. Also, she is very observant as a friend, noting that until Miyazawa came into Arima's life, he always seemed a little sad. Interestly, she is the only person that Tsubasa has never scratched during her moody times. Kyo, who is also infatuated with Rika, has been watching over Aya and Rika since they were very young. Although Rika is law-abiding, indecisive and seemingly boring, she was very confrontational when she found out Kyo was getting picked on. As a kindergartener, she wielded a bat to save Kyo from the high school bully. Aya realized after that incident, that Rika was in fact much scarier than herself, as she even had blood splashed on her face. However, both Kyo and Rika are very shy, and it is difficult for the two to outright articulate their feelings.

With her sewing skills, Rika eventually becomes the designated seamstress of Tsubasa's father, a famous fashion designer, who she is a big fan of.

Seiyū: Yukari Fukui; English Voice Actor: Debora Rabbai (credited as Angora Deb)

Maho Izawa (井沢 真秀, Izawa Maho^?)

An athletic, beautiful and intelligent student, Maho was the star of her middle school. But she falls out of the limelight when she arrives at Hokuei High School because of Yukino. Maho becomes jealous of Yukino, which mirrors Yukino's jealousy of Soichiro. Her jealousy becomes hatred and she turns the entire class against Yukino. However, it eventually backfires on her and the class turns on Maho. Yukino takes the high road and makes the first efforts to turn Maho into a friend. Maho soon becomes part of Yukino's circle of friends, and although she maintains her aloof attitude, she also eventually learns to cherish the friendships.

During her last year as a middle school student, she falls in love with a 27-year-old dentist named Yusuke Takashi, and becomes his girlfriend during high school. She was aware of the "headaches" he had when he rejected her was because Takashi was worrying about Maho and her well-being. She never gave up on him, and when he brought up these "headaches" again, Maho repeated her intended profession—neurology. From that point on, they were together. Takashi is a bit teasing of Maho, but she is aware that the things he does as her boyfriend are to her benefit and of his love. She later marries him.

Later, she studies medicine and becomes a doctor. She is Yukino's colleague in the same hospital, as a neurologist.

Seiyū: Junko Noda; English Voice Actor: Carol Jacobanis

Kazuma Ikeda (池田 一馬, Ikeda Kazuma^?)

Son of the woman who Tsubasa's father is dating. He's a member, along with the minor characters Martin, Joker, Ushio and Atsuya, of an indie-rock band (called "Yin & Yang") Because of his bleached hair and skull jewelry, he is initially looked upon with suspicion by Tsubasa. Because he wants his mother to be happy and eager to have a little sister, he has no objections to their marriage. However, he makes the mistake of assuming that Tsubasa is an elementary school student due to her short stature, causing Tsubasa to have a spectacular meltdown. (Tsubasa is in fact, one month older than Kazuma.)

Although their first meeting goes badly, Kazuma runs into Tsubasa a few days later. He saves her from a "dirty old man with money", but when the police arrive, they assume that he is the bad guy due to his appearance, so Tsubasa has to save him. After spending some time together they realize that they are similar in their loneliness, and immediately bond like a real brother and sister. After their parents marry and move in together, Tsubasa and Kazuma become inseparable. Seeing their close bond during their move-in day, Tsubasa's father presciently wonders whether step-siblings can marry.

His big-brother-like qualities are what naturally brings hims and Arima together as friends, with the latter very much impressed with Kazuma's musical talent. Arima and Kazuma easily relate to each other without any trace of friction, which elicits a bit of jealousy from Hideaki and Takefumi.

In the manga, Kazuma falls in love with Tsubasa but becomes tortured by the fact that he loves his step-sister. So he leaves home, but writes many love songs about Tsubasa, which become huge hits for his band. After working through whether he loves Tsubasa as a sister or as a woman, he eventually returns home, and immediately asks Tsubasa to marry him (to their parents' shock). They marry soon after Tsubasa's high school graduation.

Kazuma and the others meet Soichiro's father Reiji when they travel to America for a Yin & Yang concert. Reiji recognizes Kazuma's talent and wrote for him beautiful but hard-to-perform songs, which Kazuma pulls off with skill and ease. They continue their musical collaboration to great success.

Seiyū: Akira Ishida; English Voice Actor: Buddy Woodward

Takefumi Tonami (十波 健史, Tōnami Takefumi^?)

As a fat, sickly, and spoiled child, Takefumi was constantly picked on in elementary school. He was somewhat protected by the tomboy Tsubaki, who, while protecting him from other bullies, would bully Takefumi herself. When he asked Tsubaki why she paid attention to him, she told him that a teacher had asked her to look after him. After hearing this, Takefumi is humiliated as he had never been in his life; he is humiliated because he had believed that he was somehow special to Tsubaki, but he realized that she did not care about him at all, and was just obeying a teacher's request.

