Kimi ni Todoke

Kimi ni Todoke: From Me to You (君に届け, lit. Reaching You) is a romance shōjo manga by Karuho Shiina. It has been published by Shueisha in Bessatsu Margaret since 2005 and collected in 24 tankōbon volumes as of July 24, 2015. In 2008, it won the Best Shōjo Manga award in the 32nd Annual Kodansha Manga Award.^[1] The series was also nominated for the first Manga Taisho awards in 2008.^[2] Two anime adaptations of Kimi ni Todoke were aired in Japan,^[3][4] produced by Production I.G.^[5] The second season of the anime was announced in Betsuma Magazine, began airing in Japan on January 4, 2011 and lasted for 12 episodes. A live action film adaptation was released in 2010 starring Mikako Tabe and Haruma Miura.^[6]

Plot

Sawako Kuronuma - dubbed Sadako by her classmates for her resemblance to the character from The Ring - has always been feared and misunderstood because of her appearance; rumors around school report that she can see ghosts and curse people. However, despite her ominous appearance, she is actually a sweet and timid girl who only longs to be able to make friends and be liked by everyone else. When her idol, the popular boy Kazehaya, begins talking with her, everything changes. She finds herself in a new world, making new friends and talking to different people, and she can't thank Kazehaya enough for giving her these opportunities. Slowly, but surely, a sweet love blossoms between the two as they overcome circumstances and obstacles that stand in their way.

Characters

<span id="Sawako "Sadako" Kuronuma">Sawako "Sadako" Kuronuma (黒沼 爽子, Kuronuma Sawako)

Voiced by: Mamiko Noto (anime), Mikako Tabe (live-action)

Sawako is a shy yet honest girl in search of friendship, but her resemblance to the horror film character Sadako Yamamura makes this difficult. Her shy and modest nature prevents her from correcting people's misconceptions, to the point that most of the school believes her name is, in fact, "Sadako." She is rather short - a characteristic inherited from her father, who is only 160 cm tall - but during a soccer match at the school's sports festival, it is revealed that she is surprisingly fast, to the point that some people believe she is teleporting. A running gag is that she takes everything people say very seriously, and tends to over-analyze a situation. When she is deep in thought, her dark appearance often terrifies her peers.

Sawako has always desired friends and acceptance, and thanks to Kazehaya's kindness, she gradually begins to open up to her classmates and talk to different people. She is eternally grateful for Kazehaya, and idolizes him for giving her the opportunities to make so many close friends, which come to include Yano, Yoshida, Kazehaya and Ryu. Forever humble and unassuming, Sawako is so modest towards her newfound friendships that Yoshida actually has to tell her point-blank: "Did you know? Without realizing it ... we were already friends!"^[ch. 7] Yano and Yoshida admit that Sawako's 'like' for Kazehaya is probably stronger than the 'like' she expresses for themselves.

In chapter 34,^[ch. 34] Kazehaya practically confesses his feelings right in front of her, but the modest Sawako believes it is just a misunderstanding and that he simply likes her as a friend.^[ch. 35] After everything is cleared up, the couple officially starts dating,^[ch. 40] though rumors pop up that Sawako somehow used black magic to get him. In chapter 71, she overhears her classmate asking if Shota and her are steadily dating, and she becomes confused about their relationship. After Shota turns away when she grabs his coat, she cries and admits that she wants to be with him, and asks if he is still in love with her. In her shock, Shota kisses her 4 times.

Shota Kazehaya (風早 翔太, Kazehaya Shōta)

Voiced by: Daisuke Namikawa (anime), Haruma Miura (live-action)

