Ladies and gentlemen, queens of vanity everywhere, here is my review of the long-running manga, Kareshi Kanojo no Jijou (Kare Kano, for short), known in English as His and Her Circumstances.
Yukino Miyazawa is seen as a perfect girl by her classmates, but in reality, that's not how she's like; she just acts that way as a way to get attention. That's why when she enters high school and a boy named Souchirou Arima takes her "number one" spot, man, is she ticked! If that wasn't bad enough for her, her secret is discovered.... by Souchirou, of all people! However, Yukino comes to discover that she and Souchirou have more in common than she thought, and they end up becoming friends and eventually lovers. Kare Kano is basically what happens as the two of them fall in love and finally reveal their true selves to everyone else.
The story of Kare Kano.... it was FANTASTIC! It starts off cute and fluffy, but it later becomes quite deep. There was quite a great amount of character development, especially for Yukino and Souichirou. Yukino may seem like a despicable character at first, but she's actually a fun protagonist to follow. Souichirou, her love interest, was probably even more interesting, though; he had a very deep backstory, and it's pretty obvious that he cares for Yukino. Besides Yukino and Souchirou, there are quite a few supporting characters. For example, Asapin, a friend of Yukino and Souichirou, was a very funny character, and although I didn't like Tsubasa (who used to like Souichirou) at first, the character development she got me to like her.
Let's not forget the artwork, though! Masami Tsuda was the one who both wrote the story and drew the artwork for this manga, and she did the art as great as the story. The artwork was very well-drawn, the character designs were solid, and the chibis that pop up every now and again are very cute. Honestly, there is no way I can really describe the artwork, but I really mean what I say when I say it's great artwork for a great manga.
Yes, I know that Kare Kano has an anime adaptation; I knew about it before I read the manga. I'm really excited to start watching it, and the manga just made me even more excited! I'm just going to say that overall, Kare Kano was a great manga. I'd recommend it to any and all romance fans looking for a great story with wonderful character development matched with solid artwork. It really shows you that you should just be yourself, because even if most people don't accept you, there will always be someone who will.