He transferred to a school in another city, but returns years later to attend Hokuei High School with the other characters. When he returns to Tokyo, he had lost weight, become healthy, tall, handsome, and completely unrecognizable. He intends to take advantage of the fact that no one recognizes him to get revenge on Tsubaki. Although he butts heads with Yukino at first, she recognizes that his efforts to transform himself are similar to her own obsession with her image, and they share a mutual, albeit begrudging, admiration. (After learning of Takefumi's revenge plans, Yukino exclaims, "Edmond Dantès!")

When it comes to Soichiro, Takefumi, like Hideaki, is smitten with him. While in elementary school, like Tsubaki, Soichiro was someone who constantly defended Takefumi. (However, unlike Tsubaki, Soichiro does not bully him in return.) Because of this, Takefumi respected and admired Soichiro. His image makeover was partly because of his goal to be like Soichiro; he also initially disliked Yukino because he felt she was not good enough for Soichiro. In the manga, whenever Soichiro seemed to need help, Takefumi and Hideaki were always the first to volunteer.

Initially, he plans revenge against Tsubaki, but he later realizes that his feelings for her are of love, and that the source of his hatred for her was because he felt rejected by her. After he realizes this, he finds out that Tsubaki likes him, too, and they become a couple. However, he is conflicted by the fact that he loves her free nature but it is this that keeps her from being tied down in a relationship. However, the two are able to resolve the problem and stay together. Immediately after their high school graduation ceremony, they fly together to Egypt from Narita Airport.

Later, he travels around the world with Tsubaki, investigating archaeological remains. Along the way, he learns eight languages. With his linguistic talent, he becomes an expert in deciphering ancient characters.

Seiyū: Nozomu Sasaki; English Voice Actor: Ed Paul (credited as Ed Paulson)

Reiji Arima (有馬 怜司, Arima Reiji^?)

Soichiro Arima's estranged father. Reiji was the illegitimate but favored son of the Arima patriarch. His mother could not withstand the shame and loneliness of being a mistress, and tries to commit murder-suicide with Reiji when he was a child. While drowning with his mother, Reiji kicks her in the face to save himself, a horrific memory that haunts him for the rest of his life. Although a talented musician, he grows to lead a life of a delinquent, and fathers Soichiro as a teenager when he is seduced by a beautiful gold-digger named Ryoko. Although Reiji does not participate in raising the baby, he names it "Soichiro (総一郎)", which has a meaningful connection to his father's name.

Ryoko is disppointed to learn that she will not receive any money from the Arima family because Reiji is an illegitimate son. She is a terrible mother who neglects and abuses Soichiro, and finally abandons him. Reiji discovers the injured and abandoned Soichiro and gives him to his older brother, Shouji. Shouji, who does not have any children, raises and loves Soichiro as his own.

Reiji has been living in New York City as a jazz pianist until his return to Japan in vol. 17 of the manga. His first meeting with Soichiro was outside of his home. The second was to hold Soichiro at gunpoint in front of Yukino and demand he come with him. They then proceeded to spend the next 10 days together. At around the same time, Ryoko appears in Soichiro's life again, and tries to take advantage of him. (Both parents hear of Soichiro in the news due to his national kendo championship.) One of Reiji's aims in returning to Japan was to kill Ryoko, to make sure she can never hurt Soichiro again. Fortunately, with Soichiro's intervention, Ryoko managed to escape, with Reiji yelling at her to leave Soichiro alone once and for all.

When returning to New York, Reiji plays a joke on his son, saying that he will never return to Japan. When Soichiro cries, Reiji admits that it's only a joke, and that he will return to visit Soichiro in the future. On a lighthearted note, he leaves his gun to Yukino.

Reiji's personality can best be described as tough on the outside, but gentle on the inside. Though he can be rude to just about anyone, (Upon seeing Shouji's wife for the first time in 14 years, his first comment was, "You've grown old.") he greatly respects Shouji as an elder brother and a father he never had. (There is a 20-year age difference between them.) Although his older sister Eiko despises Reiji, Shouji has also treated Reiji with kindness.

Kawashima Sensei (川島先生, Kawashima Sensei^?)

The strict but just Yearmaster for Soichiro's and Yukino's class. Kawashima sensei does not need to worry about Yukino and Soichiro, the two top students of the class. (Hideaki, however, is another matter altogether.) The only time Soichiro and Yukino got into trouble with him was when they started dating, causing their grades to slip. After unsuccessfully trying to dissuade the two from dating on the grounds that their school work is affected, Kawashima calls in their parents. But after seeing that the parents of both teens are supportive of the relationship, and consider their happiness as a blessing, Kawashima lets the matter rest, as it was a pleasant rarity to have students with true backbones.

