Kareshi Kanojo no Jijou

Kare Kano was a romance anime that could have become incredibly great, if it had the proper budget and ideas from the producer to actually complete the show properly. Unfortunately the stale ending that Kare Kano ended on left myself and I’m sure many other fans in frustration. Based on the popular shoujo manga by Masami Tsuda, Kare Kano is about the blossoming love between two high school students who lived a life of lies, pretending to be the perfect person for their own reasons. Being able to truthfully open up to each other, their initial friendship turns to love. Sadly, life isn’t so easy ... for them as they face many trials to be together.

At first glance, Kare Kano is your average high school romance story. Thankfully, the odd personalities of the two leading characters break the idea of this just being another romance story. Kare Kano does contain the usual shoujo romance story elements when it comes to the trials for our main couple (jealous outsiders, temporary separation). But originality is able to come through with the way the leading characters handle their problems, often ending in a comedic resolve to their troubles. Besides the usual love trials, Kare Kano also features a number of interesting side stories about the support characters, so if you’re not a fan of the main couple, fear not, there are other amusing couples in the series as well. Unfortunately, Kare Kano’s story takes a nosedive with the lack of an ending. The last few episodes continue to build the plot up, but the series simply ends before anything can come out of the previous events. This is one of the greatest annoyances when it comes to Kare Kano, especially if one is not a manga reader.

The animation is more or less quite poor in Kare Kano. Taking into account this show is from 1998, anyone can easily see the budget was definitely not allocated to producing good animation. The first half of the show had its moments, the animation in this part of the series were acceptable. One of the techniques that the producers used was to cut out still images directly from the manga, which can be both a good and bad thing. Obviously this saves the producer a lot on cost of actual animation and some may think it is quite cheap of them. But I would think majority of people feel the black and white manga images added to the atmosphere of the show, especially in the moments they were used (which were when things became more serious). The second half of Kare Kano was when the animation began to lose its charm. More still images were constantly being used. Episode 19 of Kare Kano had the entire episode made up of cardboard cut outs, which were stuck on sticks and moved around (like a puppet show). The last five episodes were horrendous, a lot more of the manga pictures were being used, but rather then adding to the atmosphere, it just made the entire show feel cheap. The final episode barely had any animation at all, simply still images.

The sound in Kare Kano is one of its stronger points. The opening and ending have catchy pop songs that some may or may not like depending on their taste in music. There are also a number of enjoyable piano tunes in Kare Kano. All in all, the background music fitted well to the mood in this anime. A good pat on the back for the Japanese voice actors of Kare Kano as well. The VA for Yukino (the leading female) did a wonderful job in bringing out Yukino’s two faced personality, as did the VA for Arima (the leading male). If anything, the only complaint I have for the Japanese VAs was the one for the supporting character Tsubasa. I only felt her voice did not feel right.

Perhaps Kare Kano’s strongest point would be the characters. The leading couple is two somewhat eccentric two faced people (particularly the female) who pretty much break out of the stereotypical shoujo couple. The leading female, Yukino is an absolute riot to watch. You will witness her stressing over the smallest of things, unbelievable for someone who at first glance seemed to be the most perfect person you could find anywhere. Supporting characters such as Asaba and Tsubasa are also equally enjoying to watch as their odd personalities fit in perfectly with Kare Kano’s quirkiness. Character development is very thorough in Kare Kano, with even Yukino’s parents having screen time to develop their back stories. The only negative feature when it comes to the characters is that even towards the end of the show the characters are constantly built up with development, only to have the show end before anything could happen.

For why I enjoyed Kare Kano, I was previously a fan of the manga already. My favourite character would definitely have to be Yukino for her weirdo personality and decisions to solve her problems. I also really like the ending song, which I thought was perfect. Albeit I was definitely frustrated with how the show ended. The terrible animation was just painful for me to watch (especially the last 6 or so episodes). And I thought it was a poor decision on the producer’s part to end the show like it would end every other episode, and slap on a “The End”. I mean, nothing ended at all.

Overall, despite its obvious flaws Kare Kano still manages to be a favourite amongst the shoujo lovers for its interesting array of characters and somewhat unique storyline for the main couple. If you aren’t normally fond of stereotypical high school love stories, try giving Kare Kano a try. It’s recommended though to continue with the manga after watching the anime if you want to see how the story ends, since you won’t find any ending from here. So yeah, If you like comedy, romance, weird characters and high school settings then Kare Kano will probably be for you.

What's there that hasn't been said about this tale? In all honesty, Kare Kano is a love story through and through. Not to say that it lacks any other aspect besides romance but, it's the kind of show where you become intertwined with the heart more than the funny side-comments or the playful animation. The story is simply about two people in high school who meet, share common-ground, and fall head over heels for each other. Perfect for you hopeless romantics, eh?

Character(s) & Their Development
This one is certainly major for this show. The emotional interaction is at such a high level that at times, I ... was amazed at how lifelike it was. I felt I could meet each and every character if I walked around my own school long enough. It's not that their all completely realistic or even that they have no uniqueness but, the fact is that these people make you believe they exist is some space.

Yukino was certainly a character I had to keep a keen eye on. At first, I couldn't find the strength to actually like her but, by the second episode I found herself thinking the same thoughts I had just that very day. She has an extremely worrisome type of behavior when it comes to her relationship to Soichiro. It's not that she is meek but, it's that she has no idea how any of this is suppose to work because of the way she's lived her life. She was always so cheerful to her classmates, but she was distant. So far away, in fact, that no one could tell until this secret was disclosed when Yukino was not guarding herself.

She finds the relationship to Soichiro difficult at times, and yet that's only because of her own thinking. She thinks and thinks, doubting how well she can read him and be close to him. How much can she give, she really, truly wonders. A lot of the show is her ideals on her love towards Soichiro. I related to her, and at times was dumbfounded how much her very thoughts seemed like they were straight from my own mind.

Soichiro, on the other hand, doesn't get as much time to shed his concept on himself or Yukino as much as his counterpart; however, you don't need to hear his development to really know that he is changing. He becomes much more lively and socially active even though he still holds his own secrets & demons from the person he holds dear. In a way, it's a bit sad that Soichiro never comes to terms with his emotions in the anime, as he is cut off from overcoming his shadows since the show was never finished.

Animation
I've never understood completely why but, the majority absolutely despise the art in Kare Kano. As I said, I can't comprehend it since the studio had such a tight budget and because of that, I think they deserve some slack. The anime was also made in 1998, and there was a huge decline in money during that time in Japan (or something or another). Honestly, I don't judge too hard when it comes to this aspect. Story and characters are much more important to me, and they certainly come up strong while the animation is a tad weak.

Despite all that, the style has a plain cuteness while being soft. I've never had an anime where it was realistic but the style made me think: charming.

Music
The sound had to grow on me before I drowned into the youthful, playful melodies this anime has to offer. While some of it was increasingly fitting, the ending theme always had me bored. While I adored the lyrics, I could never get into the beat, but that was probably just me. The opening was certainly a gem though. I find myself singing to it even if I don't want to, it just had a perfect tune that couldn't deny the anime's own attraction in itself.

Dubbing/Subbing
Oh, I adored the dubbing in Kare Kano. The actor for Soichiro is dead-on, no question. Soichiro is more of an emotionless, hold-it-all-in type of guy and the inexperience of his actor actually aides in defining the character. Yukino had the hyper, somewhat angry, yet politeness you would expect from a role model with a weird personality. I was surprised to find the actress is really the voice of Ash Ketchem from Pokemon though.

Overall
In general, Kare Kano has a slice of the anime pie all to it's own. It's graceful in it's deliverance yet funny within it's own boundaries. The blandness witnessed is some episodes is picked up by the pure innocence of each character's quirks. This is the type of anime that is more than just a simple-minded cartoon, it actually lives and breathes like a human being that can grow and morph. It's charming and realistic in thought and action. There's little Kare Kano misses when explaining a relationship, and it doesn't miss at all the heartbeats, doubts, fears, and sadness faced with a first love. However, this show is not depressing despite situations where characters suffer; it remains optimistic.

This a show that's certain to give you that warm feeling, not for the cuteness (because, in all honesty, there isn't too much of that), but for watching the way these characters live out their lives, hardships, and accomplishments. (Last note: Pick up the manga, it ends the story and it's worth it!)

His and Her Circumstances by Hideaki Anno is among the most polarizing shows I've come across on MAL. People either think it's brilliant and one of the best romance anime ever created, or complete garbage. When you have a MAL rating below 7.70, you KNOW you done fucked up. That means the average MAL user thinks this show is worse than Future Diary or Elfen Lied. Despite this, His and Her Circumstances has a small but dedicated fandom who hold it up as an all time masterpiece. So who is right in this dispute? Are the casuals simply too naïve to notice its brilliance? Are ... the elitists being pretentious assholes again and placing garbage on a pedestal? The answer is complicated. His and Her is both brilliant and highly flawed. In order to enjoy it, you have to look past its many issues.

