A lot can be said for a good story well told. Ano Natsu de Matteru rockets into the romance genre with a concept that by all rights should be weary from overuse, but is instead energised by likeable characters and a story that is impassioned and dramatic with little triteness.
Crowbarring five teenagers onto a sub-tropical island was suspect enough but meeting up with a childhood friend...
Not surprising really given the talent behind almost every facet: the director has past triumphs with Toradora!, Ano Hi Mita Hana and A Certain Scientific Railgun, the writer is the same person responsible for Please! Teacher and music is provided by the imitable I'VE SOUND group including opening lyrics penned by none other than alumni KOTOKO - it's like getting the band back together. The creators indelible fingerprints are everywhere, whether it's the cerulean skies and over-saturated greenery encapsulating a youthful summer or the skilful manipulation of character affections and steady meting out of drama; to say it was well produced would be doing it a disservice.
Read the rest of this entry
Sawako's existence: a pure, unspoiled girl, gifted with a charming, near heartbreaking innocence is the most outlandish element of Kimi ni Todoke. The rest of the cast - whether it is the perceptive Ayane or the manipulative Ume - demonstrate traits expected from people, adolescents especially. But Sawako doesn't. Her boundless appreciation for the simple things she experiences, whether that's dinner with friends, karaoke after school or eating lunch in the company of others could easily become tiresome; however her plight is so utterly genuine and her reactions so heart-warming that it overrules the presence of obvious genre tropes and raises a pang of guilt for not believing her character could exist outside of fiction.
the niggling worry that her downfall is only a misinterpreted gesture away begins to ebb
Sawako Kuronuma hasn't experienced the best of school - her isolation from her peers was neither self inflicted nor maliciously enforced. Upon entering high-school however, the affable Shota Kazehaya - who effortlessly makes friends and interacts with people - catches her eye. Sawako envies his personality, but when out-of-the-blue he comes to speak to her one day, her whole life changes as classmates become close friends and she begins to enjoy a more fruitful school life. The change is not without its tribulations though: jealous rivals for Shota's affections attempt to sabotage Sawako's prominence in his eyes and the burgeoning affection she feels for him leads to a number of misunderstandings. As the school year draws to a close, Sawako wonders if she will be able to let Shota know just how much he means to her.
Read the rest of this entry
