Say "I love you".

Say "I love you".

Cover of the first manga volume featuring main characters: Yamato Kurosawa (left) and Mei Tachibana (right).
好きっていいなよ。
(Suki-tte Ii na yo.)
Genre Romance, Comedy-drama, Slice of life
Manga
Written by Kanae Hazuki
Published by Kodansha
English publisher
Demographic Shōjo
Magazine Dessert
Original run 2008 – ongoing
Volumes 13
Anime television series
Directed by Takuya Satō
Music by Yuuji Nomi
Studio Zexcs
Licensed by
Hanabee
Sentai Filmworks
Network Tokyo MX, tvk, BS11, AT-X
Original run October 6, 2012 – December 30, 2012
Episodes 13
Live-action film
Directed by Asako Hyuga
Written by Asako Hyuga
Studio Shochiku
Released July 12, 2014
Runtime 102 minutes

Say "I love you". (Japanese: 好きっていいなよ。 Hepburn: Suki-tte ii na yo.) is a Japanese manga by Kanae Hazuki. An anime adaptation by Zexcs aired between October 6 and December 30, 2012. In North America, the manga is published by Kodansha Comics USA and the anime is licensed by Sentai Filmworks. A live action film was released on July 12, 2014.

Plot

Quiet and unassuming Mei Tachibana has spent her high school years without making friends or getting a boyfriend because of a childhood incident that left her believing that people will betray each other sooner or later. When she encounters a popular boy named Yamato Kurosawa, he becomes interested in her, and it is through their tentative friendship and blossoming relationship that Mei ultimately begins to branch out and befriend others.

