Kimi ni Todoke 3

Karuho Shiina – Viz – 2010 – 10+ volumes

For some reason, I felt compelled to finish the Ring before I picked this series back up.  The two have nothing in common, but all the same, I kept telling myself I had to finish the novel before I got to read this manga.  If anything, it makes me a little more sad to hear the other students calling her Sadako since I know how horrible she is now.  Not terribly important.

Anyway.  This series still makes me ridiculously happy.  It’s still a little light in content, but it doesn’t really need it.  The first half of the volume had me grinning ear to ear with nothing more than a dinner date with friends and a lively get-together at Ryu’s house.  Sawako is still overwhelmed by all the kindness she recieves from those around her, and she’s still incredibly shy and tongue-tied around Kazehaya.  It’s equally obvious that Kazehaya is shy and tongue-tied around her, though, and it becomes pretty clear in this volume that the two will likely get together at some point in the immediate future.  Not that it wasn’t already obvious, but we don’t have to take the extra step of “Kazehaya is just being nice because he’s nice to everyone, now he’s being nice ’cause he likes her.”  Sawako’s friends know what’s up between them, but it still seems like a bit of a mystery to Sawako herself, and I wonder if Kazehaya knows his feelings on the matter yet, too.

The second half is another serious story, and I admire the story’s light touch with these things.  The topic is that of a girl who is using Sawako to get to Kazehaya, pretending to be her friend to get what she wants.  Most of her tactics to discourage Sawako, aside from interrupting and intervening in her conversations with Kazehaya, have the opposite effect and make her feel a little better about herself and her frustration.  Sawako also tends to take the girl’s insults for compliments, compliments that make her extremely happy.  Sawako’s friends can see the storm coming and discuss it amongst themselves, but don’t intervene directly.  I thought this was sort of cruel of them at first, but by the end of the volume, it becomes obvious that Sawako can deal with the situation herself.  Quite a bit is left up in the air, but all the same, I don’t think Sawako will wind up on the wrong end of things.

And even while she’s being antagonized, Sawako’s joy is infectious.  She just takes such pleasure from every little thing, and even at its most serious, it’s still nearly impossible not to crack a smile.  It’s also super-easy to relate to Sawako and her awkwardness around others, her difficulty in connecting to other people, and the simple way she conveys all her positive thoughts.  I love her, and I love this manga.  As I said, it’s a little light on overarching plot, but at this point, there’s enough there in the subplots and it drips enough charm that it will be able to keep going for some time, I think.

Also, Sawako is somehow one of the sparkliest shoujo manga characters I’ve ever seen.  She’s almost as sparkly as Asuka from Otomen, who is pretty darn sparkly.

This was a review copy provided by Viz.