Sasameki Koto

I think we all know how painful it can be to love someone who doesn't love you back. I certainly do, and I don't think I've ever seen an anime series that depicted the loneliness--and very rarely the joy--of one-sided love as well as the shojou ai romcom Sasameki Koto did.

I began watching Sasameki Koto at the very beginning of the year, around the same time I started Junjou Romantica. I could not have picked a better first shojou ai series. Although it is basicly about the love between two girls, it is way lighter and more fun then some of the more dramatic shojou ... ai series out there, making it a perfect introduction to the genre.

Sumika Murasame is an intelegent, tough as nails highschooler with a big problem: she has fallen in love with another female, her best friend, Ushio Kazama. The problem isn't that Ushio doesn't like girls--in fact, she's absoluely crazy about them--the problem is that Ushio only likes "cute" girls. Small, weak, shy girls that one would feel compelled to protect. Sumika, being unusually tall and a martial arts expert, does not at all meet this description.

Sasameki Koto presented a very simple story, and was able to do a lot with it. Something different happened every episode, and they managed to bring in very satisfying romantic scenes and wonderful comedy without being too unrealistic. The only problem was that some episodes had no real significance, and could have been skipped over in order to make room for a decent ending. Note before you watch Sasameki Koto that the ending is very abrupt, and will probably leave you unsatisfied and thinking 'That's it?'

The characters made this series what it was. Each character was unique and quirky, and you pretty much had to love every one of them. We start out with the two mains, Sumika and Ushio, and their friend, the happy-go-lucky Kiyori. Later, we are introduced to Akemiya, a dorky boy with a huge crush on Sumika, Tomoe and Miyako, a lesbian couple who hopelessly attempt to start a school club for lesbian girls, and Aoi, a passionate fan of a series of yuri novels. The characters are all very well developed, and it's very entertaining to watch them in their everyday lives.

The main reason I like Sasameki Koto is that you can feel the characters' emotions as if they are your own. There are several scenes in this series that will make one think "I've felt that way before." The series manages to perfectly execute the drama of one sided love without being melodramatic, and seeing as this is a Highschool story, this is a major accomplishment.

Mod Edit: This review may contain spoilers.
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The appeal of a yuri anime, to me, has never been about the multishipping possibilities or the epic romance across space and time. To me, it's been about the subtle interpersonal character drama based upon fear of social ostracisation or lack of mutual feelings, and it's about the quiet tempo of character growth and romance. I felt like Sasameki Koto got this, but didn't know what to do about it.

To start off, Sasameki Koto allures with the prickly thorns of unrequited love between our tall and boyish protagonist, Sumika, and her best friend, Kazama, a girl that likes cutesy ... femme girls. At the onset, Sumika is very, very easy character to relate to, trying her hardest not to ruin a friendship but knowingly unable to further it - it's the kind of dynamic everybody knows, regardless of sexuality. Paired with the gentle pace, the quiet but simple piano score, a beautiful OP where the characters stand, together, in the wind... and you'd think Sasameki Koto was onto something. For the first 3 or so episodes, anyway.

So begins a small arc of one of Sumika's male admirers realising that he stands no chance because of her sexuality. The show manages to find a nice balance between showing Sumika's frustration with herself as well as making you laugh. It works with the unrequited love aspect, but some of the jokes are in bad taste and draw Sumika as a quite cruel character.

Thankfully, Sasameki Koto then takes it's time to focus on the protagonist. We've learned that she's a karate-expert, but in the next arc, featuring being blackmailed by a lesbian couple that wants to make an exclusive homosexual club for girls, we learn that she's very socially awkward. But it's charming to see her come together and make friends (even if they're as toxic as her) and finally begin to enjoy her school life. It takes it's time to build the relationships, and while it lacks strong side characters, it's still a strong series of episodes that tie in nicely to develop Sumika. Despite the comic missteps, it was at this point that I thought the show was really beginning to come together, as it was leading to either Sumika moving on from Kazama or getting together with her.

Which leads onto the next arc, where Sumika comes across a yuri fan in her class, Azusa, but fails to recruit her for the Girl's Club. While she keeps trying, she accidentally gets a little too close to her and ends up spending a little too much time with her, helping her with her yuri doujinshi. While I understand the point in this arc - where Sumika begins to move on and then does a heel-turn before coming back to Kazama - this arc was handled very poorly and really began to drag, rendered boring by the dull characterisation of Azusa (probably an insult to doujinshi writers everywhere). It takes a little too long before coming back, and never fully commits to the idea that Sumika could move on. And, moreover, the gentle pacing has been lost for an entirely stagnant one.

I've described the structure of this show as if I know exactly what's going to happen and when. That's because it's a fairly typical structure found within homosexual or, in general, love stories where the author introduce the characters, develop them, attempt to move them on and then bring them back together but closer. It's at this point, this final hurdle, that Sasameki Koto truly crumbles.

Three standalone episodes, in a rather bizarre fashion, take place. Firstly, our protagonist and her love interest are reunited in a swimming-pool episode. This could have been the gentle finale, where are characters truly come together romantically; all of the side characters realise there is something between Kazama and Sumika in this episode. The problem is that it doesn't feel like anything happened to cause it.

The second episode features an afterschool treasure-hunt of sorts, where they find notes telling them to go to different places in the school. A strong episode with lots of charm and fun that builds on the group's friendship.

Finally, Sumika and Kazama are split up when Sumika goes on a short holiday to see relatives and her phone breaks, and is unable to contact Kazama. It's suggested that Kazama comes to accept she has feelings for Sumika when she misses her when she gets worried about the lack of contact, but other than that the episode is mostly kind of boring. The entire series then ends when her phone begins working again and she calls Kazama.

Huh?

Despite some comic references to a character within this story, a reluctant yuri writer that attracts attention on the back of actual romance, you'd think they'd give us that. Sasameki Koto wasn't far from doing that, but instead of leaving a series to be remembered for it's strong characters, there was only one and she couldn't pull it out from mediocrity.

The Sasameki Koto manga is one of the best romances under the theme of conquering image insecurities and rejection anxiety to be with the person you love. But the anime adaptation only tells a quarter of that story and falls well short of a point in the narrative when Kazama, the primary love interest, begins to receive thorough characterization that explains her previously selfish actions.

You see, before we begin to understand what makes Kazama tick she comes off as an obtuse annoying dumbass who opposes the aesthetic of Sumi almost entirely. Kazama loves girls who are short! Sumi is tall. Kazama loves girls who wear ... frilly feminine clothing! Sumi has no fashion sense. Kazama loves girls who flaunt their femininity! Sumi practices karate...that she later gives up to appease her unrequited love. Imagine being told by the person you love that you aren't their type every single day? That's Sumi-chan's life. These awkward situations are often played as comedy, but it's not particularly funny watching insecurities being poked at so carelessly. There is a point in the manga where all of this becomes forgiven, but the anime never comes close to that moment.

To make matters worse, only one chapter is covered per episode. This means twenty minutes is spent covering twenty pages. Which means the viewer has to sit through Sumi's torment for much longer than it would take to read the manga in one go.

Unless you enjoy watching half assed romance adaptations that stop well short of a consummated relationship and are restricted by a (then) incomplete source material, there's no reason to watch this anime over the (now) presently completed manga.