The story is a little pedestrian but the plot is amazing. You have a girl who is introverted but wants to learn how to socialize and a boy who is the completely cheerful and friendly. We've heard it all before but the way things play out in the story is beautiful and moving.
This is clearly a case where "opposites attract" because Kazehaya is drawn to Sawako's quiet almost-eerie personality as much as Sawako is attracted to Kazehaya's cheerful disposition. They meet at the start of high school where Kazahaya gets lost and Sawako points him the way. Kazehaya sees her smile and immediately takes a liking to her. What keeps him interested though is that he never sees her smile at school and so he does little things to help her step out of her shell and smile more.
Add that everybody thinks she is Sadako (from the Ring) and you get comic relief and a unique twist that sets this love story apart from others. I have to say, though, that I don't see any resemblance between Sawako and Sadako except for their long black hair with bangs.
What I really loved about this series, though, is the the honest kind of love that it (and almost every other manga and anime) portrays. Both the characters are honest despite their individual deficiencies (Kazehaya is short-tempered and tight-lipped,; Sawako is shy and dense). This honesty is what nurtures their strong feelings into love.
And just because I miss being a Lit major and I can't help it, I've come up with an archetypal analysis of each of their characters.
Sawako
She falls into the Japanese manga archetype called the "Simple Character". A lot of Japanese anime and manga heroines also belong to this category. Like for example:
Miki Koishikawa of Marmalade Boy
Kyoko Mogami from Skip Beat!
Hibino Tsubaki from Kyou Koi wo HajimemasuA "Simple Character" is always honest, humble, unassuming, selfless, and sometimes a little dense. Most of them are quiet characters like Sawako and Kyoko. As the story progresses, they slowly ease out from that shyness (mostly by the help of their love interests) and emerge as strong, principled, and independent people. Their characters are sometimes unrealistically too honest which may be considered as some sort of weakness but it makes them more empowering and more, let's admit it, loveable. They also share a very distinct and sometimes annoying trait that drag the series into episodes of comic mishaps and romance: humility. Simple Characters are so humble in fact that they tend to be dense and oblivious to the sometimes flagrant and sometimes subtle displays of affection by their love interests.
Sawako for example attributes Kazehaya's attempts at showing his love for her to his kind personality which she thinks he also shows to everybody else. Miki from Maramalade Boy thinks Yuu is just teasing her. Hibino has the same train of thought and Kyoko thinks Ren is just being "her sempai". Ugh! It pains me to wonder why these girls don't get it! But I guess that's the beauty of being a simple character. You don't over analyze other people's actions so you don't get the wrong idea. Then when the unexpected thing happens (like the long-awaited confession), the happiness that comes with the surprise is more real and more absolute.
I wish I could me more like a simple character. I wish I could be as honest and pure and innocent. But I am not always honest and I am afflicted with the disease of analyzing every little thing people say and do to me. I am sometimes manipulative and can be a real bitch. In fact, if I were to compare myself with a character from Kimi ni Todoke, I'd say I am more like her:
Yes, I'm actually more like Kurumi than any other character in the series. Sometimes I identify with Yano but I see myself most in Kurumi. Though I am not the kind of girl who would go to the extent of spreading lies and defaming my rival (in fact I am very sport when it comes to love), I am capable of putting up a face in order to get the attention of someone I like. I will do my best to get that person to like me. I'll eat food I won't normally eat and I could watch football and even talk about thermodynamics. If I have to lie, then I will. After all, they say all is fair in love and war. I am also very selfish and tend to be jealous. And I fight my battles in subtlety. But what differs me from Kurumi is that at the instant where I am absolutely sure that I have no chance with person I like, I'll give him up immediately. Won't be easy but I'm capable of moving on and being okay.
Kazehaya, on the other hand, is "The Boy Next Door".
Boys-next-door are cheerful, popular, and yes, GORGEOUS! What I've noticed with heroes that fall into this archetype is that they always fall in love with the out-of-the-average girl. But usually, the girls they want to be with are the ones who are always honest, kind, and hardworking. How many handsome boys have we heard saying they love this girl because "she works hard" or "she never gives up"?
Ultimately, the boy next door is almost perfect but he has a depth that makes him special and different from "all the other guys". The boy-next-door also has hamartia like an unknown past or a short temper or a dysfunctional family. But whatever flaws he has, he always manages to put up a smile without being fake and has everybody, including and especially hopeless romantic writers like me, down at their feet.
Right now, I can't think of any other male anime character that have more-or-less the same character as Kazehaya. Anyhow, I'm just happy I met him and Sawako and all the other characters. I actually found the story quite boring at first but it got really juicy in the end!
By and large, Kimi ni Todoke is one of the most memorable animes I've seen! Kampai!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment