Spotlight Anime: Kimi ni Todoke

Wilio said:
First season great; it's really about Sawako opening up to others rather than a quest to get the guy. Sadly, the second season used everything I hated about the standard high school romance anime.

Still, the show still feels complete without its second season so it doesn't really hold it back.

Sawako is a sad and lonely girl, that is in school and has no friends. Everyone has a very bad image of her and avoid her. Sawako is what I was. In a heart-warming story, we see the evolution of Sawako (or Sadako) as she makes friend sand gets more populer. That was the basic different between us: she has a cute guy that loves her (haha)

I liked this anime very much, both seasons, even though it depressed me a little. I identified a lot with the main character, but it made me sad to see that she was able to do what I couldn't.

Concerning the story, we have something original, in which for once it's the boy that likes the girl and tries to win her over and not the opposite. It's a delicate story, with a very slow progression, but still pleasant. It's prustrating and irritating to see things happening in the worst way possible and not being able to act on it. The characters are very well conceived, even though Sawako has some attitutes that fall a bit on the autism and impossible side. It surprised me her ability to always blame herselfm, which is a very unnatural reaction. Her relationships are realistic and well cared, but her lack of perspicace is not normal at all. Even though there's a perfect characterization of the teenage girl and her relations with the universe around her, from various perspectives (as we have more girls, each with characteristics, dilemmas and problems. And solutions!)

The art is pretty, with an appropriate design. All the characters are "normal". Nobody, except Kurumi, is extraordinarily pretty or special. This makes them, in some way, unique. The colours are beautiful, but there's little detail in the drawings. In a whole, everything has an older and more fragile aspect, which makes it a great visual experience.

The music is delicious, I even searched for the sheets to play it on the piano. Both OPs and EDs are appropriate and good individual pieces.

It was a bittersweet experience. I thought a lot of times about this anime while I was watching it, questioning if "does the kiss come next episode?". The ending was a little disappointing, even though it was logical. A good piece and a good example of the genre, recommendable.