Pros:

Miyazawa and Arima are one of the most interesting couples in anime. Both suffer from psychological issues and create a fake persona to use in public. As the series progresses, both must learn to discard their masks and be truthful with themselves and each other. Miyazawa has a bad inferiority complex. She is jealous that she isn't naturally a genius or athletic, so she spends all her effort trying to trick others into thinking she is. She has a low self esteem and has a pathological need for constant praise. Without it, she would fall into a helpless depression. Arima was born to abusive parents who were a disgrace to his wealthy, extended family. He is so terrified that he will become like his parents or that people will associate him with his parents, that he creates an angelic persona. Even though many of his extended family hate him anyways, he must act perfectly or he fears he will lose the love of his aunt and uncle who raised him. We create masks to deceive others into thinking we're better than we actually are. However, no good can ever come of lying to yourself.

“Above all, don't lie to yourself. The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others. And having no respect he ceases to love.” - The Brothers Karamazov

Besides the excellent main couple, His and Her breaks free of several constraints that anime places on itself. Both main characters actually have family that you meet! I want you to think about how rare that is. I've seen over 950 anime and less than 10 of them have 2 main characters that each have a father, mother, and siblings that we meet. Anime characters always are orphans or only have a mother or their parents are overseas. Despite the great emphasis that Japan places on family, anime is paradoxically terrified of portraying families!

You know what other taboo this show breaks? The 2 main characters ACTUALLY HAVE SEX in a shoujo anime! If you're new to anime, you probably can't appreciate how rare this is. Space Brothers lasts 99 episodes and the main couple never have sex or get physical in any way. Nodame Cantabile is the same way. What about Spice and Wolf, which always makes the top 5 for best couple in anime? Nope! No sex, no kissing, nothing. You sit through 26 episodes of economics lectures to watch the main couple get together and...you get a Wonka ending. "You get NOTHING! You LOSE! Good Day Sir!" The only anime I can think of where the main couple have sex are Berserk (good example) and Future Diary (bad example). As a shoujo, His and Her stands almost alone in very rarely explored waters.

Finally, you get all the psychology and character drama of Eva without suffering through the most laughably obscurantist plot in the history of anime. A plot filled to the brim with half baked ideas and homages to ancient mecha like Ideon. The central conflict of the entire series is that the Angels are attacking humans. After 26 episodes you never learn why. After Death/Rebirth and End of Eva, you STILL don't know why. If you want to learn basic, essential plot details without consulting the internet, you have to watch the reboot movies, buy the 15 video games and the Japanese Daizenshuu. Can you imagine any other work of art that's held in any esteem getting away with that shit? "Yeah Bro! I just finished Werckmeister Harmonies. Now I need to beat the video game in order to make sense of it! I got through the circus level, but the whale boss keeps kicking my ass!"

Cons:

The character art is shit. I can't tell which characters are adults and which are children. Miyazawa's parents don't look any older than her younger siblings.

Due to massive budget issues, the first 5 minutes of every episode are a recap using previous animation. That way, they only have to animate 17 minutes of new footage each episode. Even that wasn't enough, so we get popsicle stick characters and animation that's so bare bones it's a joke. Also episode 13 is entirely recap. What the FUCK was wrong with Gainax and meeting their budgets? I think they must have blown all their cash on cocaine and hookers.

The secondary characters aren't really that great. They don't get enough time to really develop, but do get just enough time to steal from the main characters in a way that hurts the show.

The original mangaka allegedly HATED this adaptation and apparently thought it was pretentious. There was even a rumor that she drove down to Gainax, screamed at Anno, and pulled the plug on a second season. Anno went into a deep depression and walked off the series after episode 18. The rest of the anime after that point is garbage. Even the most diehard fans of this show don't watch episodes 19-26. It's like the Post-Kyoto Arc part of the Rurouni Kenshin anime. It's so bad it doesn't exist in the minds of the fans.

Overall:

His and Her Circumstances isn't a series for everyone. However, if you have patience and can get over its shortcomings, you will witness one of the most unique and moving romances in anime! Hell, it just might be the greatest anime that Hideaki Anno has ever made (that isn't Re: Cutie Honey). I can't get my offline friends to watch this one, and half my online friends dislike it. However, I love this anime and beg anyone who hasn't seen it to try it out!

Kare Kano: [ His and Her Circumstances ]

Introduction:

Yukino Miyazawa is what you can call the perfect schoolgirl in any possible way. At first she was very conceited and wanted others to respect ("worship" could be a better word) her. Then she met Arima, the perfect schoolboy in all respects. Her first instict was to defeat this arch-enemy of hers. However, people say that Hate is what`s closest to Love, and as you may have guessed, hatred soon turned to love between these two. Here`s Kare Kano`s story in a nutshell.

Animation:

Gainax did 2K (Kare Kano). They also did Furi Kuri (FLCL) which has a reputation for ... being "weird". Even in 2K you see that same weirdness. In many episodes, the dialogues are written instead of spoken. And often, there is no motion picture, just a set of slide shows to show a scene. You will also notice that there is a lot of scene-display. Like showing buildings, roads, traffic lights and stuff. Another point to note is that the characters` emotions are very much exaggerated, just like in FLCL. Big teeth, hyper-wide grins and the like. Finally, the animation will often reach an extreme climax with shouts, lots of fast actions and just after, die down to a low hum. This can often disorient the viewer. However, the animation is fluid and there are no major flaws.

Sound:

Like in my other reviews, I don`t pay much attention to sound. The OP and ED have nothing special. However, there are some in-movie music tracks that are worth listening. Nothing bad. Nothing great.

Story:

Here comes the interesting part! As you know, 2K is a love story involving the 2 main characters Yukino and Arima. So, expect these 2 to get lots and lots of screen time. The story of 2K evolves around those 2, depicting their problems, how they strengthen their love-bond and how the characters around them react. There is also some emphasis on friendship and helping friends in need. The series will also illustrate people and the problems they face in their lives, particularly in their emotions. The first 20 or so episodes are nicely laid out.

However, there are 2 things I hate: The flashbacks/recaps and the ending. Every 2-3 episodes, you will get some kind of recap. It becomes very very annoying in the end, with a full 1.5-2 episodes of recap. That really annoyed me. Why do we need recaps that often. We are not amnesia patients! It seems that these recaps are there to fill holes in the series, where the people who made 2K had no idea what to do/write/draw. So they just stuffed a recap and it`s a go.

Next, the ending is really poor. Seems that the budget got drained completely at the end of the series. The drawings just suk! Trust me, you don`t want to watch those again. There is almost no sense in the last 2-3 episodes. The main characters completely vanish, leaving only 2 secondary characters and their budding love story. Even then, we are not told clearly what`s happening. You have to witness that horror of last episode to know what I`m talking about. It`s very incoherent and difficult to understand. Basically, that ending totally ruined the whole series. And mind you, we are not told, even in the end, as to what happens to Arima and Yukino, or the other characters. What becomes of the 2 brightest students of the school? Get married supposedly.. We don`t know, we just hope..

P.s. Another annoying thing: The number of times you will hear the name "Arima" in the series is overwhelming!

Character:

I can say that the characters are well developed and well introduced. At least for the main characters. We are given elaborate details about their lives, their likes and dislikes, and the detail particulars about them. Each of them has their own particular personalities and distinct feelings. This is nice to see.

The problem here is that sometimes, characters disappear randomly and without reason. Eg. Tsubasa`s "brother" completely disappears and for no apparent reason! I thought he was going to come into play later in the series when he was introduced, but alas.. he disappeared into nothingness! :S Likewise, the 2 main characters completely vanish from the scene in the last few episodes!

But the way the characters are introduced and maintained through 2K covers for this flaw and earns an 8 from me.

Value and Enjoyment:

Not much to say here. It`s just a nice romance story for people who like the genre. However, do not expect very much from the series. And if you can bear with some dark points, like vanishing characters and difficult-to-understand stories, then you might give this series a try. Personally I enjoyed it for the first 20 or so episodes. But after that, I nearly dropped it. But I didn`t just because I wanted to know how it would end, but I was deceived there.

Not much rewatch value, except if you really like the genre and got nothing else to watch. That`s all from me! :P

You're not going to get what you expect.

At first the series is very similar to your standard Shoujo anime. The main character is a cannonball of humor and humanity - not a dainty wussy female heroine. She's someone a real female can relate to.

Visually, as the anime progresses, it delves deeper into an avant-garde style of presentation. It becomes less of an animated series and more an experiment in visual storytelling. I actually appreciated this aspect of the series and looked forward to seeing how the story would be told in each episode. From the popsicle stick figures, cityscapes, flashing images, sketch book drawings, etc. ... everything was very different and very interesting to watch.

The story itself is great - it branches off gracefully from the stories of our two main characters as they progress in high school and develop into adulthood.

The behind the scenes problems led to a number of useless recap fillers and a hanging final episode. I presume there was the intention of continuing beyond 26 episodes because the final episode does nothing to wrap up any loose ends. (Typical, right? The bright side is that the manga continues well beyond this final episode and any individual who desperately wants to know how all these fantastic and complex characters will end up is able to read on to a very satisfactory and complete ending.)

Understanding that this is incomplete, experimental, and yet totally emotionally captivating this series is recommended.

In all the 106 anime I've watched, Kare Kano had the worst artwork. So bad, that at times it shows manga panels accompanied by words. And still, I can easily say that Kare Kano is one of the best anime I've watched.

Unlike most shoujo anime, it has the kind of depth you can only find at Kimi ni Todoke or Sukitte Ii na yo, and the kind of realism in the story you can find in almost none. Kare Kano will not expand much on the characters' depth, however for the few that it does, it does so effectively and interesting at the point where ... it becomes the main reason for liking it.

We all know that Japanese humor is not actually funny, nonetheless I laughed quiet frequently throughout its duration.

In general terms, it is a most cheerful, funny and alluring anime, except for the sadness one might feel when it starts narrating real life problems, such as psychological ones...sense of inferiority, defense mechanisms, concealment of reality...

Note that the story does not finish in the anime, therefore you will have to read the last chapters from the manga. It truly isn't a bother though, you will want to know the conclusion so much you will do it more than willingly.

To sum up, albeit its drawbacks Kare Kano is not a boring anime-I finished 26 episodes in five days-so, every person watching shoujo anime should try watching it.

We have all known someone who seems to have everything go their way; Individuals who are intelligent, academically successful, outstanding athletes and despite of all that, remain kind and well-liked people. Those of us who do not possess these seemingly super-human traits can be left gazing up at them in awe, wondering why we ourselves cannot be more like them. But whatever outward appearances may suggest, ultimately these people function the same way we do, and the only difference between us and them (social class and genetics notwithstanding) is a question of motivation. Rather than ask ourselves we do not experience the same results, ... we should really question what drives us to behave the way we do, or more to the point, what drives a person to be so unashamedly approvable?

This is the question posed by Hideaki Anno’s Kareshi Kanojou no Jijou, AKA Kare Kano. It’s a romantic comedy which tells the story of high-achiever and self-styled ‘Queen of Vanity’ Yukino Miyazawa, a high school debutante who has just had her hopes of a perfect high school entranced dashed by the equally successful Souichiro Arima. Right from the get go Yukino makes her motivations clear- wanting nothing more than to be adored by others publically and acknowledged as ‘the best’. This does not work out so well when she is beaten in the entrance exams by Arima, who then becomes the class representative and takes the admiration and attention which Yukino so desperately craves. She vows to get better grades than him in the first round of exams, steal his place at the top and then rub it in his over polished face.

So begins the storyline of the greatest romance anime of all time, perhaps the greatest shoujo and maybe even the best sitcom too. The competition on these fronts is admittedly weak, but Kare Kano still comes on strong and, despite possessing a few obvious flaws, remains a stellar overall: If you want solid characters, it has them; if you want something different from the usual fare, this is a shoujo in name only; if you want something artistically interesting, then Kare Kano engages in visual experimentation that would make Studio 4 degrees C blush. In fact, if you think that Neon Genesis Evangelion is the best anime that Hideaki Anno has produced, you are about to discover how wrong you were and be amazed by how wrong everyone has been these last fifteen years.

These may seem like bold claims, but do not mistake them for embellishment or exaggeration. Let us begin by considering the typical Shoujo Romance: we start with a shy and timid, profoundly girlish high school girl as our lead. We introduce her to a teenage boy who is interested in boyish things like sports and is popular in school; his masculinity offset by his caring nature and his almost feminine good looks. He is crafted in such a way as to be desirable in every since, without being intimidating. One speculates that, if a relationship in a shoujo anime were to progress as far as intercourse (which it never does) our pretty heroines would be shocked to discover that their beloved saviour would not have any genitals whatsoever.

This criticism may seem harsh, but let’s not pretend it isn’t fare. It is actually a source of fascination that productions aimed at girls could be, almost without exception, so misogynistic.

Kare Kano is different though. As the series opens, Yukino’s character has not only been getting by without a knight in shining armour, but has been kicking ass in her own right. Her motivations are questionable of course and ultimately driven by her own weaknesses, but her outward appearance is one of strength and confidence. As her relationship with Arima develops, her character changes and abandons her old outlook on life, deciding that she and him together will live life honestly and openly. Even here though the decisions are mutual and it never feels as if the mere presence of a man is prodding the plot forward.


This mature approach to writing a female lead in a romance story is something which could easily be adopted by other anime series, and yet they continue to produce the same formulaic characters time and time again. But this alone is not what makes Yukino a great character; it is the level of depth and progression of her character while remaining true to her established personality. Attempting to completely change your behaviour and world view are not straightforward tasks in real life, and in fiction this is even more apparent. The realisation that she needs to change comes very early in the series but it is not until it nears its conclusion that this is fully realised. Every so often, when one starts to forget about her character’s desire to change, we are prompted with a reminder that it is an ongoing process. It feels very natural.

Speaking of an ongoing process, as mentioned above it is common that shoujo romance stories experience limited progression and can even seem like one misunderstanding after another. These strings of awkward situations are intended to be dramatic, but this is usually not the case if you are unable to suspend your disbelief; a difficult task if you have ever been stuck watching romantic comedies with your mother. Thankfully, Kare Kano abandons this will-they/won’t-they nonsense and progresses quickly; perhaps even a little too quickly. The pacing is similar to that of a real relationship (i.e. it doesn’t take six months for the characters to have their first kiss) and actually manages to discuss the subject of love maturely and convincingly. One particularly memorable example is when Yukino, having learned about something unsavoury from Arima’s past, says: “I love this man, this man who hurts himself for the sake of others”. It was already clear that this was not a mere puppy romance, but this line marks the point where the story unfolding is no longer some teenage fantasy, but an honest and genuine love story.

As for Arima’s character, while he does possess many of the qualities of the stereotypical shoujo male love interest (athletic, popular, girlish appearance, kind attitude) his clean cut appearance and modest abilities belie a character with a troubled past and a deep feeling of inadequacy despite his successes. While he shares Miyazawa’s drive and goals, his motivations and circumstances could not be more different and he turns out to be a rather dark horse. The son of abusive parents, Arima was adopted by his auntie and uncle and feels that he must succeed both to satisfy them and to prove that he will not follow in his parents footsteps. It is a considerably less happy back-story than Yukino’s, yet at the same time it feels just a little too... obvious. What drove Miyazawa to behave the way she does is a complex question which does not have any real explanation beyond a love of praise and special treatment, while it is very easy to pin down exactly what makes Arima the way he is. The second may seem like clearer and better storytelling, but if you consider your own personality, has it been formed rigidly by a single experience from childhood?

Arima’s character is a bit weak in contrast to Yukino, but at the same time Yukino is among the best written anime character of all time, and Arima is still an almighty cut above even the best of his contemporaries. The pair are a perfect match, and for the purposes of storytelling, allowing the audience to clearly see two different paths that could lead to highly driven individuals, both showing that such people still possess weaknesses and experiences troubles that others face, and most importantly of all, that such people are still human.



Kareshi Kanojou no Jijou, better known as Kare Kano, is a series directed by Hideaki Anno and produced by Studio Gainax. But there are no giant robots to be found, nor are there any whiny teenage boys. In fact, this series is a romantic comedy, and the characters are exceptional: intelligent, successful and popular. They are the kind of people that everyone else wants to be.

Mary-Sue! I hear you shout, but you would be wrong. Because while on the surface the cast of Kare Kano appear to be too good to be true, what motivates them and gives them the drive to succeed in this regard is that most pitiful of weaknesses; desire for the approval of others.

Unfortunately, as the series reaches its close it begins –ill advisedly- to introduce other characters, some interesting and some not, but none of which can hold a candle to the lead roles. Their introduction is made necessary as a part of Yukino’s recovery process, but alas they are but meagre archetypes concocted to fill space. Each one has their own background but they are quite predictable and feel like a distraction from the main storyline. Still, it feels that the time could have been better spent on Yukino and Arima, or even on Yukino’s family members, who as supporting cast members go are superb, providing alternative points of view neatly and punching above their weight on the comedy front. Fortunately, there is one episode towards the end of the series, a filler episode if you wish to call it that, which places the spotlight on Yuki’s youngest sister Kano. This is actually one of the highlights of the second half of the series, although its placement is bizarre to say the least. Unfortunately though it is not anywhere near as bizarre as where the series actually finishes.

There are several stories attached to the production of Kare Kano which you may or may not be aware of: the first is that the Mangaka was dissatisfied with Hideaki Anno’s portrayal of the series, and that he abandoned the production in response. Another story is that towards the end of the series, the money supply was running out, and so production values went out the window. The first of these stories is known to be true, and Anno’s directorial influence is absent from several episodes of the series. Unfortunately, the man who took his place – Kazuya Tsurumaki, who later directed FLCL, was unable to continue Anno’s vision and so things just peter out.

The rumour about the money supply may or may not be true, but I consider it unlikely for two reasons- first of all, the windfall of cash in Gainax’s coffers following Neon Genesis Evangelion’s success, and the highly experimental tendencies of the studio in both earlier episodes of Kare Kano itself, and in other Gainax productions. In fact, it could be argued that there is more visual experimentation in Kare Kano, than in productions like FLCL, Panty and Stocking, or anything by Akiyuki Shinbou.

The series manages to frequently experiment with visuals, without them becoming jarring or intruding too much on the storyline. Every episode seems to include a new and interesting way of communicating with the viewer: from Kano and Tsukino using a manga to illustrate Yukino’s complex over Arima to using puppets to review the story in a re-cap episode. These are among the more obvious sequences; some are more subtle, such as a first person view sequence in which Yukino’s sisters run up a staircase. Frequent angle changes are not easy to draw accurately, yet here it is pulled off flawlessly. It also has the effect of emphasising the characters rushing from place to place. It’s so original and so effective, it’s wonderful.

