Kimi ni Todoke 11
Posted: December 24, 2011 Filed under: Kimi ni Todoke Leave a comment »Karuho Shiina – Viz – 2011 – 14+ volumes
It’s really, really hard to follow up all the girly joy that the last volume had in it. While I am ridiculously addicted to this series, and I enjoy every volume, I will admit that this volume was a step back, simply because it mostly dealt with the less interesting aftermath of what happened last time.
There’s a whole lot of focus on the characters explaining things to one another, especially Sawako to Kurumi. The Kurumi scene happens right away, and not only does it take a bit to settle things between the two girls, there’s also some reflection on both sides about how that was dealt with, and some commentary from Ayane and Chizuru as well.
What I did like was that the story then began to slowly set up pairings for some of the side characters, especially Ayane and Chizuru. Both girls seem aware, vaguely, of developing feelings, and I’m curious to watch the story take its time with these relationships. I love how well the personalities of every single one of these characters is handled, even the b-list romantic interests here, so it’s hard for me not to root for this stuff now that the main event has transpired.
Kazehaya and Sawako go on an adorable date at the end of the volume, just to let you know that the series can still be all kinds of tooth-rotting adorable even though… well, the last volume happened. I don’t want to spoil this too much, but it’s really hard to predict how Sawako will act on a date, which still makes stuff like this awkward and adorable, especially since Kazehaya is so willing to accept everything.
I’m not sure where the story will go from here. This isn’t really a drama-heavy series, so maybe the story will shift over to side characters, which I don’t think I would mind at all. On the other hand, Sawako is a big part of why this is such a fun read, so maybe focusing on others wouldn’t be as interesting. Since this is mostly aftermath, the direction isn’t clear as of this volume, but I do know I’m pretty much guaranteed to be along for the ride.
This was a review copy provided by Viz.