Characters

Mei Tachibana (橘 めい Tachibana Mei)
Voiced by: Ai Kayano[1] (Japanese), Caitlynn French (English)
Mei was a social person before, but because of an accident that made her classmates put the blame on her, she decided never to befriend anyone again. At first, she is described as "freakishly gloomy" and "doesn't speak". She is anti-social and clumsy, as well as observant, honest, supportive, and funny. Later on, she eventually fell in love with Yamato Kurosawa. In the end while they are dating, she is more open to others after she realizes she is in love with Yamato.
Yamato Kurosawa (黒沢 大和 Kurosawa Yamato)
Voiced by: Takahiro Sakurai[1] (Japanese), Leraldo Anzaldua (English)
One of the most popular boys in his school. When he first meets Mei, he gets kicked by her. After giving her his phone number, Mei gets stalked and calls Yamato for help. When he gets there, he kisses Mei to get the stalker to go away. Then, he eventually grows a liking to her and started dating soon after that. Asami describes Yamato as someone who thinks of others more than anyone else, protects what should be protected, and cares for others despite having his own problems to deal with.
Asami Oikawa (及川 あさみ Oikawa Asami)
Voiced by: Risa Taneda[1] (Japanese), Monica Rial (English)
Mei's classmate and friend who has complex feelings about her large chest. She hates it when people always stare at it and that no one seems to like her for who she is. She idolizes Yamato because he defended her from boys teasing her about her chest in middle school, and wishes for a prince of her own to protect her. She starts to date Kenji after he confesses he likes her for how she is, not just the size of her breasts.
Kenji Nakanishi (中西 健志 Nakanishi Kenji)
Voiced by: Nobunaga Shimazaki[1] (Japanese), Greg Ayres (English)
One of Mei's classmates, and a good friend of Yamato's. He has a big crush on Asami, and eventually confesses to her. The two are now a couple.
Aiko Mutō (武藤 愛子 Mutō Aiko)
Voiced by: Yumi Uchiyama[1] (Japanese), Carli Mosier (English)
A classmate of Yamato and Mei's. She's brazen and bad-mouthed, but has a nice and friendly side. She's liked Yamato for a long time after he told her that her natural self was the prettiest, but he hasn't reciprocated her feelings. She strongly believes that love requires self-sacrifice and effort, which prompted her to go to extreme lengths for her boyfriends. She used multiple cosmetics to look pretty despite breaking out for her old boyfriend. She lost 20kg to try to get Yamato to become her boyfriend, but this caused her have scars due to sudden weight loss. After Mei stands up for her, she soon learns to accept Mei as a friend and supports her through tough times. She is officially a couple with Masashi.
Masashi Tachikawa (立川 雅司 Tachikawa Masashi)
Voiced by: Junji Majima (Japanese), Clint Bickham (English)
Aiko's lover, and the only one she can show her "entire" body to. He's liked her even when she was chubby.
Kakeru Hayakawa (早川 駆流 Hayakawa Kakeru)
Voiced by: Yūki Kaji (Japanese), Adam Gibbs (English)
A classmate of Yamato and Mei's. He slept around with many different girls just to feel as "popular" as Yamato. His childhood friend, Chiharu, is one of the few people who treats him as a friend and respects him for who he is. After a failed attempt to cheat with Mei and getting beat up by some thugs, he eventually realizes that Chiharu is the only one who actually cares for him. He eventually reciprocates his feelings for her and goes out with Chiharu.
Chiharu Ogawa (小川 千晴 Ogawa Chiharu)
Voiced by: Hisako Kanemoto (Japanese), Genevieve Simmons (English)
She is Kakeru's childhood friend and knows his true self. She has a crush on Kakeru and they eventually start to go out after he recognizes his feelings for her. She works alongside Mei at Bakery Farm.
Megumi Kitagawa (北川 めぐみ Kitagawa Megumi)
Voiced by: Minako Kotobuki (Japanese), Emily Neves (English)
An amateur model and transfer student who was placed in Yamato's class. She acts sweet, but in reality is trying to cut Mei off from the rest of their friends and steal Yamato. She had childhood trauma of being called ugly and a plain girl. After realizing that few people actually thought of her as a friend even though she did much to please them such as paying for meals and giving gifts, she finds true friends in her childhood friend Momo and Asami. In addition, she begins to ignore other people's comments and cuts her hair as an expression of choosing her decisions without the fear of other's opinions.
Kai Takemura (竹村 海 Takemura Kai)
Voiced by: Tomoaki Maeno[1] (Japanese), Andrew Love (English)
Yamato's junior high friend who was bullied. Because he hid himself and neglected his studies while being bullied, he decided to return to his hometown and repeat his first year of high school so he is currently a grade behind Yamato and Mei, despite being the same age as them. After being bullied, he decided to exercise and has increased dramatically in height and strength. He feels akin with Mei because they were both bullied at some point in their life. He is also a regular patron of the Bakery where Mei works and loves the theme park "Land". He is in love with Mei, but accepts that she is in love with Yamato and tries to protect her from any attacks.
Nagi Kurosawa (黒沢 凪 Kurosawa Nagi)
Voiced by: Mariya Ise (Japanese), Brittney Karbowski (English)
Yamato's younger sister. She is good at cooking sweets and making stuffed animals. When Yamato first introduces Mei, she disliked her because she felt that she was stealing her brother. After spending some time with Mei, she found out they had a lot in common: they both used to have a lot of friends until they turned against them. Afterwards, Nagi becomes closer to Mei and teaches her how to bake cookies for Yamato as well as wants to hang out with Mei more.
Daichi Kurosawa (黒沢 大地 Kurosawa Daichi)
Voiced by: Kazuya Nakai (Japanese), David Matranga (English)
Yamato's older brother. He runs a barber shop and is said to be just as handsome as Yamato. He rejects styling people if they want to imitate others and instead styles according to what they want to be.
Miki Arai (新井 美樹 Arai Miki)
Voiced by: Saori Hayami (Japanese), Allison Sumrall (English)
She is rumored to be Yamato's first love, since she is the only girl he has not kissed in his high school. She has a deep interest in Yamato as she was flirting with him while at a restaurant. Yamato, however, rejects her advances.
Mei's Mother
Voiced by: Yu Kobayashi (Japanese), Tiffany Grant (English)
She was always worried about her daughter not being able to find happiness, however, after meeting Yamato she is more at ease. As her husband died from cancer, she leaves a picture of him in her room.

Media

Manga

The manga is both written and illustrated by Kanae Hazuki and began serialization in Japan in Kodansha's Dessert magazine. It was later obtained by Kodansha Comics USA for publishing in North America starting in April 2014.[2] The sixth manga volume was released in two versions, a regular edition and a special edition with the latter being bundled with a special CD.[3] The eleventh manga volume was also released in both regular and limited editions with the latter being bundled with an original video animation DVD.[4] Thirteen tankōbon volumes have been released as of July 24, 2014.