Other motifs worthy of note include the use of establishing shots to provide visual cues and symbolise the emotions of the characters. Kare Kano makes the use of pictures of industrial scenery, water pipes, and traffic lights as interludes between romantic sequences. Initially this seems like an odd choice for a romance series, but as the series progresses this becomes clear. The series also makes heavy use of printed text, reminiscent of the work of French director Jean Luc Goddard. While visually appealing, translating these shots and putting them in subtitles is a challenge and if you are unable to read Japanese then you will just have to accept being unable to read everything. Fortunately, this doesn’t really inhibit you from enjoying or understanding the series and usually the text simply paraphrases what is said in the dialogue.

On the subject of dialogue, the script is exceptionally well written. It manages to avoid sounding overly lovey-dovey or naive, a miracle for a high school romance. The voice acting in the original Japanese version is excellent on all accounts, although you may find one character -Tsubasa Shibahime- irritating if you are not fond of nasally voices. Nonetheless, the acting is of a high standard and appropriate for each character. The English dub, in contrast, is a point of contention. Some consider it to be of a high standard- in terms of acting, this is without question. All of them are capable and each line is delivered perfectly. However, as I see it there is one major problem which rather spoils the effort: Arima’s voice. Arima is a teenage boy, yet his voice is deep enough to make Barry White sound like a tenor. The acting is fine, but hearing such a masculine voice coming from someone in the middle of their teenage years is a bit too much. Ultimately though, the choice is yours to make. But what good is dialogue without music to back it up?

Fortunately Kare Kano is well endowed here too. The opening and ending themes are both catchy pop tunes that you’ll be singing along to every episode. Then there is the background music- incredibly varied and highly versatile: it ranges from happy bossa nova influenced light jazz to capture the relaxation and familiarity of both school and home, to standoffish, heavy riff based rock to accompany conflict. This is to say nothing of the touching piano melody which acts as the refrain.

Kareshi Kanojou no Jijou is not only a masterpiece, but a neglected masterpiece. It’s not perfect; in fact it is flawed in many respects, largely the product of its rocky upbringing. But from beginning to end, it is an outpouring of creative ingenuity which no other production comes close to. Neon Genesis Evangelion may have been the title that enjoyed mainstream popularity and the place in the history books, but Kare Kano is the work with higher ambitions and more radical ideas. Evangelion changed super robot shows forever; but Kare Kano influenced animation as a whole.

Evangelion is what got everyone’s attention; but Kare Kano is the production that changed the world.

Smart anime?! Smart anime in the shoujo category?? It does exist!

Story:
It's rather straight forward in my opinion in spite of the various entanglements the characters encounter but essentially...the story is about a girl and a boy who fall in love, the subsequent emotional development, their interactions with the people around them, the lives of their friends and their romances as well, and of course it's about growing up and finding out who you are as an individual.

Art:
It didn't impress me much but the comedic expressions are funny as hell...it's attractive enough and develops a lot in the manga.

Sound:
I have the ... soundtrack. Very motivating.

Character:
Are total win. Characters are the most important aspect of any series to me. They have to be funny, smart, and confident (or if not exactly confident then they should be trying to get there somehow) and Kare Kano has it all. No one is really dumb here and most of them say what they think or feel or eventually develop enough to do so. The anime isn't quite able to encompass all the lovely character development due to budget cuts and mangaka/producer disagreements but if you get a chance, read the manga. The only character I do not like as much as the rest would probably be Arima...and again if your read the manga you'll know why.

Enjoyment:
I own the series but I do regret that the production company was forced to such lows to produce some of the episodes. The anime does not have a proper ending and if you want one, look for the manga...although I will admit that the anime did encompass a lot of Yukino's arc..which is IMHO the highlight of the series...what follows in the manga is a huge dreary arc on Arima...but in between you'll find some gold when Tsuda decides to focus on the other characters.

Overall:
I like it lots. And if you want to listen to a good conversation between characters instead of long overly macho crap in shounen or hurried "I love you, but I can't love you" crap in shoujo then you're in for a treat. :)

Gainax's adaptation on Masami Tsuda's manga Kare Kano is a series that rarely leaves anyone who watches it indifferent. Starting off with a hectic pace, rapid development and unique characters, presents a style and animation that for some might be worth of negative criticism, while for others a true paradigm of originality and visual expressivity.

As for the bigger picture, Kare Kano is a romance. This topic is the main aspect of the series during its first third, in which we find probably one of the most disarmingly honest shoujo romances ever made. From that point onwards, yes: the main couple does get more screen ... time and exclusive episodes, but also other characters appear in scene and gain in importance and development, as well as the comedy aspect of the show increases.

The characters are well portrayed and their development is noticeable. The main lead is very interesting, with her apparently different facets and her unique personality. Considering herself the queen of vanity and always full of pride, Yukino seems to be the opposite of the also talented but really measured male lead. Nonetheless as the time passes they notice how important their relationship is to discover things about themselves and to improve as people in general. It's also quite uncommon and great to find a protagonist for this kind of series that instead of being insecure and dubious when anything happens, decides to act with determination to solve her problems as soon as possible.

The style and its original approach is one of the main sources of controversy and one of the explanations of why is this show so terribly underrated. You might have seen other Gainax's shows that could give you a clue on this matter: a previous Neon Genesis Evangelion or a later FLCL. In order to express emotions and comedy scenes, characters' shape is usually modified in what looks like caricatures. Decoloration and manga-style, minimalist scenes in where the text is simply written are also visible throughout the show. There's one episode in which this is especially hyperbolic and the backgrounds are real, while the characters are just clippings. For the major part of the show these shifts in style are done in a very effective manner, enriching emotion and making sure that the desired mood for the scene is portrayed in the best possible way.

Now the major downside of the series is the fact that drags out a bit for the last eight episodes, with pointless recaps, slower pace, new characters we are not given enough time to care about and, of course, an open ending. From the last 3 episodes 2 of them are fillers and the last one, while having a better direction than the few previous ones, might result in a disappointment for the unaware audience that was waiting for a proper conclusion. Kare Kano was supposed to receive a second season but due to some disagreements between the original creator and the direction this never happened, also with director Hideaki Anno leaving the project before its completion.

As bad as all the aforementioned issues might sound it is important to acknowledge that the great majority of the show is not only a fair adaptation of the manga, but also an enriching one. Its stellar direction pushed the boundaries of a more complete medium like very few adaptations in anime are capable of doing, character designs made the ones from the manga look way more appealing and audiovisuals were spot on for the major part of its airing.

No complains in what concerns to the sound: both opening and ending themes are above average, with the ending sequence changing after every episode. The soundtrack is really befitting for both the occasional wackiness of the show as well as for its more dramatic moments.

In conclusion, if you want to watch a well-built, funny romance story (potentially one of the best of the medium) and you don't mind about dealing with an original animation style or a rather few disappointing last episodes give Kareshi Kanojo no Jijou a try.

If you follow Hideaki Anno's path as an anime director, you may notice his stuff getting more and more bizarre. First, we have his work on Nausicaa, mostly explosions and stuff, then Nadia, a narrative in the standard format, a bit of experimenting with difficult characters and plot twists, then comes Evangelion, a work which challenged many fundamental ideas on anime, like the idea that the ending needs a plot, or that the characters need to be likable, or that mechs have to behave mechanically, and finally, we have Kare Kano.

This is describable as an avant-garde romance, but that wouldn't really do it justice. ... It's more like a refocusing. It sort of works on three levels: the story level, the psychological level, and the allegorical level. However, Anno doesn't seem to want us to see it as any one of those, and frequently switches between focuses. As a result, we get a schizophrenic mess where characters veer wildly between being plot advancement props, symbols, and full characters. It is, quite frankly, a somewhat unpleasant that gives lots of cognitive dissonance. In my honest opinion, Hideaki Anno is toying with us.

What makes this series great is its sudden and unexpected swipes at truth, concealed amidst zany animation and romantic comedy. One example was Arima’s monologue in episode 8, where he talks about an inner voice asking him if he was really having fun. And then he proceeds to describe how it seems like his day to day emotions often just seem to float on the surface of his being, making no impression, just flowing over it. He wondered if at his depths he really feels anything at all. When I watched that, strangely enough I knew exactly what he was talking about, and I suspect that lots of viewers felt the same way. Day to day emotions flowing over the surface of my inner being as water over rocks... that's deep man.

Some of the depth isn't stated outright, but rather is demonstrated. One other example is Arima and Miyazawa both feel they are putting on social airs, not placing their true selfs on display to the public, and yet they are inspired by each other's lies. Both Miyazawa and Arima were profoundly moved by what they thought they saw in the other person as more noble than theirselves, but they were really both equally ignoble on the inside. However, the catch is that they are both becoming more noble on the inside by the false airs they put on towards each other. Lies and deception are improving them. It's an interesting paradox, but it seems to be a fundamental truth about the world.

Ok, so I'm not going to keep bothering the reader with illustrations of what I felt was profound in this anime. Instead, let's look at the big picture. The episodes in which some thought or revelation startled me amounts to maybe 1/2 or 1/3 of the episodes. The rest of the episodes come across as either silly or pretentious. So often, it feels like this show is going to collapse, that Hideako's hands are skillful enough to balance this complicated structure, yet by the end it is clear that somehow he has managed.

The art style works somewhat interestingly, with more simplistic drawings representing deeper internal states, and the most detailed drawings depicting everyday life. In the most detailed drawings, all of the characters have quite attractive designs, especially Miyazawa. I wasn't a huge fan of the simplistic drawings, but their creative usage won me over. The music was very good. I quite enjoy the opening theme, and there was this one piano song in the background sometimes that was quite lovely.

The ending has drawn quite a bit of criticism. Honestly, I loved it, but don't expect a satisfying resolution. The manga goes on, and probably has a more satisfactory ending.

The first anime series I ever bought. And on top of that, it was the first box set too. I had seen a few episodes on On Demand on my anime selects (when it was free - now you have to pay). I sat down during the summer and switched on the T.V and my journey began.

I kind of yawned at the first episode. There was a few good laughs, but the series didn't seem all that special to me. In fact, through out the series, it got a little boring at times. Yes, there would be something going on ... in the story, but it just wouldn't be that exciting. It seemed a slow, easy going anime. So at first, I thought to $60 I had just spent on this set was a waste. But then I realized something really special about this anime that I don't think many can do: I could relate moments in the anime to moments in my own life. You really can't do that with a lot of animes since a large portion are mechas, fantasy, and the such. But here, with Kare Kano, it was a realistic storyline of romance and comedy that I enjoyed. It took a while to get use to, around the fourth or fifth episode I started laughing and relating the moments to my own life. I started to sing along to the intro music eventually, even cry at times.

But speaking of intro music... the composer of Kare Kano's soundtrack, Shiro Sagisu, is the same composer for the ever famous Neon Genesis Evangelion. Like for the soundtrack of Evangelion, Sagisu used the piano a lot here. The music did have little variation as far as genre goes - mainly just piano and jazz (a marching song or two was also mixed in), but it was such a different type of soundtrack than most animes. Jazzy, calm, it helped show the true colors of Kare Kano, fitting the moods perfectly. I even bought the soundtrack 2nd CD (could never find the first). And with the CD, I use it for winding down and work because of it's nice easy going style. So along with the anime, I recommend getting the soundtrack too.

I did start relating some of the characters of Kare Kano to my friends and family. I'd say "Oh, Yukino reminds me of my smart friend Ashley, who likes praise too". At one point, I related the pervert Asaba to myself. Although the main characters of the series were Arima and Miyazawa, every other character had a story to tell. Some would tell stories of bullying, others of friendship. There wasn't much character complexity here, which could be viewed as both good and bad depending on your taste (for me it's good).

Why didn't this anime make a 10 overall? There were the minor bad parts about the , such as the mentioned snore moments, but the rest was good. It's amazing what this anime did to me: laugh, cry, dance, sing. And hey, a 9 out of 10 is not bad at all, so don't let that fool you. I liked this, and I think any person looking for a good comedy romance will too, because this anime is nothing short of a good time.

Intro: Honestly, the story was a catch for me. It wasn't like most animes where we have to endure all the hardships that happen BEFORE the relationship. This anime told the story of before and after. I definitely looked forward to watching something new.

Story: Like I said, it was a catchy story. I thought it was newer and unique than most of the animes that are out today. We focus on the two characters falling in love and working through the hardships of falling in love. It was an innocent, cute, funny, plotline. Although the ending was rather disappointing, the beginning and middle were ... failry decent. One thing i do have to comment on that was bad, was the re-caps. I found that the recaps soon took up half or even full episodes. No need for such long recaps. I'm sure most would agree.

Art: The art is what realllly got to me. I found myself reading rather than watching. It was like they took the manga and just put it onto the episode. Also, I watched the subbed episodes, and it was rather difficult reading what was on top of the screen and what the subs were saying. [You'll understand if you've seen it] I know it was made a while ago, and during a bad time in Japan, but stilll. There were episodes that were fine, why couldn't it have just remained that way? It was a big let down.

Sound: I didn't have much to complain about the sound. There were a few episodes that the voices were off from the picture, but i assumed that was from my slow connection. If it wasn't than that's another issue. The music wasn't the best, it was catchy enough. I don't have much to say about sound.

Characters: The characters were likable. The main girl character, although could get on your nerves, was down to earth and truthful. She was loud, yet cute. The main guy character was confusing, yet friendly. Both characters were very realistic. Most of the other characters were also realistic. Although we could see character growth in only a few of them, we can assume the growth in the others.

Enjoyment: Personally, I started off enjoying this anime verry much so. But i was highly disappointed at the end. I was left confused, mad, and let down. I had to go to Wikipedia to read what happens in the manga at the end. So after reading that, i was sort of satisfied. I don't know about any of you that want to watch it, but I think you'd enjoy the realism, humor, cute romantic parts, and the love that the two characters share.

Overall: Mediocre. It was realistic. It was cute. It was funny. Although it lacked a decent ending and better art, it was enjoyable for the time being. Don't expect to "WOWED". (:

Hope this helped.

this review is based on:
26 episodes of the anime seen
Episodes 1-11 of the English dub
& Episodes 11-26 of Japanese w/ English Subtitles
This review contains mild spoilers to refer back to, so be careful!
Please keep in mind this review is meant for people who have seen the anime.

Quick Synopsis

The story revolves around the romantic life of Miyazawa Yukino and Soichiro Arima. Yukino is the "perfect" role model who is beautiful, perfect, intelligent, and loved by everyone. However, deep down inside, she’s the opposite. She’s like a psycho angry girl who puts up a "role model" front to get attention. When Yukino attends high school, her ... first ambition is to get the highest test scores, and to become the most admirable girl in school. However, her goals are crushed when she finds that Soichiro Arima is scoring higher scores, is way more talented, better looking, and loved by everyone. The worst part is, he isn’t faking it the way Yukino is! Because of this, Yukino holds a grudge against Arima and starts to truly hate him (But whenever she’s around him, she "pretends" to be nice).
One day, as Yukino and Arima pass in the wallways, Arima goes up to Yukino and confesses to her, saying that he has always loved her. Yukino thinks that Arima is just trying to "trick" her, but in the end, Arima’s feelings for Yukino are expressed in a way that can’t possibly be a lie. Yukino begins to fall in love with Arima and thus their love blossoms~!

Story

I love it i love it i LOVE it. There are so many things about Kare Kano that make the story perfect. I really like high school romances that revolve around ONE main couple and no weird love triangles or squares or whatever… Because of that, it allows space for the two characters to grow, and the relationship to deepen. The anime lacks in "drama" and just focuses on romance. "Wait…if there’s no drama, wtf is the anime supposed to be about?" Well… it just goes into the inner thoughts of the characters, basically. But that’s what I LOVE about Kare Kano. Omg…The the anime expresses how the Yukino and Arima are in love with each other in a way that’s so believable you can’t help but go KYAA~! Well, scratch that. It’s more of a deeper feeling than "KYAA". You just feel this rush of emotions and make you realize why people fall in love with each other, and how much being in love means, etc… Tho, i can see why people wouldn’t like it. I mean… if you’re a boy who has never really been in love before, then Kare kano would be some crap and boring shit that you wouldn’t understand… ah well..

What i also love is the humor. The humor in anime made in the 1990’s shall always be fresh and funny xD I can’t believe you don’t see anime these days that have the same humor D:

I have to admit… towards the middle and end of Kare kano, a lot of new characters are quickly introduced and the focus turns away from Arima and Yukino D: The anime doesn’t spend a lot of time with these other characters, and if they have a flash back or inner thoughts it usually lasts like…one episode. Not enough for one person to interpret or understand :/ This is where the anime starts to decline. Not only that, but there are recaps every 2 or 5 episodes. But none the less, I still enjoyed it.

Animation

It’s hard for me to judge the animation… I mean, this anime was made waaay back in 1998 where anime was in low budget. The animation is defiantly creative in my opinion, even though at some points they’re scans from the manga, still scenery, or just still animation in general. But the character design looks a LOT better than other character designs made during that time *cough serial experiments lain… ah my goddess… etc…* the animation is not spectacular but it’s definatly not terrible. I would say it’s pretty, and bearable :P

Sound

Again, it’s bearable @_@; At times, the BGM kind of interferes with the moment and most of the BGM is very overused and repetitive. The opening and ending theme songs are kind of addictive, but they’re not the best op and eds ever. As for voice acting, I’m going to be honest. When it comes to Arima and Yukino, i prefer the english dub. When it comes to all the side characters, i prefer the Japanese dub. But Japanese dub vs English dub… I much rather prefer english dub. not because i’m too lazy to read subtitles, but because it’s easier to "get into" the episode when you listen and understand the emotion, instead of reading subtitles and a somewhat understanding of japanese emotion in language….

Characters

YES. CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT. Not only does it exist, but it’s believable xD It’s just so… natural how much Yukino and Arima change while being in a relationship with each other. It’s also fun to watch how Arima and Yukino interact with other characters. All the characters in kare kano have their own background story that make you fall in love with them. I LOVE characters like Asaba who just brighten the mood with humor in a non crazy way xD Tho I have to admit that a few characters are there for a weak purpose, but for the most part, all the supporting characters have some kind of contributation to the story.