Kazehaya is Sawako's outgoing and friendly classmate, and also her idol. His popularity is so widespread that during middle school, the many girls that liked him had to form a "Kazehaya is Everyone's" alliance in order to maintain some level of peace among his admirers; more than half of these girls now attend his high school. Kazehaya falls in love with Sawako shortly after meeting her, and admits (though not to Sawako) his feelings, unaware that she feels the same for him.^[ch. 17,44] During their second year of high school, he begins to wonder if she actually does like him after she does not give him chocolates on Valentine's Day, not knowing that she had been too nervous to give him any.^[ch. 30,46] After the ordeal, he seemingly becomes calmer and shows a depressed and expressionless face more often. However, after being confronted by Ryu (influenced by Chizuru) and Pin, Kazehaya goes to Sawako as his friends jokingly remark that he likes Sawako; however, Kazehaya takes the remark seriously and agrees, subsequently confessing directly to Sawako.^[ch. 34] However, after Sawako's misunderstanding of his confession, he believes she rejected him. However, in chapter 40, he was finally able to confess his feelings to her, and they are officially dating.^[ch. 40] Kazehaya is prone to become easily jealous and overprotective of Sawako, and deeply treasures her. On chapters 60+, He seems to avoid Sawako because he wants to be careful in loving her because on chapter 58, the two almost kissed if only Ayane didn't come and he is worried that Sawako may end up thinking too much about it. On chapter 71, when the party ended, he just asked Sawako if she's going home then left then Sawako grabbed his coat and closed her eyes which she did on part 1 of the anime that she thinks can resolve things. He turned away which made Sawako cry and make her say that he is a liar[/cheat] because he once said that he won't hold back. After saying such things, he regretted it and when she starts asking if he is still in love with her, he quickly kisses her.

Ayane Yano (矢野 あやね, Yano Ayane)

Voiced by: Miyuki Sawashiro (anime), Natsuna Watanabe (live-action)

Ayane is a close friend of Sawako. She is the arguably the most mature of the group and she has a boyfriend in college as well as having her ears pierced multiple times.^[ch. 18] Initially Shiina conceived of Yano and Yoshida as a pair, and in the first two chapters the two are difficult to tell apart.^[vol. 1] She then redrafted the characters, combing Yano's hair and styling it in a fashion that looks like a pony-tail. Kurumi starts a rumor that Ayane played around with more than 100 guys in middle school, and that she and Yoshida are thug underlings of Sawako's in high school.^[vol. 2] Perceptive and intelligent, Ayane tends to take just enough information to leave others wondering, thus forcing them to move forward, this as well as being able to figure out that it was Ume who spread the rumors and discovering that Sawako, "liked" Kazehaya.^[ch. 14,15] Although she is usually calm and collected, she is easily infuriated if someone hurts Sawako and does not hesitate to attack the one she believes is responsible (frequently Kazehaya) with kicks and sharp words. She is also fairly intimidating when angry, being called scary by Chizuru a number of times. Later on she breaks up with her boyfriend, who had begun to become too possessive of her: calling her all times of the day, wondering what she has been up to, and checking if she has been with any guys.^[ch. 20] After she suggests they break up, he slaps her across the face, and when he tries to apologize and asks her back, she realizes that the man she liked was not her boyfriend but rather who he was when they started dating.^[ch. 20] After Sawako and Shota finally become a couple, Ayane comforts the girls that were potentially Sawako's rivals.^[ch. 43,45] When Chizuru tells her she is too nice, Ayane denies it, but is surprised when Pin affirms she is nice, and she starts developing feelings for him.^[ch. 45] When schoolmate Mogi confesses to her, she agrees to date him, which shocks everybody.^[ch. 54,55] However, it appears that she is not in love with him, and her feelings towards Pin seem to increase. However, starting from chapter 59, it has been strongly hinted that Kento has feelings for Ayane.^[ch. 59] In chapter 71, she told Sawako that she'll go home with Kento.^[ch. 71] After that, Pin tells Sawako that maybe they got together already.^[ch. ??]

Chizuru Yoshida (吉田 千鶴, Yoshida Chizuru)

Voiced by: Yuko Sanpei (anime), Misako Renbutsu (live-action)