He looks after the students' educational future but is also attentive towards their well-being while at school, as was evident when he offered his support to Yukino while her whole class shunned her. However, along with his admiration and respect for students who could truly think on their own, he is also a bit wistful when his offer for help is declined.

Kawashima was also the teacher Yukino sought out when the group needed a teacher-in-charge for their play during the school cultural festival. (Yukino reasoned that with the Yearmaster as their teacher-in charge, things would proceed more smoothly.) In fact, throughout their high school career, Kawashima has seemed to take a liking, even a bias, towards the two honor students. When Arima punched a guy who shoved and called Yukino ugly, Kawashima quickly changed face and talked to Arima afterwards, where otherwise he would've quickly scolded any other student. Overall, he is an understanding, respectable teacher who is willing to help out the deserving.

Seiyū: Motomu Kiyokawa; English Voice Actor: Alexander J. Rose (credited as Leicester Tunks)

Shouji Arima (有馬 総司, Arima Shōji^?)

Soichiro's adoptive father (in reality, his uncle). As an heir of the esteemed Arima family, Shouji was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. But as he grew older, he noted the coldness and lack of concern his father showed to the family. Though respectful to Eiko (his older sister), Shouji does not hesistate to defend Soichiro whenever the older woman says something insulting about him (which is always).

He was originally willing to give up his share of the Arima estate. But when he learned that his father had fathered his step-brother Reiji with a mistress, Shouji decided to hold on to his inheritance knowing very well that Eiko will not leave anything to Reiji if she could help it. Although Reiji is an illegitimate child, and shunned by many members of the Arima family, Shouji was always kind to his step-brother.

Shouji is happily married, but they are unable to have children as his wife becomes ill and barren. After Soichiro is abandoned by his parents, both Shouji and his wife raise and love the child as their own.

Eiko Arima (有馬 詠子, Arima Eiko^?)

Soichiro's aunt, and Shouji's elder sister. As the eldest child of the Arima family, Eiko had always tried hard to please her father by doing well in school. However, when she told her father that she wanted to follow her family's profession and become a doctor, her father's curt reply that girls should not become doctors hurt her deeply. From then on, she became cold and distant to others, though Shouji still respected her, knowing very well what caused the change in his sister.

When Eiko learned about her father's mistress and the birth of Reiji, she was incensed; not only did her father dote on Reiji (something Eiko herself never experienced), Reiji also resembled their father in terms of looks and personality. Later on, when Soichiro was adopted by Shouji, Eiko extended her hatred of Reiji to Soichiro.

However, her dislike of Soichiro apparently did not extend to Yukino. During their first meeting, when Eiko learnt of Yukino's plan to study medicine after her marriage, she merely nodded her approval and reached for a cup of tea. Shouji recognized that Eiko appreciates Yukino's ambition as similar to her own when she was young.

[edit] Trivia

• During the second chapter of the manga (at which time Arima already discovered Miyazawa's secret of vanity) he playfully sings to himself that he likes "Lemon Tree" by Fool's Garden as he casually passes by Yukino. This is a direct reference which foreshadows Arima's feelings and events in the story, based on the lyrics. Interestingly, the song "Lemon Tree" was a massive hit in Asia for Fool's Garden in 1995, and very uncharacteristic for a "rich kid" to listen to, which is in itself another hint at Arima's character.
• In episode 11 while Yukino is "investigating her previous memories", one can see quick glimpses of the cast of Neon Genesis Evangelion. Both series were directed by Hideaki Anno. One other scene features Yukino wearing the same sleeveless, spaghetti-strap yellow sundress worn by Evangelion's Asuka Langley Sohryu.
• Also in episode 11, Tsubaki and Aya trick Tsubasa using "Totoro". Although Hideaki Anno was not involved with the film My Neighbour Totoro, he has previously worked with Hayao Miyazaki on other various Studio Ghibli projects, including Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind and several short films.
• Many seiyu made their voice acting debut in TV animes with this series. Interestingly, all of them voiced characters who have close relationships with Yukino. This includes Yukino herself (Atsuko Enomoto), her sisters, most of her clique of friends (Tsubasa, Tsubaki, Aya and Rika) and Soichiro (Chihiro Suzuki).

[edit] See also

• His and Her Circumstances ♥ Act 1.0—First volume of the soundtrack.
• His and Her Circumstances ♥ Act 2.0—Second volume of the soundtrack.

[edit] External links

• Gainax's Kare Kano - anime (Japanese)
• Hakusensha's Kare Kano - manga (Japanese)
• TOKYOPOP's Kare Kano manga site
• His and Her Circumstances Act 1.0 OST soundtrack page
• Enoki Films USA's Tales at North Hills High website
• Right Stuf International website
• Hontou No Watashi
• His and Her Circumstances (TV) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia
• Kare Kano (manga) (manga) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia