He’s a guy who will be loved by viewers not because he’s hot, but because he’s just a really nice guy any girl would want to fall in love with and guys would want as a friend.

Kazehaya isn’t a dick, for lack of a better term. She isn’t out for revenge nor is she being pursued by a harem of bishounens with a desperate struggle to choose between them. Sawako isn’t the plain and perky heroine determined to get a man to fall for her who ignores her or treats her horribly. There are none of the usual tired clichés.

I firmly believe that in order to really fully appreciate just how special Kimi ni Todake is, you have to already be a veteran of at least a dozen or more of its shoujo peers. While her situation is a bit contrived and not overly realistic, the way it is presented is so wonderfully sweet and beautiful that it is impossible not to love. The remaining story is one of self discovery as Sawako experiences the first feelings of love and friendship she has ever felt. This all changes when she meets a boy named Kazehaya who is the first to truly see her and slowly she begins to draw herself out of her shell. Desperately wanting others to understand her she is instead shunned and feared by her classmates. Our heroine is Sawako, a sweet and gentle girl with an awkward personality and an uncanny resemblance to Sadako from The Ring. It takes all the classic shoujo romance stereotypes and plot devices and flips them on its head leaving us with a thoroughly rewarding and groundbreaking romance.Īt first, Kimi ni Todake drew me in before I saw its first frame of film with its story concept. Only rarely does a series break the mold its genre has cast for it and even more uncommonly does it set itself apart from all others.

Kimi ni todoke manga vol 1