Yoshida is another close friend of Sawako. She is the tomboy of the group, and she even admits this when Ryu calls them brothers, where she argues about who is the older rather than that she is not a 'brother'. She can be very emotional at times, usually seen humorously crying after a touching moment between her friends. She has a soft spot for innocent mannered people, so she takes a near instant liking to Sawako. In Kurumi's fake rumors it was passed around that she was a former Yankee, though Chizuru just takes the rumor as a means of scaring people off or as a joke for her friends.^[ch. 4] One of the rumors states that Chizuru holds a record of ninety nine straight wins on being able to beat a guy on a one on one fight (Chizuru took credit of this rumor,^[ch. 7] she herself stated that her streak was broken when she lost to her hundredth opponent, Ryu Sanada). Chizuru is mostly on the slower side of things; she did not realize that Sawako liked Kazehaya until after the Kurumi confrontation^[ch. 17] and that Kazehaya liked Sawako (even though she and Ayane planned many events for them) until late in the series, after they started their second year of high school.^[ch. 33] She is a close childhood friend with Ryu Sanada, her neighbor, and she went to the same middle school as Kazehaya and Ryu.^[ch. 8] Because of this, Ryu's family regards Chizuru and her family as their own and vice versa.^[ch. 8] She has a crush on Ryu's brother, Toru, since she was very young knowing the age gap between them.^[ch. 19] When Toru visits with his fiancée,^[ch. 20] she realizes that he will only see their relationship as just siblings.^[ch. 23] She is very dense to the fact that Ryu loves her, even interpreting him saying "I love you" as an expression of their friendship. When he confesses to her again, this time making it clear, it shocks her to the point where it becomes difficult to talk to him normally as she never thought about him like that and believes that they can't go back to how they were before ever again. But she begins to grow feelings for Ryu and in chapter 88 she confesses to Ryu and he kisses her.

Ryu Sanada (真田 龍, Sanada Ryū)

Voiced by: Yuichi Nakamura (anime), Haru Aoyama (live-action)

Ryu is also member of Sawako's group of friends. He is the son of the ramen shop owner of Chizuru Yoshida's favourite ramen shop. He is quiet most of the time and rarely talks, but still can communicate well with Sawako, as they both don't talk much anyways. Ryu and Kazehaya became friends when they were on the baseball team during middle school. He is also close childhood friends with Chizuru and does not deny having feelings for her, such as simply smiling when Sawako asks if he and Chizuru are dating.^[ch. 8] He later confirms his love when he confesses that he likes Chizuru to Sawako.^[ch. 14] While his love is one-sided, he is very patient with Chizuru realizing that Chizuru probably won't like him in a romantic sense, at least not right away. He's more than willing to comfort Chizuru if she's depressed, though he would rather have her mad at him as he knows Chizuru can vent out her emotions better. Ryu also seems to like animals a lot; when Shota was going to walk "Maru", his adopted puppy, home with Sawako, Chizuru pulled Ryu away telling him he's going to walk with Ayane and her instead. While being pulled away from Shota's puppy, he cried out for it. A running gag in the series is that he has a very hard time remembering a person's name (with the exception of Kazehaya and Chizuru as he's known them for a long time, and after some time later Sawako and Ayane). In chapter 43, he casually tells Chizuru that he loves her and she is totally shocked.^[ch. 43] However, in chapter 59, he truly confesses his love for her, but she replies saying, "I have never looked at you in that way". In response, he smiles and says, "I know."

<span id="Kazuichi "Pin" Arai">Kazuichi "Pin" Arai (荒井 一市, Arai Kazuichi)

Voiced by: Yūki Ono (anime), Arata (live-action)

Arai is the temporary homeroom teacher for Sawako's class, taking over when the previous homeroom teacher became sick during the summer holidays while Sawako was helping him. Sawako, being formal, always refers to him as "Arai-sensei," while almost everyone else refers to him by his nickname, "Pin." Pin is a great fan of baseball as well as the school baseball team's coach. He used to be part of Kazehaya's father's league team, so he has known Shota since when he was young. A loud and eccentric man prone to believing the silliest things, Pin apparently enjoys interrupting people. He nicknames the puppy that Sawako and Kazehaya find by the river "Pedro Martinez" after the legendary baseball pitcher, which Sawako suggests be shortened to "Maru". A running gag through the series, despite being a teacher he is prone to actions that are more suited to a teenager, such as eagerly running to the bathroom when he heard about a fight yet became depressed when Sawako and her friends were making up rather than fighting.^[ch. 7] He and Ayane tend to run into each other a lot, often bickering loudly as they walk away, though on rare occasions he will give her advice (though it comically ends in his ruining the moment to praise himself). He also has a false impression that Sawako is an exorcist.^[vol. 2] But for how he acts, Arai is rather insightful and is very helpful when it comes to his students, especially when he was suggesting career paths for Sawako, Ayane and Chizuru that best suit their talents and abilities. Pin also has a habit of believing girls in Sawakos year fancy him and often turns them down when they speak to him, stating that he's just too old for them.

<span id="Ume "Kurumi" Kurumizawa">Ume "Kurumi" Kurumizawa (胡桃沢 梅, Kurumisawa Ume)

Voiced by: Aya Hirano (anime), Mirei Kiritani (live-action)

A girl who appears friendly and sweet to everyone around her, she has had a huge crush on Kazehaya since their first year of middle school; as a result, she understands his personality well, despite the fact they were never close friends. She dislikes her given name, Ume, because it sounds old-fashioned and prefers to be called her nickname, "Kurumi."^[ch. 11,17] Kurumi is extremely jealous of Sawako, which led her to spread fake rumors of Sawako's only friends at the time, Yoshida and Yano, using Sawako's name.^[vol. 4] Kurumi does not attend the same class as Sawako or Kazehaya. She eventually confesses her love to Kazehaya, but receives an expected rejection.^[ch. 17] Because she is always surprised with Sawako's naiveté, Kurumi is able to be her true self in front of Sawako and regards her as a rival for Kazehaya's affection.^[ch. 17] Following Kazehaya's rejection, she becomes colder to her classmates, but is able to finally express her feelings and personality. When Sawako hesitates on expressing her feelings, Kurumi tells Sawako that Sawako is not worthy of being a rival, but changes her mind after hearing that Sawako and Shota have become a couple.^[ch. 43] She even defends Sawako against some other jealous girls, and got angry at Miura Kento for saying unnecessary things to Sawako that had caused a rift between Sawako and Shota.^[ch. 43] Despite Kurumi's harsh personality, she is deep down, a stubborn, clear minded young woman who had stooped to unfair tricks to win a person's heart but has since learned better.

Kento Miura (三浦 健人, Miura Kento)

Voiced by: Mamoru Miyano (anime)

A student who sits next to Sawako at the beginning of their second year.^[ch. 29] Miura considers himself fairly popular among the girls, but he immediately expresses an interest in Sawako that Kazehaya becomes a little jealous.^[ch. 29] Miura assumes Kazehaya likes Sawako because he feels sorry for her, and tries to persuade Kazehaya to not be as involved in Sawako's life.^[ch. 31] His interference with Sawako and Kazehaya's developing relationship irritates Ayane.^[ch. ??] He expresses gratitude over the fact that the two began dating before he fell in love with her.^[ch. 51] In recent chapters, however, it hints that Kento may be developing a sort of attraction for Ayane and has helped her through some difficult times.^[ch. ??] He tends to help girls with broken relationships, as he continues to grow feelings for Ayane, he seeks advices from Sawako and Kazehaya.^[ch. ??] It is from Kazehaya that Kento finds out that Ayane has been slapped by one of her ex-boyfriends.^[ch. ??]

Tomoko "Tomo" Endo (遠藤 朋子, Endō Tomoko) and Eriko "Ekko" Hirano (平野 依里子, Hirano Eriko)

Voiced by: Mayuki Makiguchi (Eriko Hirano), Voiced by: Miho Miyagawa (Tomoko Endou)

Endou and Hirano are classmates of Sawako, and also members of her study group. After Sawako begins to open up, Endou and Hirano become some of her first friends and try to find ways to encourage her to be less formal around them. They both become close friends of Sawako, who shows her appreciation of their friendship by making them Christmas gifts in addition to those she makes for her parents, Ayane, Chizuru, and Kazehaya.^[vol. 6]

<span id="Soichi "Joe" Jonouchi">Soichi "Joe" Jonouchi (城ノ内 宗一, Jōnouchi Sōichi)

Voiced by: Masahiro Yamanaka

One of Sawako's classmates, easily swayed by other people. He generally appears in the background. Jounouchi is very attached to Kazehaya, which usually results in him unwittingly interrupting conversations between Sawako and Kazehaya. At one point, he is rejected after confessing to a girl he liked and is comforted by Kazehaya. After hearing about how Yano broke up with her boyfriend, he sets his attention on her though she is not interested in him.^[vol. 6] It appears Joe is a character used for comedic value, often blundering with simple tasks or interrupting serious moments.^[ch. 39] He does not seem to take hints nor does he often realize his mistakes when they are pointed out.

