I want to start by saying that I had went into the series expecting a reasonably enjoyable and fairly mid piece. I did not expect to be utterly and soundly blown away and to absolutely fall in love with the characters , the music , the setting and the overall mood and even pacing of the series. I did not except this anime to hit me with such immense feeling and to capture something so perfectly. To capture not only a tenderhearted fated love but to perfectly capture the teenage experience. Kimagure Orange Road is a story about three hearts at it's core. Kyosuke Kasuga , Madoka Ayukawa and Hikaru Hiyama. The story is about the love triangle between the three youths but also their enduring friendship. Madoka Ayukawa is the character I particularly fell in love with over the series. I had initially gone into the series expecting to prefer the seemingly bubbly and cute Hikaru over Madoka who I had expected to be a generic sexy character. I could not have been more wrong in this assumption!

Right off the bat Madoka is introduced in such a pleasant and serene way. Kyosuke and Madoka's first meeting on the staircase where they have a small but friendly disagreement over the number of steps just feels so real. Madoka telling Kyosuke to keep her hat and him becoming absolutely smitten with this beautiful , mysterious and kind girl. Did I mention Kyosuke and his family are Espers?! This causes quite a lot of problems for him throughout the series , almost always resulting in comedic situations. Anyway later on after Kyosuke and his sisters Manami and the bratty trouble making Kurumi arrive at school we are introduced to Hikaru. Surprise surprise her character is initially very abrasive and unappealing. She is introduced by humiliating and insulting a student who gave her a ride to school on his motorcycle and calling him ugly and slapping him in front of the entire school. She then proceeds to insult Kyosuke and act even more bratty. Needles to say the vastness of difference between my initial expectations and the reality of the characters really hit home at that moment.

At the end of the school day Hikaru is accosted by the boy and his friends when who shows up to defend her but Madoka. It turns out Madoka and Hikaru are unexpectedly best friends. This is a pattern , Madoka will always help people , will always be there when she is needed and will always be the person to do the right thing. This may sound like a Mary sue to some people but Madoka is anything but. Madoka is rather standoffish and distant at school , this is in contrast to her kind and upbeat nature during her first meeting with Kyosuke. Early on we learn the reason Madoka is so standoffish is because she has a reputation of being a " delinquent " at school and not only the staff but the students shun her. Even Kyosuke's bumbling super perverted goofball friends Komatsu and Hatta who constantly lust after girls show no interest in Madoka at this time. The only people at the begging of the series who don't shun Madoka are Hikaru , Kyosuke and the character Yuusaku. A very important note is that we see that the only reason Madoka had developed a reputation for being a delinquent is that she would help people such as protecting girls from gangs and helping people being bullied by thugs.

The second episode is when the love triangle begins. We are treated to Madoka's excellent gymnastic performance but not a single student praises her or offers even one kind word. It is Kyosuke alone at this moment who praises her. Later Hikaru witnesses Kyosuke sitting alone in the gym using his ESP to make an impossible shot at basketball. Hikaru is instantly smitten at this " cool and pretty cute " boy. It's not long before Hikaru has become his self appointed girlfriend and starts labelling him " DARLING! " Of course the problem is Madoka and Kyosuke have already been growing close. Throughout the series Kyosuke and Madoka continue to develop a tender hearted love where Kyosuke loves Madoka because he sees her real self. Hikaru doesn't have a chance lol. I'd like to take this opportunity to mention Yuusaku again. Yuusaku is hopelessly in love with Hikaru but she usually treats him no better than a lackey or servant. We do at some point get an episode where the other characters believe Yuusaku is going to commit suicide and it's revealed Hikaru at least cares for him enough to want him to live and cries a bit for him. She also goes to try to stop his " suicide. " However Yuusaku's feelings are so utterly one sided and he continues to humiliate and prostate himself while constantly having to watch Hikaru fawn over and crawl all over her " darling! " Kyosuke.

Now I'd like to really take a moment to discuss the three characters at the core of this story. While Kyosuke doesn't quite have the heart or the backbone to tell Hikaru he has feelings for Madoka it still happens that Madoka and Kyosuke continue to get closer and closer with each episode. However it's also true that Hikaru and Kyosuke get closer as well. Throughout the story we see Kyosuke while he does prefer Madoka he does love Hikaru as well , it's just his feelings for Hikaru are more platonic. At his core Kyosuke is a character that while at times indecisive and a bit of a worrywort is a character who cares about is family and friends and above all he just can't stop his heart from yearning for Madoka.