Volume list

No.Japanese release dateJapanese ISBNEnglish release dateEnglish ISBN
1 August 11, 2008[5]ISBN 978-4-06-365517-9April 29, 2014[6]ISBN 978-1-61262-602-4
Chapters 1-4
2 February 2, 2009[7]ISBN 978-4-06-365542-1June 10, 2014[8]ISBN 978-1-61262-603-1
Chapters 5-8
3 August 10, 2009[9]ISBN 978-4-06-365565-0August 26, 2014[10]ISBN 978-1-61262-604-8
Chapters 9-12
4 January 13, 2010[11]ISBN 978-4-06-365585-8October 14, 2014[12]ISBN 978-1-61262-605-5
Chapters 13-16
5 July 13, 2010[13]ISBN 978-4-06-365612-1December 16, 2014[14]ISBN 978-1-61262-606-2
Chapters 17-20
6 January 13, 2011[15]ISBN 978-4-06-365637-4
Special Edition[3]
ISBN 978-4-06-362179-2		February 10, 2015[16]ISBN 978-1-61262-671-0
Chapters 21-24
7 July 13, 2011[17]ISBN 978-4-06-365655-8April 28, 2015[18]ISBN 978-1-61262-672-7
Chapters 25-28
8 January 13, 2012[19]ISBN 978-4-06-365677-0June 9, 2015 [20]ISBN 978-1-61262-673-4
Chapters 29-32
9 July 24, 2012[21]ISBN 978-4-06-365699-2August 25, 2015 [22]ISBN 978-1-61262-674-1
Chapters 33-36
10 January 11, 2013[23]ISBN 978-4-06-365719-7October 13, 2015[24]ISBN 978-1612626758
Chapters 37-40
11 July 24, 2013[25]ISBN 978-4-06-365744-9
Limited Edition[26]
ISBN 978-4-06-358449-3		December 15, 2015[27]ISBN 978-1632360410
12 February 13, 2014[28]ISBN 978-4-06-365762-3——
13 July 24, 2014[29]ISBN 978-4-06-365780-7——

Anime

An anime adaptation by Zexcs began premiered on Tokyo MX October 6, 2012.[30] The series was later aired on tvk, BS11 and AT-X. It was later licensed by Sentai Filmworks for release in North America.[31] The opening song is "Friendship" by Ritsuko Okazaki and the ending theme is "Slow Dance" by Suneohair.