Toru Sanada (真田 徹, Sanada Tōru)

Voiced by: Wataru Hatano

Tōru is Ryu's older brother by eight years and Chizuru's crush since she was young.^[ch. 19] Although he is Ryu's brother and they resemble one another, their personalities are nearly opposite.^[ch. 20] Tōru resembles Kazehaya personality-wise and looks extremely refreshing, except much more mature. He lives three hours away from his parents' house but much to Chizuru's surprise, on his visit with the family he introduced his fiancee.^[ch. 20] He cares about Ryu and Chizuru a lot, and eventually tells Chizuru he loves her like a little sister.^[ch. 23] He calls Chizuru by the nickname "Chii" because a person has to smile when saying it, and he wanted to cheer her up.^[ch. 23]

<span id="Yoshiyuki "Zen" Arai">Yoshiyuki "Zen" Arai (荒井 善行, Arai Yoshiyuki)

The original home room teacher of Sawako's class. He and Pin have the same surname, but are not related. To distinguish between the two teachers Yoshiyuki Arai is nicknamed "Zen", which is an alternate reading of the kanji for "Yoshi". He seems to be afraid of Sawako and the rumors surrounding her as "Sadako". Early in the series, he falls ill and has to take a leave of absence from school; because of that, students often believe that Sawako has cursed him. Arai is newly-wed and eventually retires from teaching in order to help his wife's family business (a sake brewery), resulting in Pin taking over his class permanently.^[ch. 25]

Shino (詩乃)

Voiced by: Kanae Oki

The only link to Sawako's past, Shino was her elementary school classmate and the only person who Sawako talks to as the series begins. During elementary school, by mistake, Shino called Sawako "Sadako." When they attended the same middle school, the boys in their class, afraid by Sawako's appearance, heard rumors that she was known as "Sadako," and since then it became her nickname. It is because of this, that Shino feels guilty about the rumors circulating over Sawako that started from her calling her "Sadako." Thus she cares about Sawako and whether she is fitting into high school. Shino is in a different class and regrets that she doesn't get to see Sawako very much. She is a cipher, appearing only occasionally as a catalyst for Sawako's interactions with other people. Perhaps for story reasons, Sawako is too modest to consider her as a friend.

According to Shiina, Shino was an unnamed character in the manga, but was named by the staff for the anime. Shiina also wrote that "Shino-chan in the anime is really cute."^{[vol. 10:author's note 4]}

Chigusa Takahashi (高橋 千草, Takahashi Chigusa)

Voiced by: Yurin

A classmate of Sawako, Takahashi sits behind Sawako after the seating arrangements change for the third term of first year. She enjoys teasing Sawako and Ayane remarks that Takahashi is eccentric.

According to Shiina, she was just Takahashi-san in the manga, but has the given name Chigusa in the anime show and from volume 10 onwards.^{[vol. 10:author's note 4]}

Yagi (八木)

A classmate of Sawako who sits next to her after the seating arrangements change during the third term of first year. He often consults her on supposedly spiritual or occult concerns.

Mogi (茂木)

Mogi is a new character introduced in the recent chapters of the manga. He is a boy from Class 2-B. In Chapter 54, he asks Ayane to date him, to which she immediately agrees. Ayane breaks up with him in Chapter 59.

Media

Manga

Originally planned on being a one-shot to be compiled in her previous work, Crazy For You, Shiina decided to expand the story and make it into a full series.^{[ch. 1:author's note]} It has been running in Japan in Bessatsu Margaret since the September 2005 issue of the magazine, with 24 compiled volumes as of July 24, 2015. Shiina took a break starting in the March 2009 issue to have a baby;^[7] serialization resumed in the October issue.^[5] The series is licensed by Viz Media for an English-language North American release.

Light novels

Kimi ni Todoke has been adapted into two series of light novels in Japan released by Shueisha, one under their Cobalt imprint and one under their newer Mirai Bunko imprint.^[46] Fifthteen volumes have been released so far in the Cobalt imprint series; the first was released on August 1, 2007 and most recent on January 30, 2015.^[47][48] They are being written by Kanae Shimokawa, who also novelized the Nana movie and Yukan Club.^{[ch. 26:author note#2]} Thirteen volumes of the Mirai Bunko version have been released thus far; the first on March 1, 2011 and most recent on June 5, 2015.^[49][50]