Enjoyment

I obviously loved Kare Kano, but I would only recommend it to people who LOVE love. If you love watching people fall in love, express their feelings of love, change because of love, go crazy because of love, then you MUST watch Kare Kano. I think the only people who wouldn’t enjoy Kare Kano are those who don’t really care about love, don’t know what’s it’s like to be in love, or have no heart -_-. However, stop around episode 10 or 11 because the anime begins to decline due to low budget x_o;; such a shame…

This might be one of the best anime I've ever seen, and I've seen over 600 of them by now. I don't get why the rating is so low. Maybe it's not the most accurate adaptation, but adaptations don't have to be accurate to be good. Maybe the visual storytelling got a little too crazy and abstract. Maybe there were too many recaps. Maybe the lack of a proper ending bothered some people. Maybe this maybe that. I'll say this: despite all of that (actually it's BECAUSE all of that), this might go down as the best anime I watched this year. And it's 2:37 ... AM on April 17, 2023 as I'm writing this.

The only thing I didn't like was how Tsubasa got flanderized after her arc got finished. She was one of the most entertaining characters. I'm definitely reading the manga after this. I have finally been made into a shoujo fan.

Kare Kano is the first shoujo anime that I really liked (Excluding Sailor Moon). Kare Kano takes a spin on what could be a normal/ seen it/ shoujo and makes it into something that I was not expecting.

Story: As for the story it has it's cliche moments, but as a whole is very unique and pretty powerful for a shoujo. (Ahh this review is making me sound biased against shoujos)

Art: People may often judge Kare Kano for its art, and while I am not crazy about it, you have to remember that it is one of the older animes. It also did not get ... as much money/hype as a lot of the "prettier" animes.

Sound: I honestly didn't know this show made it to America and was dubbed so I can't tell you about that. However, I can tell you that the Japanese version is amazing. The show is a little old and the subs were obviously done a while a go, so the subbing might be a bit sketchy.

Character: All the characters in Kare Kano usually are very funny. The two main ones, are definitely the main focus, but they do go into backgrounds of the other characters.

Enjoyment: Overall I really liked this anime and I was super-sad to see it end so soon (it was never finished so be warned of the short -abrupt- WTF ending). I had to read the manga straight after this to see how it ended. I recommend this to all who want a good dramatic love story with some surprises in it.

If you want a general plot line, my review of the same manga can be found and read. Or just mail me - I'll be more than happy to explain it in detail. :)

Yes, the anime had a poor budget which was reflected in the show. Yes, the director quit when the mangaka didn't like the direction the anime was taking and refused to let them do a second season. Yes, it's unfinished.

But I can't, and won't, fault this beautiful anime. On three reasons:
1. It's the most beautiful, simple story of all time. It doesn't involve; incredulous plotlines; fantasy scenes which, in denial or not, ... we know are never going to happen; or stupid sexual tension between two people which resorts the story falling back into over-used cliches to support it.
2. The music is phenomenal. A sheer joy to listen to. I cried at certain parts just because of this wonderful score. Fits the anime so beautifully, the best score - in terms of most fitting - of any anime I've ever seen.
3. It captures the moments in love that you will miss yourselves, the little, tiny touches that make love all the more special. While the plot-line is one that, unfortunately, not many people will be able to relate to (on the count that the main character begins as the epitome of vanity and rather twisted), the story of love between the two is so simple and beautiful, many people will be watching it, as I did, thinking 'wow, that's been me.'


At episode 18, you will begin to notice the breakdown in budget, even more so as the last few episodes fall to narrators, and don't even show the story. And yes, compared to the manga, maybe it does focus more on the comedy than the romance. Although, from my point of view, I believe it's not the fact it spins the tale to make it more comedic, more, the music and the way the voices (who, in the english dub, are PERFECTLY chosen) react make it more comedic than the manga, because, come on, are you going to react harder to something written than something happening right in front of you?

Going back to the music, I swear by the end of this you will be wanting to buy it. Including musical scores by Shirō Sagisu and songs written by Fumiya Fujii and Yōsui Inoue, you will love the beautiful music which seems to wind round the tale. Not one note is out of place. Perfectly chosen to make a scene seem more comedic or more sombre.

All in all, if you haven't seen this already, I strongly advise you to. It's, for me, an iconic coming-of-age story of two teens. Sheer, unadulterated joy to watch.

In making Kare Kano I sense that Anno set up two rules for himself when directing. The first rule is to never break the flow of dialogue and action on screen except to set up a moment of atmosphere. The second rule is to always try to represent the subjective humanity of the characters as much as possible.

I have no idea how much Anno took from the manga since I haven't read it, but from sources it seems as if he chose to retain the elements of the plot and dialogue completely. In that case then it has to be Masami Tsuda's writing ability to ... be able to provide Anno with so much psychological insight to work with. Never since Kokoro Connect have I seen characters so brimming with psychology as those in Kare Kano. Toradora only reveals its cards fully at the last emotional arc. Kare Kano goes in all the way, with characters frequently ruminating on the exact scope of their relationships, worrying and analysing different aspects of their life from the very first episode.

Indeed Kare Kano is a wholly psychological romance comedy. It posits a method, that this is how people build personas of themselves, this is how group dynamics function, this is how personas are broken, this is how relationships are made. Anno's editing only serves to really emphasize the characterization a thousandfold. Episode 3 is a powerhouse of tempo, almost perfectly blending in the character reveals, the comedy, the confessions and the emotions to a fever pitch of an ending outpour. Drawing from his Evangelion experience, Anno uses deep reds, shadows, silhouettes and voids to accentuate Arima's psychological torment. When he recounts the slap his father gives him you can almost feel the weight of the palm.

Something tells me that most of the innovation is derived from budget. KareKano is sort of the precursor to Shaft's erratic style of editing, down to the text across the screen and the sound collage. Yet it is also completely minimalistic. Anno draws back on the art when the moment is not an atmospheric one but he always sees the need to draw very detailed aspect-aspect shots to establish a location. He uses manga art half of the time rather than animate the characters directly but the very nature of his editing makes it okay. In episode 6 (another atmospheric powerhouse) there is a moment derived entirely from manga shots scrolling rightwards. It works because the tempo syncs with the piano soundtrack and perfects the pace of a slow uncovering of memories. If majority of the romcoms out there had the editing capability Anno had, they would not only save on budget but would also be a whole lot more immersive.

If you think about it, by eschewing the background altogether for most scenes, or by stripping down the art, there's a greater motivation to express character's purely through psychological landscapes. Kokoro Connect and Toradora bask in the glory of having enough of a budget to draw out all the backgrounds and settings for their characters. Of course not everyone can be like Shinkai and maximize on their Romantic design, but rarely does a director think of stripping back the design until Shaft arrived in the picture.

Episode 6 does a kind of dual-ling thing where scenes are repeated but showing the two main characters different viewpoints. Moffat, when he made the television series Coupling, did the same thing in an episode used a split screen to show the aftermath of a breakup. Yet Coupling's main goal, being a comedy, was still the comedic payoff of having dual-misunderstandings and dual-synchronizations of two characters leading disparate lives. In this case though its used in the old Anno-esque fashion, of showing the clash between the misunderstandings of two lives, and the gaps between two hearts trying to get together. While Miyazawa was ruminating on Arima's great personality, Arima was feeling inadequate at Miyazawa's bright nature and questioning the veracity of his own life. As the episode passes and goes through a really melancholic atmosphere of rain and pent-up longing, it eventually culminates in this dual weaving with the method which I outlined above, using the right scrolling manga panels to indicate the joining together of two lives. (For those more interested in getting to know how Anno's camera works, a shot-breakdown of this episode is on the blog)

Episode 8's Act 0.5 is another very beautiful vignette, taking place before Arima and Miyazawa got together, dealing with Arima's slow realization of the emptiness of his own life and the development of his love. The whole atmosphere is a cooling down of the comedy-drama pacing that normally occurs. Great shots are developed, with cherry blossoms, haunting monochromes and red dusks. The manga drawing interjections here serve the purpose of ramping up the romantic feel, of having very clear and clean shoujo designs as opposed to the rawer animation, during the moments when Arima idealizes Miyazawa. The dusk scene when the two talk to one another is done with matching shots, and the correct framing to emphasize which parts of the conversation the characters are more invested in (a closeup of Miyazawa's eyes when she inquires about Arima not going to a private school despite having the funds).

With all that being said, the main problem is also its main strength, mainly the psychology. Being a romance manga, even with an astounding amount of character insight, and even with Anno's ability to draw moods, there is still the existence of genre conventions. As a result there is the episode with the school trying to interfere between the budding romance of the two, there is the episode with the love rivals and jealous alpha bitches that try to alienate Miyazawa from the rest of the class. Coming from the rich Freudian landscape of Evangelion, coming from the tight characterization of Toradora, Kokoro Connect and the cynical sociology of Yahari Ore No Seishun, it always feels that there's a huge amount of wasted potential. Especially with the knowledge that Anno later drops from the project (since I'm only at episode 11) makes it all the more depressing. Already though KareKano goes a farther way than most of the conventional plots out there by its willingness to delve into introspection rather than falling into the same old genre circles(I'm looking at you Shinbo and Nisekoi).

