The characters of KareKano are always dealing with their own identity. Their worrying about the face they present to the world and their real self — about the difference between who they are and who they want to be — is, for me, what turns this manga into a universal experience, making it transcend Japan in the 90's to still be relevant twenty-odd years later.
The mangá was written and drawn by Masami Tsuda, and published in La-La magazine between 1995 and 2005. Its center is the relationship between Yukino Miyazawa, a girl who works hard to look perfect solely because of her need for attention, and Souichirou Arima, who tries to hide the flaws within himself so as not to cause problems for his adoptive parents. Together, they learn about the fear and the joy of true vulnerability, and thus, about the feeling of accepting and being accepted completely by someone else — not only in love, but among family and friends. It's a straightforward plot, and it's interesting exactly because of that: they go through problems many of us have gone through, and the narrative does not look away from the effects these things can have in a person's psyche.
The narrative does not look away from many things, actually. The regular teenage manga rarely deals well with the transition between holding hands and sex, even though this is a very important aspect of a teenager's day-to-day. This is not a problem here: KareKano does not show explicit scenes, but makes it clear that sex is present in the characters' lives, even in brutal ways. The representation of violence, physical as well as psychological, is also outstanding and right on the mark, especially when it comes to mental illnesses.
I believe that KareKano's strongest point are the protagonists. Yukino and Souchirou are built in fascinating ways. It would be very easy to take the initial setup and just extend it, make Yukino into a stuck-up tsundere and Souichirou into a jerk with a hidden "nice side" — but the story evolves, and they evolve with it. Even better: the evolution of the characters does not mean the end of their conflicts, but leads to an increase in their complexity. The manga's climax is not something that comes from punctual misunderstandings, made up in the eleventh hour; it is carefully woven from the protagonists and the natural path towards which their actions take them.
Of course, so much focus in one aspect of the story may lead to slight deficiency in others. In KareKano, I believe this manifests itself in difficulty with teenager characterization. One can justify Yukino and Souichirou's maturity on the count of their, ahem, circumstances — but it is hard to believe that all the characters around them show the same characteristics. The only character that is actually immature reaches a stunning level of philosophical detachment practically overnight. In the same group of teenagers, we have a genius writer and a genius musician, individuals who have already defined the path of their lives, relationship counselors and a girl who is so mature that, in her relationship with a 25-year-old, she is the one who manipulates and dominates everything. I haven't seen such an extraordinary group of young people together since Ouran. (And it doesn't help matters that their personality seems to vanish next to the main couple...)
When it comes to the art, KareKano is within expectatives. It's commonplace to find light and delicate tracing in such publications, and Masami Tsuda draws her bishounen and bishoujo with painstaking care. The character design I like the most is Yukino's; she looks feminine and pretty without relying on that generic blonde phenotype so many mangaka adopt (and that the author herself uses in other characters — I'm keeping an eye on you, Tsubasa), nor in that stereotype of Japanese beauty, with long black hair and mysterious eyes. Generally speaking, it's a style that's very representative of the time the manga was published, without excessive detailing and a more practical look. Even so, there are moments in which the author shines: here I am thinking about the conversations between Souichirou and his imaginary double.
I can safely say I liked KareKano. Even if it's hard to believe in the exceptionality of every single person involved in the plot, it never gets to the point that story takes a backseat to wish fulfillment. The love interests do get together and the author manages to keep us interested for a long time after. I have heard the animated adaptation does not follow the manga until the end, and that that disappointed Masami Tsuda a lot; considering that the climax of KareKano feels like the unavoidable unfolding of the conflicts in scene, I can understand where her distress comes from.
One of the many definitions of "classic" is a work that never "runs out", so to say; a work that always has something to say to the reader, even if many years have passed already. If, once, KareKano was a brilliant example of what was in vogue in shoujo manga, nowadays it can be seen as a sort of pioneer in trails that other works like Toradora! and Kimi ni Todoke have followed. It is easy to notice its influence, and the reason this influence lasts until this day; you just have to open a volume and listen to the messages it can tell. After all, it's going to be a while before KareKano stops talking with us.
