Kimi ni Todoke: From Me to You

This is my first review, I am very sorry for any newby mistakes I make

I first found out about this show after I went on a spree looking for just about every romance anime I could get my hands on after finishing Clannad (my first anime). I added them all to my PTW and there they patiently waited to eventually be moved to the watching tab. The time came, for me to watch this show and seeing as it was marked with the shoujo tag, I expected a show with nothing but romance, drama, romance, and more romance. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that this show while it may be shoujo in the sense that it is meant for teenage girls, I as a teenage boy thoroughly enjoyed it.

I would personally classify this show as a slice of life/comedy. While of course the main premise and story are based around the romance of Sawako and Kazehaya, 2/3 of the episodes don't make any major advancements to the plot, or more specifically the relationship between Sawako and Kazehaya.

The show focuses on things from Sawako's perspective, and one of the things that I enjoyed the most was seeing things through this lens. The show focuses more on the development of Sawako as a character and the relationships that drive that development and how in turn Sawako drives those relationships. This allows Kimi ni Todoke to avoid the mistake that many anime love-stories make of throwing a protagonist you don't care about at you, and some love interest who you don't care about. Kimi ni Todoke 100% guarantees that you will be routing for Sawako til the very end of the show due to the amount of time that you have spent getting to know her, and the number of ways you have seen her change throughout the course of the show. Kimi ni Todoke also blends two different animation styles together both representing different atmospheres and feelings of the characters. One being the more realistic, classic animation of anime, and the other being a more chibi animation used for the comedy and other less "heavy" moments throughout the series

Kimi ni Todoke expertly mixes elements of lighthearted slice of life, roll on the floor (while not forced) comedy, and the romantic drama of high schoolers. For this reason, I recommend it for any fan of romance or slice of life, and the comedy may even be good enough to carry you through even if you aren't a fan of those genres!

The only reason I do not give it a 100/100 is due to the fact that while it serves its purpose as a light-hearted feel-good kind of show, it fails to leave the same lasting impression that masterpieces leave you with.