Whatever it is, KareKano is proof that even with the most rigid and overused genre, there is still loads of room to improve and loads of area to explore. It is a documentation of a skilled director plying his trade with a work that is not exactly in his realm of comfort. There's so much information to glean just from even one or two episodes about pacing and creating moods that its a wonder this work did not become more influential. Staleness is one of the great sins of any creator and if a work from about 10 years ago can outshine most of the works now then there's really a problem.

His and Her Circumstances (Kare Kano for short) is a romance anime that provides more of an introspective look into the intricacies and insecurities that come about falling in love. Kare Kano spoke to me on a very personal level, so it is hard to say that someone will like it if they can't relate to the main characters. I'm starting to feel that that may be the case with the romance genre in general. When I can't strongly relate and empathize with the characters, I tend to distance myself from their experiences and the themes seem to have less value. In this review, I ... will talk about Kare Kano as an experience. I will discuss my takes on the characters and themes. I will also talk about the convoluted production of the anime and how it affected the storytelling.

Characters:
If there's one thing in particular that Kare Kano excels in, is its characters. When you first meet every character, you get to only see one side of them to later (or immediately) find out they are much more complicated. This is very reminiscent of what meeting others is actually like. Everyone appears simple at first glance, but the more you get to know someone, the more you find out how truly diverse humans are. Kare Kano might overemphasize this aspect a tad, but it doesn’t feel too forced. Character’s actions when they appear simple are justified even after you find out they’re not so simple. I can’t think of another anime that pulls this idea off so effectively.

Another thing I find impressive about the characters is how strong of a personality they have. For 15-year-olds, the characters have a lot of things going on. My high school life was not that complicated. Having said that, it’s not overdone to the point where it feels like the characters are needlessly forced to be complicated for entertainment’s sake. They seem completely realistic with their own sets of insecurities. The fact that they, and other characters, constantly make comments on how busy they are serves to reaffirm this point. I knew a girl in college that was the school president, president of two other clubs, went to school full time, and worked full time. People this busy do exist.

Themes:
As far as themes go, what impressed me was how accurately naïve the characters are at the beginning. They appropriately don’t understand love or their feelings towards one another. They then fall madly in love. Then they begin to lose their naiveté about love as they mature. This happening in less than a year is slightly unrealistic, but it didn’t bother me much. They’re supposed to be pretty smart anyways. This coming of age portion of Kare Kano, the understanding love part, is done extremely well. I’d argue even more so than the more generic coming of age themes also featured in here about becoming an adult and accepting oneself.
The other aspect of the themes that hit home for me happened near the end. The main character Soichiro is very relatable to me. Seeing him struggle with reality was a real eye-opener for me. Sadly, we don’t get to see his resolution because the anime gets canceled. I’ll be reading the manga to find out what he does. This is primarily the reason I liked Kare Kano so much probably, because of how much I was able to empathize with Soichiro.

The rest of the characters I honestly could not care about. They were pretty well written, especially Yukino, but they simply didn’t do much for me. I think half of the anime was wasted, but I’ll talk more about that below.

Production:
The most infamous aspects of Kare Kano are probably the departure of Hideaki Anno and the anime’s cancellation. Hideaki Anno probably carried Kare Kano on his back with his breathtaking directing style. This romance/comedy a lot of the time felt like the masterpiece psychological thriller Evangelion. The fact that I can make that statement goes to speak volumes about the quality of Kare Kano. I knew Hideaki Anno had left the project on episode 14 and that it was canceled on episode 26 so I was fully braced for it. However, when Kazuya Tsurumaki took over, it was extremely seamless. He did an incredible job during the dramatic scenes. He kept the Hideaki Anno feel during those scenes almost intact. He was also a more inventive director and that showed during the comedic scenes. He had incredible shoes to fill and did so well. The only bad part is that he picked up Kare Kano in a phase where it was doing nothing. They spend almost half of the anime trying to spread out all these character arcs and I did not appreciate that at all. I know they were planning on making the anime a lot longer, and it would’ve been tolerable if that was the case. But, it got canceled at 26. Now it feels like a ton of time was wasted. I understand they had to fill in space, and I understand that things can’t always be happening for the same characters all the time, but I still found it stale. No other characters were anywhere near as interesting as the main two. Thus, any camera time spent on anyone else turned out to be inconsequential as only 3-4 of the side characters ended up having any kind of impact on the relationship of the main two characters. Kazuya picked up the anime as this side stuff was just getting started, blunted the majority of it, and then was tasked with dealing with its cancellation.

The other part of the production that is very noticeable is how small the budget was. Expect a lot of still images, wanky drawings, recaps, recycling of shots, etc., I mean everything you can think of. Imagine the budget for the last two episodes of Evangelion spread out over an entire anime. Still, this was very masterfully handled by Hideaki Anno. As I said, he carries the anime in its entirety on his back. The directing is simply incredible for its budget.

Cancellation:
I know most people are left massively disappointed by the ending, and it’s understandable. The cancellation did not do good things for Kare Kano. It left absolutely everything unresolved as gears were turning towards a downhill. Major problems were arising, but we did not get to experience them manifesting or resolving. I don’t think this is a bad thing. I believe it was a perfectly good place to end (outside of episode 25, which was pointless). The end forces us to more carefully think about what will happen to the characters, how they will react to their present situation, and what their future will bring. I don’t think these are bad ending notes for an anime.

Ending Thoughts:
I think Kare Kano was great. Whether that is a bias towards my love of Evangelion or my uncanny similarity to Soichiro, we will never know. It was just the right mix of being genuinely good while appealing to me personally. Best romance I've seen to date.

There was a time when I consider the rom-com genre to be underwhelming. For a long while, I use to dislike the genre mainly because found the majority of rom-com anime to underwhelming. Many of the rom-com anime that I’ve watched back then barely had any real romance or at the very least had good character chemistry with each other.
My negative mindset was left intact until I watched His and Hers Circumstances (Kare Kano) for the first time back in 20114 His and Hers Circumstances was not only the rom-com anime that made like romcom anime again but also the first anime that I ever ... reviewed. It had fantastically written characters that all had the purpose of in the plot, the story was well-paced, interesting and entertaining that fully delivered it’s romance aspects. I loved the experimental animation that was used to cover up the obvious low budget and I adored the 1960s style soundtrack.
It was a fantastic anime that I love, and I held it in high regard. However, that was 2015 it’s now 2020 and I’ve seen a lot more romcom anime since my first watch of it.

Some of them were better than others but finally understood the appeal of the rom-com genre. Naturally, I decided to revisit His and Hers Circumstances just to see if I still hold on high regard and it ultimately did.
Right, out of the first scene, the series gives a very strong first impression of our female lead Yukino trying her best to keep her image intact around her classmates by being this perfect high school student. However, while Yukino is being this perfectly high school girl some of her peers and family comment that how she’s not being her self. I liked the commentary because not only it makes the setting feels more alive but it also plays with the show’s themes and narrative which I will talk about in a bit.
The social commentary really gets stronger as the series progresses through the first half as thanks to the student gossiping confits and confits keep appearing on the path of the leads. Stuff like one teacher having a strong disagreeing with Yukino and Arima dating during school life, the whole class ignoring Yukino’s after finding she’s a fake idol to a love foil that wants to grab Yukino away from Arima. It makes the school setting of His and Hers Circumstances feels alive That’s not all to this show. The comedy is brilliant and well-directed thanks to the show’s understanding of comedic timing.

Every single joke that the anime ditches out perfectly land due to this show’s specular comedic writing. Hardly any joke feels dry or hamfisted to the viewer and comedy has a unique visual direction that made it stand out from most anime of that era. It feels like am watching an old school cartoon straight out from Boomerang.
I feel this series and Kodocha has inspired Kaguya Sama Love is War when it comes to comedic timing. For the most part, His and Hers Circumaces is a beautiful narrative experience that has focus.
Pacing (excluding the final two episodes and recaps) is very good as the show moved at a steady focus pace with little hiccups. Writing quality ranges from great to near perfection especially in the first.
The romance elements in the show were excellent as the main couple keeps on development their love beyond just a kiss status.
My favourite episode 11 His and Hers Circumstances happens in episodes 11.

Despite being a simple episode on paper the episode perfectly captures Yukino’s character growth as well the themes of friendship and making up from their past mistakes.
Since this show was directed by Hidekai Anno the same guy that did Nadia and Evangelion you will naturally expect the same themes of not running away and over your problems to be present and while all the themes from Evangelion were present here I feel the themes were better executed here. I felt the themes had a better sense of direction as it didn’t feel as hamfisted compare to Evangelion.

This is not that to say that the thematic execution in Evangelion was bad or anything in facts the thematic execution of Evangelion was brilliant and iconic but I felt like His and Hers Circumstances perfected it. Not only that but the expended them into newer heights that Anno couldn’t achieve in Evangelion. Relating to a person’s flaws and completing each other is the central theme of His and Hers Circumstances. From the couples Yukino and Arima to the friendly duos Yukino and Maho, Arima and Hideaki.
What made His and Hers Circumstances truly stand from other rom-com before and ever since is that the main couple engage with sexual intercourse and it’s not hamfisted or anything of the sort it felt with general love. These two have come a long way since their first encounter and seeing them grow so much to a point where they got to do the act was truly satisfying. His and Hers Circumstances basically broke the whole kiss equals love and nothing else barrier.
Having the main couple kiss is good and all but I wanted to see the main couple development go beyond a kiss and this is what His and Hers Circumstances and a couple of 90s anime rom-com did.
It honestly makes up all the issues that I had with the series which I will talk about now.

