Orange

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At first glance, Orange may not seem to be anything more than your typical romance/drama set in your usual shoujo location - a high school. The incorporation of changing fate as its main and defining premise, which in itself is nothing too unique even in the romance department, can lead to premature and ignorant condemnations of Orange as nothing more than a mere "melodramatic shoujo" when it is nothing of the sort.

Whilst its premise may not be something immensely exciting at first glance, what Takano has excelled at is the execution of this premise. There exists a delicate yet extremely refined harmony between the ... potential romance and exploration of our characters both in their present selves and in their future selves, 10 years down the line. One of the most astonishing aspects of Orange is that it successfully balances the two timelines, not only in the pacing of their progression but particularly the ability to reinforce characterisation of their younger selves through their older counterparts and vice versa. This is accompanied by a steady pacing which decelerates accordingly during the exposition of our characters and potential answers to how any of the sci-fi elements are possible and the purpose behind the entire "future letters". Not only has Orange provided a potential explanation to the plausibility of these letters, it maximises the potential of the premise to broaden the possibilities the storyline takes whilst simultaneously respecting the actual complexity of time travel - and the physical reality attached to it. It is all too common for shows to be bogged down by time travel and many series, in anime and manga, fail to respect their premise which often leads to glaring plot holes or a detraction from what the creator is attempting to convey. Orange does not try nor pretend to contain any magnanimous storyline; it is an earnest story whose simple premise acts a platform on which authentic and compelling character growth is achieved.

The characters in Orange present themselves initially to be a cohesive cast with a mixture of personalities that are commonplace in shoujo. For some readers, the existence of certain stereotypical traits may be a deterrent but they provide a sense of appropriate levity and humour in a storyline that explicitly explores mental illness as a key theme. Naho and Kakeru are the series' main focus and their journey is an outstanding exemplar of introspective growth. My experiences with shoujo had previously left me with little expectations on the genre's ability to fully comprehend and portray the whole range of nuanced emotions individuals experience but Orange's characters distinguish themselves by doing so even when faced with a Herculean task of saving a life whilst dealing with how one's own actions can knowingly completely change your own. Through a combination of delving into the regrets of their adult selves, an exposition into their current future lives and the primary storyline concerning our teenage protagonists, readers can experience fully the true gravity of the decisions that they make and do not make and how this may affect them and subsequently their future selves. Orange's prevailing quality is achieving this sweeping exposition by seamlessly entering different POVs and different timelines assembling every perspective of the same events creating a deeper and rounded drama that never turns a blind eye to potential consequences but rather addresses them directly and in an earnest fashion that we would expect a group of young and close friends to approach.

The artwork is simply sublime; Takano has really tailored Orange's visuals to fit its universe perfectly. The drawings have a crisp yet delicate style but maintain the quality of an enchanting romance reminiscent of Io Sakisaka's art. Their high school versions have a youthful and exuberant look in the present which is contrasted by much more mature designs for their future selves. Moreover, attention has clearly been placed in the way facial expressions are drawn and what exactly is being portrayed in every panel - a single chapter of Orange is packed with more development and exposition that most manga could hope to achieve in even 2 or 3 chapters of similar length. The fact that such an elaborate story is told in a mere 22 chapters is a testament to the poetic economy Takano has achieved in Orange.

It is extremely challenging for me to fully explain why I believe Orange is this extraordinary and I attribute that to the series' interwoven and self-reciprocating plot. To compartmentalise Orange as just a tragedy or just a romance or just anything for that matter would be an injustice and a criminal simplification of what is a meticulously well-crafted masterpiece but I feel that if you are looking for a unique story that incorporates any of the aforementioned themes, I would urge you to give Orange a go and to experience a true profoundness in conveying human beings in all its complexity and the power regret can hold. Orange will not garishly and boringly shove its message, any melodrama or textbook philosophy down your throat; its individual elements are there for you to indulge in and to experience together its bittersweet nature.