A separate volume was released September 11, 2009.^[51] The volume took the place of the manga in Bessatsu Margaret magazine while Karuho Shiina took a break due to her pregnancy; it contains the story of Kazehaya and Sawako's first meeting, before the events of the manga.^[7]

Cobalt Imprint Volumes

Mirai Bunko Imprint Volumes

Video game

Banpresto released a game for the Nintendo DS in Japan based upon the series on October 16, 2009, entitled Kimi ni Todoke ~Sodateru Omoi~ (君に届け ~育てる想い~).^[69] A second Nintendo DS game, also from Banpresto, was released in the Spring of 2011 under the title Kimi ni Todoke ~Tsutaeru Kimochi~ (君に届け〜伝えるキモチ〜).^[70][71]

Anime

The first season of the Kimi ni Todoke anime adaptation aired between October 2009 and March 2010.^[5] A second season was announced in the November 2010 issue of Betsuma magazine.^[72] The second season aired in Japan on NTV on January 2011. Both seasons of the anime are produced by Production I.G. and directed by Hiro Kaburagi. The music is done by S.E.N.S. Project, with the opening sung by Tomofumi Tanizawa and the ending by Chara. NIS America announced at Anime Expo 2011 that they have licensed the first season of Kimi ni Todoke.^[73] They released the first season on DVD/Blu-ray on January 10, 2012, and released the second season later that year.^[74]

Live-action film

The February 2010 issue of Bessatsu Margaret (released in January 2010), announced that a live-action film adaptation of the series had been approved.^[75] Mikako Tabe and Haruma Miura starred in the film, released in Japanese theatres on September 25, 2010 and directed by Naoto Kumazawa.^[76][77][78] The Live-action movie was released on Blu-ray and DVD on March 11, 2011.^[79]

Reception

Manga

Volumes of the series commonly rank in listings of top selling manga in Japan, however, only volumes 1-23 have been currently published in English:

At the debut of the twelfth volume, all twelve of the current volumes were ranked on Oricon's list of 100 best-selling manga for the week. According to Anime News Network, Kimi ni Todoke is now the "shōjo manga with the most #1 books and the most books to sell one million copies since 2008" in Japan.^[92] The series was the third best-selling manga series in Japan in 2010, with 6,572,813 copies sold.^[101] As of the release of the 16th volume in May 2012, Kimi ni Todoke will have reached a total of over 20 million copies in print.^[102] In 2013, Kimi ni Todoke sold over 3.4 million copies, placing 11th on Oricon's best selling manga series for that year.^[103]

Anime News Network called the series "hands down one of the best new English-translated manga series of 2009" and suggested that everyone, not just shōjo manga fans, read the series.^[104] The first volume of the series was listed as a "Hot Fall Graphic Novel" for libraries in the teen section by YALSA.^[105] The series was also listed in the Best Comics for Teens category of the School Library Journal's Best Comics for Kids in 2009 list.^[106] Kimi ni Todoke has also been included on the American Library Association's list of 2010 Great Graphic Novels for Teens.^[107]

Live action

According to Oricon, the series was listed as 3rd on a list of titles that Japanese readers wanted a drama adaptation for.^[108] The live action movie adaptation opened at second place in Kogyo Tsushinsha's box office chart during its first week in Japanese theaters.^[92] The movie was number 3 on Box Office Mojo's chart during its first two days, earning the equivalent to US $2,770,613 on 285 screens.^[109]

Anime

Many of the first season volumes have sold well in the first week of release to be ranked on the weekly Oricon Sales Chart for Japan's Animation DVDs.

The second season of the anime was number one in a poll of Dengeki Online readers as their most anticipated anime series debuting in January 2011.^[116] Anime News Network reviewer Carl Kimlinger gave the second season 4½ out of 5 stars, saying, "This remains the finest series of its type since Lovely Complex, and the most beautiful since...well, I don't know when."^[117] Japanese viewers voted it the most enjoyable anime of the Winter 2011 season during a poll taken just before the season ended.^[118]

References

Kimi ni Todoke manga volumes by Shiina, Karuho. Original Japanese version published by Shueisha. English translation published by Viz Media.

External links

• Kimi ni Todoke (manga) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
• Kimi ni Todoke (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
• Kimi ni Todoke 2nd Season (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
• Viz product page
• Official Anime Site (Japanese)