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Kimi ni Todoke vol 1

Kimi ni Todoke (officially translated as From Me to You, more literally as Reaching You) is the story of Sawako Kuronuma, whose resemblance to the horror movie character Sadako has made her a social outcast. Being outcast from a young age has made her socially awkward, which only makes her more of an outcast, so it's all really a vicious cycle.

The actual inciting event of the story proper is the beginning of Sawako's friendship with Shota Kazehaya, the most popular guy in school. Unlike 99% of other "most popular guy" characters, Kazehaya is genuinely nice, and has feelings for Sawako, despite her loner nature. As they get to know each other better, Sawako forms an ever-expanding network of friends, yet she and Kazehaya never seem to realize they like each other in the same way.

Ultimately, a very touching story about liking people for who they are without trying to change them.

The ongoing manga has been adapted as a 25-episode Anime series that started airing October 6th 2009, and the notable voice actors are listed under their characters in the character page. The second 12-episode season continues the story. There's also a light novel adaption and a live-action movie adaptation that was released on September 25, 2010. Both seasons are now licensed in North America by NIS America.

Tropes used in Kimi ni Todoke include:


  • Alertness Blink: Every so often.
  • Almost Kiss
  • Alpha Bitch — Yuka and her friends from Class A.
    • Also, on a more personal level, Kurumi, though she becomes a Lovable Alpha Bitch overtime, even to the point of defending Sawako from the aforementioned ones.
    • Yano may also count, but she's more of a Lovable Alpha Bitch, considering she's on Sawako's side and is even encouraging her to open up.
  • Anguished Declaration of LoveSawako's confession to Kazehaya in Season 2 Episode 9.
  • Animals Hate Her: Sawako's usual ghostly appearance make animals fear her.
    • After a while though, at least Maru gets used to her.
  • Anime Accent Absence: Averted in the weirdest way. Sawako has a habit of giving herself and Kazehaya American accents in her Imagine Spots.
  • Armor-Piercing Slap:
    • Ayane's (then) older boyfriend slaps her when she suggests that they break up.
    • Kurumi slaps Kent when he suggests that he goes out with Sawako so that Kurumi could have Kazehaya for herself.
  • Bathroom Stall of Overheard Insults — the one female WC that appears several times in the anime and is even portrayed for several seconds during the closing ceremony in episode 23, happens to be where Sawako heard the rumors about herself, Chizuru and Ayane.
  • Beach Episode — Chapter 51, even though Chizuru was the only one who wore her swimsuit; the rest came in their school uniforms.
  • Beautiful All Along — Sawako; rather than changing her appearance in any tangible way, she's very beautiful when she smiles genuinely, as opposed to forcing herself (which just comes off looking really creepy).
  • Beautiful Dreamer — Kazehaya sits near Sawako and finally manages to say her first name while she sleeps on the staircase during the sports festival afterparty.
  • Because You Were Nice to Me
  • Best Her to Bed Her — In Chapter 51, Ryuu was the only guy able to defeat Yoshida in arm-wrestling and "won" her for a romantic walk along the seashore.
  • Beta Couple — Chizuru and Ryu fill that role, though Chizuru didn't notice it yet until recently.
  • Betty and Veronica — Sawako and Kurumi for Kazehaya, Kazehaya and Kent for Sawako.
  • Be Yourself — Arguably the point of the story, and not in a heavy-handed way. Sawako makes friends and wins Kazehaya's affection by using her natural gifts and personality, not with the aid of makeovers. Not that makeovers are a bad thing, as Sawako finds out on New Year's Eve.
  • Birds of a Feather: Subverted by Kazehaya and Kurumi. Even though many students (Sawako included) feel that they suit each other, Kazehaya only thinks of Kurumi as a friend while Kurumi pines an unrequited crush on Kazehaya.
  • Bishie Sparkle — Sawako's world is filled with this, as well as Love Bubbles and flowers. Even the Japanese tankubon covers have these.
  • Bishounen — Kazehaya, and the female side of the school is very aware of this. Ryu and Kento also count.
  • Bitch in Sheep's Clothing — Kurumi acts sweet and nice to gain Sawako's sympathy, then tells her to keep her hands off Kazehaya. She gets better.
  • Brick Joke — Chizuru inadvertently causes things to become awkward between Sawako and Kazehaya by telling Kazehaya that he was the most distant person from Sawako. Ayane eventually finds out that it was Chizuru who caused that awkwardness when she (Chizuru) blurts it out by mistake while watching Kazehaya ask Sawako out formally at the beach from afar.
  • Brother Chuck — Shino, the girl who gave Sawako her nickname, is never shown again after Episode 6.
  • Bumbling Dad — Sawako's father, who along with his wife are both a Doting Parent.
  • Character Development — Sawako's character development is the main point of this series.
  • Character Overlap — The cousin that Sawako mentions in the New Year's episodes, Eiji Akahoshi, is a character from the mangaka's previous series Crazy for You. The fanbook has a short crossover chapter where he visits her family after her first date with Kazehaya.
  • Chekhov's GunmanHirano and Endo have actually witnessed Kurumi spreading out those rumors about Sawako in Chapter 2 of the manga. This information is enough for Chizu and Ayane to confront Kurumi.
