Ranked #3756

Kimi no Sei (Manga)

Childhood, a time when most of your blissful memories are made. But what if the only thing you can recall most vividly is when you were bullied by classmates, treated as though you’re better off dead, and above all, were told to die?

Kimi no Sei is a unique, heartwarming tale of a bully and a bullied. Takaya, the bully, grows up from the boy who does things for the sake of fitting in with the crowd to a handsome young man who goes through various relationships. Yurina, the bullied, grows up less normally, and has developed a fear of accepting trust from men or being in a relationship altogether. They meet by chance at a blind date and Takaya, unable to recognize who Yurina is, falls in love and asks to date her on the spot. Yurina eventually agrees with the sole reason to get her revenge and thus, the clumsy, dysfunctional love story between the former bully and bullied begins.

The concept of the story is certainly unique. When is it the last time you have read about someone having a romantic interest in a person they once tormented in the past? It’s fresh, captivating but it is this marvel that holds the story against itself. It raises the question of whether pursuing a romantic relationship with the bully/bullied is even physiologically plausible. A relationship is built from love, attraction, and above all, trust. A bully/bullied scenario completely defies this. With this mindset, Kimi no Sei doesn’t quite throw that concept away which is refreshing but troublesome. How will character interactions run smoothly if a bully/bullied scenario isn’t exactly friendship material, let alone on romantic terms? This is where Kimi no Sei struggles to stay strong and pick itself in but does not quite hit the caliber.

The main characters are the bully, Takya, and the bullied, Yurina. As hinted/mentioned before, Takaya is the instigator of the bullying Yurina had to endure as a child, resulting a mental scar Yurina has to endure. Takaya is an interesting character, and the term, ‘happy-go-lucky,’ best describes him. Of course, he isn’t entirely happy, but doesn’t show this much when around Yurina, claiming it’s best when he’s around her. Takaya is shown to be a ‘devotional character,’ willing to sacrifice much for Yurina’s happiness. He’s also been shown as insecure, and is jealous of Yurina’s interactions with certain men. Yurina, on the otherhand, displays the opposite sentiment. Takaya is sweet as candy while Yurina can be considered bitter as coffee. She’s sharp when recognizing off the bat who Takaya is and knows she’s not to fall in love with him. She tries to be as harsh as possible but occasionally shows signs of weakness when around Takya. Don’t misunderstand this, however. She is not a typical, shojo heroine who falls weak to the other gender’s charm. She’s aware of her growing emotions for Takya and doesn’t embrace it illogically like the standard heroines. But even so, there is something troublesome with the way their relationship works which is something should be mentioned.

Again, the concept of a bully/bullied is treading towards dangerous water. Will you be able to forgive the sins your ‘lover’ did to you in the past? The sins that corrupted the very being you are today? Sure, Yurina didn’t initially agree to the relationship with Takya but the fact that she eventually did, and that she was able to somewhat converse with Takya, is mindboggling. Hello, this is the boy who ruined your self-confidence. One will surely not want anything to do with him or to just kindly reject the person. And Takya is, interesting or not, also mindboggling in his own way. He doesn’t display much consideration for Yurina’s interest yet goes about saying that he loves her. Hopefully it’s character development that will eventually transform him into a well-mannered gentleman Yurina deserves but as of now, it is highly dislikable that Yurina and Takya will get together (even though that is predictable from the start).

Art is pretty much shojo-styled. The characters are drawn clearly and fully enough to portray the emotions the mangka wants to express. The expressions on the characters are plentiful as well. What should be most observed is the clothing that the characters wear. They fit their individual personalities and are usually fashionably pleasing to look at. Backgrounds are nicely drawn as well, the scene accentuating well the mood of each page.

Kimi no Sei, though unique and heartwarming, is not a tale without its mistakes. It’s easy to overlook them with the standard shojo fashion flowering the entire manga but what is a story without mistake? Kimi no Sei is a nice read for anyone looking for a unique piece and a heroine who is a crying, helpless idiot. And, if you ever happened to have encountered a bullying incident or experienced something of the sorts yourself, surely this manga will affect you in some way.

Kimi no Sei, a story of acceptance, forgiveness and romance. A story worth reading.

(Thanks for reading and those who disagrees with what I’ve written or doesn’t particularly like my writing, feel free to express me your opinions. I love getting feedbacks on how to write better reviews.)
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Imagine being bullied in grade school for no reason. Having no friends and constantly being picked on and being forced to move away. Then, years later, the person who started all of it confesses to you. You end up with Kimi no Sei.

Then a plan for revenge but what ho? What happens when you start falling in love with this person. And that's it. The rest of the story is the inner turmoil of the main character as she tries to overcome her conflicting feelings of her past, and her present. The story never surprises you, and drama is almost nonexistent, although it does remain interesting, at least for the 9 chapters this manga runs. You can really relate to the main character and you're not sure if you should hate or like Takaya.

Overall it's interesting and fun to read and realistic which is really nice, but there's definitely nothing that profound to be found. If you are into shoujo and you've got the time, go ahead and read this, you won't be disappointed. Otherwise, unless you really want to read something about bullying without the extremes of something like Life, you should probably pass. read more