Kimi ni Todoke - Squirmy Squirmy episode as usual. Especially the last 5 minutes, going from squirmy-good to squirmy-bad back-to-back. The good: Kazehaya acting mecha mecha otoko-rashii (above) and guiltily but compulsively hiding Sawako’s brilliant smile from his classmates, out of a desire to keep her to himself. I’ll never be able to figure out why possessive boys are such a moe turn-on in shoujo manga, while remaining such a turn-off in real life. It’s one of those idealized teenage fantasies I guess, stemming from the desire of normal girls to be treated like princesses, put on pedestals and held precious in some way. It works in the land of high school love and shoujo bubbles. Pretty sure I was blushing during this scene. And squriming obviously. Until we switched over to the bad: the beginning of my least favourite arc in this series, with the rumours spreading about Yano and Chizu at the end of the episode. I won’t spoil, but I will say that I hate any and all story arcs that deal with misunderstandings between friends. It just makes me so uncomfortable and upset until everything is out in the light and resolved. Next episode is called “Rumours” and I’m gonna hate every minute of it. But I also probably should admit that this rumours arc is the point in the manga where I first realized Kimi ni Todoke was a pretty special series. Up until this point things have primarily centred on the relationship between Sawako and Kazehaya like most romance manga. Getting into a plot that focuses in great depth on the growing relationship between the main character and her female friends this early is a pretty unconventional move for a shoujo title. Regrettably, most of the time “friends” aren’t too much more than plot devices or comic relief in romance manga (of the non-magical girl variety at least). Yet another reason I love Kimi ni Todoke.
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