For a 26 episode series, it spends a good amount of time recapping various events that we see already. It wasn’t that bad in the beginning but it becomes more apparent once you enter the second half especially when the show ran out of budget. Speaking of the second half the ending was unsatisfying.
The series just ends leaving various plot threads in the final third open. Not helped by the fact that the mangaka of the series was fed up with Anno for making a series a comedy instead of a serious character drama that the manga was.

Yukino could have been easily another generic rom-com heroine where all she does is being dense for the sake of drama. She’s a very realistic and compelling character that grows a lot in the series. The one thing that made Yukino stand out from most romcom leads before is that she’s capable of solving their problems without relying on men. One of my biggest pet peeve of the Shoujo/Romcom genre is that the female heroines more often rely on men to solve their problems. Sure that are expectations like Haruhi, Sana, and to a less extent Misaki but most heroines seemed to rely on men to solve their problems. This alone really breaks the viewer’s emersion as the female lead stops resembling a people as the author starts to use the heroine as a tool for their fantasy.

This doesn’t happen with Yukino at all, and it’s perfectly showcased in episode 10 where not only she shut down two of her foils that were screwing around with her new unmasked honest school life she also told Arima and the teacher to stand down and allow herself to handle the problem.
This are the stuff I want to see in heroine’s being able to stand up for themself without relying on people. Combined with an adorable personality as hilarious character interactions towards the cast and you got yourself one of the best romcom heroines’s ever made.

Arima is one of the most intriguing romcom males I’ve seen. From the minute he started interacting with Yukino to his dark past I knew he was going to an interesting character.
That’s all I have to say about Arima without going into heavy spoilers and I don’t want to do that since you should experience his character arc for yourselves but all I can say that’s he’s a fantastically written character that develops beautifully.
Maho is a character that had grown on me. When I first watched it I didn’t care for her all that as but as I re-watch this series I started liking her to a point where my second favorite character in the series outside of Yukino. She’s the perfect foil and later on a friend of Yukino.
Maho and Yukino bounce each other flawlessly.
Tsubasa is also another character that I really enjoyed. She’s filled with personality, loved her two-episode arc in the show that tackles the subject of family issues and she was just a joy to watch especially when she makes funny faces.

One other thing that makes His and Hers Circumstances from modern romcoms especially in recent memory is the inclusion of family’s. That’s right the characters in this series have families and there are well-established ones on top of that. From Yukino’s chaotic family to Arima’s cautious family the series feels once again alive. On top of being fascinating characters in their own right they also the centre couple grow and I like their respective parents get along with each other despite them coming from different social backgrounds. The only other two rom-com that I have seen that especially the families of the protagonists is Marmalade Boy and Kodocha. I wish the family element of romcoms would make a return someday because some of these recent romcoms lead need family support.
The rest of the characters range from good to great overall as their all aid the main two couple growth in the series.

His and Her Circumstances was produced by Gainax. The same studio that gave us the legendary Neon Genesis Evangelion, Gurren Lagann as well other lesser-known works like Nadia The Secret Of Blue Water, Medaka Box and Mahromatic.
It was also done by J.C staff who also gave us Toradora, Slayers, Raildex and Revolutionary Girl Utena. Compared to Ganiax previous work Evangelion His and Hers Circumstances didn’t have a good of a budget, to begin with.
This is not to say is visually bad tho. Some of the scenes especially the first couple of episodes featured some great looking scenes that are on par with other anime in the 90s. It just that theses not as visually appealing compared to the other anime 90s let alone other anime from Gainax before and after His and Her Circumstances.

Despite its low budgets, His and Hers Circumstances has one thing that most animes from 90s lack and that’s direction. Hideaki Anno is a master of handing low budgets and His and Hers Circumstances is no exception. I really adored how visually creative can be from it’s over the top character expressions, the use of live-action footage, the paper cutouts to the various experimental animation which give the series is unique visual flare despite being low budget.
The soundtrack was done by the talented Shirou Sagisu the same person who did the soundtracks for Bleach, Kimgure Orange Road and Neon Genesis Evangelion. Needless to say, the soundtrack of His and Hers Circumstances is excellent filled with classical, upbeat, old school, piano 1960s style tracks that enhance the tone of the series. Both the opening and ending themes are memorable and catchy.
This may come off as an unpopular opinion to many, but I really adored the Engish Dub for it. Sure the dub is cheesy and showed its age, but I feel it fits the series perfectly. You can tell the dub actors have a blast voicing their characters.
Best performances go to Carol Jacobanis as Maho, Lisa Ortiz as Tsubasa and Veronica Taylor as Yukino.

It has been over seven years since my first watch of His and Her Circumstances and after re-watching it for the fourth time I can that this show is still just as brilliant as I remembered. The story was a very enraging and well put together romcom tale that had me at the edge of the seat (minus the crappy recap episodes) The characters were very likeable and masterfully written. The visuals despite its low budget were mostly fascinating to watch due to the superb direction by Anno and the animation staff. The soundtrack done by talented Shirou Sagisu was astonishing.
His and Hers Circumstances is not only one of my favourite anime romcoms period it’s also the best anime I have seen from Studio Gainax. Yes, I prefer it over Evangelion, despite it also one of my favourites series. Everything that did EVA was executed better here. From the character drama, experimental animation, the soundtrack to the overall direction.
I am glad that the series has gained a strong following over the years, despite the author and some manga readers despising the anime. Sure the anime may not be as dramatic heavy as the manga but I feel the anime has what the manga lacks and that’s determination.

The anime knew that it was willing to be an incomplete adaptation. It knew that it was going to be various budget restraints by Gainax, It knew that was going to get robbed away from but despite all that, the show never gave up and we end up getting one of the best rom-com ever made.

NOTE: This is my first Anime Review!

'Kare Kano' - definitely an overlooked and underrated Shoujo series!
I couldn't believe that the same studio and director of Neon Genesis Evangelion took part in such a romantic tale. There is no doubt that it exceeded my expectations. I was not disappointed at all for the most part.

In a nutshell - it is an oldie but a goodie!

THE OPENING: (8/10)
Real catchy. It was so 90s and I loved it. It introduced all the characters vividly as you get a rough idea on what the story will be about. As the titles rolled, I immediately caught on to ... a certain word that popped up. 'Gainax.' No doubt it gave off Evangelion vibes in not only the opening, but throughout the Anime itself.

STORYLINE: (7/10)
From the very beginning, the story truly draws away from your stereotypical Shoujo. Most of these kind of genres stick to a repetitive narrative - that being either the boy, or girl is more popular than the other. Kare Kano offers something different to the table. Both characters are popular and are seemingly 'perfect' among their peers. As both Arima and Yukino learn more about each other and 'unmask' their true selves, many themes tie in together.

There are times with obvious romantic elements and comedy relief. Other times, there are concepts of sexual intimacy and maturity being explored. There is even, to some degree, aspects of the psychological genre (loneliness and isolation) - which is to be expected coming from the man behind Evangelion. Overall, its quite 'realistic.'

CHARACTERS: (7.5/10)
The characters were real solid. We get introduced to a good band of individuals, with their own set of personalities and interesting story arcs. There wasn't a character that deemed to be 'annoying' or 'useless.' Each had their own part to play.

ANIMATION: (6/10)
The animation was 'fine' at best. There were times however, that felt like I was watching a Manga rather than an Anime. Certain scenes didn't quite feel 'intimate' enough as well - especially during a romantic atmosphere. It usually consisted of still images just like the panels of a Manga. Even so, being a 90s Anime, there were parts with great cityscapes and sunrises/sunsets.

THE ENDING THEME SONG: (6/10)
Not as strong as the opening, but still catchy and rather winsome. Again, we are given Evangelion vibes - this time with the panning of real life buildings and corridors of schools and rooms in Japan. Iti s quite interesting to watch - a fairly unique ending theme.

DUB or SUB? (7.5/10)
To be honest, both are pretty great in my opinion. There is quite a significant difference however. Ideally the Sub expressed characters as sounding more 'lighthearted' and 'young' in comparison to the English version. The Dub cast provided more 'mature' voices. In fact, Arima came across to be quite 'deep' and 'sexy.'

Personally, I liked the DUB.

OVERALL: (8/10)
Give this series a go! Its a great breath of fresh air from the typical Shoujo Anime being released today (despite its launch in 1998). Kare Kano represents what a Shoujo series can be. It handles certain relationships and direction of plot in both a delicate and mature manner.

ADDITIONAL NOTES:

- The ending wasn't very satisfying.

- There are a few episodes that contain fillers or recaps.

- Kare Kano supposedly ends half way through episode 24. The remaining two and a half episodes drifted away form the story. (Budget?)

- It contains 'Josei' elements.

- I suggest to read the Manga, as it fills in the gaps substantially.