Hikaru in spite of her obvious faults does indeed have her own appeal as a character. Hikaru and Yuusaku have been Madoka's friends since childhood and her and Madoka are like sisters. Hikaru is often the character who in a way holds the friends group together. Not just Kyosuke but also Hikaru can be said to be one of the people who made it so the rest of the students started to warm up to Madoka and see her as more than just a delinquent. While she is entitled , overbearing and quite foolish at the end of the day Hikaru is a person who loves her friends and wants all of them to be safe and happy. She's just lacking self awareness at her young age. This is something I will get to in my review of the films.

Madoka is a character who is constantly full of surprises. Madoka at first glance seems " sexy " , mysteries and cool and while she is all these things she is so much more. While Madoka can be a tad flirty and a bit of a tease she in the same breath is virginal and shy. Madoka is skilled at many things including instruments both the Saxophone an the guitar , she is also an excellent singer. But Madoka is shy and reserved due to the discrimination she has faced because of her rep as a deliquent. While Madoka is a strong fighter more than anything is kind , is friend to the weak and downtrodden and always helps ANYONE in need. As I said before Madoka is the one character who tries to put others before herself. Madoka actually tries to quell her feelings for Kyosuke and allow Hikaru to have her " darling. " For the longest time Madoka tries to tell herself that it's ok if Kyosuke were to suddenly choose Hikaru but Madoka cannot stop her heart. She can't stop the pain in her heart at the thought of Kyosuke not loving her. She just can't help falling for this clumsy bumbling at times indecisive yet sweet boy who cares so deeply for her who sees into her heart and yearns to merely be with her. While Hikaru is initially drawn to Kyosuke because of a shallow reason Madoka is the one who is drawn to Kyosuke because of his kind nature and his feelings for her. Madoka also acts like a big sister to Yuusaku and never once criticized or ridiculed his feelings towards Hikaru. In fact Madoka was always there to try to help every one of her friends even at her own expense.

I want to take this time to talk about the music in the series. Being a title from the 80s it's bound to have a banger ost and I can assure you nearly every track is imo on point. The opening and ending themes ALL perfectly capture the feeling of young love , but also those bittersweet teenage years of uncertainty and wearing your heart on your sleeve. No track in the series better encapsulates this then the second opening theme Orange Mystery. It's not just the music but of course the visuals are utterly brilliant. The scenes of Kyosuke , Madoka , Hikaru and Yuusaku playing for their band in the nearly empty gym personally sparks something in me. Kyosuke looking surprisingly dapper and handsome as he bangs out on the drums and the vocals sung from his point of view " oh baby tell me tell tell me that you need me , tell me lover tell me that you love me " symbolize his unsure feelings in this time. He loves Madoka but he still isn't totally sure if she is as into him. He so often worries she has an older man or a more suave guy she's going with. These worries , Kyousuke's uncertainty and nervousness at that age are so universally relatable. The scene of the ultimate underdog Yuusaku walling on the guitar and looking so cool is so unexpected and it's a blink and you miss it type of thing but it gives this poor simp and butt monkey character a nice moment to look cool.

All the music in this series every last track is full of totally 80s vibes and nostalgia.For me this is just another reason why this is such a timeless nostalgic bittersweet work. This is a bygone decade but to the people who were there at the time and were young at the time as well as their children and the newer generation after generation it was a decade that is simply unforgettable. Not only did the 80s produce some of the greatest musical talent in history but it's an era where fashion and everything was just so over the top and fun. Anime was booming and the video game industry was really starting to come into its own. Kimagure Orange Road too is part of that timeless and simply unforgettable decade. A decade that's style , music and over the top aesthetic will endure until the end of time. I think anyone should watch this anime not only to be a part of that but to experience something that was so influential and important for anime as a whole. While you don't hear about Kimagure Orange Road too much these days it was an extremely influential work which influenced the love triangle and slice of life genre. Kimagure Orange Road is simply but a classic anime that will forever endure the test of time.