Well, to be honest, this is my first time writing a review. The main reason why im doing so for this manga is because I find that most of the reviews here range from extremely good (10) to extremely bad (3) and it shouldn't be. Pardon my frustration, I read this series in a day because I saw the good reviews and wanted to get to the core of what was so good about this manga. Sadly, I can't say it is even remotely close to being perfect.

Firstly, I have to say there is potential in the story. Because it has a slight mixture of ... time trips, but that doesn't put it apart from the usual romance manga. I really have no objection to cliches, but the fact this story tries to get out of the cliche zone is its main flaw. The execution is lacking and emotions built up are shallow.
Therefore , Story: 6/10

Secondly, the art is by far one of the more aesthetically pleasing ones. It's really beautiful to look at and the characters are designed well (in terms of art) Not to mention the 'movement' of the characters isn't quite that stiff, so it's a great read in the light of art^^
Hence, Art: 8/10

Let's come to the real dread and most ungainly part of this story. The character development is a near nil. Naho (main) has literally no other emotions other than guilt and regret, she has two close friends and they are hardly utilized to built that type of emotional togetherness. It was as if they were pasted into the manga to look pretty. I honestly liked the idea of takako and azusa, but nothing was done, they were very flat characters.

How is it possibe Orange is above Kimi ni Todoke, if anyone recalls kimi ni todoke, Yano , Yoshida , Sanada and Kurumi were given their own roles in the story, they had lots of lines as well, because of the feelings they had and their contrast with the main character,brings out the good emotions. Whereas there are very little shits given about the side characters in Orange. Kakeru (main) confuses me, I get he is playing the role of changing factor of the tragedy, but I can't feel his pain, his expressions vary from anger to sadness to happy. No bittersweet, sour looks, frustration or relief.The fact that his interaction with Naho does not move their relationship further at all, neither do we get to know more about them, shows how bad it is. There is a relentless amount of the common scenes thrown across the book, if they were real and in a relationship, it looks as though they had no opinion of each other, no build up to their romance, no anger towards each other (even when they do, its one sided and never develops into anything big).

No quarrels= No further understanding
No friendship breaks or built = No personality, no backstory
Tears, tears and more tears over the same topic across all 5 volumes= A reader that's losing hope

Naho is meant to be a sweet and docile girl, that's a good thing. But the story makes her robotic. The fact that she has *small spoiler*

a child and is married in the future but still treats her husband and friends as a secondary to her past decisions...

Makes her more indecisive and seemingly a person that never learns from her mistakes, never lets go and has only a narrow way of thinking. Suwa clearly likes Naho, hence he gets more lines than Takako and Azusa but only for a small period of time before the story drops back to Naho and Kakeru's repetitive talk. If this was a novel, it would be a mere thesaurus of synonyms.

This is why I felt Character should be given a 2.

As much as I hate how high up this manga is, I'm not going to give it a horrid score so that I can pull it down, because logically that's not even possible. And besides, I can see the effort put in the manga, all the characters have strong potentional, their expressions and mainly their forsaken backstories were well thought of, but we readers get nothing but a glance. I'd say enjoyment is fairly fine if you take into consideration the fluency of the pages and its initial 'beauty'.

But srsly its a 6 , it's not gross because it has good art and reading for the fun of it is not that bad

*possible spoilers*
Pros:
1. Good art
2. Good comedy
3. Good intentions

Cons:
1. Childish (wants to have the best of both worlds) One world where Naho sa Suwa are together and one where Kakeru lives.
2. One-sided. Every single chapter they are all about, "save Kakeru this and that." They basically live their lives for the guy.
3. Kakeru not fleshed out until the end. I am not sympathetic about his situation primarily because I don't have an idea about anything.
4. Characters can't get over a death even though it's been 10 years. Kakeru was with them for less than a year and they still miss him like he was their best ... friend or something.
5. Poor dialogue. The author just says stuff to make the characters feel good, "It's only natural. You didn't do anything wrong." When in fact he did.

*All in all it could have been better if the author was more mature in dealing with this. Personally I would have killed him off and instead made the characters move on and learn from their mistakes. We live with many regrets, but unfortunately we cannot change them. We have to live by them and move on. That's what we are. We can never be perfect. We can never undo.