  • Clingy Jealous Girl — Kurumi uses every indirect attack in the book — slander, threats, manipulation — to pry Sawako away from Kazehaya. Against someone as innocent as Sawako, it's like kicking a puppy. Sawako's kindness, however, severely unnerves her, and all her plans backfire spectacularly when she only ends up bringing Sawako and Kazehaya even closer.
  • Clip Show — Two in the anime; the first after 15 episodes of the first season. The second about Kurumi's crush on Kazehaya as she shops for Valentine's chocolate opens the second season.
  • Color Failure
  • Completely Missing the Point — One of Sawako's defining traits and a main point of comedy — being honest to a fault, she assumes everyone else is as well and takes everything literally without hearing any of the pretext behind it. Thus, she thinks Kurumi is flattering her when Kurumi writes down her name in the "Bastards Who Call Me Ume Note".
  • Continuity Nod — Lots of it.
  • Covers Always Spoil — The cover of the manga's tenth volume pretty much spoils the fact that Sawako and Kazehaya become an official couple in that volume. Not that anyone wasn't expecting it from the get go, though.
  • Crossover — For one chapter with Aozora Yell, another manga published in Bessatsu Margaret and authored by a different shojo manga artist from Hokkaido. It features Pin and Toru's "adventures" in Sapporo.
  • Cross-Popping Veins — Especially Kurumi, when Sawako refuses to take her bitchiness as something other than good intentions.
  • Cute Shotaro Boy — Touta Kazehaya.
  • Cuteness ProximityRyuu with Maru.
  • A Day in the Limelight: Kazehaya in Chapter 44.
  • Early-Bird Cameo — Ayane and Chizuru, Hirano and Endo, and Kurumi all appeared as unnamed sketchy background characters before receiving proper names and personalities.
  • Epic Fail — Kurumi attempts to make Kazehaya think Sawako and Ryuu are an item. It ends with Kazehaya and Sawako walking off together, with Sawako realizing her feelings for Kazehaya, who in turn asked her out. Pin then came to where Kurumi waited for Kazehaya to come back, and, thinking Kurumi was going to confess to him, rejects her just as Kazehaya came back. The guy then promised to "not say anything". Ouch.
  • Everyone Can See It — Everyone can see Sawako and Kazehaya's feelings for each other. Acknowledging it, though, took some time for most of them.
  • Precious Puppies -> Big Friendly Dog — Maru-chan.
  • Evil-Detecting Dog — Well, you can't call Sawako "evil," but still...
  • Extreme Doormat — Sawako, at least initially. Part of her Character Development has to do with mustering enough courage to not agree to things she cannot go along with. Thus, Kurumi gets a big surprise when Sawako flat-out refuses to help hook her up with Kazehaya out of her own feelings for him.
    • Actually not really- Sawako may come off as an Extreme Doormat, but part of her charm, at least to Kazehaya, is that she's always enjoying whatever she's doing. She doesn't do things because she feels forced, she does them because she likes being helpful. Exemplified early on in the manga when Yano jokingly suggests she learns how to tell scary ghost stories and Sawako is *sparkling* with excitement. She's got the looks, she's got the aura, she might as well do it right.
  • Fade to Black
  • Family Business — Ryuu's family runs a ramen shop. Kazehaya's family runs a sports equipment store.
  • First-Name Basis — A very Serious Business. Sawako finally calls Kazehaya by his first name "Shota" in Chapter 53.
  • Five-Man Band
  • Flash Step — Sawako apparently learned how to do this while being taught football (or soccer) by Kazehaya. Though it's been established that she's very fast from doing daily jogs.
  • The Foreign Subtitle — Viz is releasing it under the full title Kimi ni Todoke: From Me To You.
  • Four-Girl Ensemble — Kurumi may not really be a part of the friends' circle, but the important female characters in the series fall into this:
    • Ayane — the mature one.
    • Chizuru — the tomboyish one.
    • Sawako — the quiet one.
    • Kurumi — the popular one.
  • Friendless Background — Sawako.
  • Friend to All Living Things — Maru instinctively liked Kazehaya and hated Sawako.
  • Gecko Ending — The Live Action Adaptation is basically the first season with a slightly different ending.
  • Genki Girl: Chizuru is very excitable.
  • Girl Posse — Complete with bullying in the toilet.
  • Good Bad Girl — Ayane. Aside of her mentioned older boyfriends, in a series in which holding hands is Serious Business, she's quite casual about kissing a guy she barely knows.
  • Good Is Dumb — Not actually dumb, but extremely naive in the case of Sawako and Kazehaya, the author even comment on creating a "guy who is so nice that he's dumb."
  • Good Parents — From what we can see, the main characters' parents are doing a really good job.
  • Happily Married — Sawako's parents.
  • Heel Face TurnKurumi after Sawako and Kazehaya get together..
  • Heroic Self-Deprecation — Without the heroic part, but on a scale of 100, Sawako has a self-esteem in the single-digits.
  • Heterosexual Life Partners — It's not easy to find a scene where Ayane and Chizuru aren't side-by-side.
  • Hey, It's That Voice!
  • Hime Cut — Sawako, of course.
  • Hold Me — Episode 21.
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 Chizuru: Comfort me, Ryuu.

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