Film

The wraparound jacket band of the 11th volume of the manga announced in 2013 that a live action film was greenlit for release in 2014.[32] The film was both directed and written by Asako Hyuga.[33] Haruna Kawaguchi and Sota Fukushi were cast as Mei Tachibana and Yamato Kurosawa respectively.[33] The film was released in Japan on July 12, 2014.[34] Its main theme song is "Happily" by One Direction.[34]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 "Suki-tte Ii na yo. Anime's Cast, Staff Revealed". Anime News Network. June 24, 2012. Retrieved January 11, 2014.
  2. ↑ "Kodansha USA Adds xxxHOLiC Rei, My Little Monster, Say "I Love You", Monster Soul". Anime News Network. July 18, 2013. Retrieved January 12, 2014.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "デザートWEB｜CD付き　好きっていいなよ。（6）特装版｜作品紹介｜講談社コミックプラス" (in Japanese). Kodansha. Retrieved January 12, 2014.
  4. ↑ "KSay, "I Love You"., My Little Monster Manga to Bundle Unaired Anime". Anime News Network. December 25, 2012. Retrieved January 12, 2014.
  5. ↑ "デザートWEB｜好きっていいなよ。（1）｜作品紹介｜講談社コミックプラス" (in Japanese). Kodansha. Retrieved January 12, 2014.
  6. ↑ "Say I Love You. 1 by Kanae Hazuki - Book - Random House". Random House. Retrieved April 10, 2014.
  7. ↑ "デザートWEB｜好きっていいなよ。（2）｜作品紹介｜講談社コミックプラス" (in Japanese). Kodansha. Retrieved January 12, 2014.
  8. ↑ "Say I Love You. 2 by Kanae Hazuki - Book - Random House". Random House. Retrieved April 10, 2014.
  9. ↑ "デザートWEB｜好きっていいなよ。（3）｜作品紹介｜講談社コミックプラス" (in Japanese). Kodansha. Retrieved January 12, 2014.
  10. ↑ "Say I Love You. 3 by Kanae Hazuki - Book - Random House". Random House. Retrieved April 10, 2014.
  11. ↑ "デザートWEB｜好きっていいなよ。（4）｜作品紹介｜講談社コミックプラス" (in Japanese). Kodansha. Retrieved January 12, 2014.
  12. ↑ "Say I Love You. 4 by Kanae Hazuki - Book - Random House". Random House. Retrieved April 10, 2014.
  13. ↑ "デザートWEB｜好きっていいなよ。（5）｜作品紹介｜講談社コミックプラス" (in Japanese). Kodansha. Retrieved January 12, 2014.
  14. ↑ "Say I Love You. 5 by Kanae Hazuki - Book - Random House". Random House. Retrieved April 10, 2014.
  15. ↑ "デザートWEB｜好きっていいなよ。（6）｜作品紹介｜講談社コミックプラス" (in Japanese). Kodansha. Retrieved January 12, 2014.
  16. ↑ "Say I Love You. 6 by Kanae Hazuki - Book - Random House". Random House. Retrieved August 3, 2014.
  17. ↑ "デザートWEB｜好きっていいなよ。（7）｜作品紹介｜講談社コミックプラス" (in Japanese). Kodansha. Retrieved January 12, 2014.
  18. ↑ "Say I Love You. 7 by Kanae Hazuki - Book - Random House". Random House. Retrieved August 3, 2014.
  19. ↑ "デザートWEB｜好きっていいなよ。（8）｜作品紹介｜講談社コミックプラス" (in Japanese). Kodansha. Retrieved January 12, 2014.
  20. ↑ Hazuki, Kanae. "Say I Love You. 8". Amazon.com. Amazon. Retrieved 16 December 2014.
  21. ↑ "デザートWEB｜好きっていいなよ。（9）｜作品紹介｜講談社コミックプラス" (in Japanese). Kodansha. Retrieved January 12, 2014.
  22. ↑ Hazuki, Kanae. "Say I Love You. 9". Amazon.com. Amazon. Retrieved 16 December 2014.
  23. ↑ "デザートWEB｜好きっていいなよ。（10）｜作品紹介｜講談社コミックプラス" (in Japanese). Kodansha. Retrieved January 12, 2014.
  24. ↑ "Say I Love You. 10". Amazon.com. Kodansha Comics USA. Retrieved March 29, 2015.
  25. ↑ "デザートWEB｜好きっていいなよ。（11）｜作品紹介｜講談社コミックプラス" (in Japanese). Kodansha. Retrieved January 12, 2014.
  26. ↑ "デザートWEB｜DVD付き　好きっていいなよ。（11）限定版｜作品紹介｜講談社コミックプラス" (in Japanese). Kodansha. Retrieved January 12, 2014.
  27. ↑ "Say I Love You. 11". Amazon.com. Kodansha Comics USA. Retrieved March 29, 2015.
  28. ↑ "デザートWEB｜好きっていいなよ。（12）｜作品紹介｜講談社コミックプラス" (in Japanese). Kodansha. Retrieved March 2, 2014.
  29. ↑ 『[好きっていいなよ。（１３）]』（葉月かなえ）：・0｜講談社コミックプラス (in Japanese). Kodansha. Retrieved August 3, 2014.
  30. ↑ "Suki-tte Ii na yo. Anime's Cast, Staff Revealed". Anime News Network. June 24, 2012. Retrieved June 25, 2012.
  31. ↑ "Sentai Filmworks Adds Ebiten, Sakurasou, Say I Love You Anime". Anime News Network. November 2, 2012. Retrieved November 27, 2012.
  32. ↑ "Say, "I Love You". Romance Manga Gets Live-Action Film". Anime News Network. July 22, 2013. Retrieved January 11, 2014.
  33. ↑ 33.0 33.1 Green, Scott (January 10, 2014). "Live-Action "Say 'I Love You.'" Cast Introduced". Crunchyroll. Retrieved January 11, 2014.
  34. ↑ 34.0 34.1 Komatsu, Mikikazu (March 28, 2014). "One Direction to Provide Theme Song for "Say, 'I Love You'" Live-Action Film". Crunchyroll. Retrieved March 28, 2014.

External links